Stopping On The Way

Before we left Stonehaven, we had to treat ourselves to Fish & Chips from The Bay, which was almost next door and they were the UK no1 Independant takeaway 2013. In Scotland, you tend not to get Cod, so I had to make do with Haddock, not my favourite, as thinner than Cod and sometimes a bit smelly. I couldn't find fault with it. It was superb, as was the crispy batter and the chips, all fried to perfection in Beef Dripping, again, the norm in Scotland. I wish it was in England!

Next door to The Bay is the oh my goodness, just hold me back, Ice Cream Parlour. Pistachio and Rose was my choice.

It's a very good job I don't live there!!


We then moved on and unusally had a one night stop, in the middle of nowhere, it was classed as Grantown-on Spey but back end of beyond described it better. On the way we stopped off for a meet up with a friend I hadn't met yet.

Jim is a Black Country chap and through our shared interests we had been 'Friends' for years. So as we were almost passing his door, we were going to call in for a cuppa.

Jim has been living in Scotland for a few years now and his wife is Scottish. They like the peace and quiet. Now, I say we were passing his door, the truth of the matter is, we were in the vicinity but he acually lives up a track about a mile from the nearest road. You go up a track to a farm and then turn up a smaller track and finally, when you think this surely is a joke, you actually come to his house. It's lovely, still a work in progress as they only moved in a few months ago but what an idyllic place to live. They've even seen a wild cat sitting on a fence post.

So we had a cuppa, had a chat, met the dogs and then moved on to our over night stop.

The Goddess parked up at Jim's, in the Menage. There's posh!!

The site for that night was peaceful and scenic and as the light started to fade, we saw a Hare, running around and shadow boxing with itself. Wish I had managed to catch that on camera.

In the morning, we finally heard our first Cuckoo of the year. We had almost given up.