This location is our only two night stay with the motorhome, so we made the
most of not having to drive with a walk to Rosemarkie. After a rare
navigational error from yours truly, we were lucky to get directions from a
local postie who pointed out the correct route and even a shortcut!
Our main reason for heading to Rosemarkie was to visit the Fairy Glen Falls, a
RSPB nature reserve with two lovely waterfalls. Legend has it that
fairies kept the glen clean for the locals to drink and wash, and today there
is a small model village of fairy houses to continue this legacy. There
were also many other distractions along the route for the kids including a
still pond with a heron and many tadpoles and froglets which the kids had
great fun trying to catch with their hands (all creatures were released
unharmed back into the water even if Forrest did want to keep some as a
pet!).
Both waterfall lakes had stepping stones and were great for rock scrambling
and fine for a shallow paddle. Despite our attempts to warn Paloma that
paddling whilst in her walking boots was probably not the best thing to do,
she proceeded to ignore us. It's all okay though, as she proclaimed that she
likes her boots being wet and to be honest she didn't complain about it too
much! Let's just hope she doesn't complain about her probably still damp boots
tomorrow.
Once back from the falls we had a nice lunch at the local cafe and then spent
the afternoon pottering on the beach. All the kids were happy digging
holes in the sand, whilst a little later Amber also took the boys to explore
the rock pools on the northern edge of the bay where they enjoyed hunting out
the jellyfish and anemones including some ginormous jellyfish washed up on the
beach.
We had planned a boat trip for later in the day to see the seals and dolphins,
but whilst we were nice and sheltered in the bay at Rosemarkie, our motorhome
just a couple of miles away and near the harbour where the boat launches from
was wild and windy. So we received a call to unfortunately let us know it
wouldn't be safe to take the boat out today.
So instead of taking the direct route back we headed for Chanonry Point (the
location we had been going to before "coat gate" the previous night), to try
to see the seals and dolphins from the land. And they didn't disappoint, with
at least one dolphin giving us a show and a seal popping up to say hello too.
It was hard to drag Forrest away and on finally departing he proclaimed that "dolphins are amazing
creatures".
(We didn't have the main camera with us as we were planning on collecting that on route to the cancelled boat trip so you will have to play hunt the dorsal fin on the phone camera photo!)
All that was left was the last bit of the walk back to the motorhome, walking
straight into the gale and after a long and busy day everyone was pleased to finally make it back.
Tomorrow we head north to Brora, with a couple of stops planned along the way.
Blogged by Matt (and Amber).
