Blue Shimmer...

Kildary, Ross & Cromarty, Day 2


The plan for the first day of our holidays is always the same; we sleep as late as we wish, enjoy a leisurely brunch,  spend an hour pouring over the local map to acquaint ourselves with where we are in the world, then head off to explore the local surroundings at a leisurely pace, before returning for pre-dinner G&T, dinner and an evening of relaxation.  

Today has been no exception and it's been fab!

The joy of not setting an alarm meant we both slept till 9am.  Well D slept till 9am, I slept slightly later and was woken by the birds merrily chirping away.  

D went for a wander in the beautiful 2 acre woodland garden that surrounds the Barn whilst I read the visitors book taking note of all the places previous visitors to the Barn recommended.  I had quite a list of places by the end!

It was such a beautiful day we sat outside to eat our toast, scrambled eggs and smoked salmon and made our plan for the day, which consisted of driving to Brora then exploring lots of places on the way back.

We explored Golspie (passed Dunrobin Castle, which we explore another day) before driving along the side of Loch Fleet and stopping to watch the harbour seals of NNR (National Nature Reserve)  What an amazing sight.  They are beautiful.  Sadly I don't have a telephoto lens so wasn't able to capture them close up but I have a put a shot in extras as I wanted to remember the scene in my journal.  I've also included a shot of the yellow broom that is everywhere around here and in full bloom at the moment.  Even when it clouded over for a bit there was sunshine all along the roadside with this beautiful shrub almost glowing :-)

We then headed to Dornoch and ended up watching the sea whilst sharing a huge piece of carrot cake bought from a kiosk that was selling coffee, toasties and cake in the dunes just below Royal Dornoch Golf Club!  An unexpected but lovely treat :-)

From there we headed to Tain, Scotland's oldest Royal Burgh (found two eateries mentioned in the visitor's book and as stated they both did look rather lovely, so we may book lunch or dinner at one of them before our time here is over.)

From Tain we took a lovely country road to my favourite place so far, Portmahomack, where I captured today's blip.  I could have sat there for hours.  We will definitely return here to hopefully soak up the sun, capture a sunset and just maybe, see some dolphins.

Back to the Barn for dinner of homemade lasagne (pre-made and brought with us) editing my photos and more relaxation whilst watching the birds at the bird feeder and the bunnies playing on the grass.  Bliss :-))

PS Can you guess what each of the places we visited today have in common?  Yes, they all have golf courses!  :-))