117. Summer path

This is the section of the old railway line behind the school. 
I love this short path at any time of year, but it is particularly beautiful just now - great for an evening walk.

116. Towards Scurdie Ness

The Rosebay Willowherb is in bloom everywhere!  

Here's a view towards Ferryden and the lighthouse at Scurdie Ness in the far distance.

115. Colourful boats

I think this red boat is brand new.  It looks lovely bobbing about next to all the blue ones.

114. New bowling carpet

Johnshaven Bowling Club's carpet was badly damaged in a flood, and I think I'm right in saying that the replacement has been plagued with problems.  Last night I spotted a brand spanking new carpet ready to be laid.  Hope they have more success with this one.

113. Washing

For those of us who live near the harbour and have no garden, it's possible to hire these poles from the council.  There are many paintings of the village that feature sheets billowing from these lines.

112. Yellow

The old railway line up above the field by The Narrows is a sea of yellow just now. 
I love the way it contrasts with the deep blue of the sea.

111. Lathallan School grounds

This picturesque cottage, which looks straight out to sea, is in the grounds of Lathallan School (formally Brotherton Castle).  You can see the turret of the castle peeking through in the background.

110. Beach Road

Sometimes you wonder how a particular road got its name - I think this one's pretty obvious!

109. Valour Cottage

This tiny cottage was a gift from Hercules Scott of Brotherton to the skipper of a coal sloop who had successfully made a rescue at sea.

I suspect there isn't even room to swing the proverbial cat in here, but it probably housed a family at some point!

Behind it you can just see the public toilets and the weather vane from yesterday's photo.

108. Weather vane

This weather vane probably goes unnoticed by many people.  It sits on top of the village's public toilets!

107. McBays

This shows the long wall of McBay's lobster shed.  It looked really fresh and colourful in the evening sunshine yesterday.

106. Remains of a cottage

It's not immediately obvious, but if you look closely you'll see that this is the former site of a cottage.  Just one end wall is still standing.  I don't know anything about this building - did those steps lead to the front door?  Why is most of the wall encased in ugly concrete?  Maybe it would have collapsed otherwise?  Why was it allowed to fall into ruin?  Was its demise anything to do with the installation of the big power supply thingy on the left, or was it already a ruin by then?

Does anyone have any thoughts/ facts they'd like to share?

105. Pretty Boat

This beautiful, flower covered boat greets visitors at the entrance to the village. 
It's another example of the fantastic work done by the unsung heroes in our society - local volunteers.

104. Zombie film

For some time now, a film crew has been visiting Johnshaven as one of the locations for the full length movie, Attack of the Herbals.  It has already been premiered at Cineworld in Aberdeen, and I believe it's going to be shown at Cannes.

They were back in the village at the weekend, filming some extra bits and pieces.

The plot involves crates of herbal tea washing up on the shore.  It's an addictive brew that turns people into zombies!  Great stuff!!  You can follow the film's progress on their Facebook page.

103. Field

Another view of the field that will one day be full of houses (or not).

102. Choppy sea

It was a gorgeous evening yesterday - lovely and sunny with white crests on the waves.  The choppy sea was making a great sound too.

101. Tree

This gorgeous tree sits near the cemetery, beside the main road into the village and people probably drive past it every day, never giving it a second glance.  This view looks over the new houses at Golden Acre.

100. Driftwood

Look at the amazing textures on this piece of driftwood!  I'd love to know its history - it has large rust coloured grooves - why?  Was it part of a house, a ship or something else?  How long was it was in the sea?  When was it washed up on the beach...?

99. After hours

We're having new steps fitted at Johnshaven Stores at the moment.  They are an enormous improvement on the very scruffy, old concrete steps that they are replacing. 

It would have been impossible to replace the area immediately outside the shop door during opening hours, so last night Scott and Doug came back at 8pm and worked late to get that bit finished. 

Today the steps are in use and they are working on replacing the ramp.

Now we have to wait for the railings. 

There's a very long story attached to the whole steps/ railings project, and we honestly wondered whether we'd ever actually see them in place.  The bulk of the railings were made ages ago and have been stored at a blacksmith's in Fife for ages.  We went to see them in October 2009 and ever since then we've had the frustration of not being able to get the project started, so there has been much happiness in the MacKenzie household this week :)

In case you've never been here or have already forgotten what they looked like, here's a 'before' photo of the steps!

98. Bunnies

Spotted in Susi's garden - not sure if they belong to the family or are wild visitors!

97. Baron's Pade

This unusually named road is the secondary route in and out of the village.
I love it at this time of year when the trees form a tunnel.

96. Poppies

Doesn't everyone love poppies?  These beauties are down by the caravan site.

95. Evening catch

Please excuse the cottage getting in the way and the slight blurry effect - this was taken at full zoom through double glazing.

Ewan (or 110356407917785238189 as he's now known - see photo no 93) spotted this from our living room window late yesterday evening and grabbed the camera (I've got him well trained).

As you can see, the tide is quite far out, so we assume the boat couldn't get round to the steps to unload the evening's catch in the normal way.