Waiting for the tide to come in

After the Puffin Pool and a quick shop in Morrisons we went to the seaboard villages on the Fearn Peninsula. The three seaboard villages are Shandwick, Balintore and Hilton. These are former fishing communities especially prosperous during the herring boom. Salmon are still caught today and we could see the nets drying by the harbour.
We stopped at the large pictish stone above Shandwick. It is now covered to preserve it from the elements. One side of the 9 ft slab shows an impressive cross with carvings and the other side is divided into eight decorated panels. One in shows a hunting scene with' strange beasts, hunters, birds and a host of other animals' .Although being more than 1000 years old the markings are quite clear. It had to be restored after it broke in two during gales in 1846.
We followed the sculpture trail, made in 2007 to celebrate the Highland year of Culture, passing giant Salmon and then reaching the Mermaid of the North.
She has recently been restored after being damaged in bad storms in 2012/2013 and is now made of Bronze by the Black Isle Bronze head quarters in Nairn.
She sits on a rock called 'clach Dubh' Black rock, she was created by Steve Hayward and sits 10 feet high with her tail being covered by the sea at high tide.
You can read a story about her here