A few days up north

Himself and I had a lovely visit with cousins up north - just over three hours in the car.  We took our time on the drive up.  At one point we saw seals resting on the rocks near Dingwall:

Near Nigg, we saw several huge oil rigs waiting for service (or whatever it is they do up there):

We played a little golf on The Struie Course at Dornoch - in the wind, lashing rain and did I mention the wind?  The best part of that day was the parsnip and haggis soup in the clubhouse.  Here is the starter on The Championship Course (note how well the flags are flying):

One day another cousin came over with her nephew and his wife and we joined them on a drive up the road to Croick Church. We like to go up and pay our respects. This sweet wee church has a dramatic history associated with the Clearances, and many Ross's are buried there: http://www.croickchurch.com/

We were quite taken with the free range Rhode Island Red chickens wandering about:

When on the croft it is important to securely tie up the boots (unless one is wearing wellies):

A personal highlight of our visit was watching George out with his dogs herding the sheep.  It's magic. On the morning of the Dingwall Sales I filmed a bit of him, with his mum, and three of the dogs getting the sheep ready for the truck (don't worry, they are sold to go onto greener pastures mostly down south):

George went down right away to be at the market and check that the lambs were taken safely off the truck.  We followed on a bit later.  It was a huge sale - over 13,000 lambs were sold - and Heatherlea successfully sold 315.  The auction was very exciting.  Himself reminded me to sit on my hands as we had no room in the car.  This clip shows the Heatherlea lambs at auction.  I still can't tell who is doing the buying - each buyer has a secret sign that the auctioneer knows to look for:

Cousins, family - that's what it's all about - and we had a great time together.

I'm off to Poland next week to visit with more cousins ...