The Walker set off for Dornoch and I took the town tour - "Tain Through Time" . The small visitors' centre, audio tour of the town and tiny museum are pretty good and state in no uncertain terms how important the place was during medieval times. Once again I had been here on the round-the-coast walk but hadn't thought too much of it. It had probably been raining and out of season! Which is actually how I remember Dornoch; shops being shut, the cathedral closed for some reason and it not being a very tourist friendly place. Madonna has certainly changed that!
Dornoch Cathedral
From Bernie:
Today's walk 11.6 miles : Cumulative 1202.7 miles
Back to sensible distances & more comfortable off-road walking which was just as well as it was also back to the touristy stuff & another long day!
Started off at the water's edge in Tain & wandered through the strangely-deserted wildlife area & children's park; as yesterday the whole town was eerily quiet - difficult to believe it's the school holidays &, today in Tain, a Bank Holiday as well.
With plenty on the agenda I was keen to be off but not before I'd left instructions with the manager for her visit to the Glenmorangie distillery.... after all, it's weeks since Glengoyne & the bottle is almost dry! Established in 1843, most of the stone buildings date from 1887 - significant to my walk only because of the last Sir Walter Scott Memorial of LeJog, which stands beside what is now the main road, only a few hundred yards from the distillery: it is said that this was chiselled out by a stonemason working on the site, obviously a fan!
It's interesting that improvements to the A9 include a tourist lay-by; the first time I came here I had to hack my way through undergrowth to find the stone!
Highlight of the Day: another 'last' today was the crossing of Dornoch Firth, the final one of the 3 great sea inlets that cut into the far north-east of Scotland.... & that brought me to my 'highlight' - returning to the open sea that I'd left in early May, just before Barnstaple! There'd been a strong smell of seaweed on the front at Tain but rounding Dornoch Point there were suddenly proper waves, sand & a wonderful wide expanse of water stretching out to distant headlands - beautiful!
Dornoch Firth
Unlike the manager I've always liked Dornoch with its wide streets & majestic old buildings. More of a bustling Bank Holiday feel here, especially as I made my way down to the beach & the town's famous golf course. A well-walked track runs through the dunes beside the wildly-undulating links &, what look like to a non-golfer, cruel patches of marram grass; chatted to several golfers searching for 'lost' balls close to the out-of-bounds markers & to one wayward gent retrieving his ball from the beach!
Royal Dornoch Golf Course - there you are David!
There's always been something 'special' going on in the cathedral when we've been here before; I was particularly pleased to be able to look inside today & see the stained glass for which it's famous. Sad to see the reference to Madonna & christenings in the cathedral's tourist blurb, though - I thought they might have got over that by now. Which leads me to.....
Song of the Day (an occasional series!): 'Madonna's Wedding' by Richard Thompson - couldn't help recalling this with a smile. If you don't know it, it's worth tracking down!
'Praise'
Beer of the Day: haven't moaned about pubs for a few days so here are some experiences from the last couple of days! A pub with 5 labelled pumps.... but only Carlsberg on draught - "We've had a really busy weekend!" the publican explained to the 3 of us in an otherwise empty pub on Sunday lunchtime.
A barman who, when asked by a customer for a pint of Belhaven, took a can from the cooler, plonked it on the bar & asked for £2.80 - the customer opened it himself, paid & drank it straight from the can; he could have bought 4 for £1.99 in the supermarket next door!
The pub with 8 labelled pumps but only John Smith's, Tennent's & Blackthorn 'on' - thought I'd have the Blackthorn until he said, "You'd better have a taste - it might be flat!" It wasn't flat but his cooler was broken, so I asked for a bottle of cider instead. He checked, then declared, "We haven't got any.... but we might be getting a delivery tonight!"
Very pleased that the manager had been to The Black Isle Brewery! Had a bottle of 'Red Kite': amber with a slight bite - pleasant, not particularly memorable but I enjoyed it!
Fishermen on the beach below Dornoch Golf Course
9 days to go!
Things we're looking forward to doing when we get home (manager): being able to see family & friends after so long away!
Ann: watched the last 5 minutes of some game in the Dublin Cup yesterday afternoon & saw Celtic score 3 goals against what looked like a bunch of part-timers! Could have gone to see Ross County play Queen's Park on Saturday afternoon - we were staying barely a hundred yards from their ground in Dingwall - but went for a walk instead!
Cricket, though, has looked very good.... & surprising to someone just picking up snippets via the internet! Despair of early Friday afternoon to disbelief by Sunday evening!
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