Timeless - Malcolm Street, Wick

Stage 2 of the tour took Gitama and I from Drumnadochit to Wick, via Inverness.

A misty start to the day, the cloud hung low over the hills as we retraced our steps slightly to visit Urquhart Castle on the banks of Loch Ness. Arriving early, we still didn't arrive in time to beat some hardy souls to the front door of the visitor centre but we bypassed the introductory film about the castle's history to dash out the door and beat the crowd to the site itself. Urquhart is one of those places I'd love to visit when it's closed to the public. Some of the views are sublime but just completely ruined by... well, tourists! I'm finding too that having visited most of the castles at least once or twice before, I'm looking for something a bit different to what I've already shot and I'm not really finding that (so far) in the conditions we've had. I have, however, not lost my appetite for dark spaces around windows so you have three examples from Urquhart in the extras tonight. I see a wee series coming on here...

We didn't stop on our travels north to Inverness but the "ooh's" and "aah's" and the "look at the little lamb-i-kins" coming from the passenger seat indicated an on-going appreciation for the vast and vivid rapeseed fields we passed interspersed with fields full of future chops! It has to be said it is a beautiful sight watching the sun shine over these almost day-glow yellow patches of land mottling the green landscape. I will, I think have to stop sometime to allow Gitama to slate her thirst for the wee bundles of furry white wool or I suspect she'll burst! Tomorrow might just be the opportunity since we have a little time on our hands before the ferry over to Orkney.

We stopped off in Inverness to visit Gitama's mums cousin to say hi from the gang down under. Rita is the quintessential granny. Chatting away as if we'd known each other all our lives, sharing stories from days gone by and of the grand kids that swell her heart with pride, reminiscing over old photos and generous to a fault, foisting tea, biscuits and cake onto unsuspecting empty hands before you'd swallowed the last bite of the previous morsel. She's a lovely lady and we spent a fabulous couple of hours in her company before parting... with a bag of home-made tablet.

I'm going to ask to be adopted!

The trip to Wick was uneventful in spite of the continued ooh's and aah's from the left hand seat, added to by the wow's when we started encountering the occasional abandoned and derelict croft as we wound up and over, round and about the east Sutherland coastline. I have to admit that they piqued my interest too but pushy traffic and lack of stopping places prevented us recording their dilapidated wonder on (digital) film.

A quick bite to eat at the local Wetherspoon was the order of the day before wandering back up the road to the hotel for an early night. Goodness knows where all the time went because it's past the witching hour once more as I post. Wick is a fabulous mix of old stone and modern buildings. As we passed I was stuck by the timeless nature of the view looking across to Malcolm Street with the arched windows of St. Joachim's in the foreground and the spire of the Wick Baptist Church cutting across the skyline behind. My final extra for today is the much neglected entrance to another loss to time, the Dounreay Social Club.

Gitama's take on the day and gorgeous Urquhart shots can be found here.

For anyone the slightest bit interested you can follow our progress here.

So sorry I haven't got round to commenting again...