We are in Huntly and on a hookup – with lots of lovely power for the lappie.
Now, if the 23rd of the month was Day 5, today must be… gosh, Day 9? Three nights at Brahan whizzed by PDQ. We did rather more walking than planned and we got a little wet from time to time but it was almost as peaceful and relaxing as we had remembered – only this time with guns.
We parked in the same spot as last time, which was pretty much a year ago to the day I reckon.
Our Saturday walk had to be re-planned due to a rough shoot in the area of the estate where we had intended walking. We decided instead to go and see the Red Kite feeding. Due to a little map disagreement with the track on the ground and the presence of cows (Nell’s scared of them) we took the long route, got wet and missed the birds. A two and a half mile stroll turned into a 4 hour hike but it was not all bad. Nell found a beautiful ball to carry for about six miles and we had some fine views of Loch Ussie. On the down side, I lost the skin off three of my toes and my hips and knees were giving me gyp. Worn out, we hit the hay by 9pm.
On Sunday Mr Snail’s brother and his wife came to visit as they are on holiday in the Heilans just now. We took a stroll with cameras and that map and it served up anther measure of confusion whilst the weather gods served up further rain. We did see salmon leaping and a roe doe grazing quietly at close hand, oh – and a rainbow. So again, not too unhappy with that outcome.
Monday morning saw us leave Brahan early, without breakfast n fact. Mr Snail wanted to deliver Hank to the hands of the exhaust-fixer-man without delay. We were blessed with another fine day and good travelling. Even Inverness failed to ensnare us in its rush our claws and we were swiftly through, despite queues on the Kessock bridge. I took advantage of the delay to look for dolphins but spotted none.
The exhaust-fixer-man’s establishment was on the far side of Elgin and so we drove straight through. I cast a wistful eye over the M&S Food Hall as we passed…
Hank was left with the very nice man at Custom Crafts, who said he would need around an hour. I asked if the nearby snack wagon made a good bacon roll and he said that they were good but that Harry Gow’s were better. No contest! We walked back down to the main road to Harry’s shack and had a sausage and egg roll apiece with a very good coffee. It certainly hit the spot.
Hank needs a whole new exhaust system soon. The exhaust-fixer-man says we are looking at something like £1,200. Eep! But at least we know where we can have one fashioned and fitted and some time in which to save up. That’s better than having the thing drop off and not knowing what to do about it.
I did the decent thing by the way and suggested that it was daft to take Hank back through Elgin just to go to M&S when we did not actually need anything. So, we turned towards Huntly, stopping only to fill up with LPG at a garage just outside town. That was the plan anyway but after two attempts and with a painfully slow delivery, Mr Snail managed to take on just 66 pence worth of fuel. He gave up. We will try again at ASDA in Kircaldy.