One word? When seven would do…

And one of our last nights in Willow potentially.

We all slept well last night and made the most of that extra hour :). It was a windy, rainy night but we all slept better in the van than we had in the cottage, even though I woke a couple of times when the wind rocked the van it was only to think ‘oh, I’m in Willow’ and snuggle back down in my sleeping bag again.

After breakfast and second cups of tea we decided to go for a walk so had another wander around Mallaig including popping into the CoOp for some bits for dinner. The woman behind the counter commented on the weather and said she hoped it would be better tomorrow. I agreed and said we were off to Eigg so didn’t want a bumpy crossing and she reminded me that it might be no crossing at all if the weather was bad. I hear Calmac cancelling crossings all the time on the travel reports on the radio so knew it was a possibility and we’d already debated what we’d do if we couldn’t get across to Eigg. We’d agreed to hang about til Wednesday or Thursday before giving up but haven’t given much thought at all to being stuck on Eigg – after all that will be out of our hands!

We decided to pop into the ferry office anyway just to see what their weather predictions were saying for tomorrow and were very glad we did as they have got a problem with their usual ferry and will be running a smaller replacement with far less seats. We booked places and will need to be at the port earlier than planned in the morning.

Back at the van we had lunch and played some games of cards – we quite like Donkey but it does get the kids quite fired up :). Then we watched most of Despicable Me on the old laptop which we just use as a dvd player until the battery ran out (we got a good hour out of it). Then I made dinner – pasta bake and we listened to the radio.

Ady washed up and I read stories and we all theoretically got to bed early again although of course no one is asleep yet.

It’s been a biding time sort of day, there isn’t really anything to do in walking distance and it’s not even nice walking weather. We spent lots of time gazing out the van windows at the sea which was very dramatic and has Skye, Rumm and Eigg in the distance but it would not be somewhere we’d have spent two nights if we were not waiting for the ferry.

Looking forward to tomorrow and hoping the hosts are nice and we have some access to electric and phone or 3 signal to stay in touch a little bit.

Oops!

Thursday morning we said goodbye to Lynda and Stuart. It was so lovely sharing the cottage with them. It was also a bit lovely to have it all to ourselves after they’d gone for 48 hours too! 🙂

Once they had gone we totally took over the cottage doing all the backed up washing including getting all our sleeping bags, blankets and pillowcases washed and dried, airing pillows and camping mats and making the most of the space to really give Willow a good clean out and get everything sorted out.

Then we sat down with popcorn and Despicable Me which I only half watched but the others all said was excellent.

We debated dinners for the last two nights and came up with steak and chips (Scarlett wanted fish cakes, she’s been desperate for them for ages and is not as keen on steak anyway. Honestly, she’s so cheap – I made fishcakes as a real budget emergency dinner in the van using instant mash and tinned tuna and she loves them!) and fajitas and tacos as dinners we all liked with various tweaking for individuals, were not easy to cook in the van and would be nice to have as a treat.

We walked along to the CoOp and got some of the ingredients for tacos but due to a lack of avocado and a sense of humour failure on my part when the other three were being gormless about alternatives we then went to the Farm Foods shop in the other direction and had steak instead.

In theory the kids had an early night. In practise I suspect it was still about midnight before they were asleep.

Friday we’d planned to give Willow a little run anyway so we headed to Morrisons for the rest of the food supplies, stocked up on engine oil and anti freeze for Willow and checked out prices of petrol at the three nearby garages ready for the morning. We’d all slept in so had a late breakfast / early lunch before we went out and then came home and spent the remainder of the day finishing laundry processing and laying out all the things we’d need to pack for the last WWOOF host then packing them up ready to stash in the van. We started to pack up and gather stuff together and the kids and I watched Despicable Me again, this time I watched properly and I really enjoyed it too. Usually Disney Pixar have the monopoly on putting out the best of those types of films but I think Universal have done well with that one. We did some blogging on WW, summing up the wild camping experience and talking about our last host and what happens next. I’m so proud of the kids for how adventurous they are about this whole thing and how clearly they see the positives of this year. I know some of their friends are very envious and would love to be living in a van like them but I know plenty more are less enthusiastic and think it would be awful. They are looking forward to staying with my parents, not least because they reckon it will be like Christmas come early when they have access to all their toys again :).

I had a bath and then cooked dinner, enjoying swanning about the large kitchen, wine glass in hand, being all Nigella and making things sizzle and saute 🙂 while the others had baths. We ate infront of the TV as a last night treat and watched Autumnwatch before starting to watch the Derren Browne show on plus one. We’d only been talking about Derren earlier that week to the kids and were really pleased to notice one of his shows was on and assumed starting at 9pm it would probably be ok for them to watch with us. About 10 minutes in it became rather obvious it was not remotely suitable for them with way more adult content than I was prepared to unravel and explain, or feel they need access to just yet (and I am always falling on the wrong side of not censoring enough so for me to make that decison it was pretty full on!) so they went off to bed and Ady and I carried on watching. It was a real shame as I think the general message of the show was one that would have been good to explore with the kids but actually I thought it was one of the weaker programmes he has done, usually I am a real fan.

Ady and I eventually headed to bed around midnight but both of us slept really badly, lying awake at 4am chatting. It felt like our last night in our house before we left for WWOOFing with loads of last minute things to do before heading towards the unknown. I eventually fell asleep again about 530am and have felt really knackered all day today.

Saturday up with the alarm to ensure we got everything sorted out – van packed up, cottage hoovered and final tidied up, kids all packed etc to be out for 10am. It’s tough packing into Willow as you can’t do that shoving stuff in to be sorted out later trick you do into a car at the end of a holiday as you’ll just be tripping over it and giving yourself more work to do in a smaller area so you need to do it properly and that takes ages.

We left on time though, handing the keys over bang on 10am before filling up with petrol and heading towards Mallaig which is just over 40 miles from Fort William. We’d half thought we might find a stop over point for tonight on the way and indeed did drive past some beautiful parking places in the mountain ranges next to lochs but Ady had suddenly got all paranoid about just where we’d be leaving Willow while we’re on Eigg so I thought we’d be better just getting here and finding our space for the whole two weeks now.

Sure enough we found the carpark near the ferry port and have a good space we can sleep in for the next two nights and leave her here while we’re gone.

We had lunch and chatted for a bit and Ady and I talked about the fact I was feeling a bit flat. We decided it’s just that I’ve run out of momentum with nothing within my control to be organising or planning really. For the last 18 months I’ve been making this adventure happen, up until fairly recently we were still not clear about what happens next. Now we have made decisions it is suddenly out of our hands as it all now hinges on our house selling. We could well be living in our own home again somewhere up here by this time next year, planning our first Christmas and getting to grips with our new life. Or we could be facing a nightmare of our house not selling and having been without a home for nearly 2 years. Glastonbury will be a great short term location but we are very much banking on it being a couple of months stop gap while the house sells.

I felt much better for having talked it through with Ady and all settled in myself again now. I don’t like wobbling, even just briefly so was pleased to be back on an even keel again after a couple of days of minor internal angst. We did some dreaming and plotting and coming up with exciting business ideas which always makes me feel better – an adventuring pioneer rather than a nomadic drifter ;).

We had a brief walk around Mallaig, it’s fairly small and lots of it is closed for the season or not open at weekends – a heritage centre and visitor centre were both closed. The station was open and we happened to be there when the steam train pulled in which was pretty. We walked around the ferry port and went to the ‘most westerly outdoors shop on mainland UK’ where we invested in a cargo bag to tote all our clothes across to Eigg. We’d been debating what to use and how to do it and this fits all clothing in for the two weeks leaving us a rucksack each to carry our own stuff – toys and books for kids, kindle and laptop for me along with chargers for phone, camera etc and toiletries stuff and tablet, solar chargers and various other stuff for Ady. Feel better about that now as we were thinking carrier bags might not be the best option but was all we really had in the van. I’ve emailed the host to check we don’t need things like towels and bedding but am still not entirely sure where we’re sleeping. I think it might be in a caravan.

Back at the van we played cards, I helped Davies with some more writing on his story he’s writing and illustrating (it’s based on Little Howard’s Big Question TV show which he’s been watching loads of on YouTube), his drawing of characters is really excellent, he gives them so much facial expression and personality in just a few pen strokes. I really do think he has a great talent for illustration and a real style of his own.

Ady cooked – we had a real mish mash of foods including leftovers from the cottage and some of the food supply we’ve been carrying in the van. After dinner we read some story and in theory we’re all tucked up early although both kids are still actually awake and only Ady is asleep so far.

First thing this morning Ady, Stuart and the kids went off to take photographs of the steam train going over the bridge near the cottage.

Lynda made me cry by insisting we still take the petrol money for Willow she’d said was a condition of their coming up to Fort William (it’s been a very minor detour for us to come this far south, very minor mind you) and shoved £100 at me. We had a big hug and I told her how very grateful we are for everything they have done. She countered that was saying she so admired what we are doing and wants to support us and worries about us and in doing these little bits of looking after us like this she worries less. Ady and I are so unbelievable touched by Lynda and Stuart’s kindness and thought and anticipation of needs, as infact we are with all our friends really. With Ady not having parents around and mine being not that way inclined it still comes as a bit of a shock when people are just so unconditionately lovely. 🙂 Hoping to repay them with some serious hospitality one day…

When the others got back Stuart gave us a lift to collect Willow – we all went in the end. The bill for labour had been settled by the breakdown cover so we just had the parts bill to pay – £30! The guy who supplied the parts was there too – a retired AA man who had noted over the years all the most commonly replaced parts and has a personal collection of vintage parts for older vehicles, bought as and when they become discontinued. He’d seen Willow as a real personal challenge and showed us the original packaging both of the part actually used and the couple of alternatives he’d brought along – from the early 90s he told us :). It was the coil which had apparently been the wrong one anyway so had done well to last which had needed replacing.

Willow started first time and we came back to the cottage and swiftly unloaded dirty washing, sleeping bags, pillows etc in to air and be washed and dried and got the washing machine going. Five loads so far 🙂

We had lunch and then parted – Lynda and Stuart to do some more Glen walking, us to walk into Fort William again. On the way we checked out why it is called Fort William at Davies’ question as to whether there had been a William and did he have a fort. We googled as my Scottish history is even more patchy than my English history and that is shockingly poor. It just doesn’t interest me, despite being one of the subjects I did at GCSE, I know loads of my friends love it and I really am just not interested, I guess it’s never come alive for me as it does for so many other people. I really must get a decent book and read it with the kids to try and educate myself and fill gaps for us all. (See, a few days in a house and I’ve come over all Home Ed again!)

We had a quick look at Inverlochy castle first and then walked along to FW. On the way there is a small playpark and Scarlett had gone across the monkey bars yesterday. Today she started to do it and then slipped and landed in a heap at the bottom with a cry and a whimper. I swore and dashed in to her fearing she must certainly have broken something. She had been leaning across so fallen the full height rather than dropping from a dangle and managed to graze her cheek and chin (reckon it will be bruised tomorrow) and hurt her tummy / ribs. After ascertaining she was just winded and shocked rather than internally damaged we carried on. I felt sick for about an hour afterwards though and had to keep cuddling her which she put up with with very good grace.

We checked all our reciepts from yesterday at Morrisons (they are running a lottery thing where 3 receipts each day from every store win £100. Very clever as of course you keep going back to the store the following day to check and end up purchasing something else. We had our reciept and L&S’s two from yesterday too but won nothing.) and picked up a few bits including a DVD for the kids – Despicable Me which we missed when it first came out and have been waiting for it to go to a cheap price. £5 seemed cheap enough so the plan for tomorrow is popcorn and film on the sofa as L&S are going home tomorrow leaving us the cottage all to ourselves for the last 2 days so we’re planning plenty of making the most of it. Sprawling on sofas with popcorn and dvds is definitely something we have missed.

The walk back was uneventful, we called in Lidl and got some tablet which was on special offer and some lebuchan from their Christmas products, which felt very festive :).

Back at the cottage I did some more laundry processing, Ady got dinner on (mish mash of leftovers, quiches, sausages, various types of potatoes, salad – a real feast) and the kids had a bath. At wine o’clock a crisis was discovered of only a third of a bottle left so the kids and I dashed back out to the CoOp to get another bottle, which nicely added another 2 miles to our walking total for the day :). There was competition for holding my hand as the path was only wide enough for walking two abreast so they took it in turns of 3 lampposts worth each. Davies is at a real point of swinging between feeling like a very grown up big boy and still being my baby. This was a ‘still my baby’ moment. I’d only been wandering earlier today when he’d shrug away from holding my hand while we’re out walking, I’m sure I was far younger than 11 when I stopped wanting to walk anywhere near my Mum!

After dinner Ady and I had baths and then we all watched Frozen Planet. D&S have been really bad at getting to sleep this week and were both looking tired today so I went and sat in their room with them until they were asleep by which point everyone else had already gone to bed!

Which doesn’t make sense really when I have unlimited power and internet but there you go. I found more interesting things to do online than blog!

Yesterday Ady and Stuart went off with the kids to the train station where a steam train is running back and forth this week. Stuart volunteers on the steam trains in Manchester and is a real enthusiast. He knows the drivers and owner of the train currently up here so they went along for a closer look. Apparenting if you are interested in that sort of thing it was really good 😉 🙂 Ady and the kids enjoyed it.

Lynda and I sat and chatted about Home Ed, travelling, life in general. She is always so supportive of our rather unconventional ways and says such nice things. She knew Davies at 2 so very well and is utterly of the opinion that the choices we have made for him have been the right ones and gives me so much praise for my parenting and lifestyle. I do love her 🙂 (and not only because she says all the right things!). Then we walked along to watch the train go by from the bridge just outside the cottage before walking a bit further along a footpath towards Fort William and then back to look at the castle. We got back to the cottage just after the others and had lunch.

After lunch Lynda and Stuart went out for a drive and walk and we wandered along to the local CoOp about a mile away, mostly to check out where it was because we’d been given directions there on Saturday and utterly failed to find it. We got various reduced to clear bargains, including stuff for a couple of dinners we could bung in the freezer at the cottage :).

Back at the house the kids spent some time playing in the garden. There is a field at the back of the house with horses, ducks and chickens in it and the chickens come when you call them to be fed so we’ve been giving them our kitchen scraps. Made us all very nostalgic for our own chickens again.

Dinner was a chicken casserole using up leftovers from Sunday and some dumplings and mashed potatoes, followed by the rest of the apple pie from the day before. All very delicious.

In the evening we had baths, luxuriated infront of the TV sprawled on sofas and chatted.

See boring, but very enjoyable 🙂

Today I slept in until 1030am – quite possibly the latest I’ve slept since we left home! It was blissful and I feel very refreshed by it :).

We had an earlyish lunch and then we set out to walk to Fort William, about 2 miles away. Lynda and Stuart drove off for another walk (they love Glen Nevis and have been walking around there every day, we prefer something a little more strenuous, Ady and I are very conscious of eating more this week and not wanting to get too sedentry) and said they’d ring us later if they stopped for tea and cake somewhere incase we were close enough to join them.

We had a wander round the charity shops in the town, bought a few essentials from the chemist and took a phone call from the garage to say Willow is all fixed and ready to collect. Ady arranged to get her tomorrow morning as we were tied up for the rest of today really and was told the breakdown cover will pay for the labour so we only need pay for the parts which was just £30. Hurrah! 🙂

Lynda rang to say they’d meet us at Morrisons so we walked there and they treated us to drinks and cakes in the cafe there which was very nice :). Then they headed back and we got a few bits before walking back. The sky was very dark and heavy, particularly over the mountains but despite looking very threatening it never actually rained on us.

It was my turn for dinner tonight and I was doing lasagne which meant a full on hour or so in the kitchen grating cheese, cooking mince and sauce, making white sauce and constructing an apple crumble. Ady left me to it with a glass of wine and then came and helped move stuff around the rather fierce oven and we chatted about plans to head back down south. All a bit vague still as we don’t know what the Eigg hosts will be like and precisely when we’ll leave but nice to have a sort of a plan at least. Hoping to take people up on their offers of hospitality too :).

Dinner was served and much enjoyed by all, I had a lovely long bath and then watched some very strange TV programme about women becomming nuns before retiring to bed leaving everyone else watching something else on TV about the war. Davies and Scarlett have been buggers to get to sleep each night sharing a room without us directly underneath them shushing them!

After the very pleasant surprise of waking up in a proper bed we all eventually got up and breakfasted. The sun was shining for a while so a plan was hatched to drop Lynda and I off at Morrisons for some food supplies, then for Ady, Davies and Scarlett to be dropped off at Ben Nevis visitor centre before Stuart collected Lynda and I and we dropped food back at the cottage before joining the others. All a bit fox, chicken and grain – which reminds me I was telling Davies about that puzzle and he wants to know more about it so I promised to look it up for him online as I know there were ever increasingly complicated versions of it and he likes things like that.

In the event Davies decided he wanted to come with Lynda and I so Stuart dropped the three of us off and we got all the various components for a roast dinner while he nipped back for Ady and Scarlett. He then collected us, dropped Davies and I off with Ady and Scarlett and we arranged to meet up with Lynda and Stuart again a little later on for a lift back.

Lynda and Stuart climbed Ben Nevis a few years ago having practised on smaller munroes and hills for quite a while and kitting themselves out with the appropriate gear. Ady is very taken with the idea of climbing it and so we went to look at the visitor centre and start walking the very first bit of it to see how we felt about it. Scarlett is all for it, Davies is rather less energetic and as I mentioned last week I have my whole own theory on climbing mountains ;). We did all go a little way up today though. We have decided as it is the best part of an 8 hour walk all the way up and back down again and there are very firm recommendations about kit, footwear, provisions, navigation tools etc. that this is not the right time to do it with threats of snow and high winds and a distinct lack of decent footwear – I have steel capped boots or DMs, the kids have wellies or their primark boots. We will walk it one day, when we move up here though.

Back at the cottage we had lunch and then Ady and I got dinner on – roast chicken and all the trimmings followed by apple pie using apples Lynda and Stuart had brought from their garden. Scarlett commented that it felt like Christmas and it did actually, all very cosy and festive and sociable :).

After dinner we all watched Countryfile and then put on UP that L&S had brought along with them. Ady and I both had baths (although I managed to catch both the beginning and end of the film with the two bits that made me cry at the cinema and everyone laughed at me!) followed by chatting and bed.

L&S are very relaxed, easy company, dote on the kids and we have a perfect balance of them having paid for the cottage (and all the food so far, although we are paying for the rest) while Ady and I revel in having a kitchen to cook in again. So they get a nice break and are very well looked after, we get to enjoy playing hosts and a lovely time in a cottage – win:win 🙂

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This morning we sorted Willow out ready to be left for a few days, packed the bed up, put sleeping bags back into their sacks, moved everything that might get shunted around if she goes up on a ramp or recovery truck and took out anything of value along with enough clothes etc for a few days. Good practise for packing up next weekend ready to go over to Eigg.

Lynda had texted to say we could get into the cottage from 1pm so we rang the breakdown guy to tell him and arranged for him to pick us up at 1pm. He dropped us off at the cottage after an interesting ride with some trading life stories and him giving us some top tips for moving up here. He’s a nice bloke, has really gone out of his way for us, hope he gets Willow fixed nice and quick and the price is not too much.

The cottage is HUGE – four bedrooms (two double, one twin, one single), two bathrooms (one with bath, one with shower), enormous kitchen with table, utility room with fridge freezer and washing machine, large hall and big lounge. It is really warm and cosy, light and airy and very comfortable and well equipt. I can’t fault it really :). We can see Ben Nevis from the front windows and a field with horses, ducks, chickens and rabbits from the back windows.

We’ve had a lovely afternoon and evening with Lynda and Stuart, all had baths (oh what bliss!), dinner of pizza and chips bought from the farmfoods shop literally round the corner which means we can get all our food for the rest of the week without needing a car. The kids watched some films and enjoyed lazing on sofas. Despite the chance of a bedroom each they went for the twin room and are sprawled out in their beds luxuriating in the space.

The Mifi works, we have phone signal, there are loads of walks nearby and Lynda and Stuart are loving hearing all our stories of our adventure. I think we’re going to have a lovely week :).

This morning was spent in the van, some card playing, some reading, some drawing and lots of chatting and drinking tea. Oh and listening to the radio. Ady won Popmaster this week 3 to my 2.

After lunch I decided we all needed to get out, rain or no rain (it’s not stopped for about 48 hours) so we put coats and wellies on and headed off for a walk. We walked in the direction of where we thought the breakdown garage was but missed the turning on the outward walk and followed a sign for a walk trail instead down to the loch. Through the woods which were all autumnal and lovelyand down past the misty loch.

We suddenly noticed some decorations dangling in the trees in the wood and a sign next to a tree with loads of brollies dangling and a welcome sign saying we could borrow an umbrella as long as we returned it, signed the Fairy Folk. Then followed a rather surreal half an hour or so wandering from tree to tree over a fairly large area through a succession of decorated glens, gardens, trees and scenes. There were all sorts, bells and windchimes, pond life scenes around huge puddles with dragonflies and frogs on lily pads. Gnomes and dragons and goblins, glitter and mirrors and jewels, charms and twinkly things, cuddly toys, fairy statues, various animals, toadstools, flowers, rainbows. There were trees adorned with welly boots and odd socks, piles of pinecones and woven branches creating arches and shapes and pathways. It truly had a feel of magic and naturally Davies and Scarlett loved it and were totally captivated and charmed by it. I also found it utterly enchanting and wandered about like a 7 year old gazing from one little area to the next, ringing the windchimes and smiling at it all.

Ady, who is less easily impressed thought it was slightly spooky and half expected an evil person to leap out having entranced innocent children into wandering off the pathway :lol:.

I signed the visitors book and Scarlett donated a pound she happened to have in her coat pocket into one of the various places where donations are collected. From a bit of googling the project is in aid of local disabled people and was done by one woman. From reading the visitors book (it said it was number 11!) there are many regular visitors who also contribute to the display now, particularly things like the outgrown welly tree.

I loved the whole thing 🙂

From there we crossed a bridge over a fast running river leading down to the loch and then back up onto the road where we did find the garage and checked with the man there about arrangements for tomorrow – we’re to ring him once we are ready for a lift and he’ll take us to the holiday cottage and look at Willow on Monday.

We decided as we were already wet to carry on down to the loch and look at the canal and locks so walked down there too. I rang Jill to confirm the Glastonbury part of our forward planning is all still ok and had a bit of a catch up chat with her.

Back at Willow we rang o2 customer services as Ady’s phone was playing up and a very lengthy two phonecalls later we finally resolved that by changing some settings.

After dinner instead of bedtime story the kids requested we start reading the WW blog from the beginning to relive some of of the early days of our adventure following a conversation about ‘this time last year….’ and speculation about ‘this time next year…’

This morning Ady was up super early again taking photos, this time of the loch, which was very beautiful. Like a mirror, perfectly reflecting what was above. Several loads of people stopped next to us to get out and take photos. So after Popmaster we decided to do the same and all went down through the little wooded area to the loch and skimmed some stones. Mostly to see how very far the ripples travelled on such a still body of water.

We wanted fuel so the plan was to get that and then see how far we went towards Fort William until we found a suitable overnight stop again, preferably with a walk nearby. So we set off, stopped for petrol about 5 miles along the road and then within a mile Willow suddenly sputtered and died :(. We pulled over, ironically in the same area next to Loch Oich that we’d turned round in yesterday opposite a shop. After a few tries to start her were unsuccessful Ady started fretting he’d put diesel in instead of petrol as it was such a coincidence. I googled for the petrol station phone number (hurrah for smart phones!) and we rang them to check. Sure enough they were able to confirm it had been petrol so we could rule that out. That left breakdown cover as the only option really.

We actually have two sets of breakdown cover – a cheap £6 a month Asda one which is PAYG monthly and then a proper RAC motorhome one which cost loads but provides hotel accomodation and insurance for contents and so on. That has always been our last ditch plan though as I know lots of breakdown cover won’t be called out a second time for the same problem so it made sense to have a choice of two incase of something silly we’d been told to get fixed but hadn’t bothered (eg my Sharan used to not start each winter and they would advice a change of plugs and points which may not be feasible to have done on Willow but may cause a second need to call out assistance). So we went with the cheap cover for today, thinking we could always use the RAC one later this month to get us all the way back to Sussex if required.

The guy came out and initially seemed convinced it must be diesel in the petrol tank but did rule that out and now thinks it is to do with the coil. He was very lovely though and ascertained our plans for the coming week, thought about it and then came up with driving us to a layby near their workshop where we could safely park up for our two nights to sleep, then he’ll take us to the holiday cottage on Saturday, come back and collect Willow and then pick us up from the cottage when she’s fixed. What a top bloke :). He even reminded us we’d need enough food for two days so I could nip across to the shop and pick up a few essentials.

A second truck with a flat bed then came along and Willow was loaded up on the back and we all got in the cab and they dropped us off at a lovely flat layby in a nice quiet place a short walk from their workshop ‘incase you need anything’.

Of course this whole process took nearly 3 hours, was incredibly stressful, particularly for Ady 😉 and by the time we were safely installed it was nearly 3pm and we’d not had lunch and were starving. So we made cheese on toast, took a phonecall from James where Davies got to talk to Marcus and Ben (bonus!) and ate lots of chocolate and drank lots of tea to recover from all the excitement.

We did intend having a walk but it started to rain shortly after we arrived here and never stopped all afternoon so instead we stayed in the van, played some cards, the kids both did some drawing /writing in their sketch books and we all did lots of talking about short term future plans. We had decided staying in Willow until Christmas camp was probably not feasible and as Willow needs taxing at the end of November and I had a moment of desperately missing my Dad earlier today when Joyce said I was looking like him and then a white van drove past and I automatically looked to see if it was him and then realised it clearly wouldn’t be the idea of going to stay with my parents for those 3 weeks between leaving our last host and going to camp came up. Everyone agreed it would be the best idea. Scarlett can see family and friends for her birthday, we can all catch up with people, get the house on the market, swap Willow for my car, get different clothes, the kids can play with their toys and we can properly talk through all our future plans with my Mum and Dad. It will be challenging staying with them for that long I am sure, my Mum in particular is not a model hostess but it will be finite, we will have plenty of places to go and spend time away from them in Sussex.

I really don’t want our last nights in the van to be endurance tests and it is getting colder, damper, darker and increasingly difficult as the weather changes and the clocks go back. We have made our decision about where we want to be so sticking around in the interests of seeing more of the place we know we want to move back to anyway seems pointless when we could just go back to Sussex and start putting the wheels in motion to actually make it all happen. I’m feeling like this is very much the right decision, despite awareness of potential issues.

We rang my parents after dinner to tell them and they were very happy (less vocal on the subject of Lynda and Stuart and holiday cottages it has to be said ;)) so that was good :).

So tomorrow we have a day here, hopefully a walk and a last night in the van for a week before hopefully handing her over to be fixed ready to travel to Mallaig next weekend for our last WWOOFing host.

Anyway, some pics from the last two days. Check out those snow capped mountains 🙂
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Wednesday 19th October

Autumn Walk

This morning we woke to more snow. Ady had got up and the gas bottle had run out while he was making himself a coffee so he’d had to change over to the spare bottle in the snow (the gas bottles are outside the van behind a little door). It was very pretty but bitterly cold. The view was stunning though and we had a steady stream of people pulling up alongside us and jumping out of their cars with their cameras to get snaps of it. At one point two car fulls of people pulled up together and it started snowing again and they all cheered. It felt very festive J

We played some more card games – yes I am well aware of the piss taking potential in my playing games 😉 I certainly would not buy or play any of those long drawn out games though, a five minute card game is definitely my limit for passing time rather than competitive playing. Of course I could well find myself living up here this time next year with cold winter evenings stretching before me and a yen to start playing some game I can’t even pronounce the name of so I probably shouldn’t make wild declarations like that just yet…

We decided we needed to spend the night on lower ground. As beautiful as the mountain view was it was way too cold to do another night there. We were also on reserve long life milk and generally low on food stocks. The kids and I had rice pudding for breakfast laced with cinnamon though which was gorgeously warming. After Popmaster we drove down the hill, pausing for a quick look at the Glengarry view point and heading down to Invergary. We spotted several likely looking laybys for potential overnight spots along the way with the intention of driving til we found a shop and returning to one of them if we had not gone too far past it.

Sure enough we found a shop selling various provisions at not too ridiculous prices so we stocked up with basics like bread and milk and cheese along with some sausages and bacon for dinner tomorrow so we don’t have to find a shop then. Then we double backed on ourselves and returned to a woodland we’d spotted as suitable for a walk and perhaps an overnight parking spot.

We had lunch and I made some pizza dough ready for dinner later then we headed off for a walk. As in so many of the woodlands we have visited there was a choice of walks, colour coded so we selected the moderate walk alongside the river hoping to see salmon or otters. Something must have gone wrong though as although we thought we’d followed the marker for the red walk we didn’t see any more markers at all.

We merrily walked alongside the river for nearly an hour before deciding we must have gone wrong as we couldn’t see a way to cross the river meaning it would not be a circular walk and the walk guideline had said allow an hour for the walk which we assumed returned you to the carpark. We had enjoyed chatting and looking at the trees and the river anyway so decided to walk for five more minutes before just turning round and retracing our steps. Just as we were about to turn around we spotted a bridge across the river so assumed that was the way and it was just poorly marked.

The path seemed to disappear after that and we should have decided almost straight away that it was wrong but we battled on for a bit over some very marshy ground, across a couple of streams and into an area where new homes were being built. By then we’d gone far enough to feel we didn’t want to go back through it all and cross the bridge to go back again although that potentially was the most sensible option. We crossed a field with a load of cows in it and then found a fence with a low enough point to climb over leading back to a proper concrete path. No idea what we’d done wrong but we ended up about half way along the yellow route at that point. It did lead us back to the carpark though.

So an interesting and rather longer and more exciting walk than intended – about 2 hours of fairly fast walking so a good five miles, but at least we all felt we’d properly stretched our legs at last and fully deserved our pizza later J. Back at the van we packed up and headed back to a layby, mostly because we had no phone or internet signal in the woods. Ironically we drove to a layby which did have both but has since lost both, no idea how or why, which is why I am typing this on word and will have to upload it tomorrow,

Once we’d found a parking space, overlooking the loch, Ady walked into the woodland and found somewhere suitable to dig a hole to empty our toilet. He’s been wanting to conquer that aspect of the wild camping adventure, having read about the guidelines for such things in our Wild Camping leaflet so armed with his little spade he dug a hole the required depth and size, away from water etc. and took the loo off to empty it. He returned triumphant. I am so pleased he is able to find pleasure in such things! 😉

I meanwhile got the dinner on and we all played cards and listened to the radio while it cooked. Hot water bottles all round tonight even though it is not actually anywhere near as cold as it was last night so we’re very cosy and snug even if we don’t have internet to play with.

I’ve had a flood of emails from Lynda today, all of which made me smile more and more and feel slightly teary. The first was to say the company had been unable to get hold of the owners of Wanderers End so they had booked a different cottage instead. A quick look at it online shows it to be lovely, even lovelier if you have been living in a campervan for six weeks! 😉 I then had an email this evening to say she was worried we may have been bulldozed into sharing a holiday cottage with them and she forgets we aren’t family and therefore happy to just fall in with their plans! I emailed back to say we were totally overwhelmed with their kindness and the only downside for us was feeling bad we were not able to pay anything towards it but would be more than happy to buy all the food and do all the cooking (actually we are really looking forward to doing all the cooking!). And we hope they will let us repay the hospitality when we move up here for good. I am getting very excited at the propsect of a lovely long guest list of people coming to stay 🙂 I got yet another lovely reply to say they would agree to us going halves on food and yes please to doing all the cooking! I do love Lynda 🙂 She could certainly teach my Mum a thing or three… infact I’m rather evilly looking forward to telling my Mum L&S are coming up and paying for a holiday cottage for the week… 😉 actually maybe I’ll let the kids ring and tell her!

This morning we woke in our very cosy layby, it was an excellent overnight spot. It was cold in the van this morning so we all pulled our clothes into our sleeping bags to get them warm before getting dressed. Reminded me of pulling my school uniform into bed and getting dressed under the covers as a kid. It’ll be good for Davies and Scarlett to have tales of frost on the inside of windows and condensation puddling on the windowsills to tell their kids as they put another jumper on rather than turn the heating up 😆
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We listened to Popmaster and watched the weather keep changing from blue skies to rain and hail with the hilltops all around getting shrouded with mist and clouds and emerge with further dustings of snow every time. On the next sunny interval we donned hats, gloves, wellies and coats (even Scarlett and I wore socks!) and ventured out.
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We were parked right next to Cluanie Dam so wandered along to take a look at it close up. It’s huge!
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We didn’t want to drive far today so decided to visit a shop if we saw one but to stop at the next best layby really. We ended up driving less than 10 miles. We found one, just before the viewpoint for Glen Garry. I know it is just before rather than just after because we pulled into it, Scarlett vetoed it on rather spurious grounds and we have been operating a consensus based decision making rule for overnight stops. We then got to the viewpoint stop and decided that actually Scarlett has vetoed rather a lot of places lately on fairly feeble excuses so maybe a majority vote would be better. We discussed it further and agreed the layby would be fine so turned around and went back to it :). Scarlett was fine with this by the way so it was all but consensus in the end, just with some additional brow beating ;).

The views were stunning for about 15 minutes
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Then the rain and wind returned and stayed for the rest of the day.

We drank hot chocolate, had lunch, made cookies, baked a pie for dinner and played lots of games. We did some treetop (as recommended by Em), some mini travel version of Cranium (grumble pail in Yorkshire 50p, first played in Tarbert at host family), some Go Fish (pack of cards, pound shop in Lancaster, game learnt in Glastonbury from Jill), some noughts and crosses and boxes (taught by my Dad when I was kneehigh to a grasshopped and played on trains to London with kids over the years), a game of Beetle (no idea where I learnt it but I taught D&S and the other kids at Bryn Mawr it one sunny afternoon) and then a very long and complicated game made up by Davies using various cards, some toy animals, some toy cars, a torch, a roll of sellotape and what appeared to be ever changing rules which meant Davies won both times we played 😆

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The kids did some more reading together too.

It was a lovely afternoon 🙂

Hurrah for radio 2, easy entertainment and spare pairs of socks.

After dinner we all snuggled up for stories and then into bed. It is very cold tonight although once we’re actually in sleeping bags it is fine but I confess to feeling very pleased at the prospect of the holiday cottage next week and am aware we will need to decide what to do after the hosts as I don’t think four weeks in the van before Christmas camp is viable as the weather continues to turn colder.

A very lazy morning at the campsite with showers all round, watching dvds, online stuff and various other sitting in the van type stuff. The weather has truly turned and it has rained all day today with added blustery wind just to prove the point. We even had a couple of bursts of thunder and lightning in the night.

At 3pm we declared it time to head off so with everything fully charged we left, collecting our clean washing from the garage attached to the campsite on the way. I just grabbed it and shoved it in the van quick as it was pouring with rain but noticed once we stopped that although it is indeed clean and dry it also has the unmistakable aroma of cigarette smoke. Yuck! The worst affected is a fleecy sleepsuit of Scarlett’s, it seems to have soaked right in, there is no way she can wear that again until it has been rewashed :(. I’ve seperated all the stuff that didn’t smell and put that away but all the tainted stuff is now stashed seperately with sheets of tumble drier fabric conditioner inbetween which will hopefully air the smell out.

We drove about 15 miles before finding a suitable layby and then spent ages getting the van level including a rather dramatic roll over and off the chocks by Ady who was trying to do it by himself because I was ranting about the smelly washing and sorting that out. I really yelled at him and so then had to deal with him feeling crap about himself too. Sigh.

I got dinner on and then helped Ady find a fix for his phone camera which was not working properly (thanks doctor google, it turned out to be the geotagging thingie trying to find his location and failing so not taking a picture). It was incredibly cold in the van, I even put socks on and the first fall of snow is now covering the very tops of the high peaks around us. So straight away after dinner we all got into pjs, put the bed down and sat in sleeping bags drinking hot chocolate. It was like a giant sleepover 🙂 We have thermal underwear, hot water bottles and many more layers of clothing to put on before we start to fret about temperature too much, I suspect the condensation will prove more of an issue than the actual cold.

Davies and Scarlett have decided Scarlett is going to learn to read and Davies is going to teach her which is fine by me. I was just starting to edge towards fretting about her and reading. She will be nine in a matter of weeks now and thus far has shown no interest at all, infact had been utterly resistant to the very idea. She appears to be excellent at blending and working out what words say, less confident which what sounds each letter makes, the total opposite to what Davies was. He had all the sounds sorted by used to do that ‘ker ah tuh, ker ah tuh, dog?’ thing. He does now appear to be fairly fluently reading which allows me to rest a little easier that our approach does work given time and hands off. Would be nice if Scarlett hit the end of this year with some interest in reading though and a bit of ability.

So the kids did a few pages of a Dora book we happen to have in the van and then I read them a couple of short stories from an anthology of funny tales from various childrens authors we picked up at a charity shop.

Now the weather has changed and we have run out of money I guess the days may pass a little slower living in Willow and I don’t want the end of this bit to feel boring or rubbish so I’m hoping we’ll find somewhere to have a walk tomorrow.

This morning Ady was up with the sun, which actually isn’t really *that* early but a couple of hours earlier than I was up! He sat on the bench next to Willow with his cup of coffee and the camera while the rest of us slept on.

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Once up and breakfasted and van returned to a van instead of a bedroom and dead mouse disposed of (I resist using the words good clean kill, mostly because there was blood splattered but I am sure it died very quickly) we were ready to set off.

We were back at our campsite, the only one we’ve actually used since Rosemarkie, now our third visit, by 11am. I had a shower, we passed two loads of washing on to the owner to take advantage of their wash and dry a load for a fiver offer which if not cheaper than the laundrette certainly saves on finding one, parking and hanging around for it and we got everything plug in, filled up and emptied in appropriate manner.

The kids watched a couple of dvds, I blogged, found the way to reboot Ady’s tablet which had crashed and we then spent way too long trying to work out a way to link it to a google account so he could download apps that wasn’t already linked to a different phone we also use for downloading apps. That involved far too much faffing about.

Ady cooked a delicious campervan roast dinner – we’d got a joint of pork reduced yesterday so he cut that up and roasted it along with potatoes, a reduced bag of fresh veg and gravy. Washed down with cider or coke. We do miss our roast dinners.

We ate dinner watching Autumnwatch which was fab, slightly disturbing seeing Chris Packham and Michaela Strachan together on TV looking so much older than I remember them from their Really Wild Show days, although of course in my day Chris was presenting with Terry and Nicola. Ooh have wondered idly for years if Nicola Davies the author was the same Nicola Davies the presenter and she is. So still just the one famous namesake then 😉

After dinner we had more lazing around with electronic things before setting the bed up and having stories and hot chocolate. We had planned to meet Lynda and Stuart next weekend in Fort William and have found out today they have booked a holiday cottage for the week, called Wanderers End which sleeps six and as they only need for 3 nights we are welcome to stay in for the week. This rather takes the pressure off fuel costs for our final week and even has a bath! As ever the kindness and generosity of them blows me away, they treat us like beloved family 🙂

Tomorrow we’ll hang on here til about 3pm ish, make sure we do some walking in the nearby area to stave off lethargy and then head to the layby near StromeFerry (No Ferry) we have earmarked for tomorrow’s overnight stop off.

I spent most of my limited online time last night searching for a campsite on Skye suitable for us. The kids are feeling the loss of charge from psp / ds and Ady and I are feeling overdue for showers. We had planned to have a night in a campsite on Skye before leaving but failed to find one suitable / open / with a decent view / any internet signal. So the next plan was to get the ferry from Armadale to Mallaig and find a campsite there. We thought the ferry crossing would be cheaper than the fuel used to drive round. But we are now heading to Fort William for next weekend so won’t be staying in Mallaig for the whole time anyway and on checking the ferry cost would be £34 and would save 50 miles driving. Even in Willow with her petrol guzzling ways we’d get more than 50 miles from £34 worth of fuel.

So the amended plan became driving to Fort William over the course of the coming week which means we are driving past our tried and tested bargain campsite on the way. We decided the only bit of Skye we had missed and really wanted to see on this visit was Sleat. I know we have not gone all the way out on every little bit and we will do those bits when we come back next year but Sleat is home to Rubha Phoil which we were very keen to visit.

So to Sleat we went. We really liked it there, it felt more light and with more sky away from the mountains. We pulled over for lunch and I made pizza dough ready for dinner tonight and we headed all the way down. We parked up and did the woodland walk in the gentle rain, loving the faeries walk, the information about permaculture, the seal and otter hide (where we saw seals), the view across the sea and onto the tiny islands surrounding the coast, adored the eco campsite with it’s idyllic little plots suitable for tiny tents with the best views ever. It’s what the Sustainability Centre almost was before they lost their way! Love, love, loved the beach cave – just what it says, accessible via a scramble down the rocks and complete with fire place and chimney!
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On the way out we noticed people in the potting shed so went in to introduce ourselves and have a bit of a chat about our plans and see if they were WWOOF hosts or knew any of the permaculture people we have come across this year (it’s a fairly small community). Sure enough they know our last hosts pretty well 🙂 They said Skye is definitely the right place for people seeking our dreams and we promised to stay in touch and visit again when we’re next up here house hunting. I’ll follow that up with an email.

It felt really good to meet people who got what we want to do, nice to feel so at home :). It also really helped to reassure us that Skye does have what we want :).

We left there and intended to park for the night in one of the laybys, particularly when we sat and watched two otters swim along the shoreline. But the layby was pretty close to the road and conscious of having as long as possible in the campsite tomorrow we decided to head for a layby just the other side of the bridge.

The views leaving the island at sunset were just stunning, pink and orange sky with mists rolling over all the islands surrounding it and teh lights on the mainland twinkling in the distance.
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I am of course prepared for us to fall just as much in love with Eigg but for now I think we have definitely found where we want to be. Staying longer and looking at properties feels a bit like taunting ourselves and we will save the finer exploring of the island for our return once our house has sold.

A very windy night on the far coast last night. We’d swapped sleeping orientation too which meant I was on the side next to the window and I don’t sleep as well that way. Have swapped back round again tonight. I didn’t hear the mouse but all the chocolate was eaten off the traps again so it was clearly about – the sound of the wind must have drowned it out!

This morning after Popmaster we headed off to properly explore Trotternish, the top right of Skye (or top left, depending on how you look at it I guess). We’d gotten half way round last night before stopping, so did the second half with intentions of having a decent walk and seeing some proper scenery. We stopped at a museum of fossils but it was £2 each entrance and Ady said it looked like there was very little there to see, so we didn’t bother. We stopped at the Staffin / Kilt rock viewpoint hoping for a walk but it simply was a viewpoint. A very gorgeous viewpoint mind you, with information boards, dinosaur footprints to compare to your own and railings blocking a very impressive sheer drop down the cliff. The pillars of rock were impressive too.

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From there we drove to Storr and pulled over for lunch before getting togged up to do the walk. It was far harder going than I’d expected being very steep and I was lagging behind the others quite quickly. At the halfway point I decided I was no longer enjoying the climb and would sit and enjoy the view. I was feeling quite smug and self congratulatory on this and was sitting soaking up the amazing views and deciding that it was a metaphor for life in many ways – some people need to climb to the top of every mountain, others can be happy to get halfway, realise the journey is more important than the destination and be happy to stop and just enjoy how far they have come. An epiphany on a mountainside ;). I watched a woman climb closer and closer to me taking photos and seeming oblivious to me. When she caught sight of me (her eyesight was poor, she geninuely had not seen me although she reckoned I’d be in all her pictures!) we had a 15 minute chat and I shared my deep ponderance with her. She was equally entranced by it (she had not enjoyed the climb much either and had decided halfway was perfect for taking photos looking up and down!) and we shared potted stories of what brought us there. She was kiwi, travelling round the UK and heading for home to sell up and buy somewhere with a view and settle for a simpler life. Clearly I had a similar tale to tell. We agreed that we had it all sussed, wished that all our dreams came true for each other and parted. 🙂 A very happy encounter, wish I had her picture on my camera too really. Did feel slightly like that scene in Lost where Jack meets that Irish guy running and he runs off with ‘see you in a different life’…but I’m not anticipating any air travel any time soon so I guess I’m safe.

Ady, Davies and Scarlett did make it all the way to the top and Ady said the going had actually been much easier the second half of the way. They rang me from the top but couldn’t see me as they were shrouded in mist. The weather kept changing with clouds blowing across and the view was like this one moment
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and literally seconds later like this
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All very mystical and atmospheric and lovely though. You could *feel* the history and imagine all the thousands of people who have climbed and walked there and almost hear the echo of their footsteps.

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I meanwhile was gazing out over the ocean at this
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The others came down and we all retreated all the way back down to the carpark before deciding what to do next. We thought we’d do the other upper jutting out bit so via Portree for petrol we headed towards Waternish. And very lovely it is too. It felt more rugged that Trotternish somehow although that could have been the darkening sky and the lateness of the day ;). We pulled up at SkyeSkyns only half an hour before they were about to close but got happily ushered in for the free guided tour of the tanning process and shown round all the old fashioned machinery used for the process of making sheepskins. Fascinating stuff 🙂 Upstairs in the show room we were all very tempted by the gorgeous rugs and hope to one day have one in our new house on Skye ;). It was particularly interesting having seen sheep and cow skins being salted at the slaughterhouse in Devon all those months ago ready to be shipped off for this process as all the skins used here were from animals killed for meat.

By then it was 6pm and steadily getting dark. We’d been looking for an overnight stop and found nowhere at all suitable – either too close to the single track road or on too sloping an incline, so we made the decision to head back to Sligachan where we knew we could come to the campsite again. It was the right choice, despite arriving in the dark and having a really late dinner as it is even blustery here and the van is moving despite being in a dip and fairly sheltered.

We’re now debating our next move as we want to do the Sleat peninsula and that is where the ferry across to Mallaig leaves from so we will probably head off of Skye on Sunday and get a campsite back on the mainland on Monday and have our final two weeks in that area. Lynda and Stuart are planning to head up for a few days next weekend so we’ll meet up with them then too.

The mouse kept me awake til nearly 3am scuttling about in the front. This morning we realised it had managed to get all the bait off the traps without actually setting them off. Git 🙁 Today we have bought some more mouse traps – this time live capture ones and some tumble drier sheets which if google is to be believed are some sort of magic deterant for mice in campervans. Fingers crossed we catch it, kill it or simply chase it off with this mixture.

Last night a hired campervan had come into the campsite we were on and managed to get totally stuck in the mud. A guy with a landrover was trying to tow it out but struggling for want of a decent tow rope. We have one so Ady headed over with it and along with another set of campers (I think there were about six or seven sets of us there last night) the van was pulled free. They parked elsewhere and this morning came over in daylight to thank everyone again and hand out packets of biscuits. They were a really nice German family heading back to the mainland in their expensive rented van.

After Popmaster we packed up, said goodbye to Sligachan campsite for now and headed into Portree to collect keys from the estate agent to go and view the house. We all thought we might like this one and sure enough we all really liked it. It had elements that were not perfect – it’s a bungalow and although it has more space that Osborne Drive it is certainly not large – 3 bedrooms, kitchen, dining room, lounge, bathroom. In poor decorative order but lickable into shape pretty easily and cheaply. Decent floorboards, no central heating but a rayburn in the dining room and an open fire in the lounge. The kids loved it straight away and decided who would have which bedroom etc. The land is ideal – large flattish area at both front and back with loads of room for polytunnel, animal pens and veg beds, space to flatten for friends to camp, a small urn running through with a tiny bridge over it, a patch of woodland with some lovely old established trees. It’s on the roadside for passing trade but the house is set right in the middle of the land so away from the road. The view is not water based – it’s mountains and landscapes but the loch and river is literally round the corner so something we could compromise on. It had the same feeling to the house as when Ady and I first looked at Osborne Drive all those years ago.

We are of course in no position to do anything so will have to put it from our minds, reassured that what we want for what we can pay does exist and will be here when we do have the money in six months time or so. It would be perfect though…

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We stopped for lunch on the way back and watched eagles for a bit. I can’t believe how many we see every day up here. Wish the wild cats and red deer and pine martens would have a turn actually ;). Then we dropped the keys back at the agents, called into the CoOp for food supplies for several days, mouse traps and petrol and then headed back up the island to the edge again.

We’ve parked just the other side of Uig on the far tip which is more wild and beautiful and had a stunning sunset tonight
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We can see Lewes in the distance which is sort of calling – I would love to explore the outer isles… definite holiday destinations for the future, or I guess even day trips! 🙂

We had curry for dinner, I spoke to Julie on the phone so have caught up with family and put everyone up to date on our plans. Our next research is the home ed scene (if there is one!), potential employment or contacts for produce / bartering / selling and some more of the sort of days we were enjoying a couple of weeks ago of getting plenty of fresh air, exercise, gorgeous photographs and wildlife spotting. This is a perfect overnight spot and we may end up here tomorrow aswell as we want to conserve fuel and have sufficient food stocks for a few days. I managed to sneakily wash my hair at the house we viewed today (!) and we are half planning a campsite for Saturday or Sunday night.

This morning we woke to more evidence of mouse infestation. It’s now left dropping and gnawed things in cupboards and the cab. The cab worries me most as of course that is really the main body of the van and it is therefore inside with us too. Ady thinks it is different mice, I am of the opinion that we have (at least) one resident mouse. There is no food left out, the van is spotlessly clean of crumbs etc. but of course there are clothes aplenty, books and other lovely soft bedding materials to attract it / them.

We decided action over and above cleaning needed taking so with fumigation or poision not really options we’ve gone for the low tech choice of mouse traps. So a visit into Portree this morning for mouse traps. We’ve baited four of them in various places with chocolate but it’s midnight and we’ve already heard it in the cab munching a jiffy bag rather than the baited trap so I don’t know how effective that is. I hate it 🙁 I don’t really want to kill them anyway but the idea of them in the van is horrid, we can’t have them munching on our sleeping bags, pooing in places and in a few weeks we’ll be leaving the van for a fortnight while we go to our final host so I dread to think what a heyday they might have then in an empty van. Argh 🙁

A bit of googling shows this to be a fairly common issue and suggests dryer sheets as a good deterant, will get some of those tomorrow and see how that works.

So, while we’re thinking about persuading our current guests to move out we are of course also thinking ahead to moving out ourselves. Once we’d got the mousetraps we drove along to the house we’d booked to view today. We got there a good hour before the agent so we could have a proper nosey around first and looked in all the windows / had a roam around the immediate garden etc. We then had lunch in Willow before walking back to meet the agent and see inside.

This was a purely academic viewing really as of course we are not in a position to buy yet, or even, under Scottish law to put in an offer really. You need to have the money available and while it is not totally unheard of for vendors to accept a conditional offer on a house being sold it is always with the property left on the market anyway. The plus side of this is speedy completion dates and no chain for anyone. But we wanted to both get a proper idea of what we might get for our money and to build some sort of initial relationship with the agents, of which there are three on the island.

So, the house. Well it is in our price range, does have 5 acres and includes woodland, a burn with a cute bridge across it, has three potential bedrooms, stunning views of the loch and is well located both geographically between Broadford and Portree, the two biggest settlements on the island and specifically being on the main A road which is great for both passing trade if we went down the local produce roadside selling or camping route for revenue aswell as meaning we’d be able to get in out easily in bad weather or to transport kids about.

Far too many downsides for us to seriously consider it at that price though – the five acres are on a pretty steep slope so would need a fair bit of work before being suitable for growing. It is in the shelter of the mountains behind so would lack sun anyway. The house has tiny windows and is also in the shelter of the bank behind it so has a really dark feel to it despite the views. It would need a lot of work and would still be poky and dark despite that I think. We swiftly concluded that 1 acre of workable land tops 5 acres of tricky land unsuitable for growing or camping.

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We talked to Ian, the estate agent though and explained our situation and got various bits of advice and guidance from him. This was all backed up later from a visit to the third estate agent on the island who we registered with and had a lengthy talk to about buying and that has helped to shape our future plans lots. We’re still going to view another property tomorrow but mostly because it is one we get to view by ourselves with a key and is £10k more but looks massively different to todays so we can do a proper compare and contrast job.

We left there and went to Broadford, we needed petrol and food. Sadly the CoOp there was not knocking food our at bargain prices like the one on Sunday but we got something for under £4. We had a walk along the beach there and on to the pier and Ady and I sat and talked over what happens next while the kids played.

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We talked over with the kids and have all concluded our current plan is as follows: Two and a bit more weeks of wild camping – we’ll stay on Skye for at least another week to ten days and maybe do one night at a campsite, although I have googled tonight and found a campsite that allows non residents access to the showers for 50p and a leisure centre that alllows you to use the showers for £1.80 so we may not need to do that! We want to go all the way around the island and get a real feel for each part of it having learnt today that it is considered to be very much north or south island depending on where you are. Then we’ll get the ferry across to Mallaig which looks cheaper that the fuel we’d used driving there. Ferry across on foot to Eigg for our last WWOOFing host. There is some debate about doing our last one with a feeling we don’t really need to bother and we don’t really want to leave Willow for two weeks but I feel we should be doing our last WWOOF host knowing it is the last one, I really want to do one of the proper islands and this is the best way of doing that, the hosts are crofters which given we may well be ourselves is something we should learn more about from people actually doing it and Eigg is supposed to be a great example of self sufficiency and community. I know that at every host we have gained something we would have been sorry not to have done looking back so I don’t want to miss a potential opportunity.

Once we finish there we have four weeks until Christmas camp. This turns up a dilemma really – do we head back to Sussex only to come part way back up again for camp or do we slowly work our way down to camp? Still undecided there and trying to think of a cheap way of filling that time as I think wild camping may be less attractive in late November / early December really and we can’t afford campsites.

Christmas camp and then down to Jill’s. We may or may not go to Sussex for Christmas depending on what Jill’s plans for us are. I really need to speak to her to clarify that but suspect she may not have decided yet herself! We’ll at least visit Sussex to collect my Sharan, trade in some clothes and toys and bits and catch up with family and friends. We’ll also get in touch with an estate agent and work out how best to put our house on the market.

We then can hopefully stay at Jill’s until the house sells or find other WWOOFing hosts once spring has sprung if the house has not sold. As soon as it does sell we’ll pay everything off and head back up here, probably in Willow, to find a house. If it appears it may take a while we might look at renting something short term, the agent today said off peak that is quite cheap to do, or even try and find a WWOOF host close enough for us to visit for viewings. Apparently house sales have been known to happen as quickly as 2 weeks but a month is more usual.

We’ve been listing ideas for making money alongside land and will do some more reseach into part time work up here while we’re here this time including visiting the library service, looking at retail, finding out about markets for livestock, produce etc. We also want to find out about local activities for the kids, what the most local home ed scene is and so on.

So, much more conversation still to be had, many more variables still could change but this is as close to a definitive plan as we have had so far :).

Email this morning from my contact at three to say he’d posted the new mifi out yesterday and it should arrive today, followed by a phonecall to the post office who confirmed it had already arrived with them :). It’s the new mifi, faster and a bit sleeker than the one before and I can’t fault the service at all :). I’ll do a proper review over on the WW blog in the next couple of days but suffice to say I have been hugely impressed with both the mifi itself and the service from three 🙂

Davies had a bad dream in the night so ended up in my sleeping bag with me for about an hour until I felt far too squished (it *is* roomy and I *am* smaller than I used to be but it’s really not suitable for two!) so opened it out and we just snuggled underneath it rather than in it. We then heard the mouse scuttling about so laid there talking about that for a bit before finally getting to sleep about 2 hours after he’d come down from his bunk. As a result we let him sleep in to catch up and it was nearly 10am before we were all properly awake.

After breakfast the kids spent a couple of hours playing outside in the sunshine, building dams, making worlds and creating. They were very happy 🙂 Ady and I played cards, we so need to learn some new card games and a home made version of Shut The Box with a dice app on Ady’s phone and pen and paper. We’d had such a late breakfast we skipped lunch and headed off to Portree. Along the way we spotted a dead otter than Ady had seen yesterday so worked out where it was in order to stop on the way back for a closer look. A bit macabre maybe but interesting to be able to see one close up.

We parked up and went into the other estate agent in town, registered for their newsletter and collected particulars for a couple of properties including one which is empty and can be viewed by collecting the keys from the estate agents. It was getting late today so we’ve arranged to do that on Thursday and will go and have a good look round it then. It looks quite interesting . They didn’t really have anything else suitable at the moment but very reassuring to discover there are definitely things within our price range that would suit us. Link for the one we’re viewing tomorrow is here.

To the post office to collect the Mifi and then to the CoOp in search of food bargains. We were a bit early really for reductions but did get some chicken breasts for £1.35 which together with rice and spice we already have in the van and a pack of 10p potatoes from the other day made a delicious curry, rice and bombay potatoes for us all. We got some cheap bananas too.

Back at the van we noticed mouse droppings and some nibbling evidence on a packet of humbugs in Willow’s cab so it’s even gotten into the body of the van although we’re fairly sure that was through an open vent in the heater which we’ve now closed. Back at the campsite the kids went off to play again and Ady and I had a really good clear out, putting all packet food into a plastic box leaving only tinned food in the cupboards so it won’t have anything to attract it in to eat. We are incredibly clean in the van generally so it’s not finding food anywhere else. Ady sprayed everywhere with strong disinfectant which will hopefully deter it and we cleared out another load of clothes into the clothes bank across the road in the hotel carpark. We’ve got rid of two camping chairs that had seen better days anyway, fitted the awning underneath the sofa and lost one of the storage boxes so loads more room in the van generally and less stuff to shift about each morning and evening when arranging the bed. I went through my rucksack and my cupboard and got rid of more stuff too so it all felt very housekeeping-y and productive.

On the way back to the campsite we did stop and had a look at the otter – it was very big, a dog. We also saw a golden eagle really close to again. It’s been nice staying at the same spot for a few nights although tomorrow night will be our last night here for a while as we’re planning to do some more touring round the island after our viewing on Thursday, we’ve heard that some whales have been spotted recently from the tip of Skye so we’re planning to head that way and see what we can see.

We rang my parents and caught up with them this evening. They seem to be slowly but surely coming to terms with our plans, if rather bewildered by quite why we’d want to live here and exactly how loose and fluid our plans are for the coming months! Some gazing at the full moon and then storytime before bed. Hoping the mouse gives up and everyone has a decent nights sleep tonight.

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written in word:
Sunday 9th October.
It’s all gone quiet over here

Ady and I stayed up really late last night overdosing on internet access and electric hook up related activities which made for a later start this morning. We all had showers and spent some time compiling a blog post for the WW blog about how we’ve found the last three weeks and some stuff about what happens next. Just as I’d finished typing it all up the mifi ran out of data. The original deal with three was for a pre loaded mifi with credit for ‘a couple of months’ to be reviewed after a while. No review was ever forthcoming and I suspect we used a lot less credit that expected but I had a message on it the other day to say it was an internal SIM and would be disconnected. I contacted Jo at three to say we had loved using it and would be really pleased if there was any way to continue doing so and do some more blog reviews for it but have had no reply. I know she has been off work so am still vaguely hoping it may get reconnected at some stage, otherwise that is the end of our internet connection for the meantime as we don’t have any room in our budget for it L

I managed to connect my phone to upload the blog post and will be able to check emails on my phone and maybe check in on friend feed once a day but normal blogging and uploading of photos etc will be out. We finished charging everything up, had lunch and then packed up.

Our plan was to head to the closed campsite which allows free parking off season as it is fairly central on Skye and has phone signal so we headed for that, calling in at both CoOps we passed along the way to check for food bargains. Sure enough Ady came out of the first one with 3 packs of Gu chocolate puddings, a pack of yoghurts, two bags of potatoes, two packs of sausages, a ready meal mashed potatoes, a ready meal roasted vegetables (both in foil trays which can be reused too), a packet of roast beef, a packet of ham, a packet of pork pies, a loaf of bread and a packet of rolls all for just 10p each. In the second one he got pastries for breakfast tomorrow reduced to 5p each. So food for at least 2 days for under two quid. This bodes well for hanging around on Skye wild camping and eating on a very small budget J

We peered in the estate agents window which is next to the CoOp in Broadford and spotted various plots and properties for sale for under £100K so will head back there tomorrow or Tuesday and register and maybe go and see some. We drove past that first property I’d linked to a while back too which is now under offer. The views are indeed amazing but the house looks so falling down that I think demolition would be the only option at which point a plot with outline planning permission could well end up a cheaper option.

We got to the campsite and found a pitch – there are two wild campers here in tents (but with cars, not walkers) so we’re not alone. We had dinner – pasta bake followed by fancy chocolate puddings and then stories. Everyone is a bit caged animal like after two solid days in the van so we’re looking forward to getting out tomorrow for some fresh air and exercise to blow the cobwebs away a bit.

Monday 10th October
Let’s try that again

This morning we hung out in the van eating 5p pastries for breakfast and drinking lots of tea. The kids have charge on their DSs from the campsite and have rediscovered a Namco game with retro treasures like Pacman so have been joyfully connecting on that and enjoying some old skool gaming.

After Popmaster we drove along to Portree where we registered with a local estate agents. There seem to be two main ones on Skye and this is the one I’ve been looking at online and had already signed up for their online newsletter. There is not much in our price range meeting our spec at the moment – we’d like under £100K but in theory could go up to £150K if we could move straight in (not at all sure just how much equity is in Osborne Drive and we need to clear our mortgage and all our debts but I do think my parents would help us out a bit which ups our money a bit). Our list of essentials includes some sort of view of loch or sea and at least an acre of land. In terms of building plots we could definitely get something of that size for under £70K but house building would need to be in line with planning and would push us to the top of our budget and mean a good year, even two before we actually were in a house. That may end up being the end result but we’d like to explore other options first. There is one property meeting those requirements – 2 bedroom croft house with 5 acres, loch views and big enough space inside for extension potential and flexible living space. It has mains electric and water and is liveable now at £125K. Not a chance of ending up with it as we are not really ready to put an offer in but we need to do some viewings to see what we’d really get for our money and to build a contact with the estate agent so we’re viewing it on Wednesday afternoon.

We had a look around the town including popping into the post office. Three have been in contact to say the Mifi should not have been disconnected after all but they would like to send me the brand new one to review instead so I need an address for them to send it to. I was fairly sure that post offices can have things sent to them for collection so went to check and get the address for there. I’ve now emailed three and fingers crossed that is in hand. So hopefully only a few days without internet. Phew!!

A quick look in a couple of charity shops where Ady got his secret santa present sorted and I picked up a lovely jumper and chatted to the woman working there about Scarlett’s hair and the coat I was wearing (a charity shop purchase in Glastonbury!). We realised the chip shop at the quayside was the one Hugh visited in the Big Fish Fight tv show to sell mackrel and eyed up both that and the booking office for sea eagle spotting boat trips with longing eyes. Really liked Portree – all the shopping you would need on a weekly basis, primary and secondary schools (not that we need them but good to know they exist and therefore the associated stuff around schools will also be in evidence). It had a friendly feel and a strong sense of community.

We left and parked up to have lunch – loads of our reduced to clear goodies from yesterday, everyone agreed it was a feast worthy of lunch at Granny and Grandads!

Then into Aros – a centre including cinema / theatre, shopping, restaurant and sea eagle exhibition along with some local art and photography. That was another very reassuring thing to find – culture! Plays, films and various other stuff goes on there which means the kids would not miss out on cinema fixes. I am very conscious, particularly in reading other people’s blogs and friend feed threads that Davies and Scarlett will be missing out on opportunities if we are not able to provide all these possibilities for them once we settle again. I think this year has been an incredibly rich experience for them and one which will have taught them loads, given them many skills and be an adventure to talk of for the rest of their lives, but they won’t be able to trade on that forever and will need to pick up on interests, hobbies, social opportunities etc again once we settle. What we have seen of Skye so far reassures me that it will be able to provide all of that.

Back to the campsite which we’re enjoying using as a base. There is a steady flow of other campervans and tents – last night there were four of us here, tonight I think there are five – safety in numbers! 😉

Davies and Scarlett had some time playing outside, there are a couple of streams criss crossing the campsite and some marshy ground. They did some damming with stones, some creating other worlds and lots of playing. Ady and I drank tea in Willow and made some rough plans for the next couple of weeks. We’ve realised there is a ferry from Skye to Mallaig which looks like it would be way cheaper than the petrol required to drive all the way round. We also talked a bit about what to do between leaving that last host and Christmas camp – four weeks during November and December is probably less desirable to be driving around Scotland wild camping!

We then joined the kids outside and were shown all around their world of dams and hideouts and then walked across the road to look at the signs about the mountain range overlooking us. We realised we are at the edge of a reserve where golden eagles nest so tomorrow we’re planning a walk up there to do some spotting. We got back to Willow just as a huge rain cloud burst and had more reduced to clear food for dinner. Tomorrow we’re hoping for more bargains J

The plan this morning was to drive to a campsite on Skye and spend the day there, maybe walking for a bit if we found a campsite suitably located to do so but mostly charging everything up and having showers and getting the loo emptied. I’ve not managed to wash my hair this week and it’s started to feel decidedly skanky despite a couple of applications of dry shampoo.

We headed off and crossed the bridge to Skye having done a bit of research on campsite on the island last night and decided there were at least four open all year round. The first one was a mere 4 miles from the bridge and had rave reviews on UK campsites so we had more or less decided that was where we’d go. When we arrived though we realised we had no signal on the mifi or our phones and although the campsite had a fair degree of ‘rustic charm’ it was very basic and had zero view other than the rather ramshackle field it was based in strewn with clutter. The trouble is you can park for free in the most gorgeous locations so it really comes hard to pay for somewhere less than gorgeous. So we drove on.

We drove through Broadford which is quite a big town and stopped at the tourist office to pick up a map marked with about six more campsites across the island. Ady also nipped into the CoOp and came out with some reduced to clear food for dinner tonight (a roast dinner for under 2 quid 🙂 ). The weather was drizzly and very, very misty so the view was mostly obscured but we could see enough to realise the landscape and scenery had all the charm of the proper highlands we have been falling in love with – lochs, sea, rugged coastline, moorland and mountains, heather and pines and teaming with wildlife, we saw about 5 golden eagles 🙂 and enough of a remote feeling to leave the hustle and bustle behind but none of that ‘oh shit we’re about to run out of milk / petrol and there won’t be another shop for 100 miles!’ fretting we have had. Lots of clustered townships with local shops and community feeling and a slightly bohemian feel to the place with loads of polytunnels and veg patches and chickens, sheep and cattle about.

We ended up driving all the way up to Uig and then down the other side, finding a couple of campsites but none with any signal. I had various places where everything had loads of signal including a campsite which looked perfect with bays just for campers, hook up, water and a toilet / shower and laundry block. That closed last weekend 🙁 It did say you were welcome to stay there for free but there were no facilities (including the water, it had been turned off). We’re planning on spending at least one overnight there though as it had stunning views and signal was good :). But for today we needed showers and electricity.

We eventually started to all feel fed up – we were using loads of petrol driving around, Ady was getting stressed with me for not having researched campsites properly, the kids were getting rowdier in their playing in the back and I just wanted a bloody shower! And everyone was hungry because we’d not stopped for lunch in favour of finding a campsite. We decided we’d come back off the island and find a campsite with signal for tonight and go back on again tomorrow when we had showered and charged stuff up. The campsite we stayed in last Sunday is only 10 miles or so away from Kyle of Lochalsh so that is where we headed for, knowing it ticks all our boxes.

We were here by about 530, having stopped at the CoOp for some food (more reduced stuff for a very late lunch) and while Ady made new best friends with the campsite owner, getting his whole life story and some money off a gas bottle, I went and had a shower and the kids made everyone a drink. Hot cup of tea made by someone else after a much needed shower ticks oh so many boxes :).

Everyone was happy then 🙂 The kids watched Robinson Crusoe on the laptop, I researched property on Skye, Ady swept which he says is not as good as hoovering but comes fairly close. While I hanker after a bath to call my own, Scarlett is desperate for pets again and Davies longs for his animation station Ady thinks only of the day when he can once again hoover up after people 😆

We had dinner, watched Autumn watch on iplayer, the kids did some drawing. Davies was looking at some pictures children had done of the red kites at the centre yesterday and has been inspired to do some real life drawings alongside his more usual cartoon style stuff so has been sketching and blending coloured pencils and done some excellent drawings of eagles, seals and kingfishers today. I never got into pencils that much, always prefering felt tips for solid blocks of colour as a child, although as an adult I can see far better results for that sort of art using pencils.

I read a few chapters of story and it’s a late night all round.

Last nights overnight spot proved to be a noisy one. Ady was convinced the lorries were beeping as they drove past us from 5am onwards in a deliberate attempt to wake us, I am not so sure…

Once everyone was up we walked along to watch the seals for a while. They were quite active and even Kirsty would have been impressed 😉
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Our plan for the day was Dingwall town centre for some charity shop searching for jeans for me, then top up of petrol from Tescos and then a visit to Tollies Red Kites which I had spotted a leaflet for ages ago and marked as somewhere worth visiting if we were in the area.

Popmaster in the van and then off to Dingwall where we parked easily and had success in the fifth and final charity shop getting me two pairs of jeans for just £1.50 each. The labels in one had been cut out so no idea what size they were but the other clearly is mislabelled as it says 14 and despite weight loss there is no way I am that small and have not been since I was about 19! We picked up a few kids books too at bargain prices which we’ll drop back off at charity shops after we’ve read them. The kindle is not cheap for kids books so we tend to stick to charity shops for them really.

Tesco for petrol and then on our way to Tollies. The website gives slightly cloak and dagger feel directions which I had copied down and we managed to find it, at the end of a very long and bumpy track. It said feeding time is 130pm in the winter and 230pm in the summer. I was assuming it would be winter but decided we should get there early just in case so we arrived just after 1pm. There was a youngish woman in there who was very chatty but clearly just a visitor too so after a bit of looking around the room, which is beautifully done out with various information boards, art and things to look at we retreated to the car park to have lunch in Willow. We’d parked looking out over a field and spent our lunch break watching about 4 kites swooping about, landing and being all beautiful. Infact we had a better view while we ate than we did later at feeding time.

Just before 230pm we went back in the centre and were joined by a wildlife photographer who recognised us from Chanonry Point 🙂 He looked quite familiar to me but I never really talked to anyone there, I’m sure Marcus would have recognised him! We talked about dolphins for a bit and he told us about the kites and then the rangers arrived to feed them. They put out carrion – venison and rabbit – onto a table and retreat. Apparently there are more and more kites later in the year and last winter there were sometimes 20 or 30 coming to feed all at once which would be a magnificent sight. Today only a couple were around and they were pretty shy about coming to the table, only really swooping down to see off a crow that chanced it’s luck.

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It was really cold and we were conscious of finding somewhere to sleep tonight so we headed off after half an hour or so. The plan was to head towards Skye and stop when we found somewhere nice. We ended up getting all the way to Loch Alsh and have stopped within sight of the Skye bridge. Our first real glimpse of Skye 🙂

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We felt freer and happier the further away from Inverness and built up areas we got and this is all helping to cement for us that we are making the right decisions in wanting to stay up here somewhere more remote. We’re looking forward to the next three weeks exploring properly and seeing how we feel we might fit in up here.