Stonehaven

As promised, here's a few photos from a trip to Stonehaven on Sunday. Stonehaven is only 15 miles south of Aberdeen - some people commute from there. As you'll see, it's a beautiful wee fishing village, and from the harbour you can walk the 1 and a half miles south along the clifftops to Dunnottar Castle. Although it's now in ruins, Dunnottar is incredibly impressive in it's location. Apparently it's been used as some sort of a fortress for most of the last 2,000 years and for most of the last millenium was the strongest and most significant castle in the north-east. I guess I'll learn more about the history on my next visit if I cough up the 5 quid to get inside. The day was all the better for the weather, once again we had sunshine, no fog, and a North Sea that was almost dead calm, apart from the bloody jet-skiers. The steep cliffs here are covered in nesting seabirds, most of which are herring gulls, but I also saw eiders (my first marine ducks) and razorbills. No puffins this time though (Jane wants me to save the puffins to see with her, but I don't adopt that policy with movies and I don't think I will for birds either - it's not like I can hire a DVD if I miss my chance). I went to Stonehaven with (from left) Sigrun, Sonja, Virginia, Rocio and Tony.