An Inverness Break

Inverness is our nearest metropolis, an hour away by car or, as we prefer to travel, just over two hours distant on the train which connects the Highland capital to Wick. We've just returned from two nights there, on a short break during which we met and caught up the news with good friends from Kilchoan, bought ourselves new walking boots, and spent time enjoying what is a pleasant little city - to the extent that on the one full day we were there we walked just over seven miles.

The visit had been in doubt due to Storm Ciara but this hardly touched our stretch of coast. However, what it did do was to draw in a cold airmass which brought snow. Picture shows the hills around Rogart from the train.

The Scottish government has been very critical of the contract which Abellio has to run Scotrail, but we have little to complain about on our two train journeys, with both running on time to the minute. The one point we did make to the guard, who also collects money for the tickets as almost all the stations are un-manned, was that the train badly needed a wash - not least because there are plans to increase the number of services a day from the present four to six in order to attract tourists off the congested A9, tourists who would be able to see little of the magnificent scenery out of filthy windows.

Back in Golspie the snow is fairly thick on the hills above the town, and we had flurries at sea level this afternoon, which didn't deter us from taking a walk along the beach in the late sunshine.