Since our drenching when we arrived in Glasgow we haven’t had any rain, it’s been cold and the skies often cloudy but today was beautifully sunny. We were told seals and dolphins hung out near Rosmarkie so we set off to see them, unfortunately they were elswhere today and I wasn’t surprised, it was too cold to be lazing about on a beach. As we drove away a pheasant darted out of a bush on the golf course which is either side of the promontory road, he crossed right in front of us. That was the first of several lovely birds we saw today.
We drove beside the Cromarty Firth where we’d seen a couple of seals then headed for Invergordon.
On the way to Invergordon we saw a sign to “The Clootie Well” and that sounded intriguing especially since I knew Alex’s mum used to quote the saying, “Never shed a cloot ’till May’s oot” ie don’t shed any layers until June. Apparently a pagan tradition was to dip a piece of clothing in the well before hanging it on a tree for good luck. The result of this tradition continuing can only be described as bizarre. The photo will show what I mean.
At Invergordon we checked out some of the murals on the walls of the town but didn’t have any map to show us the trail so only saw about 10 of the 17.
2macstracks 
Comments on: "Fortrose, Rosmarkie and Invergordon" (8)
That Clootie Well does seem bizarre!A bit creepy!
That was my response exactly. My husband also pointed out that in the long ago any materials left there would have rotted before too long but with synthetics in most materials these days they look horrible for a long time before they finally disintegrate.
One should actually put fire to it…uggh,a huge dump!
I think you’re right.
Beautiful photo’s and very interesting blog,thanks!
I’m glad you’re enjoying it. 🙂
The whole area around “The Clootie Well” really looks a horrible mess. I think it would take a fire to go through to clean it up. As we drove along the “highway” we spotted rags tied to the trees and wondered what it was then we saw the sign to the well. With the thousnads or millions of rags tied to trees I felt it actually had a bizarre, unpleasant feel. If you imagine a place with bright, colourful streamers of cloth you’re wrong. I’m sure you’ve seen trees hung with shoes before or even bottles, they just make me smile but this had a totally different feel to it.
Thats the way with whales and dolphins they sneak by when you arent looking. Ive yet to see a whale go by here. yet they do. I remember seeing the lovely beaches and being astonished by the oil rigs from the train as it headed up the coast to wick. That was in winter where I had to have every article of clothing on that I had with me. Oh and I so love the clothes. Do people come back and get them or just leave them for the fairies.