Day 49 – Tarbert Ness – 8th July – 0 nm
It was Deja Vu squared.
We were back in Tain, 3 years down
the line, in a B&B directly across the road from last time, eating in the
same hotel and dodging the same winds. Strange how things work out.
The weather is blowing a hooley; the breakfast room has an
impressive view of the bay, but it’s all too impressively white out there for
my liking.
It appears that I didn't make too good an impression on
arrival at the B&B after all.
We have a pleasant chat with an American family over
breakfast. The father is a Professor on a placement at Cambridge for a year. We
talk of endurance running, warm beer and small houses amongst other things, before they head off to make the most of the Scottish scenery before their imminent return to the land of the free.
With breakfast over, I
go to confirm our second evening in the B&B but am told that a last-minute
booking came in overnight and the room is now taken – the room we are already
in. How does that work then?
I return to the room to check the weather, only to find that
the WiFi has been switched off. Somebody has been in our room during breakfast
too – it’s time to take the hint. This is a first. We've not been kicked out
before, I feel slightly proud as we carry our bags out to the slimey goodbye.
Yeah and your sausages were undercooked and the dog is ugly too...
We head out to Tarbert Ness, just in case. But the little
wind machine is nudging 30 mph at times and the swell is breaking over the reef
still. It’s a no-go for now.
I make sure I have a good weather-day faff all the same, dry a bit of kit and waste a bit more of life. But
eventually we have to accept that it is not going to happen today – no Brora, no nothing. So we head back to Tain to grab a bite of lunch. We are not too welcome in the bakery either it seems - have we stood in something? It reminds me of our time down at Cruden Bay, and the campsite man in Golftown. Shops don't seem as cheerful. As we head north I am beginning to feel less of a welcome than usual. Could things changed since the referendum I wonder?
After food we head over to Bonar Bridge, where Team Manager goes for a bike ride up the
valley and I plan/snooze by the river, under the suspicious eyes of the
fishermen. Go on - throw a boat on the roof, it’s a great way to win friends and
influence people.
TM returns safely, much de-stressed by her two wheeled time-out and we head over to the campsite - a £22 per night + 20p for the showers affair. I don’t
mind the extra 20p it’s just the faff of finding the damned coins – just make
it £23 and dump the shower shrapnel FFS.
But the pleasant evening is lightened further by a young lady driving by in a
multi-coloured van with rather large lettering on the rear: “I was a good girl then
I discovered nipple clamps”.
I was intrigued, and then rather disappointed, as she drove by the spare slot next to
us...
