Sunday morning was another lazy one. We are loving this weekend of lazy mornings and action afternoons. After a hard frost, we got a stunning Scottish day. The locals were all out and about as this is the first good weather after a month of heavy rain. Before we went out, we were treated to a wonderful Sunday roast. Haven’t had one of those for years and it was the most delicious roast beef, Yorkshire puddings etc (and of course a yummy dessert of cheesecake and icecream).
We headed to the coast again to visit a ruined castle (Findlater castle). Since arriving here it has been become a standing joke about health and safety (‘elf & safety). The British are paranoid about safety and it has given us plenty of laughs. However, when we got to Findlater Castle, Matt decided that ‘elf & safety didn’t come this far north! The ruins clung to the side of sheer cliffs and there was not a barrier in sight. We had great fun going down inside the old castle and exploring the ruins. Even managed a geocache there. The coastline is just beautiful, rugged cliffs, bright yellow flowers (from the gorse and the rape) and beautiful blue skies. We saw our first Heilan’ Coos (Highland Cows) just near Findlater.
After the castle we walked a bit further along the coast and down to Sunnyside Beach. We almost felt like we could be back in NZ, just a bit chillier. By the time we had climbed back up the hill for the second time we were feeling like we had burnt off our huge lunch and wishing we were in shorts and t- shirts. There are some bizarre things here in the UK too. The last photo below is of the dog cemetery in Cullen. Quite weird, and that was only part of it! We all went to church in the evening. The church was a tiny stone church in the middle of the country, that seated about 40 people. After the service we all got served tea, cake and sandwiches in our seats. No matter where you go in Scotland there is always tea and food! We also got a chance to talk to a lady who was born and bred in the area. She had the most amazing accent (Doric accent), I just loved listening to it.
We were a bit sad that this was our last evening at the farm. It has been fantastic to catch up with the family and we have laughed our heads off at old photos and funny family traits that we share. Off to Loch Ness in the morning, hopefully the monster will be spotted!
