MOO MOO.

 Autumn was in the air as we gathered at Muir of Ord. There was a full complement of Dinosaurs for the first time in a while. Muir of Ord is where Agnes lives, but she still managed to be the last person to arrive. Having said that, we were all a bit earlier than the 11 o'clock appointed time.

Muir of Ord is actually a relatively new name for the settlement. It was previously called Tarradale and many of the buildings on the village are built from the characteristic red Tarradale Sandstone. 

Tarradale was very small and of little importance economically. The Rivers Beauly and Conon presented significant barriers to traffic between Inverness and the north until Thomas Telford's bridges, built in 1814 brought greater volumes of traffic to this part of the Highlands. By 1820, the flat land here became very important for cattle droving, providing huge areas to hold cattle markets and aggregate herds for further travel south. Originally, this happened just north of Beauly, but then moved to a little further north to Tarradale on an area of ground known as Muir of Ord. In 1862, the railway came to Tarradale, but the Inverness and Ross-shire Railway Company called their station Muir of Ord after the cattle market and Tarradale was soon forgotten as the name of the place. Muir of Ord simply means the moor of the rounded hill - the flat moor below the shoulder of the Black Isle.

So, here is Agnes arriving and parking in front of the old school, part of which is now used as a library. The school was replaced in 1969.

Lots of greetings exchanged as if we hadn't seen each other for years. Notably, Hugh kept his hand in his pocket! Once an accountant.....

We were soon off and walking through the local Community orchard. This is part of wider community initiatives aimed at bringing people together and building confidence and resilience in the village. Anyone can come here and pick fruit, herbs and vegetables for their own use.

There were artichokes available. This seems a curious vegetable to offer, but, then again, why not. The cabbages have a bit of growing to go before they will make a meal.

Lots of herbs on offer, but none that I needed for our dinner that night.

The bees liked it here as well, although they did seem a little sleepy. It was cool to be fair.

It wasn't all vegetables, although you can eat the flowers and leaves of Nasturtiums.

There was a memorial bench to a local teenager who died on a quad bike accident - a nice place to be remembered and to remember. 

There was even a Fairy door in one of the trees, although it seems a bit difficult to reach unless you believe that Fairies can fly. Of course, you do!

It looks almost as if some of the local dogs can fly as well!

Maureen and Agnes walking towards the cottage that Agnes lived in whilst her brand spanking new house was being built.

Like I said earlier - Autumn is on the way.

A buzzard was on the wing....

....and a wee dug was getting dug in.

We were heading out of the village.

Our route took us by the line of the old railway from Muir of Ord to Fortrose. You might think this was built to serve the Black Isle, but no! It was actually built to thwart the ambitions of a rival railway company.

You will recall (if you were paying attention) the old Inverness and Ross-shire railway Company. Well, they became the Highland Railway Company and they controlled all the traffic north of Inverness. Much to their surprise a move was made by the Great North of Scotland Railway Company to build a branch line from Muir of Ord to Fortrose in 1889. Their plans also included a ferry from Fortrose to Ardersier, which at that time was called Campbelltown. GNoSRC only ran services to Elgin and they proposed a branch from there to Campbelltown. If successful, the GNoSRC could have claimed rights to run trains from Muir of Ord to Inverness and then on to Campbelltown. This would lead to direct competition with the established HRC. Given they were serving a remote and sparsely populated area, profitability would have been wiped out. So, to thwart the ambitions of the GNoSRC, they proposed and then built their own line to Fortrose.

This line was never successful after opening in 1894. Three years later, two of the seven daily trains were removed and the line closed to passenger traffic in 1951 and then to goods traffic in 1960 and the track was lifted.

It makes for some pleasant walking, though.

Whilst the track might have been lifted, the bridges were still in place. Very nice they look as well, I might add.

The farmland here is reasonably good and there is history of farm steadings dotted across the landscape for centuries.

One of he ruined farms is still obvious from our route.

Loch Na Mhoid has a very fancy tiled nameplate. This used to be a croft, occupied by a MacLennan family for over 200 years. The croft has now been split up and some new houses built along with some allotments. I am not sure of the meaning of the place. Mhoid would normally relate to the National Mod, but that seems most unlikely here. It might be more to do with a hanging lum, which was a wall mounted hanging chimney, common in croft-houses. There is no loch shown on the OS map, although there is an area of boggy ground nearby.

Another abandoned farmstead.

Another bridge, this time over the route of a walk we did in January 2014!

There was a man and his wee dug out walking there today and we had seen him earlier in the day. As it happened, we saw him a bit later on the woods!

We were in some open country and this fine dyke and Oak tree caught my eye.

There were views back to the Beauly Firth some distance away.

There were also some views across to Agnes's new house - the white gable in the middle of the picture. There was no invitation to tea and cakes, I noticed.

Unfortunately, it got a bit damp. Not heavy rain, but not welcome either.

We were in commercial woodland by now - mainly Scot's Pine, in Spittal Wood.

It is difficult to see, but Pam had a mouse in her socks. I cannot think of any other explanation of the way her feet squeaked otherwise.

Have you ever seen the film Don't Look Now. If you have you won't think of toothpaste in quite the same way again. Nor will you think little girls with red hooded jackets are all as nice as little Red Riding Hood.

In fact, this was actually Liz sitting down to lunch.

There was a special lunch log that almost had room for us all to sit down on.

Lunch didn't take long and then we were on our way through the woods looking out for a little red jacketed maniac just in case.

Back on the main line again.

The bridge we had walked on top of earlier in the trail.

A sheep that was not going to give me the benefit of a look in the eye.

Then it gave in and turned to face the camera. The lure of fame can just be irresistible even for sheep.

Then it was back through the shady trees to Muir of Ord and into the cars to get to the Priory Hotel in Beauly for tea and buns.

I forgot to take any photos over tea as I was too busy trying to ensure that I got a piece of Citrus Cake that everyone else seemed to want as well. Luckily, they had more than one and everyone was happy. Everyone enjoyed themselves and it was good to be back en-masse for the first time in a while.

Thank you to Susan & Robin for organising and who weren't on the walk in January 2014, but here are those who were.

I'LL BE BURGHEAD, THERE'S ALWAYS HOPE, MAN

 Another walk and another non-attendance by us. We were away dog sitting!

This means, of course, that I have to make the blog up as I wasn't there. Not unusual, but the greater difficulty lies in not knowing the order in which the photos were taken. However, I have come up with a pragmattic solution to this. It was a circular walk, so the beginning and end don't matter. Indeed, the end was also the begining. My solution would be better than trying to find the beginning and the end of what might be described as an endless or beginingless thing. A bit like consciousness. The Dalai Lama once noted that consciousness had to be beginingless, because consciousness would require an earlier moment of consciousness and then that earlier moment would require an earlier moment still and so on. It is, in effect, infinite and beginingless.

Accordingly, I will just describe each of the photos in turn and as they arrived in my phone. 

A beach. Perhaps this is a fitting beginning as evolution would have us believe that we evolved from creatures that crawled out of the sea - the beginnings of our humanity, so to speak. I don't think that we started out as fully formed swans, though. More like the green stuff round the edges.

This is the Teal, a diving operations vessel, which was berthed at Burghead, having sailed from Invergordon about 2 weeks before the Dinos came toe Burghead. This might suggest that this was the start of the walk, but it might be the end, because Burghead was the start and the finish. Similarly, the Teal might or might not be a military vessel. who knows?

Step we gaily, on we go, 

heel for heel and toe for toe!

Red their cheeks as Rowans are, 

after stepping up the stair. 

( I changed the words a little bit there), and what was Pam doing?

Over hillways, up and down,

Myrtle green and bracken brown,

Past the sheiling, through the town,

All for sake of Mairi.

I can only assume that this is Mairi on the right of the photo.

Pam has shed some clothes now and is stepping out, but not so gaily it would seem.

The view was worth it though, although, rather alarmingly, the sea is draining away to the left of the photo. Probably global warming!

More stepping gaily, past the sheiling, through the town.

Burghead is famous as the site of a very large Pictish Fort and, indeed, one of the largest forts of any kind in Scotland. However, I'm prepared to bet that this wee carved cross is not Pictish in origin, although it is worth noting that there were up to 30 Pictish carvings found here, of which only a few survive.

This, on the other hand isn't even pretending to be Pictish.

Oh Well. What can I say about this? 

This commonly known as St Aethan's well. St Aethan, may or may not have existed and may or may not have been martyred and thus, a saint. St Aethan is sometimes mixed up with St Adrian or with St Ethernan. All of them were originally assumed to be monks living in the Isle of May and being followers of St Columba. They were also thought to have died among the Picts, who they were trying to convert to Christianity. Then a scholar suggested that the old writings should have translated that they were killed by the Picts.

The well was apparently very important to Burghead people. So much so, that it was used as a meeting place almost within living memory. Water from the well was bottled and taken to relatives living elsewhere, so that they might benefit from its healing properties. These properties are, apparently, non-existent as the water contains nothing of any curative worth. The well has been restored in the last 10 years as it was filled in by a farmer after one of his cows fell in and was injured.

 It might be a bit early, but Jimmy and Liz managed to find some brambles to stave off their apparent hunger.

Everybody waited for Maureen to bring out the tablet!

Well, well. The Cabrach Well, which is fed by run off from agricultural lands uphill. I wouldn't recommend a cooling drink from here.

Dave looks like he is going to give us every verse of the Star Spangled Banner, which is famously difficult to sing. Weirdly, the tune was not written for the song. The tune was originally for the Anacreontic Song, which was composed for the Anacreontic Club - an 18th Century gentlemen's club in London. It was dedicated to Anacreon, who was an Ancient Greek poet renowned for drinking songs and odes to love.

The Bootlegger's Bistro, came after Dory the Double Decker in real life, but comes before Dory in this beginingless tale. It is supposed to be very good, so I should go sometime.

Liz contemplates a dip.

Instead, they all sit down for lunch.

Liz seems very disappointed in her choice of sandwich, whilst Jim and Jacque are delighted with theirs.

Jimmy and Hugh are craning their necks to see Dave.

A flag pole, made from the mast of an old fishing boat marks where one of the Royal Family, who nobody mentions any more, commemorated the founding of Hopeman 218 years ago. Well, he raised the flag in 2005 for the 200th Anniversary and that was 18 years ago.

Ooops, back to lunch.

Dory the Double Decker was a pop up restaurant that was forced to close during the pandemic. That led to the creation of the Bootlegger's Bistro and Grill, which they passed by earlier.

The only way is forward.

We don't see many under the bridge photos.

Walking towards the Burghead Maltings. These are one of the largest drum maltings in Europe. They produce 25% of the annual Scotch Malt Whisky requirements every year. They are actually linked to the Roseisle maltings with heat and production water pipes running between the two plants.

Lots of water and 2 boats. I was aware that they saw dolphins leaping, so I have assumed this photo is related to that, although I cannot see any dolphins there, but there might be a seal in the bottom right.

Now an over the bridge photo, but a different bridge, I think

The Cummingston Stacks are, as the sign says, great for rock climbing. The stacks are colour banded and show variable rates of erosion. This is due to the differing iron content of each bed of rock. Just round the corner from the stacks the shore shows clear signs of ancient sand dunes. These indicate that this was once part of a hot, arid desert a lot closer to the equator than it is now. Of course, that was about 300 million years ago, so no need to go looking for camels and oases, yet.

There are still sand dunes, though.

Now, is Hugh batting away flies or, is he clutching his head in exasperation at something that Pam has said to him?

This, I think is Coral Weed. It is widely distributed around the UK coastline and is common throughout most of the North Atlantic, but is also found in Japan and Australia. It was once harvested for use as a vermifuge. I had to look that up - it means it was used as a means of expelling worms from your intestine!

Masonhaugh Quarry is world famous for finds of Permian mammal footprints - that is they are 300 million years old. Some of the prints are unique in the world, whereas others have been found in other UK and European locations. It is considered the one of the best Permian footprint locations in the country.

I assume that this is the group back in Burghead watching Pam show off her dance moves.

Burghead Harbour is relatively new, dating from 1810 or so. It has been altered and extended since then. As is often the case with harbours at this time, Thomas Telford had a hand in the design. It was used for up to 400 boats at one time and trade went as far as London and Europe. There were regular steamer visits in its heyday.

It almost looks like Hugh and Dave are jogging along the promenade, but I feel that is not really likely.

Here is the happy band at the end (or, perhaps the beginning) of the walk. I think Sandra is actually asking if this is the beginning or the metaphysical end.

Hugh had earlier tried to sneak away so as to avoid any further discussion of beginingness

Luckily, it was the end, but also the beginning of a little sit down for tea and cakes.

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It looks like they all had a good time. Well done to Dave and Sandra for their organisation and to Jacque for the photos.