On our last full day in Morayshire we decided to spend the day out doing "touristy" things so after a brief discussion of possibilities we headed out to Fochabers, about fifteen minutes away from the steading, to Baxter's Highland Village. Originally famous for their soups and canned goods Baxter's has been creating fine foods for generations and the Highland Village is all about food. The lovely little whitewashed precinct next to the modern factory houses the...

Today is the day we tackle Ben Rinnes; our first real hike of the trip. We left the steading at around 10.30am and headed for the car park at Ben Rinnes that marked the start of our trek. As usual the onboard computer took us via a circuituous route which took us along a narrow road with no passing places in sight! Fortunately we met no oncoming traffic and emerged unscathed onto the road we had originally been driving on. There was a stiff breeze blowing as we ...

Today the steading was shrouded in early-morning fog once again with visibility reduced to perhaps twenty feet; even the car was bathed in mist. It lifted briefly to reveal blue skies above but soon rolled in again smothering everything in its white blanket. We made use of the morning by having an unhurried breakfast and I had no choice but to start a cleaning session in the kitchen when the tiny flies that have been plagueing us since our first day here became ...

This morning we were greeted by a blanket of dense fog shrouding the countryside. Visibility was limited to the steading with even the cows in the next field moving with an ethereal ghostliness through the mist. This gave us an opportunity to make a leisurely start to the day anticipating that the fog would burn off by mid-morning. Time to catch up on blogging, photo transfers from camera or phone to computer which proved to be easier said than done as we juggl...

A leisurely start to the day with porridge for breakfast as we watched the antics of the cows and sheep in the neighbouring field, and the birds swooping in on the treats and seed I had put out in the birdhouse. It always amazes me how quickly they discover the food and spread the word! Before long a dozen little birds were feasting around the bird-feeder as a couple of crows looked on from the tree. Today Aberdeen was our first scheduled stop and we departed Lo...