Seal watching

There's a spot at Buckie where you always see seals. We've spent a while watching them there. Last time we timed it perfectly for the tide rising and covering the rocks where the seals like to sunbathe.

We watched for ages as the waves gradually swept over this seal, who was absolutely determined that he was staying on the rock.

 

He was fighting a losing battle against the waves, and eventually the rising sea won!

A day on the coast

A couple of weeks ago we went for a day out on the Moray coast. It was pretty cold, but I still went for a paddle in the sea at Cullen - to see if the salt water would help my heel.  I only lasted a minute or so as it was so cold I already couldn't feel my feet by then!

We went to Bow Fiddle Rock...

 

...  and then headed along to Findochty.

 

 

 

 

By then it had warmed up considerably, so we sat outside and enjoyed the view.

 

 

Peace, perfect peace

As the Olympic flame seemed to rather miss out the vast majority of the north and north east corners of Scotland (we must have been in the 5% of the population it didn't pass within 10 miles of - so I can only assume, given the number of people in this area, that it passed within 10 miles of everywhere else in the country...) it was surprising to find that we had a Cultural Olympiad event - Peace Camp. It was part of the London 2012 festival and was an art installation in coastal locations around the UK. There were 2 locations in Scotland - Valtos Beach in Lewis, and Fort Fiddes, Cullykhan Bay, between Pennan and Fraserburgh in Aberdeenshire.

We had no real idea what it was going to be like, but decided it sounded like it was defintely worth a look. The first night we had tickets for the event was cancelled - it was apparently because of high winds, but having been in the area (less than 2 miles away on both sides of the site) earlier that day and again early evening, I'm not sure why this was a problem. Apparently the tents all had to be taken down, but they were definitely still standing when we drove past at almost the exact time our tickets had been for! Anyway, we obtained more tickets for the next night, and headed off...

Views of the site from Pennan.

First close up view.

The views from the site itself were spectacular - from Hell's Lum along to Troup Head in one direction, and Pennan in the other.

The art installation itself was weirdly compelling - small rounded tents, lit internally, with a 'soundscape' being played on speakers inside the tents, so as you wandered round the site you could listen as well as look at the lighting and just enjoy the experience of being there. A gentle sunset added to our experience.

Afterwards we went down to Cullykhan Bay - the campers around their fire had a great view too.

A great evening.