Thursday 30th, W4D7

MOT and Scrabster 

 Woke to a glorious Spring morning, looking down over Strath Halladale. Early brekkie roll, then the rest of the morning taken up with my MOT, thankfully passed with no advisories. One van relief at least.

Drove past Dounreay power station dominating the shore line, and into Thurso,  which had nothing to offer the nomad, so backtracked to Scrabster. It's a tiny town, built around the harbour and ferry port to Orkney, but with a residue of an important fishing fleet, now more domestic than a large scale industry. My plan had been to have my evening meal at a famous fish restaurant, the Captain's Galley, but (of course) it was closed, who knows for how long. There was one alternative, the Ferry Inn (must be one of those in every ferry port), which did in fact have an excellent menu. 

I needed a little rest before exploring the harbour (not a big mission) and found a tiny gem of a place for a quick coffee. The Capilla is a Spanish style tapas place, which remarkably was fully booked for two sittings despite being in a remote town, on an out of season Thursday in March, so I couldn't try it. 

So in the Ferry Inn I had quite possibly the fattest juiciest scallops I've ever had (and a portion of 5 rather than the usual measly 2 in most places) and a plate of seafood linguini.

It was the beginning of a beautiful sunset as I drove back to the camp site so my plan to try to find the gamekeeper’s cottage where I worked in the summer of my 21st year would have to wait for tomorrow's daylight.