Where was Bertie? Thurs: A pull-in on a minor road south of Forres; Fri: a car park in Elgin (£1); Sat: Riverside Caravan Park,Elgin (£27); Sun: Harbour Car Park, Lossiemouth (£5 donation to the local community council).
Weather: on Friday the weather came good again. Plenty of sunshine and unseasonably warm at 20-22 degrees. Breezy at times, but even the wind was warm.
This weekend was the main event of this trip: the CXX Squadron reunion, with an informal get-together in Elgin's Ex-Servicemen's Club on Friday night and a formal sit-down dinner at the Mansefield on Saturday night.
Interspersed with that there was visiting with friends and Elgin parkrun on Saturday morning, which felt far harder than my pace suggested it should have been - probably as a result of the late night on Friday.
We had originally intended, after Friday night's do, to drive out of Elgin to find somewhere to park. Then, having parked up in a huge and largely empty car park immediately across the road from where we needed to be on Saturday morning, we decided the convenience of being able to just roll out of bed and cross the road trumped the likelihood of disturbance by boy racers. The car park screamed 'boy racer haunt!' as soon as we drove in, and sure enough by late afternoon there were four in evidence. By the time we returned at around 11pm their numbers had swollen to a dozen or so, yet still we decided to stay. It was far from the worst night we've ever had, but peace didn't reign until 1am. Funnily enough, they were no trouble when they were loitering in the car park; it was only the tooting of horns as a group periodically set out to tear around the town, and the wheel-spinning, revving and over-sized-exhaust noise on the adjacent road that disturbed us.
Even though the boy racers probably followed the exact same template on Saturday night, on reflection we probably should have stayed in town then too (when we were likely out later than they were anyway). Only a few years ago, Riverside Caravan Park was a reasonably priced place. Now it's expensive, and we were absent for much of the 24-hours we paid for, having gone out mid-afternoon and not arriving back until 2am. In the intervening period, as well as making my feet suffer in heeled shoes, enjoying a formal three-course meal, and chatting with lots of people, Mick enjoyed a few glasses of wine. However, he didn't appear too drunk when we got back to the campsite, so when he insisted he was fine to go and plug Bertie back into the mains, I let him get on with it. It was only when he didn't reappear within a reasonable period (i.e. I'd made the bed and there was still no sign of him) that I went out to investigate. It turned out that he may have been a little more sozzled than he appeared and that plugging in a motorhome can be akin to trying to get your Yale key into the front door lock when you can't see straight...
Sunday dawned another clear skied and warm day, but understandably, we slept for the first part of the morning, cramming campsite chores into the remaining time (including a haircut for me; I'd kept it 'long' for Saturday night's do, but was ready for it to return to its usual length by Sunday), finally leaving the campsite four minutes before their departure deadline. To Lossiemouth we came where bar a couple of strolls around (and a disappointment when the chip shop we walked to for lunch was closed) was the extent of our activity.
It was early to bed for us and whilst Mick was too busy catching up on sleep to notice, I was aware of the forecast rain starting. As I type this on Monday morning, it's fair pattering down and the forecast is telling us that whilst we should see plenty more sunshine this week, we are done with warm weather now. It was lovely whilst it lasted!
Weather: on Friday the weather came good again. Plenty of sunshine and unseasonably warm at 20-22 degrees. Breezy at times, but even the wind was warm.
Loch of Blairs, around which I walked on Friday morning
Interspersed with that there was visiting with friends and Elgin parkrun on Saturday morning, which felt far harder than my pace suggested it should have been - probably as a result of the late night on Friday.
We had originally intended, after Friday night's do, to drive out of Elgin to find somewhere to park. Then, having parked up in a huge and largely empty car park immediately across the road from where we needed to be on Saturday morning, we decided the convenience of being able to just roll out of bed and cross the road trumped the likelihood of disturbance by boy racers. The car park screamed 'boy racer haunt!' as soon as we drove in, and sure enough by late afternoon there were four in evidence. By the time we returned at around 11pm their numbers had swollen to a dozen or so, yet still we decided to stay. It was far from the worst night we've ever had, but peace didn't reign until 1am. Funnily enough, they were no trouble when they were loitering in the car park; it was only the tooting of horns as a group periodically set out to tear around the town, and the wheel-spinning, revving and over-sized-exhaust noise on the adjacent road that disturbed us.
Unfortunately cut off. It was a long frock and killer shoes (or so my feet felt within five minutes of standing in them)
Sunday dawned another clear skied and warm day, but understandably, we slept for the first part of the morning, cramming campsite chores into the remaining time (including a haircut for me; I'd kept it 'long' for Saturday night's do, but was ready for it to return to its usual length by Sunday), finally leaving the campsite four minutes before their departure deadline. To Lossiemouth we came where bar a couple of strolls around (and a disappointment when the chip shop we walked to for lunch was closed) was the extent of our activity.
Lossie East Beach. What you can't see is how windy it was.
What a splendid photo.
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