We headed out soon after breakfast, heading initially in the direction of Ullapool. However, we soon turned off to stop at the Rogie Falls, on a small river which flows into Cromarty Firth. We walked down to the edge of the river, ignoring the presence of railings at the edge of the path, and spent a few minutes looking at the falls just upstream.
Back on the path, we continued up to a small suspension bridge, slightly larger than the one above Corrieshalloch Gorge, from which there was a better view of the falls and of the occasional salmon leaping around.
Next we made our way up towards the Falls of Shin, near the inland end of Dornoch Firth. It was possible to bypass the A9 for most of the way between Cromarty and Dornoch Firths, and this we did, taking a more scenic route over the hills, offering stunning views down across Tain and the Dornoch Firth.
We parked in a large carpark above the Falls of Shin, and headed down towards the river. Once again they were not keen on letting people down to the river, only this time with a much steeper slope they were taking few chances and we found our way firmly barred by a locked gate. We therefore stood at the viewpoint looking down upon the churning waters, spotting more leaping salmon.
There were various paths through the woods above the falls, and one of these we took, supposedly one of the longer and more demanding walks but it seemed exceedingly gentle to us --- maybe we'd been hardened by the walk on Hoy. At the end of the walk, we briefly reverted to childhood and took a little time to have a go on the adventure playground, but found one or two parts of the course slightly unsuitable for people such as ourselves.
We then headed into the shop, in what might be called a visitors' centre were it not to consist more or less entirely of shop and restaurant. We made a few purchases and headed outside. Pauline and I found Richard already outside, standing completely still -- the reason for this became obvious in the form of a large dragonfly sitting on his trouserleg. After posing for a few photographs, it was persuaded that Richard wanted to move, and took itself off in search of a less mobile perch.
We had lunch on a picnic table outside the shop/restaurant building, eating our own cheese and oatcakes but heading inside to purchase an ice cream each, before leaving.
The plan for the afternoon was to head towards Portmahomack, right at the seaward end of Dornoch Firth, but unfortunately we found as we drove out that the mist was rolling in from the sea, so the plan was abandoned. With little else to do in the vicinity and no particular desire to drive for miles, we opted to find a spot slightly inland and just to sit there and relax for a while.
I spotted a picnic area marked on the map at the inland end of Cromarty Firth, just outside Dingwall, so we headed there. We found what looked to be a suitable picnic table at which to sit, except that the seat was broken on the side looking across the water, also the warmer side on which to sit. With a little effort, we turned the table around and sat down, only to find that as the table was on a slope, there was a natural tendency for it (and us) to fall over backwards. A little more rearrangement found a slightly more stable positioning of the table and allowed us to relax a little, writing postcards and reading our respective books.
After a couple of hours or so, we decided to head back for Contin and relax a little before going out to dinner, the Achilty Hotel again presenting itself as an obvious venue. We got back just in time to catch the weather forecast, on which bright sunshine was shown across the whole of Great Britain except for a rather foggy patch hovering around the Moray Firth. Altogether rather typical, we felt.
We dined at the Achilty Hotel, knowing to be decent and with plenty of choice on the menu. I had steak chasseur, followed by Clootie Dumpling for dessert, most delicious. We returned to the B&B and read for a while before going to bed.