Beach number two, in the rain

The second beach of the week was Lossiemouth West Beach. It's a large beach, bordered by a golf course, which curves up to Covesea Lighthouse and then carries on around the corner. None of this is very obvious from the photos taken today due to the awful weather!

The dogs still enjoyed their damp walk but, unfortunately, I have no photos of them dashing about because I had forgotten to put a card in my camera! Luckily, my little camera was in the car and I just managed to get a few shots when we returned before its battery died! Note to self - check cameras properly next time.

The local air base is close by and aircraft frequently fly low over the beach as they land or take off. So low sometimes that you almost feel you could touch them!

A memorial at the end of the beach provides a poignant reminder of how dangerous the sea can be for fishermen, particularly in years gone by. On Christmas Day, 1806, three boats went out in calm waters to fish just over a mile offshore. These were fairly small, open boats, powered by oars and sails. Although easy to manoevre, they were quite unstable in bad weather. Later that day, gale force winds got up and, despite the efforts of the crews, they were swept out to sea and never seen again. The boats made up the entire fleet of the tiny village of Stotfield (now absorbed by Lossiemouth). There have been many fishing disasters over the years in Scotland but what makes this one particularly sad is that the village lost all its able bodied men and youths in one afternoon. Left behind were 17 widows, 47 children and 2 old men.

A little bit more info on Lossiemouth can be found here.

The lighthouse is barely visible in the distance.
The concrete blocks are the remains of wartime defences

Zooming in - there it is!

Very grey seas

Back at the car, a drookit Teasel and Louis

Here's two I took earlier. How the beach looks in better light

A week's worth of beaches

We consider ourselves lucky to be living so close to the sea and to have plenty of nearby beaches where we can walk the dogs. Those of you who are confirmed townies and prefer to have concrete under your feet would probably hate it, but for us, it's perfect.

Since we are almost spoilt for choice when it comes to beach walks, I thought I'd do a post on a different one for each day of this week. The timing could have been better, seeing as the rain clouds rolled in today, but, since I can't do much about the weather, you'll just have to use your imagination and picture the sky and sea in blue.

I've started right on our doorstep, well almost. We can see the sea from our house and it's just a few minutes walk down to the harbour, which has a beach on either side of it. (Click on photos for a closer view)

An aerial view of our village can be seen here.

East Beach from the harbour end

East Beach is the larger of the two. It is mainly sandy but has rocks at either end as well as a rocky area in the middle, which acts as a natural breakwater.

East Beach looking towards the harbour

The harbour

The little harbour was once busy with fishing boats but, these days, it's mainly leisure boats that use it.

West Beach

Back to East Beach and the rocks in the middle. Jana blends in well.

The tide coming in and hitting the breakwater.

A more gentle pool is created

A perfect learning pool for a vizsla who dislikes waves.

There are dunes for running up and down.......

.......as well as playing hide and seek in (LSH is in there somewhere).


West Beach also has beach huts. They are quite an old-fashioned thing, still popular on some of the more southerly English beaches, but I don't know how many other Scottish beaches might have them. Certainly none that I've ever been to.

Some of them are brightly painted.

This one looks a little sad and neglected.

This one has recently been spruced up and the new cartoon made me smile.

Definitely my favourite.

NB. To get that cartoon you need some knowledge of Bart Simpson and also Scottish words. I'll assume that I don't need to explain Bart's favourite saying but will tell you that 'dookers', in this instance, are swimming trunks/shorts.

A beautiful autumn day along the Moray and Aberdeenshire coast.

Today was our wedding anniversary. Little did LSH know twenty nine years ago just what lay ahead of him! His medal really is long overdue.

Since he was working today, we had a run out on the motorbike yesterday for a celebratory lunch along the coast at Pennan. The timing was perfect as yesterday's weather was so much better than today's.

Since the dogs had to be left at home (really must get them a side-car!), we took them out en masse to let off a bit of steam. Part of the walk involved a stubble field, Jana's favourite. She did a lot of this........

There was much running and jumping

These photos were actually taken a few days ago.....but you get the idea.

We went off on the bike along the coast to the tiny village of Pennan, which sits at the bottom of cliffs and is perched right on the seafront. It was made famous when it was used as part of the setting for the film Local Hero. Two years ago, after heavy rain, part of the cliff face gave way and a mudslide hit many of the houses at the west end of the village. All is back to normal now but there must still be a bit of worry that it could happen again.

We had lunch in the Pennan Inn, highly recommended if you happen to be passing.

Pennan

Although this isn't the actual telephone box that features in the film, that was just a prop, this one is almost in the same position and is probably the most photographed box in Scotland.

The harbour at Pennan.

On the way back we stopped off to visit the cliffs at Troup Head and maybe see some of the sea birds.

A view west along the Moray Firth coastline

LSH at the top of the cliff which was devoid of birdlife! We'll have to return in early summer when it will be buzzing with them.

We sat on the cliff top for a while, there was hardly a breath of wind and the sun was really warm. You'd never believe it was an October day.

Looking east, the white cottages of Pennan can just be seen in the distance

We stopped at another tiny ex-fishing village a little further up the road. This time it was Crovie, which is pronounced 'Crivvie' for some reason. These cottages are perched in an even more precarious position than Pennan, on stormy days the sea must be washing their windows.

It all looked quite wonderful on a day like this.

The village was established in the eighteenth century when crofters were put off their land during the clearances, they took up fishing, albeit on a small scale, but a great storm in 1953 caused a lot of damage and many families moved. The village is now made up mainly of holiday homes.

There is no road up to the houses, just a footpath along the front. Anything to be delivered to the cottages has to be taken along in a barrow.

You can see just how close to the sea the village really is.



On the way home we could see a sundog, the first I've ever noticed. There were actually two, one each side of the sun, and they were quite bright. I couldn't catch them whilst we were rattling along on the bike and they had faded a little by the time we were able to stop but you can make them out. Clicking on the photos will help a little.

It may be autumn but I'm glad the sun is putting up a fight.

One for the werewolves

We had a lovely bright full moon the other night and it was surrounded by some wonderfully lit clouds. I did attempt to capture just how interesting the clouds looked but failed. At least the moon turned out quite well.

Take a look at far-flung skies over at Skywatch Friday.

The last day of summer?

I'm still lagging behind with posts but I've been busy with a photo project at work and that has been taking up much of my time.

We have gale force winds today, there's a real chill in the air and it couldn't be more different from last Saturday when I was basking in sunshine at a dog show held at Perth Racecourse. This was a new venue for this show, most people seemed to like it but, seeing as three rings were outdoor, I think it may have been a different story had it been a wet day! Toy breeds wouldn't have been affected because their ring was indoor, in what must surely be a first.......a bar! I must add that it was closed, I think swigging Famous Grouse whilst in the ring might be frowned upon by the Kennel Club.

I stayed the night with Ian, Lynne and Euan as I had another show on Sunday just up the road at Arbroath. No photos from there as it is held in a rather dimly lit hall. I had three dogs with me, all were placed at both shows but there are no wins to report. Louis did the best with a second place in a class of sixteen veterans at Arbroath. (For those that might not know, a dog becomes a veteran once it is over seven years of age. Louis is now just over ten).

View of Perth Racecourse and the outdoor rings from the grandstand

Anne (Pyatshaw) makes use of the winners enclosure. Tass was surely eligible, seeing as she had won the toy veteran class.

A novel place for a ring

A glimpse of neighbouring Scone Palace



A few of the dogs at the show.........

The original shaggy dog story

Big smile from this borzoi

Jana loved sunbathing on the warm grandstand



There was time for a walk in the park with Euan before bed............

Kicking through the leaves, a sure sign of autumn

In a world of his own

Bath done, ready for a story and bed