Menootanaboot; YAMster Leaves The Hutch: 2nd Leg

Just in case you missed the 1st leg, click here... NB, all pics are clickable for biggification.

After all that dreich en route to Alness, we awoke to bright sunshine and bounteous birdsong on Saturday morning. Washed dressed and breakfasted by 08:30h, Mac1, F** and I loaded up Gabby and headed to the shoreline for a morning meander. Well, I meandered. The rest took a gambol in another direction. I had taken the Fudge^^ for its first real outing in over two years. There was a lot to point the lens at.

[sidebar; ** F is the wife of our cousin M. Cousin M is an ex-RAF and Desert Storm veteran with PTSD. He joined us for evening chatters, but mostly our visit was girl-support for F. They only recently moved up to Alness to be near cousin M's parents. Gabby is a 'Bravehound' supplied just as this move was made. She's a work in progress...but aren't we all? ^^The Fudge, for those new here, is my larger Fujifilm camera. Read about that part of life on this link.)

The morning was mild, very still and just one of those special, early-autumnal beauties which soothe the seething mind and heal the heart. There was still evidence of heavy weather - damp ground, drop-laden foliage, hills peeking through cloud inversions...

Alness is on the east coast of this Bonny Land, thus facing the rising sun. Also, being that bit further north than the Hutch, said sun lies a little lower. This makes for interesting lighting, photographically speaking. (Read - exposures are a challenge!)

That's looking north and a tad east, toward the town where my father and his sisters grew up - Invergordon. That sleepy wee fishing port became important to the oil rigs, Cromarty Firth being a sheltered haven - and now where many are decommissioned. Add in that it is now a major port for floating ghettos cruise ships, and it's not the town we knew as kiddies visiting grandparents.

A large expanse of salt marsh is home to lots of wading birds. Of course, they pretty much eluded the lens. I did manage to capture a few at a great distance, a closer Shag (crested cormorant) and an enormous gaggle of geese rose from the fields somewhere and littered the sky with a fly-by, which produced a couple of interesting attempts at motion stop photography!

There was quite the noise with that. Very impressive. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and was surprised when I spotted my companions coming towards me from their side of the walk. I had wandered a lot farther than I realised. 

The 'girls' decided to retrace their steps and take me the full circle. This pleased Gabby, who got to flop in her favourite pool... cue a couple more gratuitous doggy shots.

Then from a different angle, to show the decorative ironwork on the outlet...

There was also a piece of driftwood that intrigued us. I saw an anaconda from the front angle. Then side-on, one could imagine a seal...

After that idyllic couple of hours, we headed back for a comfort break and then over to aunty M and uncle I (cousin M's parents - aunty M is dad's younger sister) for morning tea and a good old catch-up. We sat in their summer house in 23'C temps (!!!) and fighting off the wasps that wanted some of our lemon cake.

It wasn't all greedy critters... we spotted a butterfly - not something expected at this time of year!!! After gathering here, we returned to F and cousin M's place for lunch and readied for our afternoon sojourn...

More on that next Thursday! Yes, it's another TBC...