A Warm Welcome

The sight of this warm welcoming fire in the grate of the Drover's Inn at Memus, a hamlet near Kirriemuir, was all the better for having driven through a countryside of murk and gloom and all pervading dampness.

We had said goodbye to our hosts at Ballater in sunshine and dry roads to travel southeast into an ever deepening misty, wet countryside, where the hills disappeared and the trees stood stark and dripping in the fields.

By the time we navigated the small side roads near Forfar, there was melting snow at the edges, and puddled potholes to be avoided.
The world contracted to a small area of road ahead with some fields and trees looming out of the mist as we passed.

We were meeting up with his Lordship's Forfar cousins, and we managed to get a table next to this fire where we could gradually thaw out while exchanging family news and tucking into pub lunches.

We have been on the move for a fortnight, but have apart from a little mist, gloom and drizzle, have been lucky with the weather, both in Shetland and Ballater, in that
we have escaped frost, snow and ice, although the cold on Wednesday was unforgettable.
For once the Highlands have had the better weather.