Cromarty

Today was forecast to be the hottest day of the week, so we headed to the coast.  Our first proper trip to the black isle.  We started in Fortrose, wandered down to Chanonry point then back up to Rosemarkie. Did spot any seals, wales or dolphins, but we did spot some squaddies on practice manoevures on the shores of Fort Geogre across the bay.  The day was punctuated with small arms fire.  Almost posted a blip of the Chanonry point lighthouse.

After lunch, we sought some shade and went up the fairy glen.  Alas, no fairies but there was an excellent rope swing that we both had a go on (even if a bit ginergly in my case as I was wearing a dress) and there were loads of damselflies flitting about which also almost made the blip.

Once back to the car in Fortrose we drove up to Cromatry just to see what was there in the tip of the Black Isle.  The answer is not very much, with most of the cafes and shops shutting on a Tuesday and Wednesday there wasn't much to see.  However the dock at Nigg  was interesting and seemed to have some wind turbines that were awaiting construction, plus the oil rigs and other industrial marine stuff was well worth a gander.  We were discussing whether or not you could commute from Cromatry to Nigg by boat as the drive around would take a long time, and that was when we noticed the ferry turn up.  It's a two-car ferry which takes around 15 minutes to cross, you drive on and have to reverse off.  I was delighted watching the cars reverse back up the pier (glad i wasn't the one doing it) and then watched some tourists patiently waiting to board.  The sign said 'wait here for singal from ferryman' and the signal was just one of the guys waving you onboard.  Pretty fun.    So the ferry got the blip for today.

On the way back we stopped off at the Clootie well where people have left offerings of cloth tied on trees around a burn asking for healing.  The idea is that once the cloth disintegrates, so will your malady.  A family turned up looking to tie a cloth whilt we were there, there were already lots of socks and knickers in the trees when we arrived though apparently not as many as there can be!  Should've brought something for my hay fever which has been a nightmare all week, however the pollen season would likely be over by the time the cloth disappeared.

The Black Isle is lovely and well worht a visit, especially with weather like we had today!