I was up early, mainly down to me setting the clock an hour fast!
The weather forecast looks promising (although not quite as warm as it predicted yesterday) and so on Richard’s advice, we’re heading for the Moray Coast about a 40 minute drive from base-camp.
11.15am: First stop was Banff, a small town and a Royal Burgh since 1372. We were soon parked (are all car-parks free up here?) and taking in the sights…
…A beautiful location sporting a very neat Marina and what it lacked in size, it made up for with its sandy beaches…
Incredible! And not what we expected at all! (in a good way). Contra-forecast, the weather was now improving and warming up a treat to a healthy 19℃, so we decided to take the walk from Banff to nearbyish MacDuff – and back.
Although we didn’t walk ALL the way into Macduff, it was a very pleasant 2.25 miles and ticked the box for our daily walk quota!
12.30pm: Next stop was Portsoy, a quaint fishing village famous for its marble, which is a serpentinite stone that looks like marble. It was also the principle location for the 2016 remake of the movie: Whisky Galore.
By now, it felt like a proper Summer’s day, and we soaked up the warmth as well as the glorious views.
12.55pm: I’d like to say we only went there for the Church, but in truth, we were there for what was opposite…
…their famous ice-cream parlour!
Whilst Ann tucked into a combination of Blackcurrant Sorbet and Banana, I settled for Ferrero Rocher and Cadbury’s Flake. We returned to the Church, not to confess our sins, but to sit on their wall and enjoy our ice-creams, watching the world go by!
1.30pm: Our final stop on today’s whistle-stop tour of the Moray Coast was another fishing village – Cullen. The location is famous for Cullen Skink and as every schoolboy and girl knows, it’s a soup made from fresh skink smoked haddock and potato. Lucky for us then, that the village’s Hotel – The Royal Oak – was serving it. After a quick rummage and fitting of our masks, we were whizzed off to our table. After filling in our contact form (much more comprehensive than anything we’ve seen in England!) we were soon tucking into the local broth.
Wow! That was a hearty meal! There was only one thing left to do – try and walk it off! We headed in the direction of the harbour, where we enjoyed the view of even more sandy beaches!
2.45pm: Lawrence of Arabia would have felt right at home here – and we’d only really seen a small part of the area. We headed back to Richard and Lynn’s for well-deserved ‘feet-up’ in preparation for tonight’s evening meal – Shepherd’s Pie.
7.25pm: All the exploring today had made us quite hungry!
Tomorrow is our last full day here and we’ve got quite an itinerary…
- Huntly Castle
- Baxter’s Highland Village in Fochabers (language!!)
- Gordon Castle Walled Garden in Fochabers
- Spey Bay (Dolphins!)
- Elgin Cathedral (and the cashmere shop!)
- Auchindoun Castle
10.05pm: Nighty-night! 😴😴
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