June 13th

We bid goodbye to Dingwall and the Inverness area and made the 2 hour plus drive to Old Meldrum near Aberdeen to see my cousin Jill’s family. Enroute, we had a nice lunch at a roadside cafe. Then we headed into Old Meldrum to have a look around. We found a local distillery and whiled away an hour there and Guy enjoyed a dram. Then we had a walk to a local park and sat on a bench under a big tree for an hour in the breeze. It was a warm afternoon.

Later in the afternoon, we headed to Peter and Olivia’s place.

My cousin Jill died almost 5 years ago of cancer. She left behind her husband Peter and daughter Olivia. When planning this trip, I let Peter know we were coming to his neck of the woods and he graciously offered for us to stay with him. I hadn’t seen Peter in years. I had seen Olivia a few times when she came with her mom Jill to visit her mom Karen (my dad’s sister) in Vancouver.

It was a great evening of catch up with Peter, Olivia and her boyfriend Nathan. Peter is an electrical engineer and works for a company near Aberdeen. He often travels in Scotland with his work. Olivia is training to be a radiologist at the University of Glasgow. Nathan works on the offshore rigs and windmill farms servicing them as well as other related work in Aberdeen.

And then there is Martha, their little dog who I took to immediately, after she stopped barking. There was something about my voice. It is similar to my Aunt Karen’s and might have been confusing for her. She turned out to like me in the end and I loved her. Quite the little character.

June 14th

It was a leisurely morning having coffee and chatting. The weather was foul so I think we were waiting it out. But it didn’t lift so we made our way out anyway to an estate and gardens, had lunch, a wee tour of the museum and the house. By this time, the rain eased off and we had a nice walk on the trails on the estate.

We capped off the day with dinner out at a pub. It was good fun.

June 15th

In the morning, Peter, Guy, Martha and I were off for a walk to Haddo Park where Jill’s ashes were scattered. Jill walked there often when Olivia was a baby. Guy went out into the garden and picked a beautiful bouquet of flowers. I wanted to drop some flowers on the pond in memory of my cousin.

In the afternoon, we drove into Aberdeen and had lunch at Peter’s parent’s home. It was great to meet Dennis and Anita. I forgot to take a picture of them.

June 16th

We were up early to get ready for our drive to Montrose, a 1.5 hour journey. We said our goodbyes to Peter and Olivia and Nathan as it was Monday and they were all off to their respective jobs. Afterwards, we were alone in the house for an hour or so with Martha. Guy worked on his diary and I packed and tidied. Martha saw the bags and knew we were going. I was sad to say goodbye to her and the family. It was a wonderful time of connection and I wish them all the best on their individual paths. They are good people!

We arrived in St. Cyrus just north of Montrose around 11 am. My grandmother’s father, my great grandfather Henderson, grew up just north of Montrose in a little place called St Cyrus. It is on the North Sea and has a long beach and dunes and is a bird nesting area. His parents worked in the fisheries there. He came over to Canada in his 20’s, married and had a family in Vancouver. My Aunt Karen gave directions as to the general location of where he was raised in St. Cyrus. The whole area is so beautiful and it is actually a designated Nature Reserve. It’s very popular for walkers and naturalists.

A key part of the directions from my aunt about my great grandfathers house location was that it was on the dirt road up to the left after Steptoes junkyard. Sounded intriguing. When I was visiting Peter in Old Meldrum, he too said that if we had time, we should check out Steptoes. So after our walk at the beach, we went to Steptoes. Guy was in heaven. He loves a good junk or thrift shop. So do I to be honest. 😁

He left two little glass medicine type bottles that he collects.

After some wonderful hours at St. Cyrus we made our way to the town of Montrose. We had a guesthouse reserved there for two nights. We booked in and then headed out to Montrose playhouse to see the movie, The Salt Path. It is about a couple that hike the South Coast Path in Devon and Cornwall after they lose everything, including their farm, in a bad investment scheme a friend encouraged them to get involved in. It’s a true story written by Raynor Winn. She kept an account of the journey. After they completed the walk, the book got published and became a bestseller and now she has another farm. I gave the movie a 6/10. Guy gave it at 7/10. I read the book so had high expectations.

We walked back to the guesthouse along the High Street and got a flavour of old Montrose.

June 17th

We met Guy’s cousin Nick at the Montrose Railway Station at 11 am. He came in from Glasgow that morning, a two hour train ride. He knew we would be in Montrose so he combined some work he needed to do there with a visit with us. We had lunch at a cafe on Montrose Beach. Then we set out to the beach so Nick could get the work aspect of his trip out of the way.

Nick is a Coast Change Advisor for NatureScot. He travels all over Scotland looking at and measuring beach erosion. He had to take measurements for about 400 metres up the beach. It included taking measurements on a hole or two on the golf course above the beach. He was right near the golfers at one point. They must have been curious about what he was up to. Guy and I walked the beach while Nick was working. On the way back down the beach, Guy carried the measuring pole and Nick input the figures into his cell phone. The information would be analyzed later.

After Montrose Beach, we drove back to St. Cyrus. Nick likes that area and hadn’t been in awhile, and Guy and I were happy to spend more time there.

Enroute, we stopped by #1 Mill Street in Montrose where my great great grandparents retired to from St. Cyrus.

We took Nick back to the train in the late afternoon after a really great few hours together. He was going to St. Andrew’s for more work. Guy and I were both sad to wave goodbye. The goodbyes of the trip had begun.