We say goodbye to our dear caravan today. The very welcome break after a 1,5 week intense camping trip and the upcoming camping trip which starts today. We feel rested, clean, but not fully ready to say good bye to the luxury, so we enjoy the final tea and hot meal from our kitchen, a long shower and hiding from the wind.
Tim takes a last morning hike through the forest and along the beach before we leave at 10 to the East, hopping fishing villages along the coast. Our first stop is a dolphin look-out point. The WDC Scottish Dolphin Centre had a small exhibit about the sea life, dolphins and whales. When we arrive several people with big telelenses are standing on the pebble dyke, we rush to join them but there aren’t any dolphins to be seen.
We continue along the coast, this road has been dubbed the North East 250 as an alternative for the busy NC 500 which we drove previously. As we hug the coast we have continues views of the sea, Cleo gets the job to watch the sea as she and Tim sit border the sea. When we drive through a little village Tim spots splashing in the water, he gets the binoculars and sees one dolphin slapping its tail fin on the water, there is another behind it. We stop and watch them for a while but since we have started a trend and more people are watching behind us, we decide to go to relieve the traffic a bit.
We arrive at the Duff house when the house just closes for their lunch break. Good news for the kids: they can play an extra hour on the playground while Tim explores the Georgian estate Duff House from above.
We’re the first to access at 13:15, after the lunch break. The visit starts with a movie explaining the history of the house and its pieces. It was designed by William Adam for William Duff in 1735, one month later the building already started, but it only finished 5 years and a lawsuit later. The full plan was never realised.
After a visit of Edward VII (successor of Queen Victoria) and a marriage between the Duff Duke and princess Louise (grand daughter of Q Victoria) the house was being used as a hotel. In WW II the House became an internment camp and later a prisoner of war camp, and it was used by the Norwegian and Polish forces. In 1956 it passed into care by the State and a period of refurbishment began across the property. It now houses a large but ecclectic art collection.
It rains when we exit the estate, a good reason to skip a second playground visit and continue our coastal drive to a viewpoint of the little hidden harbour town of Crovie. Next is Memsie Cairn, a 4000 year old cairn for burials. But it looks like a giant 25m wide and 4,5 metre high pile of stones.
We skip the ruined abbey by accident, as our navigation app got stuck and we did not notice. It happens more often since an update last week and it’s a bit annoying, especially on straight roads where you don’t notice it gets stuck.
We see it as a sign and head directly to the camping. There’s some light rain again, it continues when we pitch the tent and cook and eat dinner (left-over of yesterdays curry) while we’re in BBQ smoke and smell of our neighbours. The musquito’s also find us again. It will be 8 degrees tonight so we prep our tent well as to not get cold.
