Wednesday 20 to Thursday 21 August 2025

We drove into Fraserburgh today. It’s about three miles. We’re hunting the charity shops, of which Google says there are four or five in the town. On the third shop we had our Jack Reacher moment. A nice dark blue business suit. £20. That will do day one of the three day Grand Chapitre in Bath in September. A little later, at Tescos, we managed a white dress shirt for £12. Now only chasing some black dress shoes and possibly a nice pair of tartan braces.

Fraserburgh is a large fishing port and we saw two new fishing trawlers that were worth a look. Pelagic fishing trawlers in Fraserburgh use midwater trawls to catch fish that swim in the open ocean, rather than near the seabed. These trawlers tow large nets through the water column, targeting species like herring and mackerel. Back home to a picnic of cheese and biscuits in our room.

Later that night we drove along tight country roads to Pennan, a small waterfront village of 12 people and a well regarded restaurant. We had a booking. Luckily. Great French inspired food too. Probably the best meal in Scotland so far. You can appreciate I’m sure, that Scotland is well known for many things. Bagpipes, kilts, fierce soldiers, loosing many battles, crap weather, swearing, battered deep fried Mars Bars, indecipherable spoken English but definitely not for their haute cuisine.

Speaking with chef after the meal, Flashy asked why he thought he got such a bad execution of his burger at the Davron Hotel last night. The ingredients were top notch. Hand cut chips, hand cut patty and good brioche buns. But the chips were limp and warm and the patty cooked so far beyond well done as to be hard as a rock. Buns were not toasted, either. Now, I am sounding like Andrew, I know. I was so hungry that I ate it all. Saved only by the amazing quality of the original ingredients. Chef thought for a moment. Said he didn’t eat at the Davron but there was a very officious food health bureaucracy in this part of Scotland, so much so that meat was generally well cooked. Well, stuff me silly, says Flashy. “Can I ne git beef tartare hereabouts?” “Maybe in Aberdeen”, says chef. Oh dear, we’re going to have to live on fish n chips!

Thursday, we travelled to Fort Augustus at the southern end of Loch Ness. A short detour to the west to Rogie Falls to look at salmon trying to get back up river to spawn was average. Our picnic there of roast chicken, HB eggs and avocado was just right. Our arrival at Fort Augustus had us a bit worried as it was full of tourists and busses but by 6 pm they had dropped off and we managed a seat by the canal in the late afternoon sunshine, with a gin and tonic and a Guinness.

Our accommodation is at the Caledonian Hotel, a 120 year old building full of character. After a walk around the town, we adjourned to our hotel’s tiny bar for a drink and a seat in the drawing room to compose our blogs. Dinner is at the next door pizza place. This is highly recommended on Google. Well, what can you say? It was incredible. Pizza of Melbourne standard. Back to our hotel bar  foe a couple of wee drams.

A working telephone in Pennan.
Gnocchi and halibut.
Chilli squid.


Brand new fishing trawler.













Our hotel in Loch Ness

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