What you can read in your local paper!

Sir – My wife and I have just spent a week, on holiday in Scotland, mainly driving the North Coast 500. We were so lucky, as it must have been one of the best October weeks ever, weather-wise.

In the evening that we stayed at the Ben Loyal Hotel in Tongue there was a brilliant golden sunset.

I went for a short walk and took some pictures of the sun setting behind a ruined castle sitting on a hilltop opposite the hotel.

I had a beer in the bar before dinner and picked up a paper – The Northern Times, September 30. The first picture I saw was of the castle I had just photographed, Castle Varrich!

Alongside this was an article about camper vans parking in Dornoch. We had driven past this site only two days previously!

I have a property on the Algarve and motorhomes and camper vans create a lot of resentment among the local businesses.

They complain the travellers live very self-contained existences and put little

money into the local community.

I continued reading the paper on into the sports pages and there was an obituary for George McLeod, the footballer from Brora.

He played for Luton Town in the 1950s. My father had a season ticket at Luton and I went to most of Luton’s games in the 50s and 60s and I remember seeing George play on many occasions!

I couldn’t believe all these coincidences in reading just one paper a long way from home!

We had a brilliant week but would like to make one comment.

Now that the North Coast 500 has created a lot of interest, should businesses not extend their season, perhaps to the weekend when the clocks change?

We saw numerous roadside signs for cafes but when we pulled in they had shut for the season, as had other attractions.

We very much wanted to visit the Castle of Mey, bur that closed on September 30.

We will certainly come back again.

David Simkins

Mount Pleasant Golf Club

Lower Stondon,

Beds

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