Speyside Way - part 3 - Day 6 of 6 - complete! - Part 3

Continued from 

Speyside Way - Day 6 of 6 - complete! - Part 2

I found Buckie an interesting and attractive town, lots of old stone buildings. I walked right by my hotel because it didn’t occur to me that I would get to stay in such a dignified building with such gravitas. The inside is full of antiques - clocks, teddy bears, old paintings. 

And here is the view of the sea at sunset from my window. 

I watched it change colors for quite awhile and noticed that birds seemed to be watching it too, sometimes flying from place to place (like those high chimneys) as if to get a better vantage point. I thought how much they seemed to enjoy flying and watching he sunset. Surely the miracle this world’s joy and beauty is enough that I can accept the whole of it as a gift - even the horror and suffering?

Tomorrow I make my way to Glasgow to be a guest of our new young friends Kate and Natalie and see Glasgow and Edinburgh. I’m sure city crowding and pace and stimulation will be a shock after all this peace and quite and solitude. 

One last thing - and perhaps this is part of my homage to whisky - I have tumbled radically off the wagon in relationship to my sugar abstinence. I have always seen my sugar addiction as comparable to my stepfather’s alcohol addiction, so maybe my falling is another way for me to embrace that part of myself. Maybe sugar has gifts for me just as alcohol does for people and not only curses. My desert tonight was described on the menu as a raspberry Eton Mess - I thought the name was a joke but it turns out it’s a real thing (though it has meringue in it - and mine, I think, was just whipped cream and crushed fresh raspberries and a few whole berries on top). It was good. 

So tomorrow a bus ride to Elgin at 7:40 (so my breakfast is a “grab and go” bag thst will be left out for me), then a train to Aberdeen, switch platforms and a train to Glasgow. And then the next adventure - being hosted in the big cities with two live wire women young enough to be our granddaughters. I’ll be with them Thursday to Sunday, then fly to Heraklion Crete to hook up with Judy and Chris. 

See you tomorrow for the great transition to the city.