Findochty with surprises.

51.2 Miles. Now at Sunnybrae Cottage CL site at Findochty.

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We broke camp between showers this morning and got away mid morning. Once we were away from Inverness we found a good layby to pull into to test the internet strength. Luck was on our side, so we stayed long enough for Dot to down load emails and put up last night’s blog in case we have problems at our next camp site.

Fishermans cottages around Findochty harbour.

Fisherman's cottages built around the 1900's in the village of Findochty.

Along the A96 at Forres we spotted a Cairn with a replica Lancaster bomber alongside. Searching the internet I found quite a lot of history on Airfield, Bomber flight training and aircraft crashes in the area. This particular memorial is one of five in the district relating to the RAF during WWII. Another town of interest was Elgin with it’s old and in cases impressive architecture.

There is a very long waiting list to get into this marina at Findochty. Basically a fishing harbour.

Rocky coastline around Findochty.

Arriving on site I checked in with the property owner who requested our details. Once New Zealand was mentioned he quickly asked “Do you know Lower Hutt”?  Of course this then opened up a whole new chapter in that around the turn of the 19th century, a lot of people emigrated from Findochty to Lower Hutt with the assistance of the Salvation Army. Findochty  is a small fishing village where the original inhabitant’s were Campbell, Smith, Flett, Sutherland and Herd, all of whom would have connections in Lower Hutt. So if anybody named here reads this drop us a line.

Privately owned caravan site on the sea front at Findochty.

Findochty harbour and fishing village.

After lunch we went for a walk down into the village as the skies had finally cleared and the sun was shining. The immediate reaction by both us when we saw the village was that it was Picture Postcard material. Absolutely beautiful. We walked down to the harbour where we found the Harbour masters notice board on which was posted a waiting list for moorings for pleasure craft. The list was quite extensive with 59 applicants from all around the district. From this we gathered that this is a very popular harbour.

Sculpture of a fisherman looking out over Findochty harbour and the sea for returning boats.

Walking around the coast a wee way we found another privately owned caravan park which had the Site Full notice on the gate. From here it was up hill to the village war memorial where we found the five surnames mentioned earlier were listed far too many times in both World Wars. It doesn’t pay to think what impact this would have had on the village. On the way down we passed three locals taking in the sunshine and got into a discussion with them. We learnt quite a lot more about the village as to where and how it had grown over the last 100 years. These days because of the lack of employment it has a heavy presence of retiree’s but there are still enough young people to keep the school going.

Findochty War memorial above the harbour with 5 families named far too many times.

A total of 3346 miles, since 5 March 2011