TOO MANY BRIDGES, TOO FAR!

The March walk was unusual for a number of reasons. Firstly we had to wait for church to be over before we could park - not that any of us were involved - we were just parking in the church car park at Tomatin! We also had two guest walkers with us - Iain and Archie and they had six legs between the two of them. That is because Archie is a dog. We also walked a bit on tarmac road, which is a bit unusual for us, given that we tend to take to the untamed wilds of the Highlands, but not too far from a pub or a cafe.

Here is Archie trying his best to ignore the Dinosaurs.

And here is Archie pursuing an interesting scent.

And here is Charlie pursuing something else.

Oops I got these last two photos mixed up, I think.

We set off at a pretty fast pace out of Tomatin, but not too fast for the traffic police waiting round the corner.

Soon we got to the old concrete bridge across the Findhorn - and very nice it is too. This was to be the first of many bridges that day.

And here are some of these bridges seen from the concrete bridge.

This inscription tells you all about the bridge. I can't read this, and I am sure that the advanced years of the rest of you mean that you can't read it either. It was erected in 1926 to replace the Thomas Telford Bridge of 1833. So the current bridge is 86 years old and it replaced one that was 93 years old. In 7 years the two bridges will have been in place for the same amount of time and presumably the concrete will outlast Thomas Telford - who would have thought it. Are you bored with the bridge stuff yet?

This is the view in the other direction where there are no bridges, or at least none that you can see. I am sure there are other bridges across the river at some point.

This is a little waterfall at what might be some kind of water supply, but we don't know for sure!

Before we had had a chance to get lost, the search and rescue helicopter found us - they didn't  stop despite our frantic waving!

And, boy did we need them, because we had to climb over a fence to carry on with the walk! It wasn't done with style in more ways than one.

Iain and Archie took a different route and seemed to carry that off with a deal more aplomb.

Soon we came to a cattle creep under the A9, which gave me a chance to take a photo of the rest of the Dinosaurs in the dark, which is where most of us are most of the time. Check out Mac's punk hairstyle!

So outrageous was Mac's hair that it stampeded some sheep nearby.

Whilst that was happening, Sharon and I were watching this eagle - from a fairly long way away, it has to be said. You will just have to take my word for it.

Soon, it was time for lunch, and Charlie wasn't wasting any time getting his.

Iain, however, was taking a bit of time to decide what exactly his lunch was.

Archie was just longingly waiting for any kind of lunch at all.

Jim illustrates the effectiveness of his spork - that is what he said he was doing!

Archie soon got fed up waiting for one of us to give him something and soon ran off to find anything he could get his teeth into.

Of course, we couldn't have lunch without taking the lunchtime photo

Then it was back on the trail with purpose and determination........

........Until we met a flock of sheep, who were just as confused as we were about who had right of way. 

Eventually the sheep showed their superior intelligence and went round us, albeit a bit friskily.

Just to prove they were really country boys at heart, Mac and Charlie looked as if they knew what a tractor was for.

Then it was onto another bridge.

The locals obviously paid no attention to the rules of the road.

More bridges - road and rail in close proximity - just goes to show that the Victorian rail engineers knew the right place to cross the river and the road engineers just followed suit.

Here we are about to walk under the bridges.

And here is the view under the road bridge.

And here is one side of the rail bridge - a bit more elegant, don't you think?

The other side of the rail bridge - just as elegant.

And that was us just about back to church and the prospect of tea and biscuits at our house. That is a departure that will not be allowed to become a tradition! Thanks to Jim and Jacque for the walk and to Iain for making sure that Archie didn't eat any of us.