Exploring

Lovely day that started (after a fight with a very tight turn and high kerb getting out of the car park!) with a wander around Arbroath, sampling an alfresco smokie and admiring the abbey and the seafront communal drying area with its immaculately hung out laundry (extra) before heading north towards Stonehaven. We were a bit unsettled by an email saying our hotel for tonight was cancelling as they had staff virus problems, so we stopped for coffee and found ourselves an apartment above the shops on the beachfront instead.
Did a bit of a detour to visit Catterline in a homage to Joan Eardley but apart from down at the harbour we couldn’t seem to find a view (of the line of cottages) that we expected to find having seen all her amazing paintings of the place….slightly odd to think it appears so unchanged yet also seemed unrecognisable.
Stopped for a walk around Dunottar Castle and along the cliffs at the coast towards Stonehaven. The sky was full of skylarks and there were wild flowers, cows and great views across the sea. Unfortunately the sun had almost slipped behind clouds by then but still lovely and a good walk.
When we arrived at the flat it turned out to be very dramatically decorated place (extra) and very luxurious….quite a difference from the fish and chips and ice cream shop below!
We sat with cups of tea and read our books for a while….lovely comfy chairs and beautiful views out over the bay (shame the sun hadn’t returned, especially as I could see from friends elsewhere in the UK that it was very sunny pretty much everywhere!). Mt phoned to show me AR’s bronze medal for getting 100 ticks (ie marks for good work), and sent me a hilarious video of their school assembly with the reception class absolutely belting out a song about being fishes, elephants, octopuses ‘but best of all, me’….so cute!
We strolled along the beach to dinner at the Tollbooth restaurant (extra). Another lovely place, and the turbot and halibut were fabulous. Wandered back, and once again sat with tea and admired the light slowly fading outside.