Karen and Tavi's Scotland Travel Adventure, Day 01: Stonehaven

Karen: A thirty minute walk from the house brought us to Stonehaven's shingle (rocky) beach.

Tavi: Stonehaven's beach is a lot less...stoney than it used to be, and now there are signs banning the removal/"theft" of pebbles and stones from the beach. This didn't stop Karen taking at least three!

Karen: Lunch was ice cream bought from a shop fronting the beach. We sat on a bench eating it and enjoying the cool, sunny day.

Tavi: These are pictures of sail boats in the distance in the North Sea. Keep sailing east, and they ought to reach the south of Norway. They were so far away that we thought their sales were black until we used the high power camera zoom.

Karen: We took this picture walking back the way we'd come, on our way to the harbour. On the way, we met a little fluffy dog called Biscuit. I think he'd have liked to come along with us.

Tavi: The little dog went straight for Karen. The owner came back for him three times, and within a couple metres, Biscuit always turned straight back to Karen. The owner had to drag him away by his collar!

Karen: Stonehaven Harbour. These are fishing boats (I think). If you keep walking towards the left, you come to a jetty. There were some people fishing from the top (not catching much from what we could see), and there were three young boys having fun riding a bicycle down the steps and right into the water.

Tavi: Fishing is one of Stonehaven's main industries. At least it was. The boats are also used in some sort of sea battle every summer. Also, on New Year's Eve, we have the "Fireball Ceremony", in which burning bundles are swung about down the main street and eventually thrown into the harbour here. Stonehaven is famous for this, but also for being the birthplace of the inventor of the pneumatic tyre, and the first fish-and-chips shop in the world to invent the Deep-Fried Mars Bar. Guess which of these we are proudest of!

Karen: As we headed back home, most of the shops we passed were already closed for the day. This sweets shop (candy store) was still open, though, so we went in and had a look around. Decisions, decisions....

Tavi: This is Guillanotti's, Stonehaven's chocolate/sweety shop that sells lovely tablet, which we bought. We also have our eye on a huge chocolate kitten in the window.

Karen: This is part of Stonehaven. I told Tavi it looks like something out of The Wind in the Willows. I kept looking for a little house built into the riverbank. (This is the River Carron, btw.)

Karen: There are flowers growing everywhere you look, as well as other unexpected things. Look closely and you'll see a little golden duck and a golden lion's head.

Tavi: A couple of years ago, we used to have ducks here, which we fed with bread. They would come up onto the bank and swarm around you with their scary pecking beaks. Now they've drifted down to where the river meets the sea.

Tavi: These are little baby ferns growing through the top of the stone wall which amazed Karen so much she insisted on photos!

Tavi: The Carron Water stretches from the sea straight into Fetteresso in the country. In tomorrow's account, you'll hear of our misbegotten attempts to reach it there, thwarted by barley, bullocks, and barbed wire.

Karen: Tavi insisted on this photo! So much for taciturn Scots!

Tavi: This is a quaint old church near Keith Lodge, and this poster seemed a little out of place!

Tavi: As did Julius Caesar's (maybe?) bust and a bunny in the porch window of a house we passed on our walk back up.

Karen: Parking in Stonehaven is certainly more casual than in Los Angeles. Anywhere you see an open spot, grab it. Doesn't matter which way you're headed.

Tavi: I have no idea what Karen is talking about! This is perfectly normal here!

Karen: We both agreed the flowers here are beautiful, although Tavi prefers the wild flowers we see in the countryside.

Tavi: We argued about whether these sights constituted countryside. They don't! It's green, but there are houses! Streets! Cars! Karen will certainly learn the difference tomorrow!