An interesting day

As an RAF family with long standing links with the Nimrod, the local school and more recently with the Duke of Edinburgh Awards Scheme in Moray, David, Aedan, Ciara and I were recently invited to a naming ceremony. The naming of what? Well, this…

Chap in a smart uniform (Lord-Lieutenant of Moray perhaps?) doing a speech

Unveiled

Proud moment, Ciara, Me, David and Aedan

I felt honoured and incredibly proud to have been invited to this special event, the Nimrod played an enormous part in our family life until its demise and the devastating cancellation of the MRA IV. David was one of the handpicked team of twelve tasked with bringing in the new fleet.

After the ceremony, we popped the children back to school and nipped home for a cup of tea and second breakfast before David headed back to work, dropping me off at the main entrance to Roseisle Forest en route. It was a glorious day and although it remained quite frosty all day, there was little wind, so the cold never really got to me until later, much, much later…

The long, straight road to the car park

The view behind me

I walked down the road towards the forest before turning left where there were a couple of cars parked, therefore avoiding the main car park. After a short while walking through the trees, the path joins the Moray Coast Train and I turned west to head towards home.

The track through the trees

One of the many frozen puddles I passed by today

I don’t very often walk this path east to west because of the prevailing wind, but it was sublime today and I strolled along quite happily in my own little world, not seeing another soul until near the end of my walk. I decided not to call into the bird hide today, despite it being lunch time when I passed by, as I’d barely started walking and didn’t need shelter from the rain. After following the meandering path for a while, I eventually broke out from the trees and was greeted by stupendous views of the Moray Firth.

Looking towards Burghead

Evidence of erosion

Towards Ben Wyvis

The pointy hill in the middle is Morven

Heading east

Heading west

Looking east again, this was the path when David and I first walked it, not so very long ago, before serious erosion

My new camera has a program specifically for taking selfies. Had to be played with! Ugh…

I continued along the trail until I’d passed the back of the airfield, when the signposted path disappeared off the cliff. It was there when Laura and I walked it, which is a bit disturbing, but I knew that if I followed the little track along the fence line, it eventually meets a bigger track that joins the trail again, so off I went. I continued along the trail a short way before deciding to take a more direct line that would pop me out on the Dunes Road, then join the main road straight back home. It was along this last stretch of track that I passed the only two walkers I met, one was on a parallel path that I wasn’t close enough to to acknowledge without shouting, would have been a bit odd, and the other was just before I popped out onto the road and she just about managed to reply.

In all, a total of roughly 7.3 miles and 254 ft, a nice little stroll on a rather wonderful day.