My summer holiday - a fading memory

Well the holiday seems a long time ago now. Wish I'd had longer to go away, particularly since two weeks would not have been twice the price of one week. The largest part of my expenditure was on diesel for towing which would have been the same for a longer trip - I would just have had more nights in each location. As it was, I spent the first night at Culloden, simply because it is a convenient stopover. The next day I towed up to Brora in quite heavy wind and rain - I was glad it was a short drive. I arrived early in the afternoon and had a choice of pitches before the site filled up. This was my first visit to this site but will not be the last - the beach is just a short walk over the golf course and the site itself is very pleasant. I parked next to a seasonal caravan so that I could benefit from their bird feeders as well as my own! They had a couple of goldfinches visiting their nyjer feeder plus lots of sparrows.

The weather at Brora was pretty wild and wet but improved as I drove north the next day. By the time I reached John O' Groats it was very pleasant and remained so for the three nights I stayed there. The campsite at Groats is nice, with superb views of Orkney, but I elected to stay on my cousin's farmyard to keep the costs down. Saving three nights' pitch fees compensated for the extra diesel to drive so far north!

I left John O' Groats, on what proved to be the best day of the week, and drove down to Morvich on the west coast. In future I think I will break the journey at another site - I left Groats at 2pm and did not arrive at Morvich until 7.30pm - bit of a long drive. It was showery on the west coast so I was glad to get the caravan pitched and the dinner in the oven. I only had three nights at Morvich and the weather continued wet and windy. I spent a day over at Glenelg trying (in vain) to see the sea eagles and was joined for dinner on the last night by friends from Edinburgh who were staying at a holiday cottage in the area. All too soon it was time to pack up and return home. At least it was raining when I left so I didn't feel quite so bad!

On the road at the start of the holiday