A DAY FOR RONETTES FANS.

 As Covid restrictions ease, people are travelling more and they all seem to be travelling here! So much so, in fact, that the car park at our pre-arranged rendezvous point for our walk in Fortrose was full. Just like the rest of the Highlands, it would seem. Jimmy and Jacque managed to get into the first car park and then met the rest of us at the second. They apparently picked up a wee dug on the way.

What a wee sausage she was, too.

No craws here though, we're near the sea, so it was three gulls.

Our meeting place was just at the back of the Masonic Lodge. The question was asked about the symbols on the sign.

These are the square and compasses. Apparently, the square represents morality. Masons should square their actions with the square of virtue with all mankind. No pressure there, then. The compass measures the ability to conduct these actions within certain boundaries. Masons need to explore their desires and passions within the realms of moral behaviour. Perhaps we might think adopting these principles for the Dinosaurs. I suggest we do that once we get round to writing a constitution and electing office bearers.

The references to building and masons are usually taken to indicate that Freemasonry came about as a result of guilds or lodges of masons involved in the construction of cathedrals and castles in the Middle Ages. This is why so many of the symbols used by masons today, relate to building and architecture.

I'm not sure why Logic should also be involved, though.

This, I think, is a blocked up entrance to a cellar under floor level in the building on the High Street that we passed. These would have been used in both domestic and commercial buildings. It is also the case, that there were known to be cellars and tunnels leading from houses on High Street to the Cathedral, which would suggest that the tunnels were at least as old as the Mediaeval era, so, before the 15th Century. This one clearly is not that old, but perhaps it connects to one of these old tunnels.

We walked down Smithy Holm to the harbour front from the level of the High Street. I was unable to trace where the smithy might have been, but, oddly, there was a blacksmith called William Holm in the late 1800's.

Here we are at the frontage, unable to decide where to look. There was not a lot to see out to sea as it was a bit grey and murky today.

Back up we went to the higher road level via St Andrew's walk, which, if you squint your eyes, has a distinctly Mediterranean look to it. Minus the blue skies, that is. Oh! and the smell of herbs, fragrant in the warm sun, the aroma of sardines sizzling over hot coals, the laughter of urchins in the cobbled streets, garlic. I could go on. Can you tell we haven't had a foreign holiday for a while?

A spiral pathway leading to a fairy sized doorway in a tree. Why would fairies need a door at the bottom of a tree, when they can fly?

Nearby was a wooden sundial. It is impossible to say whether it works as it was still very grey and murky. It was not yet raining. Was it possible that my prediction of great weather at the end of our last walk was going to come true.

The Air Sea Rescue helicopter was out and about, but we did not need it, at least yet. Did I say it was grey and murky? You can certainly see that from this shot.

If you think the sky was grey, the sea was pretty much the same.

This depression in the fairway alongside our path is a bit of a mystery. Jimmy suggested that there is some folklore that this is a crater caused by a German bomb dropped during the Second World War. The golf club's history facts on the website make no mention of such an event. What it does mention is that the course was requisitioned during the war for sea landing training in advance of D-Day. Considerable damage was done to the course and this was repaired using £4000 compensation granted to the club. Restoration was completed to a satisfactory standard on all 18 holes by 1947.

Damage had also been done to the club during the First World War. By 1919, considerable damage had been done to the clubhouse by the Highland Cyclist Battalion!

Yep, Cyclists Battalions were a thing. There were loads of them. Bikes were quieter and much more easily serviced than horses, apparently. The Highland cyclist battalions - there were three - were actually formed in Kirkcaldy.

Strange times, indeed.

I can't be certain that the Germans didn't bomb the golf course, but I think it more likely that the British Army did the damage and then paid for it to be fixed.

Looking back at the grey skies above Fortrose. The hill behind, probably gives the town its name. In Gaelic it would be Foter (beneath) Ros (the cape or headland)

The ice house at the extremity of the golf course was associated with the Chanonry pier and the nearby lighthouse.

The lighthouse, built in 1846 by Alan Stevenson of the famous Stevenson lighthouse builders family is typical of most Highland lighthouses. I can't find out why they are white and brown, when others are red and white stripes.

To much ridicule, I was quite adamant that this was not a wild species of Lupin. It is, of course, a Tree Lupin, so I was wrong. Sharon tells me this is more frequently than I realise.

Tree Lupins are native to California and are an introduced species here. They can be quite invasive and, because they fix Nitrogen in the soil, they create conditions that allow other exotic species to flourish and outcompete native flora. They live up to 7 years and will cope with temperatures down to -12.

There was no raisin to go bathing today, you could get wet just walking along the beach. The heavens opened shortly after this and wet we got, indeed.

This seal might have been drier than we were.

We did look for dolphins, but to no avail.

It really was getting pretty wet and miserable walking along the beach.

Did I mention the rain?

No doubt this adult male Ringed Plover was wondering why we were were walking along the beach in the pouring rain. You can tell it is an adult because of the orange beak with the black tip. Juveniles have grey beaks. It is a male, because they have more pronounced black masks than the females.

The weather was closing in. It was a bit like the film, The Fog.

Was there actually anybody on board this ketch? Was it drifting? Crewless? Rudderless? You might remember Nicole Kidman in Dead Calm. It was a bit like this, although my most enduring memory of that film was Nicole's naked buttock quivering after being skelped by the mad guy played by Billy Zane. I don't expect to see anything like that on a Dinosaur walk.

We made it to the end of the beach and the gazebo outside the beach café at Rosemarkie. Although Rosemarkie was the site of an important Celtic monastery, that is not reflected in the name. Rosemarkie comes from the Gaelic Ros Headland or promontory and Marc to do with horses - so headland of the horse. The same Marc is used in Merkinch in Inverness. The monastery, of course, moved to Fortrose in the 12th Century.

The bunting on the gazebo was looking a little wappit in the rain.

It was desperately trying to inject some colour into the day. Certainly, the shelter afforded by the gazebo was very welcome. Oddly, gazebo is actually a joke word. It is from the straightforward English word gaze and the Latin ebo - I shall. So, I shall gaze from the gazebo is a tautology.

After some hot tea or coffee and something to eat, we set off back towards Fortrose and the haven of the cars.

To be fair, the rain was not constant and the umbrellas came down for a while.

 Every picture tells a story and I think the story here is about food.

Billy Badger has just eaten dinner, but didn't finish his shark steak. He put it on a bag and was off to bury it and make Hakarl. You will all know that Hakarl is an Icelandic dish of fermented shark. Apparently it tastes a bit like strong blue cheese. Unfortunately, the aftertaste is always described as urine. How do they know?

Mickey Mouse (no relation) disnae know what to do with the rest of his strawberry. What he should have known was that it was strawberries that allowed Europeans to discover that plants had the ability to produce male only and female only flowers. In 1766, a French botanist found this out when he realised that female strawberry flowers could only be pollinated by male flowers. What a stupid mouse!

The next mouse was clearly a bit of a connoisseur. It looks like it is going to eat a Civet Coffee bean. All you barista aficionados will know that coffee beans that have passed through the digestive system of a civet cat are the most expensive coffee beans in the world. They are reputed to have a more subtle taste and hints of chocolate and a subtle caramel taste. HOW DID SOMEONE FIND OUT THAT DRINKING COFFEE MADE FROM BEANS THAT HAVE PASSED THROUGH A CAT'S GUTS WAS POSSIBLE IN THE FIRST PLACE? Really?

The next mouse was about to eat an insect. That's OK, that's what I would expect.

The mouse above her had obviously just eaten all the pies.

The cat, however, was going to eat all the mice - again, perfectly appropriate.

Meanwhile the pink pig - probably a gammon, if you're really woke -was about to leave home. The small black Iberian Ham pig is very tasty when made into air dried ham, but is too good at keeping the sty tidy. The pink pig was much happier living in with the civet cat.

Meanwhile, Rex the tyrant, was about to eat them all.

While we had been walking, there had obviously been enough rain falling to tilt the earth on its axis.

Back into Fortrose and we walked along the side of the Cathedral. As I said earlier, if you were paying attention, the cathedral was originally in Rosemarkie, but Bishop Robert (no relation) moved to Fortrose about 1235 and built a new one, which was completed at the end of the 13th Century. What we see now has been added to and demolished over the centuries. The church was dedicated to Saints Peter and Curitan. Who was the latter, you are begging me to tell you? Well, You and I will be sorry you asked. He is a bit of an enigma. He seems to have been about in Pictish times and was a bishop at Rosemarkie. His life is very similar to St Serf and there is speculation that both, if they really existed, were involved in the Easter Controversy. 

Told you!

In a nutshell, there were many differences between the Celtic and Rangers Roman versions of Christianity. One of these differences was the means of calculating when Easter would fall. To cut an exceedingly long story short, King Oswiu of Northumberland said, bugger this, I'll sort it out and he held a Synod at what is now Whitby Abbey in 664. So we now have the really simple system where nobody knows when Easter will be for one year to the next. 

Curitan was also known as Boniface, which explains why they have a St Boniface Fayre around these parts.

Luckily, we were now back at the cars and we headed back to Inverness, to take tea in the garden with Susan and Robin acting as gracious hosts. It stayed dry for the garden party, which was relief. By then, my underpants were just beginning to feel less than soaked. You will notice that Jim and Jacque had morphed into Sue and Charlie. Not really, they hadn't. Jim and Jacque took the chance to escape the rain halfway between Fortrose and Rosemarkie. Sue and Charlie just came along for the tea and cakes, which were very good.

Well done to Susan and Robin for organising the walk and providing sustenance in their garden.  I think I got away without making too much of the rain.

See you next time.