Dusty.

Today the weather took a significant turn for the worse with a really strong wind kicking up throughout the morning. M and I drove out to Loch Ness and the waves washing up were 2-3 foot high, and breaking at the shore like the sea.

We travelled inshore a little to Divach Falls, which was beautiful, and then decided to drive to the beach at Fort George... Which was not my best idea! This is a dust storm on the way there, caused by the strong winds on the farmers' ploughed fields. When we got to the beach the wind was hurling tiny, stinging raindrops at our faces, and we lasted about 3 minutes before hurrying back to the car. After a bowl of soup in a cafe, we decided to head back to the campsite and see if our tent was still there. Luckily, it was - just! We were one of only 3 tents left in the site, one of which was half blown-away!

We sat inside the tent for 10 minutes, deciding exactly how bad the wind was, before taking the whole lot down. It was absolutely guaranteed that at some point during the night, we'd be rolling across the campsite in a bundle of tent, pillows and sleeping bags! As we packed our stuff into the car, a rather forlorn couple were sitting in their van, watching their tent flap and buckle in the wind, with a look of resignation on their face. A tenner says they went and sat inside it for 10 minutes, to see exactly how bad it was, before packing up and heading on their own journey home too!

The drive back to Aberdeen wasn't too bad; the further south we got, the better the weather looked, although it was still breezy at the flat. We had a lovely dinner cooked for us by M's Mum, and had a nice relaxing evening in front of the open fire. Certainly better than a night in a tent in a hurricane!