Gone With the Wind

I was up at five with Toots this morning and at about 7:30am, after I'd popped into the coop to pick up last minute fridge items and I'd made seven tuna sandwiches and packed a picnic and I'd folder one load of clothes and hung up another load and after three more children came downstairs wanting breakfast, but just before I'd gotten round to making the pancakes (I know, I'm a wonder - and isn't it amazing how much you can get done when you're up and dressed at 5!) I spent a moment enjoying this beautiful sunrise:

Red sky at night:
shepherds' delight.
Red sky in the morning...

More fool me, because that warning for sailors was the right one!  What a rough crossing to Orkney we just had - hearing the words "winds have increased to Gale Force" on embarking do not fill many with joy!  Not that it stopped most of us enjoying our dinner, though we did need to hang on to our plates, cutlery and glasses pretty tightly.   There was no complaining though when the boat took it's alternate route and headed towards Scapa Flow where the water was relatively calm, even though it added on an extra hour to the crossing.  A rough sea after a 5am rise was not a good look on Toots!

Anyway, we'd had a really pleasant journey up from Inverurie, spotting the Beatrice Bravo and Alpha that the Don had, many moons ago, spent quite a bit of time on, and the three jack ups and five rigs stacked in the Cromarty Firth, and best of all, stopping for a picnic lunch in the gorgeous beachside town of Nairn and catching up with friends who moved up six months ago.

The "Brighton of the North"

Beatcha!

Sorry, best of all was trying out that home-made Nairn ice-cream!  Turkish Delight, Jaffa Cake or Parma Violet flavour anyone?!

The perfect cafe - supplying blankets and hot
water bottles! As well as ice cream, hot drinks
and fancy pieces.  ALL YEAR ROUND.
Honestly, even Christmas Day!