Knock Farrel

I was awake really early, just after 4 and it was bright outside and as I looked out the window I saw a roe deer munching away on the buttercups and other wild flowers in the Burn. I was now wide awake so stayed up and drank tea as the sun rose higher in the sky.
Later we took a drive over to Loch Ussie hoping to find a walk down to the water which we could nt find so drove up to Knock Farrel. We past the Old tiny Post Office which is having a lot of work done. For over 40 years it was run by a lady called Jessie MacKenzie who lived to the grand old age of 102.
We parked the car in the small carpark just through the gate and I liked the view across the fields to the old buildings in front. Lots of birds where flying to and fro including robins,wrens, sky arks an yellow Hammers. As we walked up the saddle we watched two red Kites fly below us. It seemed strange to see them flying below but we were high up with stunning views across o Strathpeffer and the surrounding mountains. We walked up the ridge to the top with further views to the Cromarty Firth and Loch Ussie. The area is a site of an extensive vitrified pictish Iron Age Fortress and you can see other sites of hill forts including Ord Hill and Craig Phadrig in Inverness. It is thought that beacons may have been lit here as they would have been seen from miles away , much quicker of signifying an attack rather than sending a messenger.

In the 1920/30s a wooden chalet was erected as a tea room. A clever building as it was encircled by a veranda and the shutters coming down to form tables. Two sister from a croft on the Loch Ussie side of Knockfarrel ran the tea room bringing provisions up the hill. It was a 'must place' to go if you were in the area. Strawberries and cream would be served in the Summer months as well as home baking. It continued to run until the 1960's . It eventually became run down and was eventually totally destroyed by a fire at the end of the 60's. Gossip says that three boys were seen running away from the scene towards Dingwall.

We bought some strawberries from the farm shop on the way home. Lovely and sweet and lots of flavour.

Another tall ship, Rupel, from Belgium has sailed past tonight on it's way to join the others in Belfast.