This time we decided to do things differently. Mainly it's because when we go to Scotland, I catch up with my friends, see a load of people (sometimes with the kids, sometimes without, sometimes with El Puma, sometimes without) and basically, El Puma doesn't really get to see much of Scotland. Or anything apart from the inside of cafés and friends' houses. So recently he's taken to teleworking, which means he can save days for other trips, and also means he's occupied while I drink hot chocolate around the town/shop/chat/shop and chat some more.
But Scotland is beautiful and I miss it. There's also lots of things I don't miss, but (aside from my family and friends) I really miss the shops (especially supermarkets!), the Olympic-sized swimming pool, the fresh air, the clean drinkable water, even the food, and yes, even sometimes the wind. It can rattle your bones and bring tears to your eyes, but it doesn't half clean out the cobwebs. And give you a cold. I came back dalking dike dhis.
Anyway, we decided to take up my PhD supervisor's offer of visiting him in Nairn, in the north of Scotland. It's just north of the big green patch on the map below, halfway between Inverness and Elgin. On his suggestion, we left the A9 at Aviemore and went cross-country over the Dava Moor to Nairn.
And what a beautiful and wild route it was.
After I graduated 2 years ago, Jimmy was diagnosed with lung cancer and eventually had the whole of the left lung removed. He has made a full recovery, but it resulted in a reprioritisation, and his career no longer made the cut. Instead he took early retirement, put their house near Stirling on the market, bought a fisherman's cottage in the narrow-streeted harbour-side Fishertown of Nairn and started inviting people over. They also found a spectacular plot of land alongside the river Nairn and have purchased it with the intention of building their own eco-house. The terraces have already been restored and the land and at the top of the plot scooped out. We had a look at the plans and there's nothing for it but to come back in a year or so to experience it for ourselves.
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| Looking up the plot of land to where the house will be built |
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| Looking down from the terraces to the river |
Between Fishertown and the villas of the 'West End' is the beach. The wind, tide, sand dunes and golf coursses brought back many memories of my St Andrews days.
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| Just a little wind |
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| Our little Parisian, totally unimpressed. |
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| This is from the harbour, taken around 10pm |
We stayed for 2 nights in Nairn and so also had time to visit Brodie Castle, now owned by the National Trust for Scotland and known for its magnificent....adventure playground.
The whole length of the Moray Coast is absolutely beautiful. One of the beaches along from Nairn is called Findhorne, and seals and dolphins can regularly be found sheltering near the bay. The seaward side is a pebble beach, which suited Small Fry's stone-collecting tendancies (he came back with his pockets full of them).
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| The sea-side |
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| Pebble beach |
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| Bay-side |
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| The bay |
Our final expedition in Nairn involved going to see the local Highland cows. Small Fry was convinced that the cows on our last trip to Picardie were going to eat him, and apparently the fear is not limited to French cows. So he stood well back, but we got a good look at them anyway. It wasn't on the official tourst trail but we did also pass Tilda Swinton's house on the way - she's been living there since 2007.
And finishing off our 'different' trip this time involved seeing a Polar Bear at the Highland Wildlife Park outside Aviemore. We arrived in time to watch them eating their lunch and had a good chat with their gamekeeper. It had begun to rain by this point and the wind had picked up, so I guess they felt near enough at home. Which is where we wanted to be, and off we zoomed.
There were many other things that thankfully weren't different this time - such as Oma's hospitality and seeing Tante Margret and Uncle Stan (as well as the German aunt and uncle with whom we crossed paths for one night). As well as a couple of chats, shops and hot chocolate of course.
