The weather was a little overcast, cool and almost rainy. It was very quiet when we went for a little walk along the coast path in Nairn.

Until we discovered the organizers setting up for Parkrun Nairn. We got out of there before the running started. 

We left Nairn and drove north onto the Black Isle and stopped at Rosemarkie community cafe for a coffee. It had great sea views and the coffee was good. 

There was a cliff with bits in that could have been a fossil cliff – more on that later.

We then continued to Cromarty where we parked on the Main Street next to the beach.

We were meeting Brendan from Skye here who was visiting his girlfriend Gill.

We first checked out the harbour from the 1700s that functions in all tides and is a safe harbour so was a major port for ships passing by.

We then found a monument to all the Scots who had left during the clearances to go to Canada from here.

We found an interesting community sauna made out of a horse box. It would be great in the winter. Someone was in there.

We then checked out the town including the very nice pottery and art shop.

We then went to Hugh Miller’s house which is a National trust site. Hugh was a fossil hunter, philosopher, poet, author and religious leader. 

The house is where he was born and grew up. His father died in a shipwreck when he was 5 so was brought up by his mother and 2 uncles. He was a tear away and didn’t go to school much.

He first became a stone mason and found fossils in the stone. He then became very interested in fossils and went out searching for them in the nearby cliffs. After reconstructing a fish he developed theories about the evolution of life and wrote a book on them.

This got him attention. He also had religious ideas and helped get the Free Church established.

Unfortunately he only lived to 53 as he had lots of lung pain due to his stone masonry (but some said mental illness) and shot himself. 

His house was tiny and has been maintained as it was in the 1800s.

There was a porridge drawer where hot porridge was poured at night and slices were cut next day to eat. The baby was often put in the drawer above to keep it warm.

Hugh’s great grandfather was supposedly a pirate who had brought back Spanish silver .

An old tradition is to hang a silver ball at the window to distract any evil spirits who might like to come in.

We then went to put the van into Cromarty Campsite – a lovely community run aire with 3 shower/toilets and dishwashing facilities. It is a great setup.

After lunch we went back to town and went to the Court house museum which was the original courthouse and jailhouse with recreated scenes. It was quite interesting hearing the stories about the court cases. 

There were also stories as to how the harbour had competed with Inverness. Also Lord Strathnaver regularly put in orders to be delivered by boat to Dunrobin Castle in Golspie.

We then heard from Brendan and met him and Gill across the road in the Fishertowns pub.

We have known Brendan for many years including his year in Australia in 2005. 

After a couple of drinks we went to find pizza. Friends of Gill were having a street party with the birthday boy being the DJ. It was just up the road – so we were invited to take our pizza up there. We then had a great time meeting lots of lovely people including Gill’s best friend Loren.

Loren invited us all to go to see her new campervan. It is a beautifully converted van – very plush and using only electricity – no gas. Cooking is on an induction cooktop using AC power from an inverter converted from the 12v.

I bet it’s the first party in Loren’s van! Sorry for the bad pano photo!

We went back to the party but it was getting very cool and I only had a skirt and sandals on. So we said our goodbyes and headed back ti the van for a warming peppermint tea.