Back to School

Y7 and Y8 photos - he has certainly grown!

So after 7.5 weeks off, Tom finally went back to school.  No work occurred today - they spent the day learning their way around the campus as they have only been allowed in 9 classrooms to date.

Only years 8 & 10 were in school today.  I think school will feel very very different tomorrow when everyone is in and the whole school will be moving across the school after every lesson.  Think Tom had a slow and easy introduction to High School last year and as a result he didn't 'mature' as quickly as he might have.  Could be a different story this year...

Back Home

On Friday morning we packed up and drove to Carol and Tony's for a brew.  We then headed down the motorway, had lunch at Tebay and got home around 2pm.  We then spent the rest of the day unpacking and doing the laundry.  We had pizza for tea from Elaine's and called it a wrap.  We were zonked, but it had been a good holiday.

Saturday was a day of chores, Tom and I went to Austwick to post Granma's parcel, then we picked up some duck eggs from Anne's.  After going to Inglesport for lunch (yay, at last it is open and it is as good as always) Tom and I spent a couple of hours washing and cleaning the van.  Tom then headed across to the field for a couple of hours of cricket nets with Ethan and Luca.

Sunday, we carried on with laundry and tidying.  Alice came round for a brew, and then after lunch Matt went across to the field to play cricket - last game of the year.  Tom had a date with Annabel at the swimming pool but then came to watch the match.  The sun was out and although there were a thousand jobs I could have been doing, we decided to stop and watch the match in the sun.  It was a good match too - Ingleton looked defeated but clawed themselves back and managed to win.  

Monday was Tom's last day off - he wanted to go to Barton Grange for crazy golf, so we arranged with Liz and Annabel to meet up.  However, they had a covid scare on Sunday and were awaiting PCR test results so we had to go alone.  We had a really good time.  Bumped into a number of people from Ingleton there.  Tom won by a couple of strokes. 

On our way in we had noticed a crazy pool area, I had never seen that before, so we had a go.  It was novel and fun, but the golf was better.  We had lunch in the garden centre cafe, bought Matt some bread flour and came home.  A nice day out.

Busman's Holiday

So the day came to pack up and head towards home.  We had booked a night in a campsite near Ecclefechan, so we didn't have a hugely long driving day which was good.  When we met up with the Blezards, they recommended a chocolate place to stop at - where they do chocolate workshops.  I booked us in for 12.15, so we had until then to drive the 22 miles to it, so we took the morning slowly.

Cairn

Scotland is much better than us at putting brown tourist signs on the road pointing out places of interest.  We stopped at a cairn which was a prehistoric grave with standing stones and then to a second one which had a stonehenge type arrangement.  Then to a ruined castle - it was closed because of Covid - but still nice to wonder around

We then stopped off at Gatehouse of Fleet for a wander, really really nice town.  Much more affluent than Newton Stewart, all the houses were well looked after, there were some nice shops and an absolutely cavernous cafe which turned out to be amazing.  They had a great display of cakes, so we decided to have 11s, they tasted as good as they looked, although we were stuffed afterwards as the portions were enormous.

Chocolate Goatie!

We found the chocolate place in good time.  We were each given hair nets and purple aprons to wear, we then had to wash our hands throughly before being let loose in the chocolate room.  (I kept quiet about my experience in chocolate).  The workshop was £17 which initially we thought was quite expensive, but we made a chocolate shape each using a cheap plastic mould - I made sure that all of us did a different mould so that I would get 3 new moulds!  

Concentrating hard

  We also made a chocolate bar each - with flavouring and sweeties and then a lollipop each.  It took about an hour, we didn't really learn much, but we had fun.  We also got to 'paint' Tom's face with white chocolate which was fun.  In the shop there were lots of chocolate 'kits' to take home.  Now this is an idea I've not had, but one which I think I could do quite easily, so I bought one to see how they put it together so I can (of course) improve on it!

Chocolate bear!

After a morning of sweet treats, we stopped at the chocolate place for lunch.  Matt and I decided to go halves on soup and haggis nachos.  The soup was great, but the haggis nachos were just insane - i.e. about double the size we were expecting - it overwhelmed us.  Tom had macaroni cheese and immediately regretted it as he couldn't finish it either!  Oh hum, that will teach us to have cakes in the morning!!!!  Luckily there was a massive outdoor play area which we went into afterwards.  We were the only people there, so all 3 of us had a good play (been a while since I've been in a children's playground and I did feel a bit like a giant) it did us all good - stretching legs after such a big lunch.

Whisky o'clock

We then headed to our campsite as we could check in from 2pm.  We had booked at a place called Hoddom Castle.  Completely different to the other campsite we stayed at - it was huge: full of static caravans, glamping pods and cottages and then a couple of tents and a number of camper vans and motorhomes and touring caravans.  By now it was gorgeously hot and sunny - we are talking 25 degrees again.  We arrived, set up and Tom was off on his bike instantly.  We went for a walk along a river (I spent more time paddling in the river than anyone else - might be something to do with lots of flat rounded pebbles on the river banks that made great skimming stones)

We finished off the river walk and headed back to the campsite.  Tom bought himself a soft ball in the shop so we played a hybrid game of volleyball / keepy uppies before enjoying lovely hot showers in a huge spotless and empty toilet block, then to the site pub for tea.  The tea was pretty average - I had veggie curry which was basically a mush of wet vegetables with curry powder mixed in served with rice and naan bread.  Not great, but it was hot and I didn't make it so that's a bonus.

We got back to the van around 9pm, had a game of uno before bedding down for the night.  Had the best night's sleep so far in the van (Matt and I used to sleeping in smaller beds this holiday has probably helped!)

Paddle boarding is fun

So today we had booked to do an instructed stand up paddle boarding session in a local outdoors centre.  Seems to be all the rage at the moment, when I asked Tom if he would like to do either that or kayaking - he was delighted and said that he really wanted to do stand up paddle boarding - so I phoned through and managed to get us booked for today.

It dawned a beautiful morning, clear blue skies.  We were up quite early for us to be ready for the start of the session at 10am (was a 40 minute drive away at Loch Ken)  We (of course) got there too early, but as it was so sunny we enjoyed bathing in the sunshine by the lock until they were ready for us.  First job was to get a full wetsuit on, not the easiest thing to do, especially as they were still wet from previous use.   No one could zip mine up, I had to get an instructor to help me (of course they don't make wet suits for womanly figures so it took a bit of squeezing!

We then took the paddle boards to the loch and were given a demonstration on how to mount them - kneeling to start with when in the shallows.  I just about managed - but was in full wobble mode - as expected. Tom and Matt (especially Tom) were straight on no bother!

We had about 15 mins of getting used to that, when the instructor took us out deeper and showed us how to stand up.  Tom was straight up no problem at all, Matt managed it first time...I, of course had trouble.  The first two times I tried it, I went into severe wobble mode and had to kneel down again very quickly to save myself.  I was doing better than the other middle aged lady on the course - she fell in first time!  I did eventually manage to get to standing - but knew that if I moved either foot I would be straight in so stayed planted exactly where I was.  I stayed up for about 20 minutes and then tried to change direction - bad mistake - I went straight in!  Tom was delighted!  I was worried about being able to get back on board the paddle once I fell in, I wasn't able to do it myself and the instructor had to come over and help.  I decided to stay sat down for a while, was much easier and safer!

We played a couple of games and went for a mini tour of the loch, but mainly we were just paddling around, enjoying the calm of the loch.

Tom on the other hand fell in once, got back on the board no problem and then of course he was in countless times as it was more fun to 'fall' in than stay stood on it!  He was the wettest of the group and had a cheeky grin on his face for the whole session (3 hours).  It was definitely his sort of thing.  There was another kid about the same age as Tom in the group too, once he had fallen in once, he decided it was more fun to 'fall' in too, they egged each other on and I think spent more time in the water than on the board.  They were showing off, doing 'walk the plank', front flips, spins etc etc as they 'fell' off.  

I in the mean time tried to stand up again.  I got up but knew one foot was in the wrong place.  I tried to move it, and woosh, I fell in again!  This time the instructor was quite a way off, but Tom came to my rescue and helped me back on it again. I managed to stand up again, feet in the right place and for the rest of the session (about 30 mins) I stayed stood on it - I was very pleased with myself, as I was still wobbling a bit!  I even managed to kneel down from standing at the end when I got off it, so was very pleased.

Matt finally fell in at the end of the session when the instructor showed him some tricks to attempt.  Jumping up and down and then 90 degrees - the 90 degrees got him.  Another one was to walk back on the board, 4 tiny steps and he was in.  I knew my limits so didn't even try to attempt it.  Tom of course could do it all!

Tom and the other lad had to be dragged out of the loch in the end, he certainly had a good time as did Matt and I, maybe something we do in the lake district in the future, but I would want a full wetsuit as the water wasn't half as cold when you are wearing one.  I would happily have gone for a swim in it.

Coos!

    

Well today was exciting, we had booked a walking tour at a farm who have Highland Coos.  It was really well organised and the farmers very relaxed and easy to talk to and obviously very proud of their coos.  We started off walking through fields where Neale explained to us the ecology - what was managed, what was wild (pretty much nothing), how much subsidy he got for various things, and also some ancient landmarks showing an old roundhouse and another formation where people would heat rocks, and put them into the cold water, the thermal shock of hot rocks into cold water, would then make the rocks split and then they would throw the small rocks into a pile.  That pile still exists but no-one knows why the practice existed...

Eve

Anyway, we were learning lots of things, when the farmer's wife appeared and said that Eve the calf had come down for a scratch.  We then saw a beautiful blonde Highland calf by the gate.  That was the end of the ancient history lesson and ecology lectures we all went a bit silly for the coos.  The farm have 3 coos in a field who are ok around people - one of them being Eve (she was born on Christmas Eve) and who is a local celebrity having had a spread in Hello Magazine - she was beautiful and loved the attention.  Next door to her field was a field full of coos so we had a field day with photography.   Matt and Tom got to give Eve a scratch too (I was busy being shy!)

There were also lots of sheep: Beltex breed, not the most beautiful of sheep, but apparently very good commercially.  They make far more money from the sheep than the coos - although now they do this farm tour, that might change.

We got back to the farmhouse to find a selection of cakes each: marshmallow and rocky road, a chocolatey one, lemon drizzle and special highland moo shortbread.  All very lovely.  Was a lovely way to spend the morning.

We spent the afternoon touring round the Isle of Whithorn peninsula.  This is where the wicker man was filmed, one of our favourite films.  Although it was a little overcast, we got a great view of the Isle of Man, Cumbria and the Mull of Galloway.  

We stopped at Port William for a stroll on the beach, then Whithorn - nothing about it at all, so we turned around headed to the Cave of St Ninian, which was in the Wickerman. It was closed but the walk down to the beach was very pretty and the beach full of lovely smooth pebbles which are perfect for skimming on the very calm sea.  We went back to the car and carried on to Isle of Whithorn which was a pretty village with two open pubs and plenty of people milling around, we did a short walk to a lighthouse there. 

Next stop was Garlieston this is where they developed Mulberry Harbour, for D-Day.  They had photos of the various different types of structure they tried out before they settled on the final design.  All very interesting - must have been quite something being local and seeing all these constructions going on!

Next stop was Wigtown, where there was a distillery, Bladnoch Distillery, which we paid a visit to - Matt finally got his holiday bottle - and very unusual for him, he went for a blend.

We then got home and collapsed.  Was quite a busy day in the end.

Mountain Biking part 2

So we enjoyed the mountain biking so much on Friday, we decided to go for a return visit today.  We went to the same area but this time because we knew where the trails were, we were able to join them earlier rather than head all the way to the cafe and back out again. 

We did the full blue trail this time, it was a mix of down hill technical bits and forest roads.  If you were to ask me truthfully I would say I prefer the forest roads, the boys, on the other hand prefer the technical downhill bits.  I am no natural mountain biker but am learning all the time.  Blue is my limit though.  We got to a part where we had to decide whether to do an extension or not.  Tom was in need of food, so didn't want to do it - me and him carried on with the trail we were on whilst Matt went on to do another 4km of trail.  We met at the cafe and had lunch (pretty much the same as last time)

Here's a link to a video Matt took on his GoPro: https://youtu.be/kpS1-ZK5TuU

After lunch we had the problem where Matt was exhausted, but Tom wanted to do more (he wanted a go at a red trail).  In the end we found a compromise: Tom and Matt to do a short red trail but with Matt on my e-bike to save his legs.  I stayed at the cafe and read my book.  They came back exhausted - the red trail is a big step up from blue.  That confirmed what I thought - I'm sticking to blue!  They had an ice cream each, rested their legs and then we headed back home via half a blue trail. 

I then headed out to the supermarket to get all the remaining food we might need whilst the boys crashed.  We had a quiet night in.

Troon with the Blezards

Whilst in Scotland, the Blezards had been in touch to see if we could meet up.  Schools are back in Scotland so they were only available at weekends.  Today was the only day they could meet up, so we found out where was half way and decided on a meet up at Troon - which is a beach resort just to the north of Ayr.  The weather app said wall to wall sunshine, so it would be a good day out.

We both left our houses at 10.30 and met up at the beach car park at 11.30.  It was distinctly cloudy.  Ah well, we can't have wall to wall sunshine every day!  We walked along the beach to the town as several boys were claiming hunger.  Troon is a small place, which obviously doesn't believe in Sunday trading, we found the high street - but every unit was very closed.  

Luckily we did find a cafe which was open and they had room for the 7 of us.  We didn't really care how good it was, we were just happy to find somewhere.  It turned out that the food was really very good, all of it was home made.  The kids (of course) all had the bigger meals and the adults smaller ones.  Matt was back on Cullen Skink, I had garlic mushrooms, Tom a vat of macaroni cheese, Rory and Lewis were on burger and chicken goujons.  Anyway all was good, everyone cheered up (apart from Rory - but he is 14 and there was a big footie game on today - so he was excepted!)

We walked to the sea front and came across Crazy Golf - we couldn't resist so we had a round.  Matt of course won (doesn't he always?!) but I came second, not bad considering Neil is a handicapped golfer (not that that has any real bearing on crazy golf!).  

We then went for ice creams before walking back to the cars and getting all the beach gear out.  The afternoon was then spent with the boys playing beach cricket and then going for a dip in the sea with the rocket - they are all mad as the sea was freezing (that's what my big toe told me anyway!) No adults got wet!  Oh and Rory finally warmed up and decided it was more fun to hang out with the kids than the adults.  Only took him about 4 hours to work that out.  He actually ended up having a good time - although i'm sure he would never admit that!

The sun never made an appearance, but we had a good day none the less.  Didn't get back home till quite late.

Sunshine in the Forest

 Today, we figured we deserved a break after lots of exercise yesterday.  We decided to stay close to home and explore a bit more of the Galloway Forest but this time by van and foot.  

First stop was Clatteringshaw Visitor Centre which is famous for being close to the Robert the Bruce Stone.  It was on a reservoir, so Tom immediately made sure he had his swimming bag with him.  We walked to the visitor centre, Tom saw some wild water swimmers and immediately wanted to go in.  So he got changed in the toilets and came out and waded straight in - how does he do it?  It didn't take long for him to be up to his neck.  Once he was done, he got changed and we went to see this famous stone.  It was literally a stone, we were expecting something engraved or shaped or something, but it was literally a stone that Robert the Bruce 'may' have leant against after winning a battle against the English.  All very spurious and not really worth it.  Oh hum, never mind.

We got some sandwiches to take away from the cafe and headed back into the van to do a 10 mile trip along the Raiders Road from which we could see Red Kites, Buzzards etc.  We didn't see any big birds, but we stopped off at the Otter Pools for lunch, a beautiful place, the river Dee was flowing gently down over some rocks - all very shallow and very picturesque.  

After devouring our sarnies, Tom went back to the van to change into his wetsuit and went straight in again.  Didn't take long for him to be fully immersed and enjoying 'a bath' in the water.  I managed to get my ankles under - but did a little scream, I still don't know how people do it without screaming?!

In the end we had to tear ourselves away from the place to do some more exploring.  

First stop was a place to see some red deer - they were right by the fence, so close that it was hard to take photos - the 2 stags had some wonderful antlers and the second place was to see some wild goats - once again a bit too close to the fence to photograph, but very cute and nice to watch.

We then came home to have a quiet afternoon, we went for a little walk down by the river by our cottage - mainly to see if we could get to the peninsula across from us - but we couldn't - too much tangled wire to negotiate.  

Anyway a quiet day, much needed after the exertions of yesterday.

Mountain Biking

So we all slept well, had breakfast and then headed into the centre of Newton Stewart to stock up on provisions.  It has an Aldi and a lovely butchers so we will eat well here.  (Just as well as the restaurants and pubs don't look up to much).  Newton Stewart is the only 'town' for quite a large area, so has lots of facilities: Aldi, Sainsburys, swimming pool, lots of shops etc, but it is looking a bit down on its luck - the town centre is scruffy and as I said the pubs don't look very inviting.  However, it is a great place from which to explore the area and our cottage is just fine.

We got a lot of interesting items from the butchers: lime, coconut and mango sausages, chicken balmorals (stuffed with haggis and wrapped in bacon for the boys) chicken Aphrodite for me (covered in spices) as well as some good ole lamb chops.  

We headed back to the house and got ready for a day of biking.  There is a forest park just outside the town here, Kirroughtree, so we thought we would try it out.  It was only 3 miles out of town, so instead of grappling with the bike carrier we cycled there.  Was pretty flat to start with but there was a very very steep hill on the way, I got up it huffing and puffing on the e-bike, I don't know how Matt and Tom did it - but they did!  Very impressive.

We got a little lost trying to find the park centre, but we got there in the end.  We had lunch (toasties all round) and then did the green trail (the easiest one).  We all did it fine, in super quick time, no bother.  We had a drink and then set off again on a blue trail.  First stop though was the skills loop, which Matt and Tom went round a couple of times, I was a scaredy cat and waited for them!  My mountain bike skills are not great!

We then did the blue trail, it was at the limit of my abilities with rocks and roots to deal with as well as the odd steep downhill bit and slippery rocks etc.  I got a little stuck in a couple of places but nothing too bad, and luckily it wasn't so busy that people were getting huffy with slower riders.  Matt and Tom were in their element, loving it all and not making as many mistakes as me. I don't know how they did it all without help, but kudos to them, they did!  We had another rest with tea and a bun before heading back to the blue trail, we did about ¼ of it until it hit the road home.   Another 3.5 miles, we parked our bikes in the garage and then tumbled into the house.  We were all shattered but happy.

The rest of the day was spent lazing around the house, watching the paralympics, playing Ticket to Ride (just me and Tom so we played our own longer version which was fun - especially because I won!) making tea and eating it.  Think we (may) all ache tomorrow!

Plockton to Newton Stewart

So today was a travel day: Plockton to Newton Stewart - 280 miles and not the fastest roads, but the scenery more than made up for it.  

We got up, packed up the last bits from our Plockton house - which was a small cottage in 'the square' of what used to be stables.  It wasn't at all luxurious, not really comfortable (all soft furnishings eg pillows etc had been taken due to covid) but it met our needs and we weren't there much anyway.  Our hosts (and next door neighbours) were friendly enough and it wasn't actually that expensive.  It certainly had character - shame the double bed was old and its mattress almost dead - Matt and I were constantly rolling into each other, we ended up turning it upside down and around to see if that would help, it did a bit but we still didn't have great nights sleep there.

Near Invergarry

Asleep in the back

Anyway, we packed up in the glorious sunshine, lovely lovely sunny day today and headed due south through the stunning Scottish landscape.  Matt drove to Invergarry, I then drove to Rannock Moor, he then drove to Ayr and then I did the last leg to Newton Stewart.  It took 7.5 hours.  We stopped for lunch at Tyndrum again - but at a different eatery - TJ's Diner which did good food although the service was awful.  We stopped for photos at various places, but generally it was just a driving day.

Tom fell asleep in the van which is quite unheard of these days - I guess all these late nights have caught up on him!

The sat nav, unfortunately brought us on unmarked roads for the last 20 miles of the trip, they were single track roads along boggy terrain - a bit like Bowland.  Luckily we didn't meet many cars coming the other way, but my they were twisty, I barely got out of 4th gear and was more than often below that!  20 miles of roads like that feels a long long way.  Anyway, we got here unscathed.  

The house is very comfortable - definitely an old person's house - lots of doilies, fussy pictures, very frilly bedroom covers.  Lovely fluffy carpet and rugs which is great on my aching feet!  It is on the riverbank (River Cree) and we have a balcony overlooking it which is nice.   We went straight out to the town in the search of food and found a co-op so bought some meatballs, pasta and sauce and came home to cook it.  Will do a bigger shop tomorrow when we are refreshed.

Last day in Plockton

Today the weather forecast was for wall to wall sunshine, but we woke up to low clouds.  The forecast still said wall to wall sunshine.  Oh hum, it was warm and not windy or rainy so can't really complain.  

We didn't really have a plan for today.  We had no food in the house so either needed to go to Kyle and the co-op or eat out for lunch and tea, we decided on the latter.  With no other ideas, we decided to go on a bike ride again - back to Craig Highland Farm, where we went on day 1 with the lamas etc, the lamas were down on the beach today, they were also right next door to the train line, quite a strange sight: lamas on the beach in the Highlands - many wouldn't believe you!

We then cycled back to the Croft Cafe for lunch.  I had a goats cheese and beetroot salad, while the boys were boring and went for the same as last time, so Cullen Skink for Matt and Macaroni Cheese with chips for Tom.  All as good as before.

We then cycled down to Port An Eorna which was a hamlet of about 5 houses on a promontory before heading back to Duncraig.  Just as we got home all the clouds miraculously disappear and we were bathed in beautiful blue skies and sunshine again.  After about an hour of rest, Matt went out again on my bike to ride up a mountain, whilst Tom and I packed the van ready for tomorrow.  We are relocating to Newton Stewart - a 6 hour drive, we have to drive back to Glasgow and out the other side and then head West again in Dumfries and Galloway, an area none of us knows.

Once Matt was back we all refreshed and then took the van down to Plockton for fish and chips from the takeaway.  Plockton was looking its best, the sun shining on the lock and the mountains, there was a band playing outside one of the pubs.  I found a picnic table on the front and just drank in the view and atmosphere, it was just lovely.  

After our fish and chips - which was very good, we went for a walk along the front and found a sign infant of one of the big houses saying that visitors were welcome to explore its woodland, just don't go to the house.  Intrigued we decided to have a look. Wow, it turned out to be quite a long walk, through forest, through field and eventually to a view point on the edge of the rocks.  We found loads of different types of mushrooms, a pond full of lily pads and just lots of interesting foliage.  What a gem of a place and we had it to ourselves.  

We eventually pulled ourselves away and returned back to the front where the music was still playing, however, we had to go home, we had the bike rack to grapple with.  And although we got it on the van in record time, we got attacked by midges (first midges of the holiday so can't really complain) wasn't nice though!