Solar Eclipse

Tom made a last minute decision that we should head up to Aberdeen to see the solar eclipse, so we jumped in the car at 5 am and hit the motorway.

A few hours later, we arrived in Aberdeen and picked up Keava, Rosa and their new puppy Brodie.

Brodie was the first animal we've ever had in Figgy and he was so well behaved.

We drove to Torry Battery to watch the eclipse and camped out near the lighthouse.

Brodie managed to lick three of us while we were waiting for this photo to be taken.

Keava & Rosa had packed a a flask of coffee and some croissants which was exactly what we needed to warm up while we waited for the eclipse.

We could see the lights from the ships and car come on as it started to go dark.

It was pretty cloudy but that made it easier to look at the sun without hurting our eyes.

The eclipse was at about 95% in Aberdeen so there was only a sliver of the sun left at it's peak and it was pretty dark and really cold.

It felt like early morning afterwards and we headed down to the beach to explore the rest of Torry Battery. It was a really cool place.

We left my phone in Figgy recording a timelapse of the eclipse which we watched when we got back to the car. It looks really cool but the phone kept adjusting the brightness which ruined it a little.

We headed down to the beach afterwards in search of a cafe that would let us take Brodie in. I was surprised how many didn't allow dogs.

Luckily we were welcome at the Sanddollar Cafe where they brought us blankets so we could sit outside and biscuits for Brodie.

This veggie breakfast was exactly what we needed to warm us up.

The cafe was so animal friendly that some birds were having breakfast at the table next to us.

I'd forgotten just how big the seagulls get up in the north of Scotland and Keava warned me not to have any food near them or they would grab it off me.

We hugged Keava & Rosa goodbye and continued our adventure to Stonehaven.

Tom was feeling a little sleepy after waking up at 5 am so we parked at the harbour and had a little nap. We were reclined in our seats and five different groups of tourists got a fright when they came up to take a closer look at Fig and spotted us inside.

Feeling a little more perky, we headed to the Carron Fish Bar which is the home of the Deep Fried Mars Bar.

We had tried one before in Edinburgh which wasn't very nice but this one was really delicious. The caramel was all melty in the middle it was a bit like a hot donut.

I'd found a deal online for a stay at the Malmaison with afternoon tea, and as we needed to be in Dundee the next day, decided to treat ourselves to a night there.

It's in the old Tay Hotel, which I've always wanted to see inside. We had Dennis The Menice over our bed,

We grabbed noodle boxes for dinner at Dr Noodles just over the road.

Afterwards we met up with Kirsty & Malcolm at Tonic. Louise gave us this gift to deliver to them about two years ago and we kept forgetting to give it to them. I'm officially the slowest postman in the world!

I had been craving the Toblerone Martini that the DCA served back when we lived in Dundee but Tom wasn't sure they'd still be serving six year old cocktails. Luckily it's still on the menu and still as delicious as I remember.