Bus Pass on a Secret Trail

“Come on, Bus Pass”, chirped bus-pass-lady, “Let’s go to Portnockie”.

“Not for the open-air swimming pool?”, said Bus Pass, with a worried, side-eye glance.

“Of course not!  The ‘Moray Coastal Path’ passes through Portnockie”.

“As fast as it can, I’ll wager”, snortled Bus Pass.  “Portnockie couldn’t even be called ‘one-horse’”.

“Yes, but we won’t stay in Portnockie, we’ll start there and walk to Cullen”, bus-pass-lady explained. 

“Oooh, my favourite!  Sparkly thrift shops, cozy cafés and the good ice cream”, waxed Bus Pass, perking up, so full of hope, that a tear came to bus-pass-lady’s eye.

“Well, yes, Bus Pass, but we’ll probably take a flask with us instead.  Like real ramblers”.

“What is a rambler?”

“Well, rambling is another word for walking, but with thick socks, stout footwear and a silly hat.  It helps if there’s a path with the odd stile to cross, and best keep an over-priced tiny rucksack for the purpose, as you take your own flask and sandwiches with you”. 

Bus Pass was silent.

“We might see Bow-Fiddle Rock”, pleaded bus-pass-lady.

Rambling!

Flasking! 

No cappuccinos!

Bus Pass suspected some dark, Hallowe’en trickster-dixstering must be afoot.  Much like Tam O’Shanter’s wife, Bus Pass stewed into a fug, ‘nursing their wrath, to keep it warm’. Declining to comment further on the ‘R’ word, other than to proclaim it ‘an abomination’.

With a heavy heart, bus-pass-lady went for the bus to Portnockie anyway, passing charity book shop’s pavement stall without so much as a second glance.  Bus Pass had a point, Portnockie has little going for it, but finding interesting walks was fast becoming bus-pass-lady’s favourite pastime, so bus-pass-lady stuck to her guns.  (She and Bus Pass are very much alike).  Portknockie may lack one-horse status, but the sea views walking to Cullen viaduct!  Even Bus Pass was bedazzled.

Images for this journal have been posted on Insta @purplehaze_journal

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portknockie

Credit: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43815/tam-o-shanter