Time Away

I took an excellent 10 day trip away with most of the family to Scotland and the Lake District and managed to actually take a breath, relax and not think about work or the day to day stresses that is adult life.

The good lady was running the Edinburgh marathon and so we pitched up for 3 nights at Seton Sands, about 20 miles outside of the city. The weather was strangely warm and welcomed - the beach was a rocky affair which would have been nice to wander along but we had dork 1 (Roxy) and dork 2 (Tiggy) aka the dorks, our 2 Cockerpoos. I mean, they're nice dogs but they bark at everything and pull pull pull all of the time. I'm not a keen dog owner, the idea of picking up a steaming log and holding it in a bag, stinking does bring a small gip to the throat.

Edinburgh is always brilliant. It's friendly, vibrant and full of things to do. On this trip I discovered the Princes Street gardens. As the weather was fair, we sat and chilled and watched various different people meander through as the kids climbed all over Scottish stuff.

Edinburgh

After a few days of milling and looking around, we headed over to the west coast. On the way we saw the Kelpies, 100 feet tall horse head sculptures that are stunning to stand and gawp at for a while.

We took 4 nights at the side of Loch Awe - which was awesome! A really beautiful part of the world only marred by the scourge of the west/highlands, the Midge. What a pain in the backside these things are! They know no bounds. As soon as you open the door, they are on you, in your gaff and up the stairs. They follow you to your car, get in your car and piss you off as you drive around trying to traverse the up and down roads of rural Scotland, while trying to grab/swat the pesky mite without crashing and killing your whole family in the process.

Anyway, I'm made of hardier stuff and I discovered the world's smallest bar about 100 steps up a dusty lane from my bed. I chatted to about 6 local/semi-locals and supped slowly.

Oban was cool, Inverary had the most amazing view across Loch Fyne and I tried to get across to Mull but to no avail. Apparently you have to be super efficient and book your trips up in advance by weeks - so just driving up to the terminal and stating you want to go to Mull is generally met with "not a chance mate" in Scottish drawl.

Kelpies

We also spent a couple of nights in the Lake District not far from Keswick. I'd not been to the Lakes before and I was not disappointed. What a lovely part of the world. It hadn't dawned on me before this point in my life but these lakes are like the beach for us coastal types, except with fresh, not salt water. There was paddle boarding and swimming to be had - whilst I held the dorks.

So, what happened was, I forgot about work and the general run of family life and just fluffed around, did a bit of reading, listened to the plentiful supply of birds, focussed some binoculars and simply relaxed. Took a breath and relaxed - and it was good. I should try it again soon. Time away is good.

Oban

Derwent Water