Deeside

I saw a beautiful sunrise early on, having left my curtains and a window open, enjoying the sound of the waves all night. However when I woke again later I could barely see the shoreline only a few feet away….a very thick haar had rolled in.
We enjoyed some breakfast and quiet reading time curled up in the comfy chairs before packing up and heading off….would be nice to return here, ideally with better weather! We drove into Deeside, open to exploring whatever we came across and with a plan for a walk (which never materialised). The haar cleared but we only saw fleeting patches of sun. The scenery was beautiful….lush valley with the beautiful wide river and then increasingly large hills rising around us, with some spectacular huge mature trees everywhere. We stopped at an art gallery complex and had a lovely wander including along the river and bought some ceramics and a coffee then headed to Ballater and, in some drizzly rain, enjoyed exploring the various little shops. Continued on to Tarmachen cafe near Crathie where we had some lovely tea and cake sitting outside….beautifully designed building…and were surprised how close Balmoral Castle was to the road, then headed back to the hotel in Tarland. Extraordinary sight at one point of literally hundreds of crows in a field and all along the walls and fences around it. No idea why but very weird to see....I can quite understand why the collective noun for that many crows together is a 'murder'!  Whilst that field had just had hay harvested, so had several others around but there were no crows there, very odd! 
After a bit more reading time I had a long call with VickyG who’s considering a job change, then we set off to go for dinner at Banchory Lodge. Beautiful setting right on the river and I had a little wander along the bank before we went in. Not the fine dining of our last couple of nights but it was lovely. I had a dish of various tomatoes as a starter that was really tasty and followed by roast cod with some extra hispi cabbage and then chocolate cremeux (extra). Delicious! We left in rain….hope it clears tomorrow