Dunrobin

 

More holiday photos. This time from the day we visited Dunrobin Castle, a very pleasant place to spend the day. One of the most fascinating places within the castle grounds is the small museum though unfortunately photography was not allowed inside - you'll need to go and see for yourselves what was in there! On the way home we visited Dornoch where Ottery enjoyed his visit to the beach. Ottery was rescued by N from Dunrobin, where apparently he was being bullied by the other "cuddly" otters in the castle shop.

A Bike Ride Round Avoch.

Our holiday is starting to seem like a long time ago. Schools here have been back since Tuesday, I started on Monday for an in-service day and haven't stopped all week. I'm absolutely shattered and at the moment have serious doubts as to whether I can cope with the demands of planning, preparation and marking. It has taken over my life. Admittedly this week I have had no time off from teaching, which as a probationer teacher I am due, plus there are staffing issues at my school which means extra planning for me. The children in my class are lovely, there is one lad who is a little troublesome for me at the moment but compared to others he's fine really. I'm just sooo tired. I've not been to bed till about 1am all week - 2am for one night (morning!). I'd been led to believe this year should be easier than the PGDE year, so things should improve...

Anyway, enough of the moans. Here are some photos I took of an evening bike ride I had while we were visiting the Black Isle for the week. It was fairly late on in the evening before I left and the setting sun hid behind low cloud for much of the ride before making a welcome appearance towards the end.

Tattie dreels. The cottage we were staying in is the one on the left, the owners of the cottage stayed in the one on the right. I got chatting to one of them and it turns out we both grew up in the same small town - cue lots of reminiscing about various people and places. 

 Some kind of umbellifer.

 Thistle

 Shadow shot.

 Gorgeous purple umbellifers/umbelliferae, whatever...

 Again, love the clouds at the bottom of the shot.

 And again, yeah, likey lots.

 Those clouds. Wondrous!

 Rosebay willowherb to fore, rolling hills behind. Living in a dairy part of the country we normally have lots of green fields around us so the golden fields here did look special.

 Zooming in on the hills a little - I like the rows of little trees along the field boundaries.

Now down to the beach at Avoch.

 Then to the harbour.

It's a very steep climb up the hill back to the cottage - too steep for me to cycle. The lane up the hill is lined with wild raspberry plants: every few feet I would stop and enjoy eating a handful of the delicious, sweet berries.

 Nearly at the top, the sun is escaping from the clouds....

 ...for a lovely sunset.

A last look the other way down to the sea, then "home".

Around Cromarty With a Unicorn.

Photos of Cromarty and round and about.We visited twice while we were in the Black Isle.

On our first visit the weather was still hot and sunny. We wandered round the village soaking up the atmosphere, having lunch in Couper's Creek, and visiting the pottery (I made a few purchases).

On our second visit the wind was strong and very blustery. We had planned to catch the ferry across the Cromarty Firth and cycle up to Balintore. However, it was so windy we were not allowed on the ferry as there was a good chance we would be stranded. Instead we remained on the Black Isle and explored the area to the north east of Cromarty by bike. We then had pizza in Sutor Creek; I'd recomend either of the Creeks, the food and settings of both were very nice.

A unicorn is added to the exotic/mythical beasts we saw on our holiday - see recent posts for dolphins and a mermaid. I don't think seagulls qualify, but one did bite A's finger when we were having a picnic lunch before our cycle ride...