Day Four, Afternoon, And Evening

we arrived at our B&B,

the Willowbank House B&B,

and what a delight,

a huge bedroom, 

and bathroom,

once we were settled in we drove into town,

and started looking around the harbour, 

again we were blessed with a bright sunny but slightly chilly day,

Arbroath has quite a history to it, 

dating from the iron age, for a factual read and much fuller look at the town here is an article,

again I had the infrared camera,

so lots of photographs of,

me!

it is of course a working harbour,

with fishermen,

looking after and maintaining their gear,

crab pots, lots of them,

we walked along the main harbour wall,

a watch tower at the end of it,

a family on a day out fishing,

pots everywhere,

these looking brand new, quite an investment for somebody,

opposite the watchtower another harbour arm,

what a neat play on words,

the inner harbour full of craft,

I just had to get in on the act,

mostly sailboats with one or two engine powered craft,

and what is Arbroath famous for?

smokies! although in truth they originate in Auchmithie, a small fishing village a few miles north of Arbroath,

we looked at the legend,

and continued our walk,

passing another of the litter bins using a play on words,

we fancied a coffee and cake, so the The Old Boatyard Restaurant,

it was then,

which has a nice view from the window seats,

coffee over,

outside the seaview rear of the restaurant,

we were on our way,

to the tower,

in the distance,

one more pose,

and the camera was back with Diana,

as I started with the infrared camera,

I normally use a tripod,

we decided to walk along the shoreline,

Diana was taking photographs nonstop,

as at this point she nearly go her feet wet, I guess she was waiting for me to do the same!

as luck would have it I was home and dry,

I kept stopping to take a few more photographs,

so I had to play catch up with Diana, and no I will not do the tomato joke,

I wandered down one of the slipways where a kayaker was getting ready to leave,

whilst Diana took a breather on one of the benches,

we now started walking along the promenade,

lots of camper vans in the distance,

a quick pose,

from both of us, as it happened it was starting to get remarkably warm in the sun, so coats off,

we were now passing the childrens playground as one of the coast trains rumbled past,

I remember this coach from Brighton when I was about 6 or 7 years old, well maybe not the exact one, but perilously close,

they were great fun to drive,

the fire engine I had not seen before,

and if minature railways are your thing,

here is one,

for the technical it is a 10¼ inch gauge line, 

with its own signal box,

turntable,

and steam trains,

a couple of them in fact, but wait what could I hear in the distance?

and there it was, the main event as a fire breathing leviathan came storming along the tracks towards us,

joy of joys, a A1 Peppercorn class locomotive, blasting its way through the quiet seaside air,

but not just any Peppercorn,

this was the newly built Tornado,

work first started on the mammoth project in April 1990, the aim? to build a new Peppercorn, and here it is on one of its rare outings, much to the delight of everyone here,

back to the rides,

and here comes the fire engine, I think the driver,

is having as much fun as the kids!

we started our walk back,

looking at the receding tide,

leaving a few pools,

for birds to find an easy meal,

looking back towards the sands,

my turn with the normal camera now,

so a few poses from Diana,

as we made our way back past the camper vans,

towards the harbour,

one more for the album,

next past the tower,

as a rather strange tricycle passed us by, three in line wheels, three passengers,

I had a quick look at the boats,

I rather liked this one, but not big enough, for me a 60 foot or above would suit me fine,

another litter play on words,

we made our way back to the car,

passing a fews pubs and restaurants on the way,

over the river that runs through town,

and past another smokie shop,

the last time I walked through streets like this here, every few houses would be selling their own smokies as they had their own smoke shed/room behind the house,

back in the car Diana took a few street pictures of the town,

as we made our way back to Willowbank House,

leaving the town,

we were soon home where a shower and a change later we hired a taxi to take us back for our evening meal,

to The Old Brewhouse,

lasagna for Diana,

'Cheers!',

steak for myself,

a creme brulee for Diana,

and a sort of knickerbocker glory for myself, meal finished we called the taxi for the ride back to Willowbank, and for us we were off to bed.