Day 7: Return to the Lighthouse

Today, we had a bit of a leisurely morning because we were checking out before golf at Moray New Course. We had a table for breakfast with a beautiful view of the course as the rain started coming down. Our tee time was a 9:40 (seems we had that time every day so far!) but we would be packing our water proofs for sure. John threw in an extra sleeve of balls, just in case and off we went.

This is a quick watercolor that I did of New Moray 4th green with such a terrific view of the green and the Black Island (mainland) in the distance.

The Old Moray Course was built in 1898 by Old Tom Morris and the New Moray Course was built in stages, first 1905 as a Ladies Nine-hole course, which is amazing. There was a significant population of women golfers back then to warrant this addition. The same course was expanded to 18 holes in 1979 and became a second course for all players.

We found that the New Moray brought us closer to the ocean and with many terrific views of the Seacove Lighthouse. John was hitting straight for a while, but his cold and the general cold of the day took their tole. I actually liked the New Moray as much as Old Moray (tell your friends) and for the price, it was the best bargain of the trip so far this year.

Hole 5, New Moray.

Fun story. On the second tee box, it was sunny, so John put on sunscreen, but halfway down the fairway, it started raining so hard that we put on all our weather gear! The rain came and went and came again. One of the fellows we passed on another fairway yelled our way, “Four seasons in one hole!”

We almost gave up on the game after John lost three balls in a row, but skipped 16 (not an interesting layout) and managed to finish the game after that. We had lunch with a view of the 18th in the lovely clubhouse, then started the drive to Cruden Bay and the very comfortable and quaint Kilmarnock Arms Hotel, where Bram Stoker stayed when he began writing “Dracula.” Part of the hotel actually has part of the original castle wall supporting the interior of the building, and walls in all the rooms are decorated with Cruden Bay posters painted by Tom Purvis.

This looks bad, but John is actually fishing my ball out of the burn. Notice the rain gear. We dare not take it off! Showers on the horizon!

The bar at the Kilmarnock Arms is fun. It’s a two-parter with half of the bar in the restaurant and half of the bar through an exit door and a door coming in from the street to the public bar side. Very cool and charming design!

Around the left is a door that opens to another door and the extension of this bar. Pretty cool design. Hotel customers at one end, the wild public at the other!

The rain has stopped for now, but the forecast is for more tomorrow when a cruise ship comes in. Really? Here? We’ll find out tomorrow! Stay tuned. Good night.