Message in a bottle travels from Findochty to Russia

Emily Plant, 17, from Findochty, Moray, set the message off at a village gala in 2001 and never thought about it again.

But last week, she received a reply from a Russian tidal expert who lives in the icy tundras of Salekhard.

And scientist Olga is even paying for Emily to travel to the Arctic Circle Assembly in Iceland to collect her bottle.

Emily said: “I think it was sent as part of a competition to do with gala day, and it was most likely my granny who entered my name.”

The teen said that she could not remember sending the bottle into the sea and was left positively surprised when she received a reply 15 years later.

She said: “I had no idea about it, and I was in bed with tonsillitis when I heard it had been found, so I was a bit confused.

“It all seemed really bizarre, then a Russian lady sent me a message asking if I could go and collect it - and that the costs would be covered.”

The Buckie High School pupil works shifts in the local pub, where she has become the main talking point.

She said: “Now word has spread about it, folk I don’t even know have been coming up to me and asking if I’m the girl with the bottle and tourists in the pub are talking about it.”

Emily will be travelling to Iceland on October 6 to collect her bottle from the Arctic Circle Assembly in Reykjavik.

The 17-year-old will also get to meet First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who will be making a keynote speech at the assembly.

Emily said: “I’ll never get a chance like this again, but I am very keen on modern studies so I would love to meet Nicola Sturgeon.”

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