Pootle

We woke to a haar, so didn’t rush out. I put some washing on (had forgotten to bring a change of PJs with me!) and although I’d set it for a 30min quick wash we’d had breakfast and I’d done some email stuff etc and it still hadn’t finished, so I had to just interrupt the programme and get everything out and hung up.
We decided to start by walking around the village and exploring. Lots of really pretty little cottages as well as some rather grand houses, a better than we expected gallery and pottery and an interesting courthouse museum from the 18th century and a pub. The haar lifted but it was still pretty cloudy but nice enough for our wander. We admired several cottage gardens and the many little lanes and vennels lacing between the cottages and thought about life here in harder times. The museum had talked about how so many had emigrated when the fishing and hemp industries had seemed to dry up, and later we found a rather lovely monument to them on the links overlooking the passage out to the sea (extra).
We picked up some quiches at the bakers and came home for a lateish lunch, then decided to head inland a little as the promised break in the cloud hadn’t arrived yet (of course it then did as soon as we set off!).
We drove to Beauly which was very pretty and full of flowers in tubs and hanging baskets…looked lovely. We explored a few of the shops and enjoyed seeing inside Campell’s which was practically a museum to tweed and all things country! We stopped at a farm shop and enjoyed chatting to their alpacas (extra) and seeing the hairy coos.
By the time we stopped at Fortrose to see the ruined cathedral and then at Chanonry Point the weather was very bright and clear, and fairly warm although with a wind on the beach. There were some spectacular skies this afternoon and evening….took too many shots and it was hard to choose one! We walked along, binoculars in hand, to see if we could see any dolphins and unlike the last time we came here we were rewarded with several sightings. The binoculars helped a lot and it felt as if they were really close, although they didn’t rise out of the water very far but we also got a longer and better view of a seal which looked like he was enjoying playing in the waves. So pleased we saw them this time, and that we both found the binoculars easier to use than other times we’ve tried.
Home for a bit of quiet time before walking along the seafront to dinner at Sutor’s Creek. Lovely little place which had a wood fired oven where delicious looking pizzas as well as more fine dining style dishes were being cooked. S had baked cod and I had a cauliflower, celeriac, roasted onion and pearl barley concoction that’s hard to describe but was wonderfully flavoursome and earthy. For dessert S had roasted peaches and cake and cream and I had a rich chocolate mousse with raspberries. All very delicious and we’ll be back for pizzas later in the week I suspect!
We sauntered home admiring the skies and the beautiful light then watched The Jetty, the start of a new mystery series. Bit bitty, introducing all the various plot lines, but we’ll probably try out the second episode tomorrow.