One Black Sock

Strathnaver Trail

Home vacation day 2, and I was headed West in search of the Strathnaver trail.  This patch of road is in Sutherland and has 16 sites along it that detail out the history of the county.  There are cairns, stone circles, clearance villages, churches and fishing spots.

I took the road to Old Craggie to get to the start of the trail.  I stopped at the Fosinard Flows interpretation center (aka the train station), which outlined how the peat flows formed and pointed out that these are fairly unusual because it requires optimum conditions.

As I was crossing over another very narrow 'road' to start the trail, I spot a fairly scraggly looking herd of deer.

I also came upon a harvest locations.  Not clear what they use peat for, but I was very curious at the machine that must have been used for the harvest.  At the Flow center, there were numerous cautions about over harvesting as this will poison the land/environment/atmosphere as peat flows hold over 5% of the world's carbon.

I stopped at 6 of the stops.  Some required hiking, but most didn't.  I was glad I had done the peat center, as I now had a much better appreciation for the different kinds and colors of sphagnum that create the peat and caused its spongey consistency.

I stopped at Grummore Settlement; Grumbeg Settlement; and Gloomy Memories Memorial.  All of these were about the clearances - discussed in previous blogs.  The sites themselves were just piles of stone perched on the hill side overlooking Naver Loch.  They must have had the most tremendous views.

Stop 4 was Syre Church, which is a corrugated iron structure and so pretty it almost hurt your eyes.

My penultimate stop was the red priest's stone.  There was much lore associated with the red priest and based on the stories he was fierce.  

All that was left of his church was a single stone with a cross inscribed on one side.  It was said that if the river raised to engulf the stone that the people would once again take back the land from the sheep - reference the clearances.  As a result, the countess had the river reinforced.  I wondered why she didn't just have the stone removed.

My brain full and car snacks eaten, I headed home and made the 3 of us some popcorn and we laid on the couch eating it in a lazy on vacation manner until Badger's popcorn drool grossed me out, and he was banished to outside.

Shells on Flowers

There are 7 shells in this picture!

Holiday at Home

There are 2 bank holidays in May, but for some reason the decision in Scotland has been that we would forego the bank holiday at the beginning of the month and instead have both days together at the end of the month; this is how I ended up with a 4 day weekend.

Four days off and I decided to have a vacation at home, since I had so much planned for June.  I had some general plans, but it was all dependent on the weather.  

After I sent the post last week, the sun came out and it was warm and sunny.  I smiled as I walked the dogs without a jacket, but two long sleeve shirts to see all the kids on the beach in shorts running through the water.  It was not that warm.  However, that only lasted a day, and we had a nasty storm in the middle of the week with near freezing temperatures, gales and high seas.

But when I woke up on Saturday, everything was gorgeous.

After a fortifying breakfast, I headed off to shell beach.  I spent hours wandering along the edge of the water on the look out for teeny tiny sand dollars, which Jason assured me existed at shell beach.

I didn't find any sand dollars, but I managed two pockets of shells.  Of course, there were groatie buckies (not too many); teeny tiny shells; and lots of shells with pink and magenta in them.  There was this very cool magenta sea plant scattered across of the beach.

Once you figure out how to find groatie buckies, you do go on for other finds - hence the search for the tiny sand dollars.  There are also bits of red polka dot shell and I am on the look out for a whole shell, but didn't manage to find one on this trip.

After hours of hunting, I earned myself a cone of rum raison ice cream and a pokey ride home to make dinner.  Glass a wine and a catch-up with Gill on the phone and I end my first day of home vacation with Maggie curled in my lap as we watched Lord Sugar tell some dork that their 'fired.'

3 Pan Breakfast

Sunday morning, I make myself a gourmet breakfast, crank up Levon Helm and decide to put some words on the page.

Salmon cake with cheesy, creamy polenta - I mean grits - and a poached egg

Things have been fairly quiet in Thurso. We have been waiting for Spring to come and yet Winter has been relentless.  

The sun (or the light if the sun is feeling shy) comes before 0430 and stays past 2130, but it is still multiple-layer cold with a mean cold wind.  

The daffodils and lambs have arrived as regardless of the temperature, it was time.  The lambs with their too much skin over their little bones and parallel ears are about the cutest thing you have ever seen.  Driving to work you often see a brand new one struggle to its feet for a first drink.

As they get older, I enjoy watching them stray from mom into their little lamb gangs.  There is lots of head butting, feet kicking and general running around.  Then there is this little lamb moment of panic, followed by some bleats and a race toward mom.

I have been using this lull to plan some travel.  There are some fun trips on the horizon; June is going to be a busy month, but today, I have work to do in my garden.

There is No Way...

...ABSOLUTELY no way! that thing you stare at for hours is more interesting than me

                  hey! can't you see me, 
            
                                        I am over here, 

                                                         by the table

this gorgeous hunk of furriness wants to GO OUTSIDE - 

                                     Outside, you hear me!

If you don't get up, your butt is going to huge

                                                Oh thank goodness, 

                                                                I thought I was going to have to beg


Hmm, sorry about the butt comment

Off to London and then back again

I had been invited to a meeting in London the following day and since I was in England any way, I decided to go and miss the second day of the conference.  Off I went on the train at a very civilized hour of 1030 after saying a big bye-bye to Gill.

I arrived in London 2 hours before the meeting.  After checking my luggage at the train station, I headed off to this vintage watch shop I look at on web. 

It was cloudy, but dry so I decided to take the tube to Westminster and walk the rest of the way to the meeting.  I had received a warning from the state department about being in London as Margaret Thatcher's funeral was going to be going on.  

It took me a couple of days to realize I was going to be in London at this time, and when I came out of the tube station, I was a bit confused wondering what all the fuss was about then I remembered - I am such a dork sometimes. 

There were protests going on and the police were out in force, but this did not ruin my walk.

The meeting was fairly uneventful and ended promptly at 1630.  I took the tube to Selfridges and got my eyebrows threaded, did some shopping in the food hall and then sat myself at the champagne bar and had a snack.  At about 8 pm, I headed back to the train station, collected my luggage and got on the Caledonian Sleeper Train.

I had a first class cabin, which meant I did not have to share with anyone.  I squeezed myself down the hall and into my cabin - handbag barely fit in sideways.

Pajamad, I settled into bed and was asleep by 2230 as the train trundled north.  I slept through the night, but did wake a couple of times as the train started and stopped.  

At 0700, I awoke for real just as we were stopping in Aviemore.  I got cleaned up and changed for the day and spent the last hour of the ride in the lounge watching everything go by.

Once in Inverness, I had breakfast in a cafe and bought some spices at my favorite health food store.  By then, it was raining and time to get the train to Thurso.  This train has 2 cars, and it makes at least 23 stops - sometimes more depending because some are optional stops - like does anyone on the train want to stop.  

I read the newspaper, two magazines and all of my work reading.  This took about 4 hours, which is good because it only left me with a few minutes before we arrived in Thurso.  I walked home from the station, showered, got some dog love and then headed out for a public meeting.

Hard to believe it's only Wednesday - Have I mentioned that life is good