Aberdeen and Eastern Scotland

Monday morning saw me on the train to Aberdeen. This was a local train to Newcastle, and then an express to Edinburgh passing along the Northumberland coast passing by Lindisfarne (also known as Holy Island). It is separated from the mainland by a causeway that floods at high tide. It is also an important site in Celtic culture. The only stop between Newcastle and Edinburgh is Berwick on Tweed a small port and close to where my brother Steve has a house that he is renovating and remodeling.
The connection in Edinburgh was tight (about 5 minutes) but I made it. The Aberdeen train takes a little over 2 hours to cover the 130 miles. Again the train hugs the coast in the most part and at some points gets very close to the sea. It was a gorgeous sunny day and I was of course delighted to see my long time friends Geoff and Ellie.
The weather held up Tuesday and Geoff and I went down the coast to Dunnotter Castle. It is an incredible place and my photos do not do it justice. The castle ruins stand high above the North Sea, and to get to it you go down a series of steps and back up the other side. Geoff and I discussed how the place could have been built in the first place. We really have no idea, but have some appreciation of the enormity of the task.

We went on down to St Cyrus for a walk along the beach, and saw an underground house that looked out over the dunes and out to see. Interesting place. On to Montrose and visited the much smaller harbor which is another base for the oil and gas rigs offshore. The overall economy of the Aberdeen area has been much less affected by the economic downturn that in most other places.
We came back via Laurencekirk where they have recently reopened the railway station (many stations and lines were closed by Beeching in the 60s). It is a commutable distance from both Dundee and Aberdeen. The station has been delightfully restored and the town has seen an upturn in business and growth as a consequence of the reopening. Yeah!!
Steve is on his way up to Aberdeen this morning (Wed) and we are away to Shetland on the ferry this evening. It is an overnight service, and the ferry is about 110 meters long and has a gross weight of about 12,000 tonnes.
We have a cabin booked and are hoping for a smooth sailing. Forecast is 6 deg C (42f) and winds at 35 knots!!
I will let you know when we get to Lerwick.