Caithness

[John Little]

"Talk Caithness to me all of you. talk..."

That's what the man said. On another thread.
So I thought I'd talk my Caithness - like he wants- a man in a far off land and give him a few images.

What is Caithness?

Words; beautiful. wild, clean and clear, windy, crisp.
White beaches behind the castle of Mey

Dunnet sands - but don't go over there because there's quicksand.

Gorse bushes with a man living in a bender under them

The road from Georgemas Junction that ends up coming over a little hill and you come to the top and there is the Pentland Firth blue in front of you, white butts and bens, John O Groats and the Orkneys impossibly near.

Dunnet head where stones thrown up during storms break the windows of the lighthouse.

Scrabster and the Captains table, seared sea bream and roast potatoes. Fishing for flatties off the pier.

Slabs for field boundaries. The old steam laundry outside the Miller. Ormlie Lodge and the orange juice the apprentices put in the water tank

Dounreay.

Wick and a hall, reciting Geordag Sitherland's croft. The harbour; Duncansby Stacks; the whalebone gate at Latheron.

Cardosi's chip shop- and his ice cream
Thurso cinema - when it was.
Sutherland's cake shop and everlasting lollies.

Collet's top shop which is now called something else.
The old guy in the brown mac that used to go round catching kids who were not in school.

Peter at the boating lake

Deep holes at Holborn Head

Buying the Beano from the old dear at the station shop...

Talk Caithness he said.

But I'm just a romantic and my glasses are rosy.

Most of you live there.

What's your Caithness?

[Bobbyian]

My Caithness

stamping to the school in Scotcalder and Treacle scones taking the cows of the hill

Sliding down the hill to Miller the bakers rolls at the gate

swimming at the weir in the thurso in old car innertubes

Walking up to Olrig from Casteltown or down to the harbour and Dunnet beach

may be even Salmon fishing or even pulling Makerel with a saftypin

The smell and sounds of the twin steam engines on the run to Inverness

or even waiting in the snow at forsinard for the late train to pass...

it may have been early years but the county meant a lot

but best of all is the deadly silence in the evening when the last Curlew have gone to rest out on the moors Brilliant

Whats yours?

[Fluff]

beautiful open spaces, walk for miles with my own thoughts. Family, good food. Going to bed, only the sound of the coos, no light!
Nothern lights, cold nights, amazing wildlife.

Red pudding suppers, fresh fish, the most amazing steak in the world!

isolation (sometimes bad) fresh clean air, silence and beautiful calm days.

Hector the cat and my wonderful mum & dad

[Greenrunner]

Talking about this the other night (yestreen) after watching prog on solar system. Has to be a clear winter night sky, really miss that

[celtic1888]

my caithness..

"here biy ye hittin skins enyt?"

[Boozeburglar]

At last a thread that is nothing but positive!

I loved reading that first post, reminds me how much I miss the place.

...and I visit often!

[Kenn]

Friendly folk, fabulous sunsets, rainbows,rushing burns, ruined crofts and castles,otters fishing, grey geese,hooper swans,enormous skies,standing stones and a sense of timelessness.

[fred]

Friendly folk, fabulous sunsets, rainbows,rushing burns, ruined crofts and castles,otters fishing, grey geese,hooper swans,enormous skies,standing stones and a sense of timelessness.

I did say to someone from America who visited me a little while back that if they are flying into Wick airport they should remember we are in a different time zone here and not forget to wind their watches back...about twenty years.

[dietcokegirl]

A nice, positive thread for a change!!.....then fred comes along.

[fred]

A nice, positive thread for a change!!.....then fred comes along.

I don't see anything negative about my post, it's one of the things I like about Caithness.

Why do you see that as negative?

[dietcokegirl]

Just that your basically saying that we're behind with the times.
Which i suppose we are now that i think about it...no offence intended - i type before i think sometimes!
Anything in particular you think we're behind on?

[fred]

Just that your basically saying that we're behind with the times.
Which i suppose we are now that i think about it...no offence intended - i type before i think sometimes!
Anything in particular you think we're behind on?

You see you are young and cutting edge is great, I'm old and I prefer the way things were.

I say it's old it must be good, you say it's new it must be better.

Perhaps we are both fools.

[Aaldtimer]

On a Diamond Clear frosty morning, cycling to Dounreay, and seeing the Shockats tumbling in the sky with their display flights...Spring has sprung...pure magic!

[Metalattakk]

Mac Mowat's bike shop, getting punctures fixed for nothing, as long as you pay something out of your pocket money next time.

Danny Craig demanding you put the money on the counter, then the next time you were in, he'd demand you put the money in his hand.

Guddling in about the stream up the moors looking for frog spawn.

Being engulfed in freshly hatched may-flies on the banks of a loch, just minutes after watching ospreys plunging 200ft into the water, and coming up with more fish than I'd caught all day. That's a day that will live with me forever.

As has been mentioned before, wee Tottie in the railway station shop. What a gem.

Standing with my Grandfather in the Harmsworth, watching Pattie Miller, Willie Wydmuch and Zekie(sp) Munro playing for the Academy. Can never mind the name of the big No.9 that scored all the goals though.

Trips to "Scotland's Haven" and Scoutheran Woods - no idea where this was, not on any maps I've seen. Did my folks just make the name up?

But the best thing about Caithness?

The driving wind that's always in your face, no matter which direction you're going. It's a gentle reminder that this is a place where nature is in absolute control, and that if you can't accept that then you're in the wrong place.

[Aaldtimer]

MA..."But the best thing about Caithness?
The driving wind that's always in your face, no matter which direction you're going. It's a gentle reminder that this is a place where nature is in absolute control, and that if you can't accept that then you're in the wrong place."...
no for us cyclists it wisnae gentle!

I remember when I first started in 1984, recovering in the tea bar with Davy Terrace, an experienced cyclist who'd done it long before me.

I asked him, "How come you come out here in the morning and the wind's in your face, and you go home at night and the wind's in your face again?"

He thought for a bit, sucking his pipe, then replied, "Because God's a , and He disnae hiv a bike!" LOL!

[cuddlepop]

Freedom.

[Alien Adrenaline Reflex]

The sea from any angle is majestic especially in wintre if you can handel standing atop a cliff to really see it properly

Watchinh the really big waves come into dunnet beach and thurso bay from sea levl during the winter months is awe inspiring.

looking at the reflection of pulteny/wick from the otherside of the harbour in the glasslike water on a hot day during the summer.

coming home after a weekends campin g in the center of caithness reeking of jungle formula and covered in midge bites

bolting the door behind you once you braved the ghorizontal rain and dry ground just to get home

[sandyr1]

The wind and rain ...and the rain and wind.
And Lybster Harbour......
'Long Gone, but Not Forgotten!

[Bazeye]

Two weeks every year of going out on the lash and not having to get up for work the next day.