6th
August 2016 (Saturday) .... 08.30 it’s ‘bright and sunny’ with a light breeze
just now, but the wind is forecast to rise to ‘gale’ by afternoon
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| Auchnagatt |
time. We don’t actually have a ‘plan’ for
today.... though the weather will dictate what “iggzactly” that ‘plan’ is.... but
I won’t be driving very far; I’m still unwinding from the journey up.
21.00 ‘M’ and I went to Maud first thing this
morning, where we had a cuppa in the Old Mart Cafe, before going to have a look
round the ‘Railway Museum’. Maud, a
farming community with a Cattle Mart, hence the name of the Cafe, had been a
busy rail yard, and, even had a turntable.
Immediately north of the station was a branch line to Peterhead, which
would have been very useful after oil was discovered in the North Sea, but of
course Beeching and his ‘cronies’ came before that, and the line had been
removed long before the oil, and the terminal at St Fergus etc. began to impact
on the area.
Although I have heard of the ‘Buller’s of
Buchan’ today was the first time I/we
 |
| At the Buller's of Buchan |
actually
saw them .... ‘them’ being the high cliffs of that name. As far as I can make out the “Buller’s”
part of the name refers to the way the water appears to ‘boil’ during a storm. Whatever the name means the cliffs are spectacular,
in fact I’d say very spectacular.... and well worth visiting. Today the water was definitely not ‘boiling’,
the sea being nigh on flat calm. The cliffs support many breeding pairs of
sea birds.... Kittiwakes, and Fulmars being
the most numerous. We, Catriona,
Jackie, ‘M’ and ‘The Boy’, walked a short part of the local Coastal path which
goes along the top of the cliffs.... as far as I could see it would require a
boat to access the bottom’s of the cliffs within most of the inlets. The
few houses that make up the fishing village that was “Buller’s of Buchan” did
have a steep path down to the beach, where they hauled their boats onto the
beach. The former fishermen’s houses
now appear to be well kept, ‘holiday homes’.... lifeless for most of the year.
On
the way home we went to the Mintlaw Garden Centre for refreshments, and a
 |
| The Pot |
browse
round the ‘shop’ area. ‘M’ bought
stuff.... I bought a packet of ‘milk flavoured’ sweets; I had to find out what milk ‘tasted’ like,
and found out that it had the taste of powdered milk that you put in coffee! Oh well at least I now know.
Photographs
: Top – Iain and Jackie’s residence, Middle – Catriona, Jackie and ‘M’ at the
Buller’s, and Bottom – The Pot.
