Day one of my “should be in Cullera” holiday week.
Despite having jumped through the required EasyJet hoops to obtain refund/vouchers for the (annoyingly) only half cancelled flight booking, I got increasingly excitable exhortations via the app to “get ready, get my paperwork in order, proceed to the gate and start boarding” as I sat in the garden drinking a gin and tonic in the sunshine.
Compensated for the lack of Spain by enjoying the morning kayaking with friends along a part of the Moray coast I have long wanted to explore from the water.
Did a pass (or 5) through Bow Fiddle rock and played around the various skerries and caves along the coast from Portknockie to Cullen.
Hundreds of cormorants dive bombed around us and popped up, like periscopes, floating low in the water with just their heads and necks above the surface.
We passed through a long rock tunnel, which seemed to be a form of nursery, as dozens of juvenile, slightly fluffy and dishevelled birds swooped into the water and bobbed around us, intermittently practicing diving in unison, the mothers eyeing us suspiciously from the ledges overhead.
Paddled back in glorious sunshine and as we re entered the harbour, wet suited youngsters were “dookin’” – hurling themselves off the harbour wall and the high rocks into the water.
Finished the day with a noisy and relaxed dinner at home (which included consuming a vast cauldron of Cullen Skink), catching up with friends, one of whom I haven’t seen for 9 years.
Life is good.