It had already been a fun, interesting, and memorable day, but it was far from over. Laurel was still in town and we had one more, fine waterfront restaurant to visit in Nairn – The Sundancer. The three of us decided to walk down to the water, then head east along the waterfront for the mile and a half to the restaurant. We walked on a flat path perched seven feet above water’s edge and the black rocks below. There is no railing, and although eight feet wide, one would not want to make any sudden moves on this walkway.
The Sundancer Restaurant is perched right on the coast, and upon arrival, we had drinks on the outside porch as the sun met the horizon. I struck up a conversation with an older gentleman, about 80, whose logoed Glasgow CC zip golf sweater caught my eye. It turns out he was visiting his weekend golf club, Nairn CC, the course we would be playing in the morning. It appeared he was alone, so we invited him to join our group of five ladies. He happily accepted.
We had spirited conversations of our golf, travels, and Laurel and her job in Estonia. We found out John Warren was a professor of History out of the University of St. Andrews and he specialized in the research of the initiation of ideas. Interesting guy.
Our delicious dinners included seafood chowder and stunning presentations of beef and lamb delicacies.
We finished our proper goodbyes to John and bid adieu to Janis and Erika who chose to pass on the walk home and have Ken drive them back to the hotel.
Laurel, Val, and I set out on our walk back to the hotel. We were glad Laurel had power in her iPhone to light our seaside path – it was a very black sky and the three of us walked huddled together in the dark, chilly night.
About halfway back to our destination, we heard a soft voice coming from the rocks below: “Please, could you help me… I seem to have lost my glasses….” Immediately Val recognized the voice – IT WAS OUR NEW FRIEND JOHN! He had fallen off the cliff and needed our help! Apparently, he had been looking at his flip phone attempting to find the light feature, when he slipped and fell off the edge of the path seven feet down to the rocky beach below! What fortune it was NOT high tide and that he did NOT hit a rock!!!
Laurel wanted to jump down but Val and I told her “No! Don’t hurt yourself!”. She instead was to run to the stairs somewhere up ahead and make her way back to John. We now know that she ran ahead just out of sight and jumped down so she quickly made it back to John. Val shone Laurel’s phone light on John and the area and was able to locate his glasses! Laurel took John’s arm and with the aid of the light, guided him down the coast in the wet sand to the staircase, and up to the walkway level. He was shaken (as were we) and found his knee was quite bruised from the fall but not broken. We walked him the ¾ of a mile back to his friends’ home where he stays, which happened to be just a few blocks from our hotel, and close to Nairn’s beautiful Old Parish Church. He could not believe this could have happened to him and was forever grateful that we had come upon him at that exact moment.
It had been quite a day, but before we said goodnight, Val, Laurel, and I visited the bar downstairs below our rooms to try a few more scotches before bed. We toasted John, Janis and Erika for this great trip, and life in general!
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