Day 20 Brora

Dry, but a bit chilly and windy this morning. We decide to play golf but can only play in the afternoon as there is a comp on. So we go on a walk with the Taz along the beach and suddenly realise we are in the middle of nesting Arctic Terns.
Having looked at the map we can see there is a track going round Loch Brora that looks great for biking so we decide to do that instead. Seemed like a good idea at the time! 14 miles, of which 7 was on farmland, over a rickety bridge that was only built for midgets (without bikes), but the scenery was fantastic. We finished and just about made it back to the site before everything siezed up!

At the start

Near the end

Had an amble down the deserted beach at 9.45 (it stays light up here till about midnight), and when I tried to jump over a bit of running water making its way to the sea, I ended up on all fours!!! Jelly legs!!

Day 18 Black Isle

Over the Cromarty Firth to explore the Black Isle. Parked right on the side of the water at Cromarty, a really pretty harbour village with loads of character. Found a nice place for lunch!! Sutter Cafe where we had seafood chowder, fresh sardines and swordfish, and a glass of vino. Walked it off with a hike of about 4 miles to the northern viewpoint, up at least 130 steps, hoping to see dolphins but no luck. No wonder Ross has had to have 2 extra holes punched in his belt!!
 Managed to miss the couple of heavy showers we have had today.
Wended our way back to Dingbat, sorry Dingwall, and have spent 2 hours trying to load some pics onto this blog, with no success. Will try again tomorrow.

Day 19 Dingwall to Brora 93mls

PORTMAHOMACK HARBOUR

TARBAT NESS

Nice morning, so set off early and after a trip to Tesco headed to Tarbat Ness for a walk round the head over the rocky shoreline (still looking for dolphins, unsuccessfully). Taz has decided she likes dried crabs and seaweed!
Had lunch in the lovely harbour village of Portmahomack, at the unlikely named Carnegie Hall. Fab seafood pancakes full of mussels ,salmon, prawn and haddock. After a warm morning, the rain then started and has not stopped since. We decided to visit Dunrobin Castle, which is only a few miles from our next stop at Brora, a fairytale castle on the shore.

This is a great site between Brora golf course and the sea so we are hoping to have a game tomorrow if the rain stops.

Day 17 Loch Ness to Dingwall 56miles

Urquhart Castle Loch Ness

Ness Islands Inverness

Wet and windy start to the day, so set off early to Urquhart castle just a few miles up the loch, which as it is a ruin we decided not to stay as it was hailing!Stopped at Drumnadrochit to take in the "Loch Ness Experience", which tells the story of the monster hunts over the years. I'm sure if there was a monster it would have popped up to say hello, so I'm on the side of the sceptics!

Went on to Inverness, had to park in Morrisons as all other car parks had height restrictions which was a pain. The areas by the Moray Firth and the Ness river were nice but the rest of the town is unremarkable.

Still raining and hailing!

Got to our site on the outskirts of Dingwall, where our plan was to go into the village for dinner, but it was too wet to bike so we ate in again. The rain did abate a little about 8pm so we walked with Taz into Dingwall to find a nice place for a meal tomorrow. We have a new name for Dingwall - Dingwall the Dump! It is one street of charity shops and take aways - the only place to eat is the pub, which has sky sports, darts competitions etc. We have decided to eat in tomorrow too!!

Day16, Aviemore to Loch Ness. 79miles

Last look at Aviemore

Two old bikes on a bridge

Culloden memorial

Today we start with an 8 mile bike ride around Loch Morlich, just to loosen up the legs.Then its off to Culloden Battlefield site, where the NT has done a great job of the visitor centre, giving a full insight into the battle of Culloden, where nearly 2000 Jacobites were slaughtered, with just the loss of 50 government troops in barely one hour. After the exhitition we were given a hand held GPS which gave us a detailed history of the battle on the actual battleground. From here, we continued on into Inverness and down the south side of Loch Ness, with a stop off to see the Falls of Foyers. Then on to Fort Agustus, and our stop for the night at the Loch Ness caravan site, right on the shore of the loch. Haven't seen Nessie yet but here's hoping.

 Falls of Foyers

Loch Ness

Day 15 - Grantown to Aviemore 33mls

A Gorm on top of the Cairn Gorm

Moving on to Aviemore today. Not far but we are going to stay for one night so we can go up the mountain railway to the top of Cairn Gorm, at 1245m. Was very cold in the night so had to have the heating on and Taz snuck on to my bag at some stage, something she has not done before. Decided to get the carpets out and give the Starlett a spring clean (must be the mountain air) before setting off.
Thought we might have a nice lunch in the Ptarmigan Cafe at the top but they only had sandwiches and soup. We seem to be thwarted in our attempts to find any decent local cuisine - apart from fish and chips!

 The view was incredible. You can see as far as 94miles away. The temperature was just on freezing point and it snowed this morning, in fact they are still skiing at the weekends.
Glenmore Lodge park is at the foot of the mountain on the shore of Loch Morlich. Very quiet and peaceful, surrounded by miles of trails for walking and biking. Just got back from a hike round the loch and forest.
Tonight we do not have any TV, so will have to look for other forms of entertainment...............

Possibly, on line bridge or reading!!

Day 14, Grantown on Spey

The old railway line

Woke to the sound of heavy rain and very low cloud. After breakfast we took a stroll down the old railway line behind the site, Dava way which goes on for 22 miles, where we saw a red squirrel. It  dried up while we were out so decided to play golf at Grantown on Spey course this afternoon.
We had a walk around the town, where a lot of the shops seem to be closed or empty. We were looking for somewhere to eat tonight but neither of the two restaurants looked that appealing so its going to be fish and chips again!!

The golf course was fantastic. Hilly, woody, but the greens were not great but I suppose it has not been that long since the snow here. Still, we really enjoyed it - 31pts for me, 29 for Ross.

Day 13 Maryculter to Grantown on Spey 73mls

Wells of Lecht

We have cheated!! Having got a bit bored with the east coast we have decided to head inland

and drive through the Cairngorms. We intend to reunite with the coast at Inverness. So, having checked that

there was a vacancy at Grantown on Spey CC site we set of this morning to the mountains. A visit to Ballater to repair Ross's back brake on his bike.

 Stopped for lunch and a walk at Wells of Lecht just passed the ski centre. Fabulous scenery

 and walks everywhere.

The site is just outside the town which is surrounded by golf course, walking and biking so we decide

to stay for 2 nights. Having sited the Starlett we decided to bike through the Anagach Woods. Did about 8 miles, back past the golf course we hope to play tomorrow (weather permitting).

Just watched the end of the golf, had roast beef and a bottle of red, only a walk for the rottweiller left to do

then bed!!

Anagach Woods

                                                                       View from the site

Day 12 Maryculter, Aberdeenshire

So, a day to do nothing and recharge the batteries, ours I mean not the bus's, however this lasted till lunchtime, then we had to go for a hike round Scolty Forest, fab for mountain biking, but that was too energetic, so walked the dog instead.

Then on to the Falls Of Feogh, Banchory to watch the salmon jumping, and surprise, surprise, there they were, right on cue. Felt sorry for the little ones as they looked to have no chance of getting up the falls. Visited the falls tea shop for another cream tea, then it was back to the site for a curry.

Day 11 St Andrews to Aberdeen 75mile

Tay Bridge

Another fabulous day. Had a look round the endless golf shops in St Andrews before setting off on another leg of our journey. Stopped at Carnoustie for lunch and a stroll on the beach. It does not have anywhere near the atmosphere of St Andrews.
Tried to get in a site at Stonehaven but its full so have had to come about 6 miles inland to a site at Maryculter. Our first night of "winging it" has not been a great success but the forecast for the weekend is so good lots of people have come away for the weekend.
M&S lasagne for dinner while we listened to the thunder rumbling round. Got a bit of rain but not much.
Glad to say Taz seems to be getting into the stride of motorhome life and is a lot less stressed and quivery.
The journey today has not been as interesting. The towns and villages seem bland and not very picturesque.

The Blogger

Day 10 St Andrews

Excited to be playing the old course so set the scene with a visit to the Golf Museum. Walked the long sandy beach with Taz. Spent our life savings on a shirt for Ross and a hat for me from the pro shop, them made our way to the first tee.

We played with a young couple from Minnesota who were very nice and good players, who had come over for a weeks golf and played every day, sometimes twice a day on all the good courses. Ross did not start the round too well, with a visit to the Swilken Burn 3 times! He did get better as the day went on and finished with 31pts. I was going well until a 5 putt and a visit to Hell bunker, taking 4 to get out, left me with 32pts. Playing to the 18th with all the stands up ready for the open was a weird feeling and we decided to take our hats off and wave to the onlookers!
Leah took 3 pics of us on the famous Swilken Bridge which all turned out blurred.
Finished at 7.45 so bought fish and chips on way back to site.

HELL!!!!

Day 9 Edinburgh to St Andrews - 65ml

Started the day by a visit to Royal Yacht Brittania in Leith Port. Just so we know what to look for when we win the lottery. Felt just like Liz and Phil wandering around the decks waving to the commoners!
Stopped for lunch (bacon bap) at Aberdour, lovely little coastal village, and took the mutt for a walk on the beach where she saw 2 lads playing fooball in the distance. Took off like a rocket, tackled like Beckham, and made off with the ball across the sand!
Arrived at our site which overlooks St Andrews, so we wont be biking to the town (big hill coming back!!).
Best news is we entered the ballot for the old course and got a tee time of 3.10 tomorrow, so we are both really looking forward to that. And the weather forecast is great - cant believe our luck!
M&S chinese for dinner which was excellent!

Liz's bedForth Bridge

Day 8 Edinburgh

Warm sunny morning. Was sat outside eating my Weetabix with Taz on her extending lead when a rabbit hopped past. Well, 13 or not Taz was off at the speed of light, ripping the lead out of the door and dissappearing through the hedge in pursuit. I then followed, not quite as quick, to catch up with her about 50 yards away tangled round bushes on the edge of the campsite. Early morning wake up call!

Went to do the castle, which was packed with interesting things and exhibitions, walked the royal mile to Holyrood House, had a quick lunch with a couple of glasses of red then back to the site. This is a very attractive city with some fantastic historic buildings.
Took the rottweiler a stroll down the Firth of Forth then back to the truck for beans on toast (we know how to live)!

Day 7 Beadnell to Edinburgh 126miles

Lindesfarne Harbour & Priory

Returning on the causeway

Bass Rock in Firth of Forth

Woke at 4am by the fierce wind making the awning flap and rock the Starlett so Ross had to get out of his nest and retract it. Morning showed promise of another fine day so after breakfast we set out for Edinburgh. En route we took the causeway to Lindesfarne only to find out the castle was closed on Mondays. Still, we enjoyed a walk round (it is a lot bigger, with more people living there than I had imagined). Had the best cream scone ever in what felt like someones back garden then wended our way through Berwick on Tweed to stop for lunch at the border. Stopped at Gullane where there are 5 golf courses including Muirfield, to see if we could do a quick 9 holes on the way, but only 18 holes available. Arrived at our Edinbugh site north of the city, which is very nice but with views of the high rise flats in the distance. Watched 'Coast' on tele which was all round the area we had been yesterday!