Tag: highlands and islands

Nano Adventure: A Weekend on the Black Isle.

During my PhD I have to do a PIPS project, which is essentially a three month long internship in something that has nothing to do with my PhD. My PIPS project is up in Inverness, at the Raigmore hospital. My pal, Anneli, did hers in Brussels at the European Commission, and as I went to visit her, she decided she wanted to visit me whilst I’m doing mine. This time another friend, Alysha, joined us.

Anneli and Alysha arrived on Thursday evening and after checking into our Inverness Airbnb we pretty much headed straight out to the Black Isle Brewery bar for a pizza and beer (I really like it in there). After dinner we went for a little night cap in The Malt Room (I also like it in there). They have an epic range of whiskies and do some great cocktails. I had work on the Friday but Anneli and Alysha explored the city; they toured some of the coffee shops, mooched around the antique and book stores and climbed the castle tower. After I finished work, I met them at the bus station and we jumped on a bus to Fortrose on the Black Isle.

I’d been reliably informed that IV10 in Fortrose was an incredible place to get dinner and luckily, despite not having a table booked, we managed to sneak in. As soon as we walked in we loved the atmosphere, it was suitably hipster for us millennials with water served in recycled gin bottles, marine artwork and lots of re-used wood. The food was amazing too. I had some sort of wood fired cod with a mussel sauce and fries with a really nice glass of Grenache. For pudding I had a pear and frangipane tart with a Lagavullin whisky. Definitely a good start to the weekend.

7th March

After a fairly relaxed morning and a brunch consisting of cake back at IV10 we walked towards Rosemarkie, popping into a couple of the gift shops along the way. Once in the little town we headed towards the beach so that we could follow the bay around to the first couple of Rosemarkie caves. I didn’t realise but apparently there are about 20 old sea caves just up the coast and there’s a cave project (although this might be over by now!) which aims to explore and excavate them.  

We only made it as far as Caird’s Cave which my potentially outdated web source tells me could potentially have been a site of occupation since the iron age but was certainly an active Pictish site. I have literally no idea who Caird is and why it’s their cave, google didn’t help me.

On the way to the caves I found a stone with a perfect circular hole worn away through it. When I was a troubled teenager into wicca I used to keep my eyes to the ground looking for these ‘hagstones’ at the beach or along riversides. I seem to remember they’re supposed to have lots of mystical uses. Now, I just think it’s an awesome feat of nature. What I did think was pretty cool is that there’s the legend of Kenneth…better known as the Brahan seer. In short, his mum acquired a stone with a hole in it from a Norwegian ghost princess and that stone allowed him to see the future. He predicted a tonne of stuff, seemingly with great accuracy but his downfall was in telling a lady on the Black Isle that her husband was cheating on her in Paris. She wasn’t chuffed about this foretelling and boiled the Brahan seer upside down in a barrel of tar at Chanonry Point. Incidentally Chanonry Point is only a short walk up the beach from where I found my stone. I haven’t yet seen the future through it though. I’ll keep trying.

So, not only did I find my ‘hagstone’ on the way to the caves, but Alysha also found her dream stone…An ammonite! Awesome find. Anneli did not find a prize rock but she did do a mini beach clean, picking up all the plastic she could see.

After exploring the caves we walked back along the beach to Chanonry Point to look for the bottlenose dolphin. I’d heard loads of different advice about when the best time was to try and see them but the most common timing seemed to be as the tide was changing/starting to rise. Unfortunately, the dolphin did not show up. It was super windy and choppy at that point though so I have a suspicion that even if they were out and about it would have been difficult to see anything. We did find a few hermit crabs along the point though which was, for me, almost as exciting as seeing dolphin!

On the way back from Chanonry point I started to feel a bit ME relapsey…probably for lots of reasons. So, by the time we reached The Anderson pub I wasn’t quite with it. I’d been told that there were two pubs in Fortrose and that one was dodgy and one was dingy. So, we went for dingy. It was a weird place. It definitely wasn’t immediately welcoming. Once we found our way to the bar and located a space in a dark corner, which was a journey in itself, we were all too awkward to go the bar because it was blocked by lots and lots of men. All of them standing quietly watching the England vs Wales rugby match. You can probably guess who they were rooting for! Once Anneli gathered the courage to go and order drinks for all of us (what a star?!), she was promptly told by the barmaid ‘you’re in Scotland now’ after part of the order involved a bitter shandy. Delightful! It hadn’t really crossed my mind that it wasn’t really ‘a thing’ up here.

After the rugby was over, a few of the men cleared out and the barmaid came over with the menus as we’d originally gone in there for food. She seemed a lot more cheerful, maybe we’d redeemed ourselves somehow after awkwardly stumbling in and ordering an English ale. The menu actually looked great and the barmaid pointed over to the butcher who supplied them, which seemed like a great sign. There were some mixed opinions about whether we should stay or go but the ‘ayes’ had it…just. The food was amazing! I had a lamb burger with feta and mint sauce, Anneli had a beef burger with haggis and Alysha had a veggie burrito. We pretty much licked the plates clean! Although our Anderson experience had a bumpy start I actually really liked it in the end…I’d go back! It probably helped that after a sit down, one of Alysha’s babybels and half a pint I started to feel a bit more like myself again.

8th March

In the morning we had a quick look around Fortrose cathedral…which was ‘nice’. I wouldn’t tell anyone to go out of their way to visit it, but if you’re in the area and you have a spare 15 minutes it won’t ruin your day!

Once we’d seen all we wanted of the ruined cathedral we grabbed some outstanding breakfast baps from the Fortrose Café on our way to catch the bus to Cromarty. I had link sausage and tatty scone just in case you’re interested!

The bus took about 25 minutes and brought us pretty much all the way to the Cromarty lighthouse. It’s one of the University of Aberdeen’s remote campus locations and they run a field course there every year. Unfortunately, because of a re-shuffle, Alysha and I are in the year that don’t get to go, so it was good to go and explore the area on our own.

The Cromarty Firth is unusual in that there are loads of oil rigs ‘parked’ there whilst they’re undergoing ‘refurbishment’. I’m not sure I know what that really means but it’s an unusual and strangely cool sight. We talked a bit about turning one into a bar or a hotel but then realised we have no money.

Before embarking on a damp walk in the unpredictable weather we had a coffee and cake stop at The Slaughterhouse Café. It was a pretty cosy space but lovely, definitely worth squeezing yourself into. Our walk took us through the town where we stopped in a couple of shops. I bought a wooden Cromarty butter knife in a Scandi style shop because Anneli insisted that my life would change for the better if I owned one. I’m yet to use it but I have great hopes!

After leaving the town we headed round to the coast path to the Sutors of Cromarty and then back into town to catch our bus back to Inverness. It was a nice walk with stunning views across the firth and out to sea. We saw a couple of deer on our way back, which is always sweet. 

The bus took about an hour to get from Cromarty to Inverness and only cost about £3.50, which, I think, is an absolute bargain! Back in Inverness Anneli and Alysha had enough time to grab some absolutely essential M&S train snacks before they were back off to Aberdeen. And I bought some sushi dinner and wandered back to the Raigmore on the phone to my parents, giving them the low down on the weekend.

I’m not positive yet but I think next weekend I’ll be in Nairn. These weekend trips won’t last forever by the way…just until I stop living in hospital accommodation!

Micro-adventure: Isle of Skye and Kyle of Lochalsh in 2 days!

Now, I hear you already…’you can’t possibly do Skye AND Kyle of Lochalsh in two days, especially without a car’! And I would not disagree with you! But I could get there by public transport (easily from Inverness where I’m currently staying) and spend two days seeing as much in that area as I could and have a great time doing it! Plus, my accommodation at the Raigmore hospital isn’t the most inspiring place and I didn’t really fancy spending the weekend with my door slamming flatmates so I thought I’d go out and explore instead.

I wasn’t actually planning to write anything about my trip but I went on my own and writing in my journal, which isn’t something I often do, came naturally during some of the quieter moments. I also took a fair few pictures! …This is what I wrote…

22nd February 2020

So, I’m on Skye! I got the two and a half hour train here from Inverness which must be THE most beautiful train journey I’ve ever been on. It started out quite sedately – a few nice rivers and rolling hills but before an hour in it transformed into something more dramatic. It probably helped add to the drama in that it had snowed on the high ground and was still trying. The weather flipped between sun to rain to snow to sun again to hail! I stared out of the window the whole time, sometimes it didn’t even click that my music had stopped.

Once I’d reached Kyle of Lochalsh I ran to the bank to get some hard cash. It didn’t seem super clever to go to an island without any (even an island with a bridge) and with that hard cash I ran into a wool shop because I managed to leave my super warm gloves at home and I was going to need something more for the West coast weather. Now fully prepared I found the bus stop and went across to Skye. I was buzzing! The bus journey was much shorter than I expected but very pretty.

Broadford

I was staying in Broadford so that’s where I got off (funnily enough) – in hindsight I might’ve gone further up to Portree or Uig but without knowing how I’d feel after a week of work or how long it would take me to get anywhere, the middle of the island seemed like a safe bet.

Straight away I headed to Irishman’s point (Rubh an Eireannaich) – in the end I wasn’t actually sure what ‘the point’ was! The walk was lovely though. I saw loads of hooded crows, a couple of redshank but mostly the usual wee brown birds and oystercatchers I’m used to. I had lunch in a really sweet bay whilst the sun was shining and took some pictures. About 10 minutes up the track it was heavy hail! It was brutal! I sheltered behind a little dip in the land with my back to the wind and waited for it to pass.

I carried on for as long as the ‘land’ would let me and then had to turn back along the same path. I hit another hail shower on the way back, this one even worse, and sheltered behind somebodies boat.

I checked into the hotel (The Broadford) and ‘warmed up’. I was pretty warm already to be honest but as soon as I sat down I didn’t want to get up and I didn’t know what I wanted to do next.

Eventually I went back out with the vague thought of looking for otter and watching the sunset. I walked down the road back towards Kyle but it soon became uninspiring. Then I walked back on myself and started down Broadford river but the track quickly petered out leaving me to walk on the road and didn’t fancy that in the fading light dressed all in black. So I walked back to where I’d walked before, towards the harbour. No otter to be seen and no view to a dramatic sunset over the hills. So, I went back to the hotel to dine on instant pot ramen (I wanted to save some money for the bar!).

After dinner I headed to The Gabbro bar (where I wrote the first part of this). Not quite what I expected! If I’m honest I wanted the sanitised, Americanised stereotype; tartan, dark wood and stags. I didn’t want real Scotland/normal life, which in this case, was a fairly normal, faceless sports bar with a limited choice in whisky and drunk rugby fans who would occasionally let out a high pitched scream making the old bar lady grumpy! I wanted to drink my Talisker (made on Skye) and Drambuie (invented on Skye) wrapped in an island fantasy! At one point a dog came in that wasn’t happy to find other dogs in it’s pub. It started fighting and then a drunk girl started ineffectively yelling at the dog, Cesar, to sit. This went on for too long! The Drambiue was better than I remembered (I drank way too many as a teenager with coke). After I left the bar, I got one from the hotel restaurant to take up to my room so I could drink Drambiue and eat crisps in the bath. Classy. Incidentally the hotel restaurant did deliver the Scottish fantasy…if only I’d known that earlier!

23rd February 2020

Got up early so I could eat lots of breakfast (French toast with bacon and maple syrup plus a starter of muesli and yoghurt with lots of coffee. I also stole a banana!) before catching one of the only buses to Kyle that day.

Once in Kyle I wrapped up against the rain and headed to ‘The Plock’. I had pretty low expectations but it was much bigger and prettier than I thought it would be. A lot of it skirted the coast so I looked for otter (didn’t see any). I did however see a golden eagle which I almost missed because I was texting my dad!

I headed to a place called Hector’s Bothy about midday for a sit down and coffee and cake. I wasn’t quite sure what to do next but I had a quick look at the map and a google and decided to walk out along the path the Balmacara for 45 minutes and then head back so I could make the only train of the day.

Once I found the path there was a signpost to Scalpaigh burn (which is spelled differently on the map) and thought ‘well I can definitely make that’ – once I got there, there was a signpost to ‘’Loch Scalpaigh ½ mile’’ and I thought ‘hmm, pushing it but I’ll get a tab on’. Made it! Just! I made better time on the way back so was able to take another quick track for some good views over the bay. As with the Plock the walk was far prettier than I anticipated. I really enjoyed myself.

Made it back on time for the train and managed to sit on the opposite side for different views. So.Many.Deer! I made a little mark in my journal every time I saw one and by the time it became too dark to see I’d marked for 93 red deer! Mental.

Anyway, so I had a great weekend. For the next one I’ve hired a car to explore around Loch Ness and I’m staying in a shepherd’s hut just North of Drumnadrochit. I honestly cannot wait!