Day 31: Montrose, Johnshaven, and Stonehaven

Spent a couple of hours this morning on an unbelievably fabulous beach.

Lunan Bay just outside Montrose. White sand, dunes and dark cliffs. This has to be one of Scotland's best beaches, and I had it all to myself. There was a cafe there, but although it said it was open 7 days a week, perhaps that meant from noon. There was an information board that claimed it was a good place to find agates and other gemstones, but I had no idea what to look for. Though I did find lots of other pretty stones that I will make into sets of runes.

Coastal tourist routes are well marked in Northumberland and Scotland, so Gloria and I meandered down narrow roads with her top down in the sunshine (smugly aware from friends, that the weather in Eastbourne was dreadful.)

There are lots of small fishing villages on the route from Dundee to Aberdeen. Johnshaven was a nice little place.

It had a small Hotel on the Quay called The Anchor where the food was excellent and interesting, including such dishes as lobster with cucumber salsa, home made venison burgers, haggis bites and a wonderful fish stew Italian style with tomato and garlic, parmesan and crusty bread! Definitely worth a visit.

There was also a wonderful craft shop where all the work was genuine craft, not tatt by any other name.

The owner of the Starfish Studio, like the Velvet Easel in Portobello in Edinburgh, had bought the premises and created the gallery from scratch. She had arts and crafts from makers both local and national. I had to remind myself that Gloria is small and her boot full.

I had wanted to stay in Stonehaven. When I got there I couldn't think why! Yet another castle of course. My poor daughter Morgan writes a castle blog and there are 300 round here according to Visit Scotland.

This one is rather splendid. It's a ruined medieval fortress called Dunnottar Castle. And there is a lot of it.

Its claim to fame, amongst other historical events of note, is that in May 1652 its people managed to smuggle out the Scottish Crown Jewels under the noses of Cromwell's forces, hidden in a woman's skirt!

Back to Stonehaven: it has a harbour...

 And a training centre for marine survival...

 A market square, which is a car park, and very few shops...

From the harbour you can walk along a wooden pathway into the town and along that walkway there are some sculptures.

One sculpture on the sky line near the castle looks like a folly.

It is neither sculpture nor folly. It's a war memorial. I thought it looked like a Greek temple.

Apparently however, Stonehaven is the place to be at Hogmanay (New Year) when residents swing blazing balls of fire over their heads and drink lots! Booze and fire balls. Mmm....

Cue for a gin and tonic I think, but not until I get to my next host as Scotland quite rightly has a zero tolerance to drink driving.

And tonight I am staying on a farm a few miles from Aberdeen with Judith and Chris.