Friday was a relaxing day and less strenuous than Thursday. Eileen planned a surprise for when her friend Matt would spend the day with us. I already knew Matt from the last time I traveled in the American southwest. He's a lot of fun for an Englishman ;). So, it's funny that the surprise was let out repeatedly at our arrival in the highlands. First Eileen's dad mentioned it when he picked us up from the bus station. Then her mom at the house mentioned it. After that, just about every family member or friend we met spilled the beans. That's just small-town life.
After a relaxing morning we drove through some incredible landscape to a great sea side lunch.
We took photos from the car.
The clouds gave way to some sun and we decided to eat outside at a seaside pub called Applecross.
Matt & Eileen are OLD friends from college. The flag was for the food we ordered to arrive at the right table.
I enjoyed my fresh scallops (with roe still attached) on wild rice topped with "bacon" which turned out to be deliciously cooked pancetta. SO GOOD.
After lunch we strolled along the beach and enjoyed the smell of sea air and explored the various fragments of creatures we found in the low tide.
Later in a nearby village of Shieldig our "surprise" was a boat tour of the loche and sound.
Eileen booked us on a two hr cruise on the Seaflower. We had a great time seeing the landscapes from the boat as well as a variety of animals.
We had the honor of sitting on the upper deck.
Clouds came and went threatening dramatic sky photos.
For some reason there's a puffin painted on this rock (above)
In the end, we saw seals, porpoises and various sea birds - all of which I found too difficult to capture in photos. So take my word for it.
Dinner on our way home at the Torridon Inn was delicious. Barb ordered what seemed an unending pot of mussels. And being barb, she counted them. Apparently there were 110 in total! She ate most of them.
My "farmer Dan's Coo steak pie" was really great and much bigger than I first thought.
(Look mom, I'm eating vegetables like a good boy).
"Coo" is how they refer to the highland cow raised in these parts. The pie was filled with nice chunks of delicious animal seasoned with a savory brown gravy that was spiced just enough to make me wonder about the recipe. I could make out nutmeg, a slight amount of heat and hints of cinnamon even. It was hearty heaven.
Back at Eileen's parents home, at 10:30 pm this was the light we still had:
We finally headed off to bed closer to midnight to this:
*it's a bit grany but Eileen and Matt are in the foreground on the right side.
