2019 Holiday in Inverness: Days 3 and 4: Fort Augustus, Inverness, Dornoch and Helmsdale

We had a sustaining veggie cooked breakfast before setting off for Fort Augustus.

It was rather a disappointment when we arrived to find that the water had been drained from this area of the Caledonian Canal so that repairs could be carried out.

[Please click on any photo to see a larger version.]

We set off on a walk next to The Canal, but decided after a mile or two that it was a bit too dull to continue with, without the water and boats to look at.

We headed down to Loch Ness, which was more appealing, to see the 'tiny lighthouse', actually a shipping beacon.

Here is the view back up towards the locks.

There was not a lot of choice of restaurants and cafes open for lunch, and we decided that we would head back to Inverness. I always feel that Fort Augustus is a pretty village, but a bit too much of a tourist trap. However, on a previous visit, we hired a motor boat and ventured out on to Loch Ness, and that was quite exciting.

'Nourish' was our venue for lunch back in Inverness. It is a small organic, vegetarian restaurant, that offers a simple menu of soups, sandwiches and cakes, with a savoury 'plate of the day' (a white bean stew on the day we visited). We had cheese and chutney GF sandwich, or wrap, which came with a mixed leaf and sprouted bean side salad. Vegan options were also available. It was busy on the day we arrived and we had to share a large table with two ladies, and people later than us were turned away, so it might be best to book a table in advance at busy times.

The Town House in Inverness has just had a revamp.

I had a look round the T K Maxx in the city centre and managed to find a Benetton cagoule for £9.99, which I was very pleased with!

On the Tuesday, we decided to take a long drive north, up to Helmsdale, stopping off at Dornoch on the way.

The beach at Dornoch was Brock's morning walk...

Definitely one of our favourite places to visit in the region. Acres of clean sands, with a scattering of rocks and rock pools to investigate.

We walked back into the town for coffee and cakes at the dog-friendly Cocoa Mountain Cafe. It just serves drinks and cakes.

Dornoch is an attractive and unspoilt town, with interesting independent shops, hotels, cafes etc. The Jail in the town is now an upmarket shop, with units selling art, clothing, ornaments and souvenirs.

Timespan at Helmsdale was our next stop. It houses a museum, art gallery, gift shop, bakery, archive, and riverside cafe. Here are some of the things we saw there ...

The view from the cafe, where I had carrot and coconut soup, followed by a GF citrus polenta tray bake. Rob had a toasted cheese sandwich with bulgar wheat side salad.

The small museum has some charming exhibits, and rooms showing life in the past.

 A rag rug!

Typical general store.

Part of the current exhibition in the art gallery:

No Colour Bar: Highland Remix: Clearances to Colonialism 22 March to 9 June 2019

 

Another walk for Brock at The Mound at Loch Fleet, broke up the journey back to the holiday cottage. The huge causeway was designed by engineer Thomas Telford and was constructed during the years 1814 - 1816. The link above gives more information about the site.

 

After this long, but interesting day, we headed back to watch the semi final of The Great British Sewing Bee. Nail biting stuff! 😄

Farfield Mill Visit, Including the International Textile Exhibition 11 Jan - 27 Feb 2019

My friend, Margaret, and I had an enjoyable trip to Farfield Mill in Sedbergh today. Many thanks to another friend, Babette, who mentioned it to me following her own visit!

The Mill is about five miles off the M6 at Junction 37, and has plenty of parking on site. There was a road closure in the town centre today, so we had a bit of a diversion, but made it there eventually!

The entrance cost is £4.05 per person, or you can visit Level 3 and the cafe for free.

There are many, many things to see over the four Levels, including:-

• demonstrations and 'have a go' areas
• 2 second hand book shops - including a huge variety of craft books, other topics and fiction
• Artists' studios - there were a number of artists and makers 'in residence' and hard at work
• gift shop (of course!)
• heritage displays
• 2 galleries with a changing programme of exhibitions
• a cafe

We began in the cafe with coffee/tea and cake - always a good start!

Then we made our way to the top level and worked down from there. Here are some of the items on display. Click on any image to see a larger version.

What a wonderful project for the children, and the person who put the whole thing together was a genius! It reminded me of the cardboard looms that my Mum used to make for me as a child to weave on. (And, indeed, there were some of those available to 'have a go' on).

Tapestry Weaving by Rita Quick

Cabinet of beautiful woven fabrics from The Shetland Islands

One of the many working looms on site

Then it was on to the two galleries of art quilts that formed the International Textile Exhibition, which runs until 27 February 2019. The theme was the four seasons. This is a small sample of those on display.

This lovely quilt make me think of traditional Japanese woodcuts and I loved the plum tree with the added surprise of the little green bird in it, and Mount Fuji (I think!) in the background.

This was such an unusual subject for a quilt, that it caught my eye, and then the brilliance of the three-dimensionality of it struck me, together with the great fabric choices.

This quilt vibrated with colourful machine stitch and applied rhinestones and made me think of nerves tingling and brain cells being activated.

This stunning quilt glowed and shimmered like a subtle kaleidoscope pattern. The three dimensional insect was beautifully realised and there was also a layer of hand stitch in places that only became apparent close up. I think that this was made with silk fabrics.

This quilt was a beautiful representation of a snowy woodland, with many textures and details to discover.

I think that this had to be my favourite piece out of a very strong exhibition. The individual units making up the quilt, looked like ploughed autumn fields. These were interspersed with suspended, marbled, felted wool balls to represent the gourds. We wondered if the green and orange fabric had been hand dyed specially. A really amazing and surprising piece of work that certainly represented autumn in its subject matter and colour palette.

This is a view of one small section of the exhibition, showing mainly autumn-themed art works.

If you are visiting the Mill, it is well worth while paying a visit to Sedbergh town centre, with its many independent shops selling books, arts, crafts, food, clothing, hardware, kitchen utensils and more. We had a delicious lunch of soup (made with beetroot and red wine!) and sandwich in the Three Hares Cafe and Bakery. We also bought some cake slices to take away. They have vegetarian and gluten free options available, and they aim to use high quality and local produce.

A final point of interest was the local community charity shop, where I foraged out some wool fabrics, yarn and a new top, all very reasonably priced. They had drawers of ribbons, tapestry wools, fabric remnants, and jars of buttons, so for anyone interested in textile crafts, there were plenty of bargains to find.

Holiday In North Berwick: North Berwick

After yesterday's exertions and 4-hour-round-trip, we decided to explore locally in North Berwick today.

 
We gave Brock his second walk of the day in the Lodge Grounds Park at North Berwick, then headed to the dog-friendly Steampunk Cafe for morning coffee and cake. It was so warm that we were able to sit outside. The coffee was excellent and the staff were friendly, so I would definitely recommend giving this small cafe a visit if you are in town.

Mural at Steampunk Cafe

After a look around the town - there are lots of small independent shops, cafes, restaurants and five charity shops to explore - and lunch back at the flat, we headed out for a walk along the beach as far as the golf course.

 The Law: a volcanic plug that you can hike up, and handy landmark for locating North Berwick!

One of Brock's many new friends: Sula (left)

We had another delicious double espresso ice cream from Gelateria Alandas back in the town, and chips for dinner from the nearby North Berwick Fry.

Holiday in North Berwick: Dundee

Dundee was about two hours drive from North Berwick, so it was not really a close place to visit, but we wanted to see the new V&A Museum.

We started our visit with a lovely, long walk in Camperdown Park (a place we used to regularly walk our last dogs, Tess and Henry, when we lived in the city). The cafe in the park was extremely busy with half term coinciding with our week off! It was so sunny and warm that we were able to sit at a table outside with Brock.

We drove into the city centre and had the usual kerfuffle finding somewhere to park. We ended up in the East Whale Street car park: about 10 minutes walk from the new V&A.

My first impression of the building was that it was striking, set next to the 'silvery Tay' and also in its own pond of reflective water, it resembled a huge ship. The interior was less impressive: a large open space with a mezzanine level to access the galleries. On the ground floor there was a cafe and shop (the latter seen from above in the photograph above).

The queue to get into the galleries was a mile long, so we decided to go on to the McManus Gallery instead. The McManus Gallery is definitely well worth a visit if you are in the area.

We had lunch at Fisher & Donaldson (another old haunt of ours) where I had soup (the only gluten free, vegetarian item on the menu!) and Rob had a cheese salad roll. We bought cakes to take away. (Coffee tower for Rob - a choux bun with creamy filling and coffee icing; and a pack of miniature, gluten free fudge doughnuts for me).

Back in North Berwick, we had dinner at the dog-friendly Ship Inn (a huge halloumi salad for me; vegetable curry and rice for Rob) The food was pretty good, but quite expensive. I had an ice cream from the Gelateria Alandas nearby (double espresso and salted caramel - absolutely delicious!).

Brock (and we) had six walks today, so a good night's sleep for us all.