Last night we wandered into Wick along the river to watch the Royal British Legion Pipe Band perform. What we thought would be 15 mins as they passed through was actually a 45 minute professional performance with children dancing, drums and marching. It was wonderful to watch – especially how the children of the community were dancing along at the sides. Afterwards, we ventured into The Alexander Bain for a beverage and were delighted to see that Rock Rose Gin was served with Rosemary here too. Simple things! The walk back along the river was lovely and we even had a go on the zip line in the park. Some locals laughed at us but I definitely think they were jealous!
This morning, wholly content, we packed down the van and headed off towards Lairg and eventually Fortrose. Our first stop – Tesco. This Tesco was huge, not Hatfield huge, not Watford huge but massive compared to any other shop we had been in for a fortnight. Caffeinated, fed, and stocked up on groceries, we continued our journey through the “monotonous” plains. I think Colin quite enjoyed the newly surfaced roads, where all the cambers worked. We followed the railway line for several miles and the coastal views were great.
Just after Dunrobin Castle, we took the A839 westwards towards Lairg to visit the Falls of Shin in the hope that salmon would be leaping from the river. Ignore the signs from Lairg and carry on down the A836 until you reach the signpost for Inveran, turn right onto the A837 and then right onto the B864. This cuts your single track exposure down considerably. Neither of us knew what to expect really but the Falls of Shin Visitor Centre was outstanding. This community driven, community led project had first rate facilities and a huge range of ice cream flavours (Scottish tablet, AfterEight, Honeycomb…)! The car park had more than adequate parking for vehicles of all sizes, although the gate markings of cars only/buses only did confuse some.
A walkway, with café at one end and steel Salmon tail structure at the other, gave visitors information about the journey of salmon from the sea – up river – to the sea again. Many children and adults alike were surprised that only 4% of all salmon that made it to the sea, returned to the stream the following season. I now feel super guilty about eating salmon. Watching the salmon leap upstream was somewhat therapeutic and mesmerising though – I don’t know if I could be bothered knowing that the majority of salmon use all their energy in the last few months of their life as they leap upstream to lay eggs.
An hour or so later, we arrived in Fortrose and were pleasantly met by a pallet-made ship welcoming us to the coast. Even more excited by the well-renowned bottle-nosed dolphin sightings just 20 minutes away, we set up for two days with nose to sea views. Happy holidays!
This is not a midlife crisis... 