Summer Barbecue

First day back home and the weather is significantly better than we had while on holiday - typical, right?!

Brilliant day to laze about and have a barbecue for dinner. Man food!

And after the delicious bits of dead animal, we enjoyed roasted marshmallows over the remains of the BBQ coals - brilliant!

Butterfly Hunting

This afternoon we went back to see Mum's friend. After a wee cup of tea we headed out to go butterfly hunting. It was still a lovely day and we went to a really nice area around the flood defences. There were lots of butterflies, moths, birds and beasties - and even some fish!

We had an excellent guide in Mum's friend's son - he knew everything about insects and we learned a lot and caught some really cool beasties. Plus there was lots of fun to be had running around the area and rolling down the hill!

Back to Findhorn Beach

With a fine morning, we headed out to Findhorn beach. I had some more paddling to do and Dad had a better castle to build. It was a great success on a really lovely morning.

Dad's castle was a much better effort and we waited a long time for the tide to come in and engulf it but Dad couldn't keep me at bay forever and I soon beat the tide to its destruction!

Hopeman Beach

Today we went to meet a friend of Mum's who lives nearby. She had a wonderful house and let me play her harp!

After lunch we headed to Hopeman beach. The weather was nice and there were lots of places to explore; rockpools to investigate; great rock formations and things to climb. This really is a fantastic bit of Scotland's coast and we have been able to spend hours exploring some very small parts of it - it's great fun!

This photo doesn't do the splash justice. The waves were coming in here and being blown very high into the air. We only got a little bit wet!

Dad says these rocks looked like a plough. What you can't tell is that they're at the top of a very large rock that we had a lot of fun climbing up!

This is the other side of that rock.

Then we found this great sand hill which we ran walked struggled up and ran down a few times. At least if Dad did it a few times, I must have done it a few times plus 2!

And then on the walk back to the car, My Folks were unable to keep me out of the sea. Even though I really wasn't dressed for playing in the sea. It wasn't the first time I've been driven home naked, wrapped in a travel rug and I'm sure it won't the last! Luckily my jacket dried before it was really needed again too!

Portsoy

We had a bit of a road trip today. After Fochabers Folk Museum, where we saw what life was like when Mum was growing up (!) we headed to the Dolphin Centre at the mouth of the Spey. There were dolphins to see in the sea and had a nice walk along the river. The weather was beautiful - too hot for Dad and that river was very inviting to cool down in! Mum was sensible though and stopped us from taking a dip.

Since we were already on our way along the coast, we decided to head on to Portsoy. Uncle Ian had told us they served the best ice cream in Scotland and we had to find out if he was right. He couldn't be of course. When we arrived in tiny Portsoy it wasn't too difficult to find the ice cream shop. The selection there was massive and the lady who served us was very patient and helpful, allowing us to try anything we wanted and giving great advice on what flavours mixed well and went with the various sauces they had! It took us a while but we eventually left with a couple of scoops of ice cream each and headed for a walk to the old harbour.

The harbour is very cool. There are actually 2 harbours. A new(er) one and the 17th century one. The new is a bit dull although is without doubt the cleanest harbour with the cleanest water I've ever seen. But we had to make our own entertainment there and you know how we feel about rules..!

That sign says "NO ACCESS"!

The 17th century harbour is pretty cool. Great workmanship in the building of it.

And then we headed along the coast a little. Like the rest of the area the coast is beautiful. Take a look at this though - different coloured rocks right next to each other.

And you know what else? It is the best ice cream in Scotland!

Cove Bay

We returned to Cove Bay today. The last time we were here was in 2010. We checked out the fossilised footprints and while the rocks are still there, they're so weathered you cannot see the footprints anymore. That's such a shame because it was really special.

The Bay is still as special as we remember it, though and what was supposed to be a wee half-hour stop-off turned into a couple of hours exploring. More of the shore and rock was exposed by the tide than last time and it was so interesting.

The tide has sculpted the rocky shore as it's washed rocks around on the surface resulted in deep round bowls and long, interesting channels. Coupled with the cave and tunnel there really is plenty to do here!

Did Someone Say Bacon?!

We tried to go crab fishing yesterday but the weather and tide were having none of it. The weather wasn't a great deal better today but tide times and forecast meant it was worth persevering on the pier in gale force winds!

And it was all worth it!