TRAVELS IN AN ELDERLY FIESTA

My evenings would have passed slowly at my Banff B & B, during the process of setting up my Duff House exhibition. In a previous life, I would have found a pub with a nice atmosphere and got quietly sloshed. But, since my disability, operation and subsequent slow process of returning to something like fitness, I have lost the lager habit, so to speak. I can still enjoy a pint or, on the rare occasion, maybe three or four, but most days and nights pass alcohol-free, my evenings usually spent working at some aspect of my business.

A lady came to rescue my evenings from the fate of boredom. She was a friend of two of my sisters, whom she had met during a stay in Shetland some years ago. She hails from the Moray Firth coast region, heard I was in the area, and she offered to give me a tour of some of the more remarkable places in this part of north-east Scotland. It would have been foolish to turn down such an opportunity, and I gratefully accepted the invitation.

And so, on the Monday evening, she took me first to the remarkable pet cemetery near the shore at Whitehills. This flourishes thanks to a special dispensation from the Queen, who had been petitioned to intervene, after an attempt was made by the local council to remove it. Next, we had coffee from her flask on the pier at Sandend (pronounced San-INE in this parts), and then proceeded to the headland between Cullen and Portknockie, where there is a remarkable sea-stack formation known as the Bow Fiddle Rock, which had to be approached by a footpath to view. We had our evening meal at the Marine Hotel in Buckie, after discovering that our plan A choice of venue, The Admiral's at Findochty, was fully booked for the evening. By this time, the weather, fair up to now, had taken a turn for the worse, with low cloud and drizzle obscuring most of the views, but the damage had been done to my ennui for that evening.

On Tuesday, my tour guide had other fish to fry, so it was Wednesday evening when we set off on another magical mystery tour. This time, I had remembered to take my camera with me. The evening was fair, although low cloud came across from time to time. We had our Thermos coffee again at Sandend, then we drove to Fordyce, a beautiful village built around its own castle (now run as a self-catering establishment). I took a good few photographs around the place, and then we were off in the direction of Huntly. The scenery was breathtaking in the undulating countryside, made more so by the effect of the sunlight coming and going through the mist onto the hills and valleys. On the way, we passed the stark single overgrown gable of Conzie Castle, near Forgue, standing on its own in a field, and this is possibly the image, from my whole trip, that I most regret NOT taking a photograph of.

The river Deveron, flowing past Huntly Castle, is a beautiful sight, and I did get a digital image of this. This spot is reached by a road which, at one point, runs through an archway in Huntly Academy, with a cricket club and golf club among the recreational facilities along its route. Altogether I was very impressed with this picturesque town. The square, on which the hotel where we had our evening meal was situated, was another fine feature, and I took more snapshots here. Then it was back to Banff, via Tesco's filling station on the outskirts of the burgh, the village of Aberchirder, and the Sandyhill Road, which follows one side of the extensive grounds of Duff House. We visited Scotstown, a row of fishermen's cottages situated on Boyndie Bay, which looks over a sandy beach to Whitehills. Here, the late evening sun shining through the low cloud made for an extraordinary light effect, which again I caught on camera, rounding off another interesting evening.

Thursday evening was spent taking in some of the views of east Banffshire and Buchan, which were no less interesting, although my enthusiasm was flagging a little after my exhibition's opening day at Duff House. The beach and old church at New Aberdour stand out as a particularly nice location, although the strange arrangement of things at Mintlaw, which seems to consist of little more than a roundabout, the mile-long row of buildings at New Pitsligo and the town of Strichen were also noteworthy places. For my final evening meal of my stay on the Scottish mainland (for this trip!), we had very good fare at the Banff Springs Hotel which, I today observed in the Banffshire Journal, is on the market - again.

We did a good number of miles together in the elderly Fiesta, which might have seen better days, and protested at some of the steeper gradients we encountered, but it got us to some bonny spots and inspirational viewpoints. I am very grateful to this friend, whom I had never met before last week. Without her, my evenings in Banff would have seemed a lot longer.