I’m on the North Sea right now, on the Northlink Ferry with free wi-fi.
It was a quiet night in Stonehaven and we woke up later than normal. 8, instead of 6am.
We took an easy drive into Aberdeen for more tourist brochures, in particular, a list of B&Bs that we could call along the way. I didn’t want a repeat of last night just driving around aimlessly not knowing where to start.
Aberdeen parking is expensive. A pound for 20 minutes. Most of the time it’s been a pound an hour. Although at Peterhead, it is 60p an hour.
The city is grey and dull looking. It’s called Granite City for all it’s grey buildings. It was crowded and seemed just like any other city.
We took the scenic coastal drive beyond Aberdeen, planning to get back to Aberdeen about 3pm and catching the ferry to the Shetland Islands for our overnight journey of 12 hours.
Stopping at Balmedie Country Park, we climbed up a huge sand dune and heard the cry of hundreds of birds. They were excited from feasting on fish.
Ending up in Peterhead, we had lunch at a place called Mrs Bridges where I tried the Cullen Skink – a tasty soup made of smoked haddock, leeks and potato – along with a beef sandwich.
We also ordered a grilled salmon, but the grill was down and ended up with a pan fried haddock – still didn’t beat last night’s The Bay Fish and Chips. But, the chips were excellent. (The Bay Fish and Chip’s chips suck.) They are the best chips I’ve tasted in a while. Crisp on the outside and creamy inside. It was great.
We took so long exploring the coast, walking up across sand dunes and enjoying birds feeding on fish that had been trapped in a small lagoon when the tide went out, walking around lighthouses and so on that by the time we got back to Aberdeen, it was 4:30pm and it was time to return the car and get on the boat.
Because of this, we didn’t have much of an impression of Aberdeen.
Now, on the Northlink Ferry, I’ve tried the Steak Pie – very good crust. The Shetland lamb was tasty, but not well prepared (it was tough) and for ferry food reasonably priced. Free wi-fi is a big thing for me. Most ships make you pay for it.
However, you may not that this post will not be published till the next day because it’s too much of a hassle to process the photos in my tiny cabin and then return to the public areas to use the wi-fi.
Plus, tonight, I want to sleep early. I’ve been pulling 6am – 1am days and I want to go slower. Tomorrow, 730am we arrive at Shetland Island, we pick up the car rental at 8am. It doesn’t sound like it’s going to get any slower, does it?
If there’s one big impression of Scotland I have – it’s a great place to have a dog. There are so many wide open spaces and walking paths and such a great place for a dog and his owner to hang out together.
This morning I met such a well trained dog. Its owner was bathing in the sea and he came running toward me. And the owner yelled its name, gave it some hand command from like more than 100 meters away and it went down and waited. So cool
When I’m on my long trips. I often think of Sumo. I think how nice it would be to have him along on my holidays. We could play and play all day.