Ski slope and onwards to Tromsø

Holmenkollen ski jump

Another decent night’s sleep and we woke up to clear blue skies - yay.  First job was breakfast, it was as good as yesterday.  The boys both made themselves waffles whilst I pigged out on ham, cheese, salmon, potato salad and yogurt with all the toppings.  We were all happy.  Then back upstairs for a quick repack of everything before checking out and storing our luggage.  

As it was such a lovely day we decided to head to the huge ski jump at Holmenkollen.  It was a popular destination - the train was full of people mainly in sporty gear heading in the same direction, lots of mountain bikes too - you have to figure that an area which is good for skiing will also be good for mountain biking.  It was a very beautiful train ride - the train went up and round and round and up into the hills amongst the trees, showing us some very pretty suburbs of Oslo.  Oslo has a population of 700,000 but its area is way bigger than other cities of a similar population as it is very spread out.  Anyway, I think I would be more than happy living in a suburb of Oslo.  Certainly the prettiest train ride I have done in a while.  Matt said it reminded him of the train ride from Kobe up to Suzurandai.

View from the top

When we arrived at the station for the ski jump, loads of people disembarked, and made their way up to the jump - we just followed them.  It was pretty steep and quite hot so we were a little sweaty when we got to the top.  Tom, of course, was wearing Herburt and refused to say he was even the slightest bit hot!!!!

When we arrived we got to a viewing platform which we figured was the bottom of the ski jump where skiers land and stop.  It really doesn’t look big enough to fulfil this function and the only thing you can think is that they are all completely mad!

Zip wire. £60 for a 20 second buzz

The main attraction here is that you can get a lift to the top of the ski jump to see a great view of Oslo spread below.  We paid £15 for the privilege and then had to wait in a queue for an hour.  We slowly made our way up the slope and got out at the top.  It was steep, very steep, scarily steep.  They had rigged a zip wire to the top and you could zip wire all the way to the bottoTm if you wished to pay £60.  We didn’t wish to pay that much, so we stood and watched those who did.  It looked fun, but lasted about 20 seconds - that’s a lot of money for 20 seconds pleasure!

In the time that it took to get the lift to the top of the slope it had started to cloud over a bit, so the view wasn’t as clear as we were hoping, but all the same it was a great view.  We could see a cruise ship in the harbour and it totally engulfed the city - looked taller than some of the buildings in the city.  We spent a while at the top and then returned down (no queue) and into the ski museum - all very well if you are into skiing, but we aren’t so not all that interesting.  We did find a magical play area for children including a super speedy slide which Tom enjoyed. Matt couldn't resist, and had to have a go himself

Beautiful kids' play area

We then walked back down to the station and back to central Oslo.  Then back to the hotel, pick up our luggage and onto the airport express train to the airport. Tom seemed slightly disappointed that the train only managed 127 mph this time.  It was over 132 mph on the way in on Friday.  The rest of the day was spent hanging out at the airport - security took no time at all - they aren’t half as strict as in the UK (which always seems the norm!) and then we found a cafe for tea: half a cheese and ham toastie for Tom a ham and brie foccacia for me and a burger and chips for Matt - no drinks - guess how much…£45!  We were expecting Norway to be expensive so we weren’t surprised and knew we just had to do it - but I am curious why it is so expensive - is it because the £ is so weak at the moment, or is it just expensive.  If so, if you are Norwegian - is it expensive to live, or is it just expensive for foreigners?  Not sure what the answer is - maybe a bit of everything?

Arctic sunset

Getting to know the locals

Anyhow, we got our flight to Tromsø no problems - was longer than our flight from Manchester - same plane, so I’m guessing the distance was longer.  We are now in the world’s most northern city and officially inside the Arctic Circle.  Got outside the airport - straight onto the airport bus and into the city of Tromsø via a maze of tunnels (the journey included a roundabout in the tunnel!)  It was cloudy and a bit rainy but 18 degrees which we will take.  Checked into the Radisson Blu, they made us wait as the ‘system wasn’t working properly’ - we are now thinking that Tom isn’t appearing on their computer systems - anyway we didn’t have to wait too long this time.  We have a much bigger room than in Oslo which is good for packing / unpacking - seems a bit more upmarket than the Scandic in Oslo so we are very much looking forward to breakfast tomorrow.  We didn’t arrive here until after 9pm which means we won’t get to see much of Tromsø this time round (we are being picked up by the motorhome people at 10am tomorrow).  It does look interesting so we will have to make sure we get back in time to walk round it properly when we return the motorhome.

Rainy Day in Oslo

So, we all had a good sleep last night and lo and behold Matt slept in until 9am - this is the latest he's managed since he started his long holiday (we will conveniently forget that we are in a different time zone!)  We got up more or less straight away as we are only here for 1 and a half days, so shouldn't really be lying in.

The Fram - polar exploration ship

We went downstairs for breakfast - wow!  It was amazing - I think the best breakfast spread I have ever seen (and that takes into account the Rasa Ria!).  So there was:

+ About 5 different kinds of bread - all from local bakeries - certainly no mass produced plastic bread.  And then there were boxes of different crisp breads.
+ Make your own waffles (Matt did this and said it was wonderful - the marmalade was amazing too!)
+ A yogurt bar - with every type of topping you can imagine: granola, muesli, cereal, raisins, coconut and lots of things I wasn't sure about
+ A fish station: smoked salmon, roast salmon, potato salad, coleslaw, loads of different flavoured mayonnaises
+ A salad bar
+ A fruit salad bar
+ A ham bar
+ A cheese bar - Jarlsberg was there so Matt was very happy!
+ 2 types of boiled egg - hard and soft

Fish wife

+ Hot food: sausages (Tom had 6 of these), turkey bacon, fried eggs, scrambled eggs, potatoes, baked beans, pancakes.
+ Pastries
+ Juices, smoothie, tea and coffee

And lots of other stuff which we didn't understand.

We dug in, I did my best by going up 3 times, as did Matt and Tom, but it was impossible to do justice to it all.  We left knowing we wouldn't need lunch!

The weather today was poor - thick grey cloud and rain.  However, it wasn't cold - bonus.  We started the day off by heading to Kiwi (our local supermarket) and buying some beer to put in the fridge ready for when we got back after a day out.  (Apparently they stop selling alcohol at 6pm on a Saturday in Norway - think they really don't like you to drink much here!)

We then got ready and walked down to a flag shop we found yesterday - Tom wanted to buy a flag.  He bought one - it was too big to fit in any of our bags (it was on a wooden stick) so Matt put it in his and looked like a tour guide for the rest of the day!  We then got a bus which took us to the museum area of Oslo.  Went past the folk museum which looked really good - a village full of old buildings - would be good to do on a nice day, we got off at the Fram Museum. From reading the guide book - this looked to be the best museum in the city.

Herburt - our latest "pet"

We weren't disappointed - it was a big museum dedicated to polar exploration and included 2 famous Norweigan boats: The Gyøa and The Fram both of which have been restored and on which you can clamber - always a good thing.  There were loads and loads of display boards with info about polar exploration - all of which were in English (some had Norweigan as well, but most were just in English?!) - it was a case of information overload - so much to read and with Tom in tow we didn't get to read that much.  Most of the museum was dedicated to Roald Amundsen and Fridtjof Nansen - both of whom were portrayed as pretty brave and decent people.  I think you would have to be pretty brave and decent to achieve what they achieved.  There was mention of Captain Scott.  I would be interested to see what his preparation was.  Amundsen spent a winter with an Inuit tribe in Greenland, made friends with them and learnt loads about how to survive the winter: what to wear, how to hunt, how to move, how to make sledges, etc etc.  This is where the dog hauling came into play, and we know that that was what made the difference between him and Scott.  I wonder if Scott prepared in a similar way or did the usual 'British' thing of 'we know better than the natives etc'? 

Nansen and Matt

Anyway the best thing at the museum was The Fram which was way bigger than I was expecting - the first boat designed to 'float' above the ice pack rather than get squeezed by it.  Sounds like the cook, Adolf (funny how no-one is called that now!) was regarded as the best guy in the expeditions - apparently his food was the best going and he was very jolly.  There were cabins for all - either single ones or 4 birth ones, plenty of provisions (they showed us how all space was used.  For example, Pelican came in round tins, so there was a lot of space not doing anything.  The man in charge of the sewing machine made special sausage shaped bags which were filled with milk powder and filled the spaces in-between the cans.)  All the men sat down at the same time to eat together - they played lots of cards and all smoked a pipe (people don't smoke pipes anymore do they?!)

The room the boat was in kept changing from day to night and the sides of the museum (another sami hut type construction) projected floating ice bergs, and stormy seas etc.  It was very effective - so much so that it almost felt like the boat was moving!

Tom in an igloo

There was another interesting exhibit where you walked into a room and found yourself on a boat which was lifting in a storm and monsters in the sea all around.  There were some ship mates in their cabins who weren't looking too good and then you had to walk through an ice passage where there was a skelton, an eye ball and the last thing you saw was a polar bear with teeth bared and blood around its jaws!  It was fun, and mostly it was freezing cold in it which was good as the museum was really hot - especially inside the boats.

We also got to experience being in an igloo, and to Man Haul - Matt did a good job but he needed to work hard.

We spent a good 2.5 hours in the museum and as I said we didn't read quite as much as we would have liked.  Certainly good though, the Norwegians have produced a stack of prominent polar explorers.

Tom went shopping in the museum shop...guess what he bought...yep, another hat!  This time Herburt the Heskie.  It is super cute, and I am assuming it will be attached to his head for the rest of the holiday!

When we got out of the museum it was windy and very rainy.  We walked round to the ferry port at the end of the jetty and got what we thought was the ferry back to the City Centre.  Turns out it was a sight seeing cruise back to the City Centre and we should have paid extra for it (we got ourselves a 24 all transport pass for the day - children free at weekends - bonus!).  Oh hum.

Matt man hauling!

On arrival someone said to go into the City Hall to see the murals - so we did.  The murals were good, but better was the spectacle of watching a dressed up Chinese lady have her photo taken a thousand of times in different poses in front of the many murals.  I don't think she even saw the murals - she was more interested in different hand positions and 'looking the part' - was entertaining for us!!!!!

We then got a tram (as demanded by Tom) to Sentral Station.  There he and Matt went spotting for half an hour whilst I did a little bit of shopping.  We then met up, had coffee and a cake and got a bus back to the hotel for some down time - we were quite tired.

Beers on offer (from an episode of Father Ted?!)

For tea we went to Oslo Street Food - I saw it on the bus on the way home and thought it looked interesting.  We looked it up on google and it had lots of recommendations - not exactly Norwegian food, food from all over the world (looking around at the faces in Oslo - there has been significant immigration here) and a huge choice from Peru, Greece, Hungary, Ghana, Vietnam, as well as Indian, Japanese, Chinese and Middle Eastern etc.  Matt couldn't get past the pulled duck stand and had some with chips, Tom went for a Hungarian Lango which was deep fried batter / bread stuff with grated cheese and ham on (it looked like a pizza but it wasn't) - he loved it though and munched it down in no time.  I had Goulash.  Matt bit the bullet and bought ½ a litre of beer (only £8!).  It was a really funky place - full of 20 and 30 somethings, but we weren't out of place.  Just wish the beer was cheaper as we could have had a couple.

As the rain had stopped when we left we walked home through some quiet streets - saw a massive procession of christians leave a church all wearing robes - no idea what it was about - but people were stopping to take photos etc.

Got back to the hotel at 8pm, did an attempt at a repack ready for tomorrow.  Can't wait for breakfast...

Norway Bound

Works of art

The alarm went off at 4.30 - oh joy!  However, if ever there is a good time to get up early, holiday is it!

We got up, changed and were in the car and moving by 5am.  We had a good, easy run into the airport so got there in good time.  We checked in, with no problems, then had to queue to put our new bag into the hold (apparently it was too big to fit on the regular chute - but it was smaller than my backpack?!) and then we had to join the huge queue for security - which was a busy and chaotic as it has ever been.  We managed to get through without our bags being searched but it still took an age - it was as if the whole of the North West were there trying to get through.  I managed to somehow leave my boarding ticket behind - not sure how, anyhow it was sorted out quickly and easily - phew!

Sami hut

We found ourselves a cafe for coffee and a sit down straight after to recover, and then did a little bit of shopping (holiday whisky) before heading to our gate to get our plane.  There was a problem, they couldn't get the air bridge to work.  The poor passengers in the plane were stuck in it for ages, and in the end they had to move us to another gate from which we could get a bus to take us to the plane.  All this meant we left 45 minutes late!  Oh hum.  Never mind, we had an uneventful flight and arrived in Oslo in thick cloud and drizzle - oh joy.  Just the same as it was in Manchester then!

84,000 tons of cruise ship

We found ourselves a bite for lunch (3 sandwiches and a bottle of water which equalled £27 - ouch!) and then got the rather swish airport express train down to the city of Oslo.  Here it was sunny and warm - 19 degrees in fact which meant it was warmer than London,  and we were wearing the wrong clothes.  After getting our bearings we found our way to the hotel and checked in.  But we couldn't check in - something was wrong with our room, could we wait 10 minutes?  It was over half an hour before we finally got to our room.  We were very thankful, sat down, stripped off, had showers and felt ready to take on the city.

Weather reports say that tomorrow it is going to rain all day - so we thought we should see as much of the city in the dry as we could.  We started off by walking down to the waterfront.  There we found an Asian music festival in full swing.  Lots of big fabric elephants around the place, a big music stage and then we found some food tents...lots of them.  They were selling everything from kebabs, shawarma, Indian curry, Thai curry, Japanese, burgers, baked potatoes, but mainly middle eastern specialities - one stall that was very popular and pretty much impossible to get to was the Afghanistan  stand which smelt delicious.

Lounging around!

I decided on lamb shawarma, Matt went for pad Thai and Tom went for Japanese - each of us got a meal for under £10 so we felt we had done well.  The food was delicious as well.  We then decided to carry on looking around, so we walked round to the next bay which had the Opera House and a Sami hut area with yet more street food (Norwegian style here and double the price) where we found some hammocks to lounge around in and a huge sculpture in the shape of a Sami hut but with lots of shirts attached to the frame which were blowing in the wind - interesting.

We then walked round to the opera house and walked up to its roof and back down again.  Seems to be a thing, opera houses, it seems they always need to be a statement and right by water.  Was a good statement here: good view from the top.  We watched people jumping in the water - wowzers - they are brave.  However, on viewing them carefully, we noticed they were jumping in from floating pontoons, and on the pontoons were cabins and there was smoke coming from the cabin chimneys.  We reckon there was a sauna inside them.  Even so, you wouldn't get me jumping in!!!!!

Moose!

We then walked back through Sentralstation and along Karl Johans Gate back to the hotel, stopping in some shops for a mooch.  Tom got himself a huge chocolate waffle for pudding and then we explored some rather magnificent Norway souvenir shops - complete with life size moose, polar bears, brown bears etc etc.  Certainly the most popular theme was moose, followed by trolls.  I saw a dozen things that I could happily purchase - we are now getting really excited in the hope we might see some real life wild moose.

We then walked back to the hotel, dropped into the little supermarket opposite us in the hope we could get some cheap(ish) beer.  Turns out that you can't buy beer after 8pm - it was 8.05!!!!!  Oh hum, we bought some low alcohol beer and snacks and returned to the hotel room where we all thankfully kicked our shoes off and laid down on our beds.


A long day, but a good day.

Another week

Sunday

The Doe in good flow

So I had arranged swimming at the outdoor pool with Luca on Sunday morning, but it was pretty grim and Julie got in touch asking if we would like to change our plans to Jump Rush.  That was fine but I had a cake to do (very long story - I say no to cakes during the summer, but this one was awkward and although I tried to say no, I eventually agreed to do it - this was a mistake and I knew at the time it was a mistake - but when someone is grieving for their husband who has only just died, it is difficult to say no!). It's been very wet recently, so Matt decided to do a quick lap of the waterfalls trail, and then rehydrate in the Old Post Office.

Yellow submarine in our hotel!

Oh hum, so my problem was that we needed to be back here for the afternoon so I could get the cake together.  Julie, Luca's mum, luckily is very accommodating and suggested straight away that she take them without me.  In the end she took Tom, Finn and Matthew as well as Luca for the full day.  So he got to go to Jump Rush, then MacDonald's for lunch and then a play at Luca's house before being returned to us around 5, by which time I had the cake as far as I could get it.  What a relief.

Monday saw Tom being packed off to Grannie and Grandpas.  He didn't go until 11.30 ish, which actually worked well as that meant I had time to put the cake together and meant that I could go away with Matt for the night without worrying about it.  This made our night away much better and much more relaxed than it would have been.  So after we waved Tom off, we headed to Lancaster, parked in our usual place and got the train to Liverpool - still no direct train but hopefully they will start soon.

Bloody tourists!

We arrived just before 3, famished and headed straight to Bundobust for a late lunch - very good it was too and not too big.  Some interesting beer too.  We then headed to our hotel to check in - Malmaison this time, which is at the opposite end of the waterfront to Albert Dock etc, near the cruise terminal.  There is something about the waterfront in Liverpool - so so much history is locked up in those 3 iconic buildings - the things they have seen, how they survived the war is beyond me plus all the famous artists etc that come from there and will have walked along the waterfront too.  Anyway I always get a sense of it, and will happily amble around there soaking it in.

We checked in - very pleasant hotel, restaurant a bit pricey - but we weren't planning on eating there anyway.  Lovely big bath - meaning we could have a soak together and a huge separate shower.  Very lovely.  We made ourselves at home.  Once scrubbed clean we headed out again.  We walked back along the waterfront, once round the Albert Dock, then out the back into the Baltic Triangle in search of Love Lane brewery, where we had some tasters.  We then did a scan of places nearby for tea and settled on a pan Asian restaurant, Chamber 36 which turned out to be right next door to a Tapas restaurant we went to last time we were here - in the Chinese quarter.  Matt had some Japanese fish cakes followed by Chinese pork and rice, whilst I had a very very delicious Tom Yum soup followed by a lovely green curry.  Could have had a gallon of the Tom Yum soup - took me back to one I had in Laos - lovely spicy and citrus.

Albert Dock by night

We were both pretty stuffed afterwards, so walked slowly back to the hotel - didn't get back until after 10pm - very good for us.  We rolled into bed, which was huge and enjoyed the quiet and crisp clean sheets. etc.

I had a fantastic sleep, Matt less so - he seems to struggle with sleeping past 6.45 and it is really annoying him.  Anyone who knows me will know that will never be a problem for me.  Sometimes I will be awake, but I have never had the need to get up because I am awake at that time of the morning and am more than happy to lie in until...well someone turfs me out really!  I have never enjoyed early mornings and not working in the corporate world or having a small child anymore I am enjoying the fact I can sometimes lie in especially during the school holidays.

The original Superlambanana

So, we didn't get up too early, packed up, checked out, stored our bag and then went for another walk along the waterfront.  Overnight a cruise ship had arrived (Black Watch - Fred Olsen cruises - for future reference).  It had been on a trip around Scotland, Iceland and...Greenland (Matt's first choice for a holiday this year - something to think about for later).  Not one of those mega boats but nice enough to see.

We walked back down to Duke Street where I had found a nice looking breakfast restaurant - The Brunch Club - where Matt had sausage, bacon and egg in a brioche bun and I had some bircher and smashed avocado and poached egg on toast which is my absolute favourite for breakfast.  We then walked through Liverpool One and did some last minute shopping for Norway and then headed to a museum we tried to get into previously: The Western Approaches, which is a bunker from where they co-ordinated Naval and Aircraft movements - and especially worked hard on attacking U boats.  They did good, it was mainly staffed by women under 21 - they did extremely stressful work very efficiently and often would outsmart the men heading up the unit.

The Black Watch heading to Scotland

The museum was very hands on - meaning you could sit at desks in the Operations room, wear a WRENS uniform and read top secret dossiers - there is something satisfying about reading something that is stamped Top Secret - even in a museum where you know it has been fingered by many people. We were also allowed to type on the old style typewriters which was fun (although I can touch type, I have never actually typed on a typewriter!)  It ended with a recreation of a typical street during the war and then a video of people telling of their memories during the war (I think by the fashion - from the 1980s) whilst helping ourselves to war time tea for 2p a cup.  I would have been hopeless during the war - not being a tea drinker!!!!!  Anyway, it was brilliant and without the boy we were able to read everything and take our time, meaning we got loads out of it.  Think we were there for about 2.5 hours!

We worked our way back to the surface to find bright sunshine.  As it was so clear we decided to go up St John's Beacon - the tower in the middle of the city.  We were glad we did as the view was outstanding.  It really is a city of old and new. Pretty much everything that is still in existence pre-war is listed including the biggest brick building in the world (28 million bricks in it I think).  There are loads of stats for the city: pre-war 40% of the world's trade went through Liverpool, it has produced more No.1 hits than any other city in the country including London, has more museums than any other city except London, has the most number of listed buildings outside London, and the Waterfront is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  There is a lot of building work going on, modernising and gentrifying it.  There were some photos on the viewing deck of the city in the 1980s - it really was a dive then - glad I got to know it now - otherwise I might not have come back.  We got back down to ground level, very thirsty so we decided to find somewhere for a drink.  We found ourselves in the Cavern Quarter and found a pub 'Sergeant Peppers' where there was live music, a cool background Beatles cartoon going on and lots of interesting things to look at - including a Walrus' head mounted on the wall.  Anyway it was a pleasant break and the music was fab - not Beatles, more modern.

The Piece Hall

We then walked back along the waterfront to the hotel, picked up our bag and then went to Etsu for a light tea - it is very difficult to visit Liverpool and not go to Estu.  Then we got the train back home.  Didn't get home until about 8.45pm.  We both had a wonderful and relaxing time, it is my favourite city.

Wednesday morning, my lady came for her cake and then we went to pick up the boy.  It was a miserable, grey and rainy day.  We decided to go for a train trip and headed to Halifax to see Piece Hall which is a huge structure built in 1779, left to decay in the 1970s but recently revamped and very nice it is too.  It is right in the middle of town which is surprising as it is so big.  It is basically a courtyard with arches around all 4 sides (either on two or three levels) which have been developed into boutique shops.  We got there hungry and found a good restaurant selling 'posh' food, so we had a light lunch and then explored the shops on the different levels.  The place would look amazing in the sunshine, but we had a pleasant enough time looking at everything.  We then headed home via Bradford where we had a quick curry at the Kashmir.  Didn't get home till late.

Before empire building...

Thursday we spent the morning running around getting ready for Norway and then the Ellershaws came round for lunch and an afternoon playing board games.  First up was Ticket to Ride which Rich and Sal won hands down and then Carcassone which little Lottie won by a country mile.  Anyway we had a good afternoon - turns out they needed it as one of Richard's close relatives is very unwell at the moment and they have been going round every other day to help him and his wife out.  Not a great way to spend the summer holidays!  Anyway, they stayed until about 7pm so then we rushed round, cleared up and hoped we had packed everything we needed for Norway this morning...

This and That

21 years on...

So we got home on Monday, via a stop off at Queensferry (just under the Forth Bridges) where we met up with an old friend of Matt's from his time in Japan.  They hadn't seen each other for 21 years!  He got a message out of the blue from him whilst we were in Ullapool saying he was in the country and could they meet up.  Luckily, his friend, Michael is Australian, so a 300 mile trip to meet up is 'just round the corner'.  This meant that they could meet.  Apparently neither Michael nor Matt had changed at all which was useful.  We went for a walk and drink and lunch in a pub.  Michael was with his girlfriend, Cassandra - who I guess is a 'citizen of the world', she carries a Dutch passport, but hasn't lived there since she was 4, since then she has lived in Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Indonesia, Australia etc etc.  Her Dad worked for Philips and didn't stop anywhere too long.  She now lives in Bali designing top end jewellery made from fragments of ammunition shells, bullets etc she gets from Cambodia.  She has certainly had an interesting life, and as you can tell, whilst Michael and Matt were chatting away, we were too.

Anyway it was a good couple of hours, and then we said our goodbyes and headed back home.  The rest of the day was spent driving, then unpacking, cupboard tea and a night in our bed - lovely.

Tom and his chum

I liked him too!

Playing

Riding a rather small donkey

Tuesday I had made plans to meet up with the Holmans.  We headed to Greenlands for the day.  We hadn't been there for over 5 years and it had changed quite a bit, however, it still felt a little tired and old.  We went to the farm, where we had a cuddle with a bearded dragon, a miniature piggy, hold of a barn owl and stroke of a donkey.  There was a massive slide so the kids had a great time sliding down on it and getting burns on their legs and arms!!!!!

Unfortunately the weather wasn't the greatest, one minute it was fine, then it was pouring down, so we were ducking and diving a little.  Anyway, the kids had a good time, they got to ride a donkey and we had a good lunch, and played a game of very average mini golf in the rain.  It was the company more than the venue that made it - and it was good for Tom to get some friend time.

The evening was also spent at the Holmans - we had arranged tea with them before we went away.  As always we had a fabulous evening - good food and good company and plenty of laughs along the way whilst playing ridiculous games.

Relaxing in the cinema

Wednesday, not a great day again so we decided to head to Barton Grange to go to the cinema at the Flower Bowl as we all wanted to see the new Lion King and we all wanted to try out the new cinema.  We weren't disappointed - the cinema was very lovely - huge, huge sofas to lounge on.  So large that the 3 of us fitted comfortably on 1 double sofa - with space left over.  Would happily visit by myself get a sofa to myself and watch a film by myself, you even get lovely plump cushions. The evening was spent in Settle, where Matt picked up a new (24 year old) motorbike, a model he's been wanting to own for almost that long.

The new bike, a 1995 Honda RVF400

Thursday was a boring but necessary day - the dreaded school uniform shop.  Tom and I went to Kendal and spent the day finding school uniform for next year and also some bits and bobs for the Norway holiday.  Tom and I then went round the Bickerstaffs for the evening for play time and holiday chat.

Friday we headed to Manchester for the T20 Clash of the Roses Game that Bob had got Matt for his birthday.  On the way we went to The Airport Pub and spent 3 hours plane spotting in the sunshine.

Airbus A380 landing at Ringway

We then headed to Salford Quays, got ourselves our room at the Premier Inn and then headed to the stadium.  It started to rain, it rained lightly, it rained heavily.  We stopped at the stadium and stayed undercover.  We got ourselves something to eat whilst hiding from the rain and then got our seats - wiped them down, sat down and held an umbrella over us in the (pointless) hope it would stop raining.  We then asked some ground staff what the likely hood of something happening would be - they said there was no chance anything would happen.  We decided to cut our losses and head back to the hotel.  The heavens then opened and we got drenched in torrential rain.  We went to the pub next door for a drink and to gently steam.  Such a shame - it would have been a good match to see and our seats were in a good place.  Oh well, it can't be helped.

In the rain at Old Trafford

Saturday we decided to walk up to the Imperial War Museum for a look around.  I have been there before, but a long time ago - and it was for setting up an awards night, not to see the museum.  I remember it being a big airy museum so was quite surprised at how many displays there were to read and look around.  Every hour there was a film presentation in the middle of the museum, meaning you could sit down and rest.  It was a different presentation each hour and they were extremely well done - worth a full day at the museum just to take them all in.  Anyway, very good for free and will happily go back in a couple of years to take in some more (Tom's attention span is still not great for museums, although there were some interactive displays for kids)

We then headed to Wing Yip for an Asian shop before heading home.  We didn't go to the Glamorous as we had pigged out big time at breakfast time and were still stuffed. We drove through some atrocious weather back home, watched the second Harry Potter film and then had steamed Chinese buns for tea.

The long way home!

Nessie surveying her kingdom

We woke to yet another beautiful morning on Saturday, but we were going home - we were all sad!

We packed the car (much easier now all the birthday present packaging has gone) and headed on our way.  We stopped off at Ullapool to do a couple of jobs, watched the ferry come in to the harbour (they would have had a magnificent journey in this morning - it was spectacular weather) and then headed off on our way.

We enjoyed the scenery all the way across to Drumnadrochit where we parked up.  Drumnadrochit is on the banks of Loch Ness and is where all the Nessie themed exhibitions etc are.  We didn't have time to do the exhibition (shame - it looked good) but we did have time to go to the shop to see if there was anything we might want to get with our holiday money.  Matt and I came out empty handed, but Tom seemed to find a green monster which jumped into his arms!  Yep - we now have two Nessies in our possession - she is real!

Subbuteo with Lewis

We then drove down the side of the Loch in the search for a nice place for a picnic on the shore.  Took a couple of tries, stopping in parking areas, but found a perfect place in the end, down by the shore with plenty of pebbles for skimming and boats to watch and of course a great vantage point to try to see Nessie.


We then carried on our drive thorough the mountains and lochs, past Fort Augustus, Fort William (much bigger place than I was expecting and my first ever view of Ben Nevis) and down towards Glencoe which has a rather magnificent setting - very big lumpy hills leading to Rannock Moor which is is large and desolate.  We stopped off at The Green Welly Stop in Tyndrum - a strange place - set up for coach parties with a cafeteria, gift shop, outdoor shop and for Motorhome owners / campers with a laundrette, fuel etc. We had a quick look round and a cake to revive us, before setting off again, through the Trossachs and to Dollar where we were staying with the Blezards for 2 nights.  It was a long drive, not particularly fast, but the scenery was magnificent, certainly worthwhile doing.  We were glad we didn't have to be in Dollar any earlier.

Inside the bunker

We arrived in Dollar to find Rory, Neil and Lewis.  Tom went out playing with Lewis immediately whilst Matt and I chilled.  We were treated to Haggis pakora followed by lamb and lentil curry with homemade flat bread for tea (we always get very well fed at the Blezards) drunk with beer and followed with cheese, biscuits and wine (we always get a hangover at the Blezards!)  A good night was had by all.

On Sunday we had a day out.  The original plan was to do a walk to a good pub, but the weather forecast wasn't great.  Instead we went to Scotland's Secret Bunker for a look round.  It was very interesting - so much to take in and digest, that we all suffered from information overload.  One thing I found interesting is that it only stopped operations in 1993...I was at university in 1993!  Wow!  I'm getting old enough now to be part of history - ouch!!!!!  Even though it was operating until 1993, there was no refrigeration on site.  The rooms we were allowed to look in had equipment that was less than modern - I think to reflect how it looked in the 1960s and 1970s rather than when it closed.  WE heard all about plans which were in place in the event of a nuclear attack - basically anyone who was deemed a waste on resources (ie with outward signs of radiation sickness) would be left to die or be dispatched.  They had that horrible propaganda film on repeat in the cinema area of the aftermath of a nuclear attack - which included 'trouble makers' being shot by a firing squad of police.  I was worried about what Tom would think about it - but when I asked him if he wanted to leave, he said he wanted to stay - was pretty brutal though!

Beach cricket in Elie

The arms room included in its day cyanide tablets for all - in the event that they got invaded or the nuclear blast meant that they were barricaded by rubble with no-one on the outside able to dig them out (they would be dead and anyway it was a secret bunker!) or in the event that everyone on the outside was dead and there was nothing left to live for.  It was all quite sobering.

It was very interesting, we learnt that dial up phones are far more secure and reliable than digital phones and the boys were able to play with a old style telephone exchange.

We did wonder how much of the bunker we got to see and how much was still 'secret'.  What hadn't we been told?  We worked our way back up to little cottage which was the entrance to the bunker.  There were definitely more earthworks in the area - I think they still use the place for something...

When we got back outside we were greeted by sunshine, so we headed to Anstruther on the coast for fish and chips - Neil took us to one of the best chippie in Scotland.  We had a good lunch - haddock for me, breaded prawns for Matt and a fish cake for Tom.  All good quality and efficient service and boiling hot - definitely freshly fried for us.

As it was still sunny, Sharon suggested we go to a beach - so we headed south to Elie which is a famous beach.  Luckily we still had all the beach games and equipment in the car.  Tom got into his trunks and went for a full paddle.  The boys then had a game of beach cricket.  All the while there were thunder rumbles all around us - it was supposed to be torrential downfalls all day.  The tide was on the way in and it moved very quickly, soon the beach was flooded and we decided to call it a day - just as well as when we got into the cars the rain came down in floods!

We drove back to Dollar and vegged for the evening, having just cheese and biscuits for tea - the chippie lunch had filled us all up.  A good day.

Beach!

Sea monster

Our last day in our holiday cottage - boooooo!  We woke up to beautiful sunshine - yay!  What to do?  The beach of course.  We have been waiting for the best day and this was certainly it.

We got up around 9, had breakfast, got ourselves ready and headed off at 10 to a beach recommended to us by friends in Ingleton: Achnahaird Beach on the Coigach peninsula, not far from Achiltiebuie.  It took an hour winding down the single track roads down to it - but it was worth it - the setting was spectacular - framed at the back by huge mountains growing out of the sea a huge expanse of golden sand and gentle waves lapping up.

Achnahaird Beach

When we arrived we were the only people on the beach - we couldn't believe it - we quickly got stuck in, Tom was digging almost immediately and the sand was perfect digging sand - wet enough to stick when put in buckets, but dry enough to sit down on.  The tide was going out so the beach got bigger and bigger and bigger as the day went on.

We settled in quickly - we played cricket for a while and then went down to the sea.  It wasn't horribly cold, but cold enough for me not to want to go in - I am such a wuss when it comes to cold water!  Tom, however, is much braver and he walked in quite a long way - this was a gently sloping beach meaning that you could walk, and walk and walk and not really get an deeper.  In the end Tom sat down in it to get completely wet - he tried to swim in it but it was too shallow and therefore too difficult.  He enjoyed it though and I managed to get in up to my thighs, which for me was good.

Beach cricket

Construction work

The rest of the day on the beach was spent paddling, sandcastle making - we made quite a magnificent fort with a self filling moat and many fortifications, playing Velcro tennis, cricket and just generally enjoying the view and location.

Before we knew it, it was 2.30 and we had an appointment with a pie shop in Lochinver which was about half an hour away and closed at 5pm.  So we gathered all our stuff together and headed back to the car.

We then drove to Lochinver along a very narrow road with fewer passing places than the previous road and some very narrow bits with jutting out rock on both sides.  Needless to say it was slow going and Matt had to do quite a bit of reversing, but we got there in the end and the views were extraordinary and worth the effort.

So we had been told that we had to visit the pie shop in Lochinver during our time up here.  I was expecting it to be an isolated shack on the loch, but Lochinver is actually (for round here) a sizeable settlement, located at the end of a sea loch.  It was, as is always the case round here, beautiful, but we only had one thing on our minds...pies.  We found the place immediately and got a table.  The pies looked great, but they also had an amazing menu full of lots of other great sounding food.

Scallops

Pie!

The boys both went for pies: chicken curry pie for Matt and Steak and Ale for Tom, whilst I went for a starter portion of scallops for my main.

We were all very happy with our choices, my scallops we some of the best I've ever had and the boys loved their pies.  As we had starved ourselves all day, we could all fit in a pudding too: apple and blackcurrant pie for me (delicious - the pasty was sublime and the filling tasty and plentiful), whisky and fudge bread and butter pudding for Matt and millionaires shortbread tart for Tom - we were all very happy.

We figured we should go for a little plod afterwards, so went for an amble along the loch, when Tom spotted a deer.  It was a very tame deer, so we were able to get quite close to it which was great.  We then tried spotting some otters on the rocks - we thought we found them initially, but we had mistaken them for birds.  Oh hum, a deer will do!

Ardvreck Castle

Red deer stag

We then started to head home along much bigger roads.  The scenery once again was magnificent, we cruised along Loch Assynt for most of it.  Towards the end of the loch we came across a ruined castle, Castle Ardvrech.  It was built in 1590, so it is amazing really any of it is still there.  It is built on a promontory on the loch, reached by walking across a beach to an island.  The location was stunning and very strategic - you could see up and down the loch quite easily and apparently it is regularly cut off from the main land when the water is high.  It wasn't today - so we went across and had a scramble.  We then carried on our way, lo and behold we came across another deer in the open, and this one had magnificent antlers.  We stopped at the first place we could and Matt ran back to take a photo - he came back smiling - apparently the deer saw him and looked straight into the camera - bingo.

We carried on home - went past the house and to a service track for a reservoir track that the owner of the house recommended we do.  We drove up, up, up to the top - about 2 or 3 miles much longer than we were expecting, and the view was great - but we had seen so many good views today - we were almost all viewed out!  We came home.  Had showers, then Tom piped up that he was hungry, so I made him some tea and the boys watched cricket.

Wow!  A busy, hot, sunny, rewarding day.  Nothing I would have changed.  Shattered now - but I have a G&T to help me on my way.

Waterfalls Walk

Smoked Trout Salad with beetroot couscous

Our days seem to have fallen into a bit of a routine: sleep in (well try to anyway), have a lazy morning and then go out for the afternoon.  It doesn't get dark until 11pm so really you don't have to be up early.  I have spent the holiday teaching Tom how to play patience (in an attempt to stop him following me round like a lost sheep the whole time and also to try to teach him to concentrate).  He's getting there, he understands 7s but his awareness of cards is quite poor, meaning he thinks the game is over when he has a few options he hasn't seen.  I also showed him 5s today, but I think that one is going to take a couple more shows - he didn't quite get it.  Anyway, it has done the trick and this morning instead of following me around, he sat in the lounge and played patience.  Phew!

Monster Haddock Wrap

We left the house around 11.30 and headed to Ullapool.  We had decided on a walk south of the town today, mainly so we had an excuse to go into Ullapool again and eat at the Seafood Shack again.  We weren't disappointed.  Tom had another haddock wrap (seemed to be even bigger this time - he managed to eat it unaided though!) Matt had smoked mackerel pate and I had smoked trout salad.  All of which were amazingly fresh and tasty.  We are going to miss this place!

We then headed to Lael Garden, 10 miles south of Ullapool to do a waterfalls walk.  Parked next to a red Honda, and as we were getting ready for the walk, its owners turned up...a couple...the lady was Japanese - how in the middle of absolutely nowhere do we bump into a Japanese person?  Matt was pleased.  Turns out she's lived here for 11 years (she spoke English with an English accent) and works for Honda in Bracknell and her mum comes from Kobe!  After that excitement, we headed off on our walk.  It was along the river Broom, we were expecting a nice gentle walk along the river to a waterfall.  We should have known better after our experience of walks around here, we haven't done an easy one yet!

Even monsters need their mums

Falls on the River Broom

It started off gentle enough - alongside the river.  Very nice, very flat, although a little too midgie for our liking.  We then got to a waterfall - peaty river water tumbling over rocks - and it was very pleasant.  And then we continued, up, up, up towards another waterfall.  It wasn't just round the corner as we were expecting but up, up, up in the muggy, midgey undergrowth.  Once again we were all sweating, all muddy from boggy mud and wondering where on earth we were going.  No other way than up, up, up.  Oh hum, we had started so we should finish, so after a bit more up, we turned a corner and there we saw the Cuileig Falls which were worth the climb.  Tumbling down a huge gorge, framed nicely by some trees.  There was a bridge over the top, so we investigated. It was a bit ramshackle and when Tom started to walk across it the planks of wood started to bow under his weight.  Hummm, he was called back.  Matt then tried the same, but holding onto the frame of the bridge but he didn't make it either.  Shame.

Cuileig Falls with very dodgy bridge

Oh well, we were at the top of the mountain now, so we figured we should walk back over it and then head down.  We did so, but unfortunately didn't get the views we wanted as it started to get misty.  Never mind it was a good walk - just a little bit longer and higher than we were expecting.

We headed back to Ullapool, it was lovely and clear there - the weather here is more changeable than at home, and then back home for showers, to put all our clothes in the washing machine - again!  More games of patience and then tea (fish cakes - just in case we hadn't had enough fish yet!) before watching the cricket highlights.

Another good day, the weather has completely cleared this evening and we have blue sky.  We are hoping to go to a beach tomorrow - fingers crossed the weather is good to us...