Dornoch: a Day of Rest

What day is it? (checks phone) Wednesday, June 16, 2023

Dornoch, Sutherland, Scotland 

Mary and I have been touristing like lunatics lately, so today was declared a designated day of Hanging Around Dornoch and Doing Whatever We Feel Like Doing, including Sleeping or Doing Nothing, but definitely Shopping. Here are some highlights:

Who knew there was a wee fair going on, under the trees by the Cathedral? Not us...

...until we accidentally walked right into it. Shopping fun was had by all. 

Lunch was convened at Milk and Honey. 

Behold my Goat Cheese Salad, accompanied by a cheese scone. 

Whoever said the food in Scotland isn't great hasn't been to Scotland lately.

We made friends with lovely church ladies, two in the local church charity shop, then in the Dornoch Cathedral itself, where two more ladies were selling cute items for the fair and Mary bought a tiny hairy coo keychain (we've been eyeing such items for her since landing in Scotland).

Royal watchers might enjoy this:

This seemed significant since the aforementioned Prince of Wales is now King Charles the (insert Roman numeral here). And here is the window:

For fans of our blog, I wrote about Saint Gilbert last year (July 6, 2022) when I learned at the adorable Dornoch Museum that he was responsible for the miracle of causing random tools to build the cathedral all by themselves, without human assistance.

The stained glass windows in the Cathedral are overall very beautiful.

These 3 windows in the Cathedral were dedicated 

"...in loving memory of Andrew Carnegie of Skibo 1820-1919"

For our Pittsburgh family, it's the same Andrew Carnegie. 

He was born close to Dornoch, in nearby Skibo.

Celtic cross in the Cathedral graveyard.

Many of the tombs and memorials at the Dornoch Cathedral are dedicated to members of the Sutherland family, who reigned over this part of Scotland for several centuries, and are still ensconced at Dunrobin Castle, just north of Dornoch.

Most of the tombstones were nearly unreadable after years of weather 

and lichen or moss wearing away the inscriptions.

A bit more shopping at Jail Dornoch and we headed for the beach.

Lots of rocks, bright green and dark brown seaweed, tidal pools and little blue crabs.

And a few jellies.

Time for a pre-dinner rest at the apartment.

This porch is the perfect place to relax and listen to the very vocal Dornoch birds. 

Seagulls here are much noisier than the flying garbage pickers back in Rhode Island.

Golf accomplished for the day, Herb strolled with us to Luigi's, a favorite Dornoch restaurant owned by Chris from New Jersey. Go figure. 

We made sure to save room for their version of sticky toffee pudding. 

Mary and I shared one that disappeared in record time.

One last stop at the world famous whiskey bar at Dornoch Castle.

Consulting with the expert.

Mary considering her options.

Still light out at quarter to ten. 

And so ended a very restful day.

- Christine