Not knowing the territory very well, I decided that doing the drive straight up from Dingwall to Wick would be a bit silly. I also wanted to go to Portmahomack as well – looked nice.
Thankfully, no rain, so a dry pack up. Still a bit overcast, BUT NOT RAINING !! (there’s a theme there somewhere…..). So up the main A9 for a while, then on to the side roads and Invergordon – another offshore industry/petrochemical place that seemed to ring a bell from my past working history.
Later, I went through another of those places with a girls name, this time Barbaraville. Another laird’s wife perhaps ?
Not one for always staying on the main roads ( ie I’m a nosey bugger) I dived down a side road off the A9 towards the coast and the sea.
What I hadn’t expected was to find a set of small villages next to an extensive bay and beach, facing out to the Moray Firth – Shandwick Bay. There are three neighbouring coastal settlements of Shandwick, Balintore and Hilton of Cadboll that make up what are known as The Seaboard Villages. Each has its own character, one with a pier, one has a harbour and one has a long sandy beach.
When you find beautiful deserted beaches like this, who cares about the rain, the wet tent, the wet stinking clothes, etc, etc….. Stopped here for a while consuming an alfresco lunch from the remains of my somewhat depleted cool box.
After my contemplation of the world…. it was off further up the road towards Portmahomak on the shores of the Dornoch Firth. The village is positioned on the Tarbat peninsula and (because if its position) is the only fishing village on the east coast of Scotland that faces due west. Apparently it can enjoy some pretty spectacular sunsets.
Had a bit of a walk around, but decided that it’s (again !) a place I’d like to return to one day, for a better look. There’s a couple of interesting looking walks right up to the end of the peninsular. Not for me today – my main target was to get to the next campsite at Dornoch, as their laundry was open – dry clothes beckoned !!!!
Lynn and Darren at the Dornoch Caravan and Camping Park were sympathetic to my cause and gave me exclusive access to the dryers for a while, despite the COVID restrictions of one person at a time. I have to say this restriction was being interpreted a bit liberally by several of us campers, but everyone just behaved in a sensible manner.
By the way, the sun was now well and truly out, blue sky, no rain but a stiff breeze. Such joy ! I rigged up a few washing lines to assist the drying out process.
It’s a huge 35 acre site, with the tent part laid out in small “bays” within the dunes. I was joined later by a couple (Andrew and Amy) in a Landrover based camper. They were on honeymoon, but had neglected to get married. Another COVID casualty. Had a chat and a few beers.
Also briefly met a lovely lady from Ayrshire, by herself with a VW camper complete with personalised number plate and golden labrador. Claimed to have retired, but didn’t look a day over 45 to me. Why couldn’t I have stayed another night……….. Unfortunately this was only a single night transit for me, as I had a series of pre-booked stops to move on to. Indeed, everywhere I stayed overnight on this trip insisted on pre-booking, so no flexibility. Such is life…….
Onward to Wick.