Gordonmac Dot Com

Nairn is known as “the Brighton of the North”, probably due to the influx of people seeking holidays in the Victorian era. You can see the Victorian influence, particularly over on the west side of the river – bandstands and cricket fields are none too common in the Scottish Highlands!

When I was young I visited Nairn each summer holiday with my Mum, my Brother and my two Grandparents. This annual holiday went on for around 12 years, mostly staying in the static caravans at the Lochloy site for a fortnight at a time. The Lochloy site is now owned by Parkdean Holidays and appears to have many more caravans than it used to.

Many happy summer holidays were spent with my family, playing on the beach, going to the penny arcade near the harbour and fishing from the East Beach and East Breakwater.

This year, for our last holiday of the summer months, Kirsty and I decided to take a trip to Nairn, too, seeing as it’s an area of Scotland renowned for good weather, lovely towns and lovely beaches – quite similar to our normal haunt of the West Coast if you subtract the good weather part!

With the approach of Autumn and the unpredictability of the weather, we decided to book a caravan at the last minute. It seemed like luxury in comparison to our small tent and sleeping bags. We were generally able to relax a bit more, in fact, we were so relaxed we spent almost the entire holiday in Nairn, taking one single car journey to Findhorn (another beautiful seaside town not far away.)

We enjoyed a lovely walk along the River Nairn to Cawdor, a ten mile round-trip. The day after that we went for a wander to Findhorn where we went for a walk along the shore and then went for a walk around the Findhorn Foundation. The rest of the time we spent wandering along the beautiful beaches and the West Beach Promenade.

It was a bit of a stroll down memory lane for me, filled with thoughts of my Grandparents and family, and how good those holidays to Nairn were. I often think of my Grandparents, and how good they were to us. Walking the streets of Nairn and remembering times spent there was quite emotional – in a good sort of way.

Alas, the holiday is over and it’s back to work tomorrow, and as always on the eve of the post holiday return to work, my mood grows somewhat darker at the thought of the confinement of a 40 hour week at a desk.

Roll on the next holidays!