Rob-n-Hild Take the High Road!

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Aberdeen & Arbroath Drive 166.5 km over 2:30 hours and max altitude 149 metres.

We arrived in Aberdeen on time at 7 am. Percy had sat nicely on the lower car deck - squeezed in between many other cars. Hild passed another reverse-out- of-ferry-test. It isn't fun because it is a tight space, but the staff are good at giving directions.

Because we couldn't check into our hotel until 3 pm, we decided to do a day-trip to Arbroath. This is where Janet's cousin, Lorna, and her husband Ron lived and brought up their family. Heather and her sisters had explained to us where a memorial bench was on the beach at Arbroath Cove. We easily found it on a bright sunny June morning.

The view at the beach was so beautiful and peaceful. The rose bushes added a comforting fragrance too.

We wanted to visit the bench and have a cup of tea and remember Lorna and Ron.

To get to the beach and bench we had to park on the other side of the road and railway. We were fascinated by the bridge over the railway as it had two sections so the stairs went up then down then up and then down again. At least Rob got some extra stair-practice in.

At the car park we were amazed to find a small lighthouse that used to be on Yell island in Shetland back in 1880! These little unmanned lights were used to help local fisherfolk and crofters. The information plaque also suggested that people from Arbroath are called "Reid Lichtes". The origin of the name is unclear but could be linked to "Reid" meaning "Red" and "Lichtes" being these lights that guided seafarers.

Heather had suggested that we should try Arbroath Smokies while visiting - so we did. At the Bellrock Restaurant we arrived just as the restaurant opened. There was a line of people a few years our senior who clearly wanted the buffet NOW! "Smokies" is smoked haddock, and it is so yummy. We tried both the traditional - with skin and bone - and the one where skin and bone had been removed. Both of us chose potatoes of course! Our favourite was the traditional one because the smoked flavour was stronger even if there was additional work to eat it...

After this delicious lunch we drove back towards Aberdeen and checked in at our hotel in Westhill. A few trips to and from Percy and we were nicely settled for the next 3 nights. Got some work done, had a couple of meetings, watched "Richard Osmon's House of Games" (our current favourite quiz show), had sandwich, Rob went shopping, and then we just kicked back. Ready for more adventures tomorrow.

Coming up: Aberdeen

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