Through the sixties the little girl grew up, played tennis as her mother had done, cycled and swam and for a few concentrated years was a Scottish international table tennis player. Fishing was never far away but, as she grew into a growling mono syllabic teenager it took second place to other more important things like changing the world, righting wrongs and fighting the good fight – this was the late sixties after all! Three years at Strathclyde University saw her graduate in 1974 with a degree in Business Admin; she actually wanted to study journalism but was not allowed to do so at that time on the grounds it was not a career for a young lady. While working in Glasgow in the late 1970s in catering management she met the love of her life Ronnie and several hundred pints of lager or Guinness later, they married in 1981. After a spell living like paupers in oil rich Aberdeen where Ron worked as a research fellow at the university, the couple moved to Caithness in 1984.