MANURE AND ROSE(I)S(LE)

July's walk was cancelled due to horrific weather and the walk would have been a washout, had it taken place. Consequently it was moved to August and the weather could not have been any better. Wall to wall sunshine for the whole of our day out.

We met up on the front at Burghead. Little did we know at the time, but we actually parked on the site of the Morayshire Chemical Manure Works. These works made fertiliser from " phosphate of bones, superphosphate of bones and phosphate of guano". The works were a bit of a going concern from the late 19th to the early 20th Century. They had their own connection to the wider rail network. They, happily, have now been demolished, otherwise the fresh smell of the sea might well have been tainted.

On the plus side, the ladies would not have stood about chatting for about 20 minutes before we finally got walking.

The chatting gave me time to look back along the coast towards Burghead Harbour, which was built by Thomas Telford between 1807-10.

Just as we were about to leave a dredger appeared round the breakwater.

Very early on in the walk, Maureen passed round the sweeties. At that point we were on the beach a few hundred yards from a lithic working site. What is that? I hear you cry. In 1936 and 1940 a flint working site was discovered in the dunes, just inland of where we were standing. In all, 11 flint arrowheads, 54 scrapers and 140 worked and unworked flint flakes were bought from the finder by the National Museum. No traces of the Bronze Age workings remain, but we were walking, or sucking sweeties, in the footsteps of people from 5000 years ago!

 

We passed by one of a number of pill boxes strung along the Moray Coast along with anti tank defences. These were hurriedly built in 1940 to deter German invasion. Rather ironically, the same coastline and the defences were used to train troops in advance of the D-Day landings. The defences were once above the high tide level, but erosion and tidal changes mean that some defences are now beginning to slump and many are submerged at high tide.

The line of defence runs all along the coast. Running from the forest onto the beach through the defences is Millie Burn. There used to be a mill hereabouts, but nothing remains of that.

Just off the beach was a huge gathering of gulls. Why they were there, I cannot tell, but there was a lot of them. A lot of seagulls is usually called a flock, but other collective nouns are a scavenging, a screech, a squabble or a swoop.

The Magnificent Seven striding across the sand.

The Tardy Three tarried astern.

Occasionally, there were big lumps of wood standing up in the sand. There were anti-glider poles along this coast. These were designed to deter gliders from landing on the beaches as part of an invading force during the Second World War. Gliders had been successfully used before and they were very important before D-Day, when British gliders helped capture Pegasus Bridge in Normandy, preventing German troops from reinforcing defences at the landing beaches.

The wood in the photos might well be random bits of wood, but you never know....

By now we were getting close to lunch time and everyone was on the look out for somewhere to sit and eat.

It turns out that anti tank defences make ideal places to sit and have a picnic.

They also make great vantage points for watching the horses go by.

It was time to leave the beach behind us as we headed into the woods.

Jacque took a photo of Liz and Maureen looking longingly at the water.

Here is a photo of Jacque taking the photo of Liz and Maureen.

Here is a photo of Jacque showing the photo she took of Liz and Maureen to Maureen and Liz. 

Here is a photo of the view without any people. It was just like the Caribbean!

Looking away from the Blue Lagoon, our group moved into the woods, where we were in for a big surprise.

It wasn't the ice cream van, although that was a marvel to behold.

Maureen and I liked our Mr Whippy.

We were not alone!

The real big surprise was coming across these two guys among the trees.

Not only that, but there was some kind of celebration going on in the woods. There was music, balloons, gazebos, chairs and even a prosecco table!

It transpired that the big guy in the kilt was about to renew marriage vows with his wife. They had both been ill on the day of their actual wedding, so this was a rerun in the forest. A few minutes later the bride arrived! In a van!

The whole thing was a bit surreal and, to be honest, a bit magical. We've never had a wedding vow renewal on a walk before!

Still, we were here to walk, so walk we did.

We even passed some more cones, but no ice cream.

Soon we were back at the cars and the dredger was now dredging.

Jimmy, the greengrocer, had another wee surprise - garden produce aplenty for everyone to take away home with them.

From giving food away to buying it. We all stopped off at Brodie for tea and cakes.

We really could not have had better weather for a walk on the beach, so perhaps it was serendipitous that the walk had been postponed in July. Thanks are due to Dave and Sandra for choosing the walk and making sure it all worked.

HE WHO PAYS THE PIPER, HILL GET WHATEVER TUNE HE WANTS.

Sharon and I were unable to go on the June walk as we were going out for a Father's Day treat. The children and grandchildren came also, so I'm not sure how that constituted a treat!

Anyway, everybody else managed to gather outside the Cawdor Estate Office for the start of the walk on a nice sunny day.

This hasn't always been an Estate Office. It is an earlier 19th Century building that was used as an Inn and Change House. A Change House is where travellers would rest and change horses before continuing with their journey.

The porch on the front is not original. It hides the original door in the centre of the building. The porch now has a side entrance, but, the entrance to the later porch was where the pointed window is now. So there have been a few takes before we got the building we now see.

I wonder how many takes Robin had before everyone looked at the camera?

There were a few shady characters.

The estate office sits on the other side of the road from the Cawdor War Memorial.

The war memorial was unveiled in 1921. I'm sure I have described before that Cawdor and some other memorials show the end of the war as 1919 and not 1918. This is because the guns fell silent in November 1918, but the war did not officially end until the Treaty of Versailles was signed in June 1919.

The memorial lists 38 men who fell. Two names jumped out at me - Grigor Clark and Stuart Clark. This was not so much that their surnames were the same, but that they both served with New Zealand regiments.

So, I looked them up. They were brothers and, I assume, they had emigrated to New Zealand. Both were killed in action in France. Grigor died aged 29, on Boxing Day 1916 and Stuart died on 30th August 1918 aged 35. They are buried in separate cemeteries in France. Their parents were William and Mary Clark of Lyne of Urchany, which is just nearby. 

After the memorial it was time to get going under the strict guidance of Jimmy.

It is, of course, very agricultural round these parts. Lots of fields.

If you have fields, you'll have loads of big machines.

This is a seeder. One of these would set you back £125000. Plus VAT, if you pay it. It might also count towards your inheritance tax liability! It has wheels and tyres all round so that it can deliver seed to even the steepest of hillsides.

Actually, that last bit wasn't true!

Naturally, if you are a farmer, you throw nothing away and the old machinery just sits and slowly crumbles away on your farm.

To borrow a phrase from Neil Young - Rust Never Sleeps.

It isn't only crops that are grown here, there is a huge dairy industry. This is a mobile milker. The cows are hooked up to the pipes and the milk goes into the big green tank. The whole kit is then driven at varying slow speeds along narrow roads. The speed determines what happens to the milk. Depending on the speed it can end up as semi or skimmed milk. If it is really slow, with lots of cars behind, it can end up as cream or even butter.

Everyone was amazed as Dave explained the workings of all these big machines. His version of what they did, might be a bit different to mine, but mine is on the internet, so it must be true.

Dave also explained that his Uncle Archie and Aunt lived in the left hand cottage. I used to have a pretend Uncle Archie. Everybody had a pretend uncle and/or aunt. They weren't really related to you, they were family friends and everyone told you they were your auntie or uncle. Anyway, my Uncle Archie used to run the passenger ferry from Treslaig to Fort William. I don't know what Dave's Uncle Archie did.

Whatever it was, Archie and his wife are commemorated on this bench. So, Dave is sitting on a bit of family history.

As with everything the Dinosaurs do, the bar was not very high!

There does seem to have been a fair amount of standing around on this walk.

Not only standing about, but sitting around.

Not only standing about and sitting around, but lounging on bridges!

There was a bit of wildlife.

3 craws sat upon a wa'.

The horse whisperer wasn't exactly holding the horse's attention.

Agnes tried to fool the horse with an empty hand!

Susan reminded the horse that she has the biggest assets in the group!

The horse didn't think it was just as black and white as that.

Lunch at the wall seemed to cause some confusion. Finding a seat was a bit of an effort for some. Sue clearly found Charlie's seat to be of particular interest. Sandra was also having a good look at something. Pam and Hugh couldn't agree who should sit where and Maureen was wandering off without having got a seat at all. Dave didn't want a seat, Liz was wiping her seat down. Susan was looking rather stern, because Robin didn't want to sit beside her at all. The Smiths had a seat, but couldn't remember what was for lunch.

Once they finally managed to get somewhere to sit and something to eat, Jimmy pointed out something big. Robin misheard and covered up what he thought Jimmy was pointing to.

He was, in fact, pointing to the big strainer at the gate.

Confusion cleared up and off they went again, with Jimmy putting his best foot forward.

Up hill and down dale they went, making their way back to Cawdor and tea and cakes.

Like belly buttons, there were innies....

...and outies

In or out, the cakes looked pretty good.

Everybody tells me they enjoyed the walk and it certainly looked good, possibly even better than I have described it here. Well done to Jimmy and Jacque for the organisation and thanks also to Robin and Jimmy for the photos, without which, this true story would have been impossible to concoct.