Thursday 3rd October, 2024 – Inverness, Cromarty, Udale Bay, Portmahomack 

Distance driven: 126.0 miles
Time at the wheel: 2 hours 53 minutes
Heiland coos spotted: 0 (I hope they’re not turning into the equivalent of the moose on our Finland trip in 2016)

We made an early start because we needed to be in Cromarty by 9:45 at the latest because we were booked on a wildlife spotting boat trip that was scheduled to set off at 10:00. Based on how long it had taken us to get to Strathview Lodge the evening before, we were in the car by 08:15 and consequently got to Cromarty far too early! Still, it gave us the chance to nose around a little more and find the cinema, the lighthouse and several other interesting buildings.

We’d been a tad worried on setting out because an inversion fog had set in overnight and you could barely see your own hand in front of your face when we’d first woken up. However, it had started to lift as we were driving over to Cromarty and by the time we parked, it was mostly just loitering around the top of the oil platforms moored in the firth.

At 09:45 we duly checked in at Ecoventures just across from the harbour and were kitted out in waterproof overtrousers and life jackets, and given an explanation of what to do if we needed to use them. Tim, the skipper, then took us down to the harbour and we clambered aboard, along with around 10 other people, including someone who was apparently a professional wildlife photographer. I’m blaming him for what happened because we didn’t see a single dolphin, even though a pod of them live around there. Ten of them had been seen the day before, two the day before that. Our trip. Nope. He’s not David Attenborough so we’re not coming out seemed to be the attitude. We did see a seal (very, very briefly) and a lot of bird life, including eider ducks, gannets, guillemots, shags, cormorants, a buzzard, some panicked pigeons, and a red kite. Of cetaceans though, not a single trace. And that despite Tim prolonging the trip and looking everywhere he could think of. 

There were some fine views of the town, and also of the WWII defences that were put up to guard the harbour. We got close up to the oil rig platforms too, which are parked up to be repaired or decommissioned as required. There were only 3 which is apparently quite a small number. We passed the site where HMS Natal sank in 1915 with the loss of 415 lives. We also sailed past the ex-shipyard that now assembles wind turbines before they are taken out to sea. So we learned some history, and also learned about a lot of the birds. A hot chocolate stop in the middle of the trip was very welcome, though between all the extra layers and the glorious sunshine, we weren’t at all cold, at least for the first hour. By the end it was a different matter because after 2 hours and 15 minutes out there on the water it was a different story. We promptly divested ourselves of the kit we’d been allocated and dived into the nearest café, Sutor Creek. A round of large hot chocolates soon sorted us out but we felt we needed to grab some lunch. We’d had a light breakfast to avoid seasickness, and were now hungry. Haggis bonbons followed by soup (one tomato and chilli soup, one cullen skink) soon sorted us out.

After lunch we decided to head back towards the Cromarty Bridge where, the day before, we’d seen vast numbers of birds just clustered together along the water’s edge. This turned out to be Udale Bay, and RSPB reserve. A small layby offered us the chance to stop and use the hide to see what we could spot. Mostly, pink-footed geese in their thousands, but there were also some redshanks and some dunlins. There was also a heron which flew over creating utter havoc as the geese all took to the sky in reaction to it.

Within minutes the heron had flown on and peace was restored once more. 

We’d intended visiting Kirkmichael Church next and had just parked outside the church when a funeral cortege pulled up so once again we had to change plans. This was starting to feel like a pattern might be developing. So we got back in the car and headed for Portmahomack instead. We were after seeing the Tarbat Discovery Centre because we’d read good things about it. 

It’s in what used to be the old parish church of Saint Colman and it’s another small but brilliantly informative museum with very friendly staff. We noted the closing time of 4pm and that we hadn’t left ourselves much time to see it all, and the man behind the counter simply said it would be no problem and he wasn’t going to lock up and go home if there were still people wanting to visit. What makes it so fascinating is that there are still significant traces of what was a very early Christian monastery, said to have been founded by Saint Columba in the late 500s. In addition, there was much activity on the part of the Picts on the Tarbat peninsula, which means there is now a fine collection of carved stones. The building itself is more recent though, with 13th century crypt (reached down some very tricky steps) being the oldest extant part of the church. There is a story that a group of MacKays were burned to death in a clan feud in 1487 in the crypt and there does appear to be some archaeological evidence for the claim.

Anyway, it was well worth our time.

After that we’d pretty much museum-ed ourselves out so it was back to Dornoch to get ready for dinner. This was a grander affair than the the previous night. We’d booked into Mara at Links House.

On arrival the lack of signage was a tad confusing but we eventually found our way in. Once inside, Champagne was soon forthcoming alongside a nice trout pastrami which has given me food for thought as regards to Christmas starters. And from there we indulged in a very good menu of mostly locally-sourced ingredients. We both also liked the sourdough which was served not with butter but with oil and XO sauce. I have always liked XO sauce so it worked for me. Starters were a Portmahomack crab crumpet and a Scottish lobster lasagne from the same source. These were both delicious.

The mains were also good too, the North Sea halibut being properly meaty, and the cod coming apart in semi-translucent flakes. We added a leek gratin as a side, but probably didn’t really need it. It made dessert more of a struggle than it should have done. We shared a white chocolate mousse flavoured with ceps, Earl Grey and sea buckthorn, and then tackled a single portion of Scottish cheeses. Once again the only objection I had was that the service was far too fast, with the mains arriving almost as soon as we’d put our cutlery down after the starters.