One word? When seven would do…

From a word doc typed in desperation last night, because those words have to go somewhere 😉

So it might be hard blogging in two places at once but being unable to blog in either is really torture! No internet signal here tonight (although phone is fine) so having to compose this for blogging later.

This morning we were all up around 830am and had leisurely breakfast admiring the view. We had noticed we were parked next to a sectioned off area with a sign saying ‘Marie Curie field of hope’ so we decided to lob some of the seed bombs Davies had brought along in a kit from the seed bomb workshop we did last year. Davies made them and we threw two in – one for Eira and one for Ady’s sister Deborah. Then back to the van for tea / coffee and Popmaster which has become a daily routine. The kids join in too and we keep score and everything – it’s the closest they are getting to a structured education but does involve holding a pen and adding up! 😉

I’d done some research of tourist places we may come across and had a couple on my list. The nature reserves tend to be plots of land owned by RSPB etc. which are interesting for a few weeks or months a year as migratory birds pass by, nest or breed there but are otherwise unoccupied by people / visitor centres / anything obvious to the casual observer. Some of them are SSSI because of the different butterlies or wild flowers or even type of heath / moorland or whatever which is excellent, but not actually that interesting to just go and observe, so we have found less places to go and spend time. We did stop at Strathnaver and grabbed some leaflets from the tourist office and peeked at the museum but it was one with an admission charge which although I am sure was worth it crosses it off our list of places as there are so many excellent free ones and even the signs along the roadside are full of information and educational to stop and read for nothing.

We did stop at a viewpoint taking in mountain ranges including Ben Loyal and Ben Hope from a distance and we had a drink and read a booklet we’d picked up somewhere about the history of Sutherland and the woodlands. Then we spent ages watching a bird we were fairly sure was a golden eagle. I was really slack about chasing free stuff before we headed off this year but the two bits of kit I’d have love to have gotten hold of retrospectively are decent binoculars and a good camera, even to loan / borrow / hire. I wish I’d thought of that before we left… We studied it’s flight patterns and sillouette though and then poured over our various bird books and decided it was almost certainly a golden eagle which was very exciting – top of Scarlett’s list of things she wanted to see J.

We stopped at a public toilets to empty the loo and fill up the water bottles – this is a routine we will have to do at least every other day really but is easy enough – Ady takes the cassette into the gents and deals with that while I go to the ladies with the 5ltr bottles and a beaker.

We stopped for lunch in Borgie – stunning views of lochs and mountain ranges. We passed various places which would have been great to stop at with footpaths down to the gorgeous sandy beaches but the weather has been really changeable today and severe downpours of rain were every half an hour or so and we were not sure where we’d get to to park tonight so we headed on. We did the long drive past tongue and the crossing of the Kintyre then all around Loch Eriboll with it first on the right of the van and then on the left. We drove past Ben Loyal and Ben Hope and the scenery was just stunning. I kept taking photos although I knew none of them would do it justice. The heather and gorse is starting to change to autumn colours and it is as gorgeous with sun illuminating it as it is with rain lashing it and the resultant rainbows every few miles just added to the beauty. I almost wish I didn’t use all these words so often as I fear people will think I am crying wolf about how lovely it is!

As we rounded the corner towards Durness we suddenly saw a large bird soar and hang in the sky before dropping right close above the van, close enough to glimpse the plummage and definitely identify it as a golden eagle. Ady was able to stop briefly so we could all watch it for a little while before it swooped off over the hill tops.

I had Smoo Cave on my list of places to stop at so we did although it was gone 5pm by then. We went down the steps and into the first waterfall chamber and all got soaked. We’d not expected it to be so wet or amazing and were all in flimsy fleeces and silly shoes. We pledged to try and park near enough to head back tomorrow properly attired and with fingers crossed that the tours will be running too.

Sure enough we have stopped at Keodale in a carpark overlooking Balankiel Bay so the plan for tomorrow is back to Smoo for a proper explore and maybe a tour, a look to see whether driving to Cape Wrath is possible and if not checking out alternative ways of getting there before starting to head south again along the west coast. We need to do some proper research regarding where we want to stop and visit and also work out some food stops and petrol purchasing based on next weeks budget. We have definitely spent more than I expected on petrol although we have also travelled further than I anticipated too. We’d debated briefly heading to Orkney yesterday but decided the ferry cost was too much with Willow (£30 one way trip plus passengers). Food budget is doing well though with nothing spend yesterday or today (tonight we had fish cakes made with two tins of tuna and the remainder of Kirsty & James’ potatoes and a tin of beans for Ady and Davies – sum total of about £1 given they were value tuna and beans) but we have now run out of cheese, fruit and veg so will need to get some supplies in tomorrow and may blow more budget on Cave Smoo tour (it’s a tenner for the four of us) if they are running. So far though we have done really well and already ticked loads of things off our list.

particularly with limited power, and I really want to update the WW one daily as much as possible while we’re on this leg of the journey.

So I’ll post here my fervant hope that we don’t get blown away by the gale howling around the van tonight, my joy at Davies thanking me earlier for bringing him on this exciting adventure and telling me that he loved WWOOFing but he really loves this bit! My sneaking suspicion that the seals we saw frolicking today at Gills Bay and John O Groats were indeed sent by Kirsty and my glee that Willow made it all the way up here despite so many people thinking she’d struggle to get out of Sussex!

We had dinner tonight in the carpark of Dunnet Head viewpoint, the most Northern point of UK mainland – we’ve reached the top! 🙂

This morning we left our overnight stop with a view to stopping in Helmsdale for maybe a couple of nights as our map looked like it may have a few interesting places to be. We missed the two best looking walks, which is a shame but we are cagey about leaving Willow fully loaded for any length of time while we go off walking in the wilderness, she is just too vulnerable with all our belongings in her! We stopped at a small town to empty the loo in the public toilets, refill all our water bottles and check out the local Thrift Store (two pairs of trouser for Tarly for £3 – hurrah!) and Co Op (loads of reduced to clear fruit and veg for lunch / dinner – hurrah!). We got to Helmsdale and looked at the various information points, collected some leaflets and retreated to the van for lunch. We decided against the Heritage Visitor Centre on the basis that there are so many excellent free places to see and learn we don’t need to blow most of the days budget on admission to one. We pondered our map a bit more and decided we are just biding time on the east coast really when we already know the west coast is where our hearts lie and the north coast is where we have not yet explorered so we’d head to John O Groats and stop if we see anything interesting but carry on along the top if we don’t.

That led us to Badbea which I had looked at online and was very interesting (I’ve linked to all these places on the WW blog, don’t have enough battery to do it again here), then Lybster where we started thinking about stopping for the night as it was close to 5pm but nowhere looked promising. On a whim we decided to head back to the A9 towards Thurso (north coast) as we wanted to see the Flow Country and had marked a couple of other small places of interest along that road, find somewhere to stop for the night, explore there tomorrow and then go back to the east coast towards JOG.

This proved interesting – what an amazing contrast the flow country is – so very, very flat! We saw wind farms, crofts, loads of buzzards (we’d identified birds we’d seen earlier today and knew by their colouring and flight habits were not buzzards as ospreys) but not a lot else! By then Ady was stressing about petrol and we’d not found anywhere suitable to stay overnight so we decided to head all the way to Thurso. We found a Tescos and a petrol station, called into a Co Op as they reduced a load of meat down in price (so that’s tomorrows dinner sorted 🙂 ) and then decided to head back towards JOG to find somewhere to overnight. We were very taken with Dunnet Bay – will try and be there in daytime on the way back and spend some time / get some pictures, it was stunning, but no overnight parking signs were everywhere. We then spotted a brown sign for Dunnet Head viewpoint so climbed up the steep and winding road towards that. We saw deer, Ady saw something that may or may not have been a wildcat shoot across the road and we saw two other campervans parked up in the only likely spaces along the way. At the very top we were treated to a stunning view, the lighthouse, RSPB signs about wildlife (mostly seabirds, mostly out of season now) and it being the most northern point of UK mainland, and a big yellow NO OVERNIGHT PARKING sign!

It was getting dark so we decided to pull over, park and cook and eat and then travel on to find somewhere to stop afterwards. We debated putting the bed down so at least the kids could sleep if needs be and I think in the future we may well do that but it was only 830 by the time we’d eaten, washed up and were ready to go again so they watched a film while we drove on looking.

We’ve ended up next to another campervan in a layby at Gills Bay. I have no idea what sort of view we’ll wake up to as it was totally dark by the time we arrived, although the stars are some of the most stunning I’ve seen yet. The wind is howling around us but we’re snug and cosy in Willow.

About to lose battery for this evening and have already blogged over on WW but a quick post to say

We saw the salmon! We saw the salmon!

We also had a great time at the Falls of Shin, the Ferrycroft visitor centre and driving around the gorgeous landscape in the sunshine.

We’re parked up tonight in another layby with views of the sea and the lighthouse we drove past yesterday in Tarbat twinkling in the distance.

All is well, budget still intact and tomorrow we may even manage some fishing.

Monday morning the road did indeed get busier not long after 5am and it woke Ady up. He offered me a cup of tea, I looked at the clock, told him to sod off and went back to sleep. I think he offered me a cup of tea every hour afterwards until I accepted at 8am and got up! It was a gorgeous sunny morning and we had croissants for breakfast with home made jam from the smallholders gathering we’d been to at the last hosts before packing up ready to head off just after 9am.

We wanted to get most of the food supplies for the week so we would not need to drive anywhere so we headed for the supermarket in Inverness and did that on the way. I think we arrived at the campsite at about midday. It was raining but we stood around in it chatting and debating which way round to pitch everything and park the van and then Kirsty and James arrived.

We got the awning up – no mean feat given the need for rock pegs and then un-evenness of our pitch and the inflexibility of the site manager for us to shift the van to the other side of our pitch so the awning was on the higher ground rather than the lower. It has been tweaked and is still not perfect as the door rubs anyway even when on level ground with no wind so it is rubbing even more this week but as we only open it first thing in the morning and close it last thing in the evening it is not too much of an issue.

The kids disappeared onto the beach, just coming back for food and to eventually confess to being very wet and sandy. I lectured about the need to not get every single item of clothing wet and sandy when they have ample waterproof clothing and ended up doing a washing load when I fell over myself and also had a pair of wet, muddy jeans 😆

We had a walk down to the point and saw dolphins and seals before dinner and stayed up chatting til late. I peaked rather early with the wine and woke in the night desperate for water and glad I was in the van with a tap!

Tuesday morning started with awning titivation which quickly got tedious. Marcus and James had planned a whisky tour and Ady was torn between wanting to go and not wanting to go. In the end the tour was booked and he was pretty much kidnapped. He had a good time and was glad he’d gone to be with friends but says he still doesn’t get whisky! 😆 Mich, Kirsty and I walked to the point with the kids but it was cold so we walked back again. We all had lunch in respective tents / van and I had a strop with Scarlett about spending money on sweets, then we walked the other way into the village to visit the deli and spent some time at the little park before the blokes came back and we returned to the campsite.

Not sure where the evening went to but we ended up eating in the dark long after everyone else had finished food. I possibly didn’t help by being in the van making cinnamon rolls while Ady was getting dinner sorted…

I cried off fairly early as I knew Davies would be early to rise and I had present wrapping, van decorating, card making to do. Back at the van I ushered the kids to bed, pulled their curtains across and got busy with sellotape :).

Wednesday Davies woke at about 330am to ask if it was time to get up yet, we replied in the negative and told him daylight was the earliest possible rising time. He held us to that pretty much and by 7am we were all on our bed with cinnamon buns in the oven and a pile of presents to unwrap. Davies had got some PotC Lego, a stunt kite and a compass from us, some tissues (novelty packets printed with £20 and £10 notes on them that he’d been coveting in a gift shop) and a fridge magnet from Tarly bought with her own money and a little gift box from Peter (the son at our last host) containing £5, a DS game Davies had enjoyed playing and a chunk of amber.

We had breakfast and he was given more gifts from Marcus and Alex, then we walked along to Chanonry Point. We saw some dolphins but were getting hungry and it was a bit cold and rainy so we retreated back. Those who stayed were rewarded with more dolphin displays.

We did birthday cake and Chloe presented Davies with their family gift to him of a tackle box and various fishing related bits. He was very pleased 🙂 He also got cards from my parents, brother and grandmother sent to the campsite and a phonecall from his cousins.

Davies spent time fishing on the beach and then flying his kite which he loves :). Chloe had collected driftwood for a fire on the beach and this was declared the night to do so. I made dinner (home made pizzas, so took various chunks of time during the afternoon) and we were very kindly presented with a couple of mackerel that one of the other campers had caught but didn’t want to cook on our fire. Ady did a gutting demo for all the kids and some of them were keen to actually take part and get their hands all bloody – some less so ;).

Davies and I (and then Scarlett and a couple of others) spent some time lying on our backs on the beach looking up at the stars. It was a gorgeously clear night and the stars were just amazing, all the better when viewed totally above. We rejoined the others and there was marshmallow toasting, some singing, some poking at the fire and plenty of just enjoying being with good friends in a gorgeous place. Davies said it was an excellent birthday 🙂

Thursday More at the point in the morning, dolphins were hiding though. We walked to the deli in the afternoon – again, it was becomming a routine :). I think that was the afternoon we left the kids in the park and walked back without them, giving them instructions to follow us along half an hour later. More fishing, more kite flying. Evening gathering became Marcus and Michelle’s awning for adults, our awning (complete with DVD player) for kids which seemed to work well. I *think* this was the first night we all met Eduardo…

Friday Off to the point in the morning, this time there were no dolphins to be seen at all. There were seals but some people seemed less than impressed with them ;).

We’d taken food and drink (including hip flask) supplies and ended up staying in the gorgeous sunshine for hours, chatting and laughing and collecting sea glass, despite the invisible dolphins! In the afternoon most of us went on the Fairy Glen walk which we’d not managed last year due to my broken ankle. It was very pretty with lovely waterfalls and I enjoyed the nature spotting – we found pine marten poo and otter footprints. I was less interested in geocaching ;).

In the evening it was our Haggis Night and responsibility had been divvied up with us in charge of ‘neeps’ or mashed swedes. I did the peeling and chopping, Ady did the cooking and mashing. Despite having the easier to operate stove and not running out of gas halfway through we were the ones last to deliver although we did take on extra gravy responsibility. Kids ate in our awning, adults in M&M’s and it was a very delicious meal 🙂 I love that tradition – hope we can continue it next year and maybe even grow it to include more friends :).

Saturday our last full day. We persuaded Michelle to come to the point with us for dolphins but she proved not to be the good luck charm we’d assumed and they didn’t show up. Although it was slightly sad not to have seen dolphins every day like we did last year it almost makes that more magical looking back. We did see loads of seals and marine birdlife though and we’d not gone particularly desperate to see dolphins this time anyway.

Back at the campsite for lunch I had pasta and used a jar of pesto that had mold round the top. I’m sure it was fine but it played on my mind and laid heavy on my tummy all afternoon meaning I mostly lazed on the bed reading and feeling grumpy. This mood was not helped by attempting two loads of washing and drying which should have been straightforward if overpriced but ended up being rather an epic saga as the washing machine wasn’t spinning properly so clothes came out sopping wet and then took an age to dry. I was still in there nearly 7 hours later feeding it £1 coins and getting agitated. I had a minor run in with an old man and was forced to engage in conversation with someone who Ady had slightly fallen out with earlier in the week too. Grr. M&M had packed up their awning so evening arrangements changed to Kirsty and James hosting the kids and us hosting the adults – we all had fish and chips for dinner and although it was an earlier night all round it was lovely, if very rainy and a bit cold.

Today – hurrah, I’ve caught up – will add in some pictures at some point.

M&M were packed up and ready to go before I was even awake meaning I gave goodbye hugs in my nightie with no bra and no make up! Kirsty & James were not terribly far behind although I had showered and dressed (and had a spectacular row with Ady and cried all my eye make up off again – since resolved!). We left it til the last minute before actually leaving on the basis we had nowhere specific to go so would stay charging everything up til the last possible moment.

We headed back to Inverness to fill up with petrol and get some basic food supplies before coming north. We have now got a decent map of Scotland including tourist spots marked so have a loose plan to reach John O Groats by next weekend, Cape Wrath the following weekend and then slowly work down the west coast to Mallaig between then and November 1st. We had Falls of Shin marked as somewhere to be tomorrow so wanted to be between Inverness and there tonight. We crossed the firths (Moray, Cromarty, Dornoch) and stopped at a seal point (didn’t see any, honestly when you want a seal!) and drove to Tarbat Discovery Centre on the basis of some rave reviews online. We blew part of the days £10 budget on admission which on reflection was possibly not worth it but had an interesting hour in there looking at various archaeolgical finds, looking at the crypt, learning about the evacuation there in 1943 (the town was used to practise D Day manouveres as the coastline and beaches are the same as Normandy) and finding out about the Picts which was interesting. We drove out to the very tip of the peninsula hoping we might be able to park there overnight near the lighthouse but there were No Overnight Parking signs everywhere so we decided against it. We drove around the town but there were no parking signs there too so headed north again. We then decided to head for the Falls and stop at 7pm in the most suitable layby. We have ended up doing just that, just over the Bonar bridge in a layby just off the actual road (which we all feel safer in) with woodland on one side and water on the other, very pretty.

We kept to our budget with a cheap meal of Tesco value pasta, a tin of tomatoes, a packet of bacon and some herbs and pesto for a nice dinner. I read a couple of chapters of How The Whale Became to the kids – not read to them for ages and we’ve all missed that, while Ady washed up and then we set the bed up for them to go to sleep.

I’m hoping to be able to charge my laptop each day off our big battery thing (it’s basically a car battery with various features, you charge it off the mains and it can jumpstart a car, run a light, pump up tyres etc.) along with an invertor for a mains plug off the cigarette lighter when we’re driving and freeloaders for mobile phones. Finding power this week may be challenging but it will be interesting to see how we fare. On which note the laptop is beeping at me now which means I have to consider myself caught up with the blog!

We left the hosts by about 10am this morning, pushed forward by me, I hate that last bit when we are about to leave and always just want to be off and away and not prolong it really. We were given a lovely card thanking us for everything and a card and present for Davies’ birthday next week which is very sweet. They have been lovely hosts :).

Our plan was to try and get within about 30 miles of Rosemarkie and Loch Ness falls within that area so we’d decided to head for there and see if we could park up alongside the Loch for the night. We stopped in Fort William for food supplies for lunch, dinner and breakfast and then carried on. We stopped at one point for a cup of tea near Ben Nevis just because one of the great joys of having a campervan is that you can just pull over and have a cup of tea so we try to frequently when the view calls for it :). The threatened gales have not hit us (yet!) but it has rained non stop all day from when we set off and were packing up the van to just after we stopped. At 5pm we were alongside Loch Ness and found a decent parking space right next to it with no ‘No Overnight Parking’ sign up so declared that home for the night and pulled over and put the levellers down.

We sat and enjoyed the views and sang along to songs on Davies’ MP3 player. I suspect a pretty good definition of bliss would be singing along to Daydream Believer with your favourite three people in the world sitting in your campervan looking over loch ness with a rainbow in the background :). You can keep your lottery wins, I don’t think life gets better than this!

We’d decided on pizza for dinner tonight, cheap, easy to cook in the oven, warms the van up nicely and we’ve more than earned a few days of junk food from 2 weeks of incredibily healthy eating ;). In the next few weeks food will be far more on a budget and made ourselves rather than pre bought and processed but tonight it was supermarket pizzas all round. We all had dinner, complied the blogpost of the last host for the WW blog and watched rain stop, the skies clear and a gorgeous moon rise over the loch illuminating everything. There is the odd car still going past which rocks the van a little and I suspect the road will be busy from fairly early in the morning but this view is a pretty amazing beginning to our pulling over when the mood takes us for the night phase of the adventure.

Fingers crossed for a peaceful few hours sleep and some stunning early morning views before we move on tomorrow to Rosemarkie.

I enjoyed a lie in this morning and Ady came and presented me with the WWOOF book when he woke me up. The WWOOF book is something we have encountered at around half of our hosts and is simply a guest book. Sometimes we have struggled not to fill the whole book with gushing, at others we have struggled to find something nice to say. Here I struck the balance between raving about the gorgeous scenery and the warmth and kindness without mentioning the fact we’ve been hungry a lot and the work load has not really been very WWOOFy!

Ady and the kids walked down to the village for a few bits and I ended up totally distracted by reading what previous WWOOFers had written.

Ed was out all day today at a Gaelic choir festival, Davies and Scarlett were playing with Peter, Ady was busy with various things so I spent a lot of time up in our bedroom which was actually very nice and peaceful. We all reconvened for lunch and then a walk was planned. Carina had said we would need leggings and Scarlett*hates* wearing waterproofs and wellies so I put to her the choice to wear them and go or not wear them and stay behind. I expected her to grudgingly wear them but having just been told off for something else she was stroppy and said she just wouldn’t go then. I elected to stay with her so the others all headed off and we had a long chat about cutting off noses to spite faces, sacrifice and compromise. All very amicable and reasonable but still tough to talk through. We decided to head off after them so did don waterproofs but we were probably 15 minutes behind them by then so didn’t catch them up. We tracked them for a while by footprints but kept getting distracted by the view and then decided to not climb any higher incase we were heading the wrong way.

All week Davies has been after a packet of tissues with bank notes printed on them in the gift shop so Scarlett and I had been planning to nip into the town to get them for his birthday so we popped back to the house to take waterproofs and wellies off (I hate wearing them as much as she does) and walked to the town. We got the tissues, Scarlett had her now customary dive under the shelves in the CoOp and netted £3.67. We had started to look like really dodgy people in there acting all furtive each day so I explained what she was doing to the staff who were giving her odd looks speadeagled out on the floor peering under the fixtures. Another shopper was most excited and she got down too to see if she could reach £1 that Scarlett couldn’t. She has had nearly £8 off the floor in there this week :). She blew her £3 on a packet of tissues for Davies and a tartan sheep fridge magnet he has been eyeing up in the tourist office so is pleased to have bought his birthday presents herself :).

We came back and snuggled up together on our bed, Scarlett DSing and me playing Air Traffic Control which I am slightly addicted to on Ady’s tablet, while waiting for the others to get home.

Ady and I had a walk out to the castle when we saw the flag get blown off the pole in the wind. We sat on the bench looking over the harbour and chatting and a young girl came along looking all upset. We budged over and she shared the bench with us and told us all about her boyfriend getting all shitty with her so she’d walked out of the flat, she was 29 and worried that if it didn’t work out with him she didn’t know if she’d find anyone else. We got a potted life story of her and her boyfriend and were ascertaining if she had somewhere else to go when suddenly the boyfriend arrived looking for her. He seemed pretty reasonable and calm so after a brief chat we left them to it and watched from a safe distance to ensure they were okay. All looked well and they sat cuddled up talking for a while before heading off together, so fingers crossed they sort themselves out. It was odd because we’d been saying that really we’d been biding time here today having originally planned to head to Rosemarkie but not doing so because of the cost so stayed here an extra night. Maybe chatting to her and giving some advice was why we were here today. Funny how you may effect the path of someone’s life by an odd chance meeting.

Back at the house Ady and I had showers, Ed arrived home and we all sat down to a later than normal dinner by candlelight. There was much toasting of great WWOOFer and WWOOF hosts, we had dessert and then all crammed into the kitchen to play a rowdy game of Cranium together before all heading outside to see if we could spot the Northern Lights and do some star gazing (zero light pollution round here).

Everyone headed to bed and I intend enjoying my last night in an actual bed for many weeks to come.

Davies woke me this morning and had been up really late last night creating anniversary card and gifts which included a little pink ribbon tied into a bracelet for me with ‘Nic Loves Ady, Ady loves Nic’ written around it and a voucher for a kiss (Davies stopped kissing us about 18 months ago, he is still really affectionate and cuddles and everything but kisses are reserved for very special occassions!). Scarlett said she’d been far too tired to make anything so just gave me lots of cuddles instead 🙂 I love the way Davies had created stuff out of rubbish really – the card was an old envelope, the ribbon and voucher had been a swing ticket on a new bra I’d bought.

Our first job this morning was to move an old dog kennel from the garden onto the trailer to go to the new house where there are plans to use it as a chicken coop. It was *quite* heavy but Ady and I could have managed it. Ed however is very weak – I can easily out-lift him but he won’t let me try and lift anything so it was a bit of a kerfuffle getting it over the wall and into the trailer. And it was raining. Ady and I kept laughing and saying ‘well it’s not Vegas!’ to each other 😆

We drove to the new house and it had stopped raining and was clearing up so we lifted the kennel off and went in to do some painting. Today we painted the ceiling in the front room using extendable rollers which are all sorts of fun. We ended up covered in paint, particularly Ady who was foolish enough to keep getting in my way (okay, it was deliberate!). There was a guy there doing some carpentry who also works sometimes at the garage and is a part time fireman too. He’d been reading our blog last night (as recommended by the garage) and seemed a little starstruck by us, made a real point of shaking our hands when he left and saying goodbye to the kids. I don’t think he understood that anyone can publish a blog on the internet – or maybe we are that awesome?! 😉

We had a wander down to the beach for half an hour or so while Ed finished tidying up which was lovely, we really do love it here lots :).

Back at the house we had time for a quick shower and got changed before walking into the town for dinner. Ed and Carina had booked dinner at one of the several local restauarants which serve all local food. It was a limited early bird menu and Davies and Scarlett were rather disappointed to be presented with the kids menu containing chicken nuggets or sausages. Scarlett did have the chicken (although she ended up not eating it as it was battered and rather greasy) but Davies had fish off the adult menu – frankly he has a bigger appetite than Ed and Carina so I understood him being put out although they both did well at staying polite and grateful. Ady and I had steak pie which was very nice. It was lovely to be out on our anniversary and toast it 🙂 Ed and Carina have been fab hosts, really grateful for all we have done (which in our opinion has been very little really!) and we mark their last WWOOFers in their current house and last scheduled WWOOFers as they are taking a short break to settle in to their new house before booking anyone else. We’ve been invited back any time – as friends, not WWOOFer, which is lovely :).

We walked to the exercise playpark and all had a go on the equipment and spent time looking at the moon (almost full and very big and bright) and the bay before walking back. Tea and coffee and a bit of TV watching for the kids before bedtime.

09/09/99
” alt=”” />
” alt=”” />

and they said it would never last….. 😉

Today and tomorrow have been shuffled round so we get to spend our last working day at the new house. This meant this morning we were off to the healing garden. This was a funded project, opened four or five years ago in the grounds of the towns medical centre and includes fruit and veg, willow structures, contemplation space, herbs and plants with medicinal uses, information boards and more. There is funding for a part time member of staff and a full rota of volunteers work in the garden as well as it being the site for various course.

We were cutting down a very high privet hedge which is preventing light from entering the garden, restricting the view down to the harbour and village from within and blocking the view of the garden from outside. Permission had been given take it down to about 3 foot high (it was about 10 foot high when we started) so we spent the morning doing that.

It was most enjoyable, the sun shone, the work was hard but worthwhile and with an obvious look back and see what you have done appeal. We had a teabreak in the potting shed and Scarlett and I nipped to the Co op for a packet of biscuits. Scarlett had looked under one of the shelves in the Co Op yesterday and found a pound coin so was obsessed with the idea there was more cash lurking underneath the fixtures in there. Sure enough she came out with two more pound coins and some coppers. Very lucrative 🙂 She gave half her findings to Davies too which was very sweet :).

Carina was working inside and came home filled with glee at the receptionist who had invited the kids in to play with the toys in the waiting room but Ady had declined telling her they should be outside working with us and then she walked by later and spotted Ady cutting one bit of hedge and me cutting the other which had loads of brambles in it. She’d been horrified at what a nasty man he seemed which is obviously laughable and entertained Carina no end 😆

Ed arrived with a message from the garage that Willow was ready and they were just giving her a run to test her, we then saw her drive past which was quite strange with someone else driving :).

We finished the hedge – a remarkable difference. I think every single person who walked past stopped for a chat with us which was just lovely, there is such a community spirit here in Tarbert, it really does feel like living in Balamory!

” alt=”” />

” alt=”” />

We came back to the house for lunch and then walked down to the village to collect and pay for Willow. The man said he had spent the morning reading our blog and done a few extra bits (reset the timing, tuned the engine) and would only charge us half price as he loved what we were doing 🙂 He had also written a little good luck message on our invoice 🙂

” alt=”” />

which was very lovely 🙂

We headed back and spent an hour chainsawing and stacking some logs before heading fishing for an hour or so. We were the only people on the pier today and it was windy and a bit cold but Ady got a catch!

” alt=”” />

The blokes in the background were doing some repair work to the pier and said we’d been the only people to catch anything all day :).

Back to the house for dinner, fish cakes :). Julie rang so we had a long catch up chat and Ady and I walked down to the Co Op for a bottle of wine while I was still on the phone. The village is lovely at night, all twinkling lights over the water.

Tomorrow is our last working day and Ed and Carina are taking us out for dinner 🙂

Ady took Willow to the local garage this morning as they had ordered in HT leads for her which was the latest thing Ady was fretting about. He has this list, carefully ranked of Things To Worry About and currently HT leads for Willow was at the top. Previously contenders for top spot have been Willows Brakes, The Rent, Whether Willow Will Start and more. He likes to have worries kept in reserve and currently has a big enough list of sub worries to have this one crossed off the list 😉 Is that me being flippant? Yes I rather think it might be.

So the garage have said they can get the leads replaced for about £30 which seemed a small price to pay for fret allayance so Ady took it down there and they are supposed to be sorting it. It turned out when we walked down later to collect it that the wrong leads have been sent so it may well end up that nothing gets done to it but considering Willow started after the amount of rain we’ve had and that Ady has been using some special silicone damp start stuff anyway I personally am not remotely worried about her starting anyway. So if the leads turn up it’s a bargain to stop Ady worrying, if they don’t we probably didn’t need them anyway!

We did lots of hanging around the house this morning, partially waiting for a load of washing to finish. Carina and Peter are not going away this weekend after all, so no house to ourselves, baths every night, cook what we want, wash all the clothes party for us which meant getting a wash done today on the basis that the weather forecast is for wet days from now until, well springtime really so we needed to be sure it would be dry. Carina is a very different character to Ed, rather like Ady and I. I like her 🙂 (not that I don’t like Ed).

Ed went to the new house on the bus as he had a meeting with the building inspector and was hoping the final certificate would be signed off today on the build. We drove along in the car and were flagged down at the entrance to their road by a Large Amercian Couple in a BMW with a flat tyre. They were lost, stranded and rather scared bless them. We got out and swung into action with Ady starting to jack their car up and locate the spare tyre, me ringing the woman’s emergency phone number from my mobile and Carina helping with explaining where they were to the person on the other end of the phone. The building inspector chose that moment to reappear back down the lane and Carina’s car wouldn’t start so he was blocked in. We all pushed Carina’s car out of the way so the building inspector could get between the broken down car and the flat tyred car to escape 🙂 It was rather like a Fawlty Towers episode :). Carina and I left Ady to it helping the Americans and took the kids up the hill in the car that would now start again to find out how the meeting had gone. They have not been signed off yet and still have more stuff to do. I got on with some painting.

Ady eventually arrived back up the hill having seen the American couple off. They had bonded to the point of exchanging email addresses, heard all about our story and were very excited about us, offered us to stay with them in Florida anytime we like (and can get out there) and insisted on foisting £30 on Ady for changing the tyre. He tried really hard to refuse it but they insisted they’d be offended if he didn’t take it so he did and it will probably cover the cost of Willow’s leads so feels balanced I guess. Ady is feeling bad about accepting it despite all my reassurances.

We did more painting, Ady and Carina dug up the rest of the spuds, we had lunch and then we all came back. They dropped us off in the village to see about Willow and we picked up a bottle of wine on the way back (can you tell I’ve been drinking?!). We got back to an email from the agent to say the remainder of the rent has now been paid – hurrah! I had a lengthy phonecall to my Dad about renovation costs of houses and then after dinner I had a bath which was gorgeous and hot and bubble and I even took a glass of wine in with me :).

As a result I am rather stupidly giggly and really should go to sleep where hopefully my alcoholic stupor will sleep through Ady’s coughing.

Today is the 14th wedding anniversary of our friends Pauline and Jim. They got married on the day of Princess Diana’s funeral, quite possibly one of the most surreal days in my living memory for all sorts of reasons. Today feels a bit like that.

Today in this current life the weather has been wild, windy, rainy. The views have been stunning, breathtaking, life affirming. We have spent time looking at property online and found various places where our dreams could start to come true. Ady and I spent about half an hour laughing our heads off outside in the crazy weather trying to get a big sheet of polythene over a stack of firewood to keep it dry while the wind whipped it from our hands and splattered the nasty smelly water that was covering it all over us. I love the elements, the idea of living here and being a tiny insignificant part of this landscape excites me so much, makes me feel alive.

Today a friend died.

Not a close friend, but someone I made memories with, someone who has children the same age as my own, someone who was a bright, beautiful, happy, laughing, loving, alive, vibrant person and now they are gone. Her legacy lingers on, in those children, people who loved her, memories of people like me whos lives were touched only briefly but touched just the same.

Today I have worried about rent going in, told my children off for being rowdy, eaten, drunk, slept, laughed, cried, loved, kissed and cuddled, worn my dungarees for the first time, sneakily scrawled my name on the underside of a windowsill in someone’s house as I painted the wall so a little piece of me remains there. Today I have lived.

When I heard Eira was ill I sent her an email.

I’ve just learnt in the last few weeks that you are ill, smiled at the
balloon flight pictures (it looked amazing), wept over your beautiful
wedding pictures (the love between you and Ade just leaps out of the
pictures) and thought about you, Ade, Lula and T every day.

I’ve been thinking I would write or phone or just turn up to see you and
indeed we’d love to see you but understand from Ali you are easily tired
and have so much going on at the moment. So I’m emailing. I’m not really
sure what to say; I want to rage with you against the unfairness of it
happening to you, I want to sob with you about the uncertainty of what
happens next, I want to offer any help – practical, emotional to all of
you but above all I think what I want to do is tell you what I think of you.

We don’t always get the chance to tell people what we really think of
them do we? It’s not appropriate to gush, or it’s not nice enough to
want to tell them anyway, lol. But here is what I have always thought of
you Eira.

You are courageous, brave and fearless. I think most Home Educators are.
Prepared to step outside of what everyone else does, take responsibility
for our own childrens education and put up with the daily questions from
strangers, the disapproval from others and the long term hope that we
are doing the right thing.

When we visited your home I was overwhelmed at the love within every
room – poems and pictures in the bathroom, childrens rooms filled with
toys and creativity, that fantastic birthday party when all the children
had their faces covered with flour playing some crazy game.

When we were at Magical Mondays you were always the adult listening to
the needs of not just your own child but others as well. I remember
making elephants with you out of milk cartons and scrap paper and
watching you admire the work of everyone at the table. You are patient,
kind, resourceful and loving.

I remember sitting with you on the grass in Pavillion Gardens, I think
it was for the bubble blowing and listening to you tell a story to the
children who were getting restless. Within moments you had them all
spellbound and hanging off your every word.

I was so in awe of you when Lula wanted to go to school. I know you knew
it probably wouldn’t last and yet you were prepared to listen to Lula,
let her make supported decisions and allow her to come back when she’d
discovered for herself.

I remember you arriving at Davies’ Doctor Who party with Lula and T in
their fabulous outfits.

Eira, I don’t know what happens after life, I have my own beliefs but
the thing I am most sure of is that however long a life is you have to
make it count, live it fully and above all make a difference to the
world by having been here. You have done all of those things, touched
others, been an amazing mother and partner, a wonderful friend, an
inspiring and guiding person. I feel priviledged to know you and call
you my friend.

This morning there was a viewing on our hosts house so we all needed to be out of the way. Ady and Ed drove down to the garage in the village as Ed’s car was booked in for an MOT and Ady wanted to speak to the mechanic about HT leads for Willow. When he mentioned he had a CF van the mechanic said ‘oh the OCH 2W?’ – I guess here in Scotland the reg plate stands out even more! 🙂

The kids and I walked down into the village rather than get a lift, the sun was shining and it’s a pretty, downhill walk past the castle ruins. We talked about moving to Scotland and education moving forward. We had thought perhaps school would be of interest if we ended up settling somewhere tiny with a little local school like there is here in Tarbert but both kids are still adament they want to continue Home Education forever. They have been talking to Peter, and his friend Ben about school and are still certain they are not interested in trying it. I’m glad they’re curious and infact Peter would have been fairly positive about school as he really enjoys it but they remain happy with HE. We did briefly touch on moving forward and perhaps getting more focussed as our previous brand of gallivanting about, doing lots of trips and attending workshops etc. may not be as easy to pull off somewhere remote so we would have to reevaulate how we delivered education and sought out opportunities but Davies is now a fairly able reader who is selecting books off shelves here and taking them to bed with him which gives me confidence that Scarlett will do the same – and of course Davies being able to do something is always a motivator for her anyway. I think we may have a lull when we get to Glastonbury at which point I may well spend some time doing some stuff with them each day or a couple of times a week if they are interested / willing but in the main I feel the vast amount of experiences they have had this year certainly qualify as educational and actually I have been amazed once more at just how much they are learning / covering ground on in their own time. I know it doesn’t work for every child but they really do seem to soak stuff up by osmosis, besides even Davies still has a year of primary education left to go anyway :).

Ady joined us at the harbour edge and we sat in the sunshine for a while debating tenants. I’d rung the letting agent to see if the rent had been paid this month to learn that 3/4 has been and there is still £250 left to come in. We agreed that as soon as the £750 clears that should come to us with the £250 to follow as soon as it’s paid. Apparently the tenants have now started paying seperately and one has not yet paid, it turns out he is the one who is leaving at the end of this month. After another phone call with the agent this afternoon I am slightly more reassured that it will get paid but these tenants have been really crap at paying on time. Our agent is also pretty fed up with them – he spends ages chasing them every month and is only getting 6% of the rent as we are on the most basic rent collection service level. We discussed introducing a penalty charge for late payment and a firmly worded letter but agreed that keeping things amicable is probably best. The agent said that if we were intending to be away for longer than another six months then he may well recommend giving these tenants notice and trying to find new tenants but less than that is probably not worth it. We are thinking we’ll probably get the house on the market after Christmas anyway so it is not really worth the upheaval and risk of no rent rather than just late rent. We also have 6 weeks worth of security deposit so it is never more than a temporary cash flow issue when they are late as rent could be taken from that in the event of total non payment and eviction. Sigh, could do without the hassle each month though, it’s been the biggest stress of the year so far.

We walked slowly back to the house and had a tea break before Ed arrived back home. He wanted to chop some more wood up but in classic Ed style could not find the extension lead, the chain oil, the ear defenders…. he is the faff-iest person I know, and I always thought Ady was bad. Earlier he had lost the car keys which turned up in the recycling. The ear defenders are actually at the new house and the other things all appeared when we talked him through where he might have last had them and we got going. The chain came off the chainsaw thought so Ady fixed that and Ed realised we would be fine to do chainsawing ourselves (he’s previously only had younger WWOOFers who he would not let use the chainsaw). We came in for lunch and then Ady and I finished off all the wood cutting and stacked it on the to trailer ready to go to the new house tomorrow.

We then headed off to the pier for an hours fishing, keen to practise as much as we can before needing to do it for real and also keen to actually land our first catch each. The guy on the pier when we arrived had a really good rod and pulled three small ones out but put them all back as too little. The seal was around for the whole time we were there which is always a sign the fish are too. For ages we could see whole schoals of fish swimming right past the pier and I’m sure if we’d had crab lines with twinkly things on hooks we could have caught them but they were not biting our lures just being dangled. I managed to tangle lines with the other fisherman having got all excited I had made a catch when my line went taut so when it happened again I assumed I was caught on Ady’s line but we realised I wasn’t and then the line started going in different directions clearly with a swimming fish on the end.

I pulled it in and we deemed it big enough to keep (although we’d possibly have kept it anyway as the first catch!) and so Ady knocked it on the head and slit it before taking it’s head and tail off and gutting it. We threw all the waste bits back in to the sea to be food for other creatures.

” alt=”” />

I sort of wish I’d been the one to do that really but Ady moved quick and as he’s done it all before it made sense. I don’t want my faffing to be the cause of any undue suffering to the fish. We had a few more casts and Davies and Scarlett had renewed enthusiasm for the cause too but it started to get really midge-y so we called it a night and headed back with our one catch.

Dinner was a fairly random selection of foods including various leftovers and lots of beans (broad beans from the garden and some other beans that had been soaking) and chickpeas so the kids and I were very grateful for a bit of my fish each that Ed kindly cooked up for us – loch to plate within the hour 🙂

This evening I was ready for some peace and quiet so after a shower I came up to the room, Ady and the kids stayed downstairs with Peter watching TV, Carina was busy ironing and Ed was out at choir practise.

This morning Ady and Davies watched Doctor Who on iplayer on Ady’s phone while Scarlett and I got involved in some communal baking. I decanted some honey from huge bucket to a smaller jar, not on the scale of Pen Y Bonc honey processing but it reminded me of that. Scarlett rolled out some pastry made by Carina for apple tart, blackcurrant tart and some biscuits and then cut out all the biscuits with their rather ecclectic assortment of cookie cutters. I peeled, chopped and arranged apple slices on the blind baked tart base.

Peter had been out at a sleepover last night but came back with his friend Ben for some canoeing. We loaded the canoe onto the car roof and Ed drove down the hill to park at the beach, we donned life jackets and then everyone was rowed across to a tiny island in the harbour. The four kids went off with a rucksack of food and drink and explored the island together, Ed and Carina went off in the canoe for an hour or so and then came back later with some sandwiches for lunch and Ady and I scrambled about on the rocks for a bit and then sat in the sunshine trying to come up with some negative ideas about moving to Scotland, hatching and planning and trying to decide if this really is where we want to be. We rather suspect it might be :).

We all had lunch and then rowed across the harbour to the other side which is mainland but juts right out into the loch. We had an explore of that including a bit of a hike up to a viewing point which was well worth the climb for the stunning views. The children decided to walk back via the village and the gym playpark, Ed had gone to a church meeting in the village so Carina, Ady and I rowed back across again. The canoe is fun, if slightly scary as it wobbles about so much and is so very receptive to every little shift in balance. Enjoyed it though and would like to have another go. If we move somewhere coastal we will definitely get some sort of rowing boat.

We went back to the house for cups of tea and Ed joined us. We made dinner and got it on hoping that between us we’d catch some fish to make it more interesting but ensured we had sufficient food incase we didn’t. Then Ady and I headed off with rods to the pier and Ed and Carina went out in the canoe with mackerel strips (length of line with tinsel hooks attached). Ady and I were quite excited when someone came and started fishing next to us and pulled a mackerel out on his first cast but sadly we didn’t replicated his success. Ed and Carina came rowing over to show us the six fish they had caught though having gone out to deeper water and found a schoal of mackerel. It started to rain so we called it a day and headed for home. We helped finish off dinner preparation and then feasted on fish – both kids really enjoyed it so fingers crossed we manage to catch some ourselves this coming week. After dinner the kids all watched a film while we sat and chatted before bed. It’s been a lovely weekend :).

This morning we mostly pottered; it’s always slightly odd being in a hosts house on days you are not working. Ed and Carina are incredibly kind and I am sure they are not looking at how many slices of toast we have or how quickly the jar of honey has gone down but I am ever conscious of ravenous appetities in comparison to theirs ;). They all headed out at about 11am which left us alone in the house. We sat in the conservatory and chatted for a while and then Tarly and I sat on the floor in the front room and explored their book collection for a while. Davies came and joined us as we moved onto some silly poetry books and we enjoyed a couple of Dr Seuss for old times sake. Funny how nostalgic I can get about Seuss books, sitting reading a whole pile of them with a child snuggled on on either side of me was something we used to do so often and all loved so much :).

We had something to eat and drink and then decided to head off. Ed and Carina had already left to go to the new house for a while before going to the Smallholders Gathering in the nearby town and we’d said we’d go along too. We were not really sure what to expect and getting our heads around the scale of everything here is taking time – it is such a small population and they have so much happening like film clubs and reading groups and young mothers associations. The Smallholders Gathering however was rather lower key although with a decent turn out. We parked up and walked to the village hall as it was down a narrow and rather bumpy track. The kids bought some honey fudge from the beekeeper stall, I bought some lipbalm from the woman who makes it and Ady bought some traffic light jam from the preserves stall – gooseberry, apricot and strawberry jam all layered in one jar – it looks fab :).

We went outside and Davies and Ady watched a green woodworking demonstration while Tarly and I had a go at felting balls. We really enjoyed that and made two each while chatting to the woman running the activity about felting and other crafts. Davies came over and had a go at making one ball too and in typical Davies fashion decided he wanted to be more creative than anyone else and used blue and green to make a planet earth. It came out quite well too – his plan is to needle felt white top and bottom to be the poles at some point :).

That about wrapped up everything done there – they were also doing massages and haircuts and there was various other produce including local venison and cakes for sale. We drove back to the village and collected something to eat from the Co Op – I was craving meat so had a chicken and bacon sandwich and Ady had a pork pie 🙂 We also bought some emergency sausage rolls to have in our bedroom. We dropped Willow back at the house, had a quick cup of tea and collected the fishing rods and headed down to the pier for an hours fishing.

We didn’t catch anything but we did see the seal again. Scarlett had been less keen to try casting last time despite both Ady and I trying with her but Davies decided to teach her and as with everything else he proved far better at teaching her than anyone else. I love watching him with endless patience and the right amount of encouragement and praise and her, as keen to win his admiration and get it right to please him as she is to actually master the skill :).

” alt=”” />

On the walk back to the house we rang my parents and Davies talked to Dad for a bit. The others stayed downstairs with Ed, Carina and Peter but I took the phone upstairs and ended up talking to first Dad and then Mum. The kids came and talked to Mum too and the phonecall was nearly 2 hours. Discussed what we’re doing next and no mention was made of them coming in with us which is a relief, they have clearly decided they are not and having talked for that long about us buying land in North Wales or Scotland and them saying nothing I can happily accept that as the closest we’ll get to them telling us they don’t want to. I feel very sad that it didn’t pan out that way and wish things could be different but we have to follow our hearts and our dreams and maybe we’ll end up somewhere that they slowly fall in love with and move nearer in years to come anyway.

They also probably won’t be visiting us again before we finish our travels which is a shame, particularly as they had planned to come to Scotland close to Davies’ birthday so he is a little disappointed. I did suggest they could fly up at some point in the next two months although I suspect they won’t but we always knew if we saw them this year it would only be if they came to us.

Dinner was a cheery affair including home made pesto and a couple of glasses of wine. After dinner the kids chatted to Carina for ages while we looked at a map of Scotland with Ed and wrote down some of his suggestions of good places to take in while we tour around. We’re really enjoying this planning stage – it’s reminscent of last year when we were first planning the whole adventure with a UK map spread before us only this time it is petrol and food costs that will dictate our route rather than yes replies from potential WWOOF hosts. We’ll likely never again have such freedom to travel for so many weeks so we really want to get the most out of it as it will form such a big part of our memories of this adventure and may well shape our eventual future plans as if we find somewhere we love we will look into settling up here I think. There is ever such a lot of what we are looking for available here – scenery and landscapes, wildlife and dramatic climate, sense of community and lower impact lifestyles, interest in growing and self sufficiency, lack of dependance on big supermarkets, chance to make a real difference to the small part of the world you live in etc. We could very likely afford to buy something small outright so have far less outgoings and look at part time work to pay the smaller bills. We have had a few places this year that have felt right and potentially home but this one ticks more boxes than any other and according to Ed it is very representative of the west coast of Scotland and Hebridean life. More research and time spent here required of course – a week and one location does not a big decision like this make but all four of us are feeling we may have found the next step.

again, more of a wall than a river but I might just keep going with river based lyrics until someone acknowledges them 😉

This morning began with piano moving. Ed who is the King of Disorganisation and a self confessed ‘Faffer’ went off into the village to see if he could borrow a flat bed trolley to move the piano moments before the builders were due to arrive to collect it in their van. The builders are a father and son team called Barry and Alan (who I decided to call Bazza and Azza – one of the many habits I have inherited from my Dad is trying to make names rhyme by shortening them. My all time favourite is my friends Heather and Derek who liked my Hel and Del version so much they use it in their email address :)) who hail from Yorkshire and were indeed Very Yorkshire :).

By the time Ed had returned with a trolley Ady, Azza and Bazza had got the piano on the way to being out of the house. It is incredibly heavy and not on wheels or castors. I was deemed far too female to be helping and on this occassion chose to allow that assumption to continue 😉 I’ve done enough humping, dumping and lifting this year to salve my feminist leanings and am quite happy to be excused aslong as I am not expected to busy myself making tea instead.

Piano duly loaded (much grunting and sweating and oophing involved) Azza and Bazza headed off in their van and we folllowed shortly afterwards in Ed’s car. The first job at the house was to have a cup of tea, then the cast iron bath needed moving upstairs. I made a couple of suggestions neither of which were much help (one was for two of them to lift the bath and the other two to grab it, it wouldn’t have reached. The other was to tie rope around the bath to give better grips for holding and lifting. I suspect this may have worked but they managed without anyway) so I was given the video camera to get some footage of the bath being taken upstairs and the piano being brought in. I was much better at this than lifting things and even added a little commentary which I am sure Ed and Carina will enjoy when they eventually watch it back :).

That done I oiled the worktop the sink is fitted into, which used to a school science lab bench and still has the little hole cut in for a bunsen burner (now filled). It came up really nice, although will need a couple more layers of oil on it.

Then Ady and I set to painting – I was doing the front wall in a pale green while Ady was giving a side wall a second coat of sand colour. I was painting direct onto this breathable clay which doesn’t seem to have been an entirely successful eco building material using natural coloured paint which smelt gorgeous, all reminscent of eucalyptus and was a lovely pale green colour but went on badly. I was enjoying thinking about what my dad might think of it all – he hates using faddy paints. I was also given a roller to use which is another of Dad’s pet hates so I felt I channelled him well today.

After lunch the kids came and helped too which was nice. They are enjoying this host lots but we aren’t seeing much of them and they don’t do much with us so it was good to have them working with us and singing along to the music too 🙂

” alt=”” />

At 3pm it was tidy up time and Ed was filled with praise at how very hard we’d worked today. These are by far our nicest and least expectant hosts! :). Ed dropped us off in the village to pick up some lures for our fishing rods and we walked back intending to collect our rods and have an hour or so fishing but it started to rain quite persistently so we gave up on that idea and just came in.

The kids went to play with Peter who was home from school and Ady and I helped chop veg for dinner which was fish, bought from the local fishermen who actually do catch things – we had herring and haddock, both by-catch fish from their main hauls, but very nice. After dinner we all watched one of the Ocean Giants documentaries and the kids all played a board game for a bit before bed.

Tomorrow we are off again as they are all off to the new house in the morning and then a Smallholders fete thing in the afternoon. We’re intending heading to the smallholders thing too but under our own steam as we won’t all fit in their car. Which means yesterday was a bonus day off as we’ve already been told we’ll have Sunday off too. I want to go along to the beaver trail thing so we may do that on Sunday depending on weather and fishing possibilities.

Have a feeling I may have used that blog post title before – anyone name the song the lyric is from?

Today was a day off – Carina was at work and Ed was visiting Islay with someone to discuss community gardening projects. Here in Tarbert they have established a ‘health garden’ in the grounds of the doctors surgery where they grow medicinal herbs with information boards describing what things are, what they can be used to treat and how to take them. It’s very lovely and we’re supposed to be doing a days work in the health garden with the one paid staff member on the project sometime next week which we’re looking forward to.

Ady got up and tidied Willow, the kids stayed in their room playing DS and chatting and slept in 🙂 Lovely to not have the alarm set. I stuck a wash on and hung it out, we all had late breakfast / early lunch and dug the fishing rods out of the van. Ady and the kids all had fishing rods for Christmas and my friend Helen (who lived on a boat, but is currently living in a house again as she has just had a baby boy!) bought me a rod as a goodbye and good luck present when we left so we have one each. Ady and the kids headed off as I was still pegging out washing so I wandered along about ten minutes after them.

I found them sitting over a heap of rocks on a tiny bay made of shells – it’s where fishermen all threw their scallop shells for years and it hs built up a little beach cove of them. There is also sea glass and other tiny shells, it’s incredibly pretty 🙂

” alt=”” />

The others were all trying to work out how to set up their rods with the help of an excellent book Michelle sent to Davies 🙂 thankyou it has been *most* useful today 🙂. I was nominated best at the knots so I got on with that bit while Ady who has done a bit of fishing in his younger days showed the kids how to cast. Davies was pretty good at it actually, certainly on a par with me (not necessarily a very high bar!) but Scarlett was less keen and more cagey. She also confessed that she is not as comfortable with the catching and killing which I have lots of respect for and would never want her to lose.

Once all were set up we spent some time practising casting and reeling in, with varying degrees of succcess and tanglement!

” alt=”” />
” alt=”” />

It really wasn’t very deep water there though so we decided to head back to the pier (which is simply a small area projected out into the sea, not a pier like I’d think of but I guess fitting the definition) and joined various other people fishing there. Over the couple of hours we spent there only about 3 fish -mackrel – were caught and they were deemed too small and chucked back in so we didn’t feel too bad at our lack of success. Davies really enjoyed it and is itching to go and try again and I thought it was good fun too. Scarlett really enjoyed just hanging out at the beach and was giving a great Attenborough style commentary of other wildlife including jellyfish, starfish, various sea birds and most excitingly a seal 🙂 We failed to get a picture as he just bobbed his head out of the water a few times in various places and as soon as you’d realised it was him again he bobbed back down but he hung around for a while. Apparently there has been a seal visiting that spot for years who sometimes nicks fish off people’s lines and just leaves them with the head!

” alt=”” />

Back at the host the kids went off to play with Peter who was home from school. They are really enjoying his company and Davies was telling me he’s been asking them lots of questions about Home Ed. We talked about whether they might like to try school if we ended up settled somewhere more remote like this where schools are smaller and more a part of the community. All hypothetical at this stage and I’d want to look closely into how Scottish education works but something they may want to consider if we did end up in a smaller community or village.

We got an email from our next host cancelling. This felt meant to be as we;d been discussing cancelling ourselves but I decided not to as I always feel as though we have missed a potential opportunity when we do the cancelling (we’ve cancelled two – one when we were stuck at Bryn Mawr with Willow not working and one when it was back down in South Wales and we were heading north to Durham, both times I felt sad about it). This means we only have one more booked host now – the one on Eigg and as I contacted them yesterday to suggest we would be flexible about changing dates if needed and they emailed back to say they wanted to stick to our planned November 1st date that means we have nothing between leaving here on 12th September and arriving with them other than our week in Rosemarkie.

Our plan therefore is to list all the places we’d like to spend some time, sights we want to see and work out a rough route with some overnights at campsites or even daytime stops to fill up with water / have showers / empty the loo and waste water etc. (I know C&CC have some sites that offer that for a few quid), check petrol station locations and work out a daily budget for travel and food. I think as we’re already in the north east at Rosemarkie we’ll probably head further north and then head back down south along the west coast to Mallaig for the ferry to Eigg. Obviously very bad weather could scupper plans a little but it all seems doable and exciting :).

Ed and Carina have offered some tips and ideas of places to head for which we’ll spend some time noting down with them and also told us that they are heading off for a weekend away on Mull next Friday so we’ll be left in the house alone on Saturday. It will be funny to have come into their house before them when we first arrived and leave after them when we go :). It does mean we can have leisurely baths, do a final wash and have the kitchen to ourselves on our last day too which will be nice 🙂

On Monday we were all singing ‘welcome to the blue house’ (theme tune to Bear in the Big Blue House) in honour of the many coloured shops and houses along the coastline here in Tarbert. Interspersed with the theme tune to Balamory obviously :). Yesterday and today we changed it to ‘welcome to the new house’ as we spent time at Ed and Carina’s new house, 20 miles down the coast. A new build with stunning views over the Mull of Kintyre to the south, Northern Ireland, the isles of Gigha, Cara and Jura to the east and the coastline sweeping back towards Loch Fyne and Tarbert in the north. Before we left yesterday Scarlett told Davies ‘we’re going to Newhouse’ to which he replied ‘there is no such place as Newhouse, do you mean Newcastle?’ 😆

Ed drove us along there and pointed out various landmarks along the way before giving us a guided tour of the house. It is very lovely; ground floor includes the hall, utility room, boiler room (it will be heated by a biomass wood pellet boiler), wetroom & loo, large hallway and front living space with woodburning stove, kitchen area and three massive windows out over the views. Upstairs are three bedrooms, a smaller bathroom and a large landing which they intend making an office type space with desk / PC etc. Built onto the south side of the property is a conservatory and a greenhouse to make the most of the heat, the roof has solar panels. Water comes from a bore hole, greywater drains out over the land which is just under an acre including a wildlife pond, loads of beds with crops growing to permaculture principles and a summerhouse.

Some pictures, which don’t do it justice but hopefully give a taster:

” alt=”” />
” alt=”” />
” alt=”” />
” alt=”” />
” alt=”” />

I have to concede the house is not entirely to my taste and I think some of the green building materials used are costly, not actually that good and there are things I would have made features from that they have not and vice versa but that’s bespoke house building for you – very much about the people who are planning to live there and no one else! 🙂 The views are just spectacular though, I cannot think of anywhere more beautiful to have a home that I have ever been. In the few hours we have been there we have seen all sorts of weather conditions and differing levels of visibility, seen the sky and sea rainbow in shades from grey to white to bright blue and watched boats, people, wildlife and an ever changing landscape constantly flitting across the windows. It’s like living in a kaleidoscope!

So yesterday once we’d had the tour of the house Ady and I did some filling holes in the walls and ceilings ready to be painted and then it was declared time for lunch so I sorted that out. The kids had free rein to play with Peter’s toys which have already been moved over there, sitting next to the window to look out over the view. After lunch Ady and I had our first encounter with midges as we stacked the wood we’d helped cut up the day before on some pallets and built some sides to keep them contained. We were both bothered by them swarming us but only I came up with any bites – I am suffering a bit now from little raised, itchy bites and will need to use something against them in the first place and something to treat where they get through.

That was the end of our day and we came home and had a couple of hours relaxing around the house while the kids played with Peter. We are helping with meals / clearing up but that seems to be more because we keep offering than because it is expected. We are barely working the 4 hours a day we were expecting, let along the 7 or 8 hours a day we have been used to at previous hosts.

Dinner was stuffed marrow, rice and potatoes which was nice, if smallish portions. Again a bottle of wine came to the table 🙂 After dinner we sat and chatted and peeled some apples to make some apple crumbles before retiring early to bed. Everyone seems to turn in around 10ish which means I get to sit in bed and laptop which is great :).

Today Carina was off (she works part time as a GP in the village practise) so she drove us to the new house while Ed caught the bus (not room for all of us in their car). Ady and I were set to work digging up a bed of potatoes – we got about 3 buckets and it took a couple of hours, but working at a very leisurely pace, mostly because we kept getting distracted by the view.
” alt=”” />

We went in for lunch which was a lengthy and leisurely affair and then only had half an hour before Carina wanted to leave, which was just time to spread out about a third of the potatoe crop to dry out in the boiler room and carry an armful of cut grass each over to the compost bin. Hardly a full and taxing days work! Carina wanted to take us to the beach but armed the kids with a bucket and spade and said she was wandering off in one direction and would see us in 40 minutes! So we rockpooled, walked along the sands and clambered on rocks. We saw jellyfish, crabs, fish, cormorants, herons, gulls, swans (!) and lots of seaweed and curious sinking sand which bubbled up gas when you stood on it.
” alt=”” />

” alt=”” />

” alt=”” />
” alt=”” />

Back to the house where Ady and I did some proper research into getting to our last planned host in November on the Isle of Eigg, having realised the van would not be allowed on the ferry and some debating whether we should do the penultimate host which is back south and deciding what we do and don’t have the budget for in terms of island hopping. I am of the opinon we will probably never have the change to do this sort of trip again and however stretched our finances we should explore as much as we can. Ady agrees but is far more sensible in approach 🙂 We’ll see!

Dinner tonight was pasta with veg. I know Davies wanted more pasta and I am sitting here feeling very hungry – they are certainly not big eaters, although I think they do a lot of snacking. It’s really interesting seeing how different people eat – I know we over ate but we didn’t have room in our diet for salty / sugary snacks between meals like so many of our hosts do. Not sure which is the better option really.

Ed and Carina are real characters – they are Quakers (our second host so far!) and this is Carina’s second marriage, she has a 27 year old daughter who lives in London and has a high powered career in the music industry. She is a part time GP and seems very shy – she never instigates a conversation and rarely asks questions in return although she seems happy enough to answer them. Ed does lots but I’m not sure he earns much – he does teach permaculture and seems to be involved at board level with lots of local and community initiatives. He is totally over enthusiastic about everything and peppers his speech with loads of ‘Fantastic! Excellent! and Great!’ (I know, pot, kettle!) which causes Ady and I to get the giggles. He never finishes a sentence himself but always jumps in to finish yours for you and is quite possibly the most disoragnised person I have ever met. But they are both very lovely and kind and their son Peter is really sweet too – Davies and Scarlett are really enjoying his company and he is appearing to get lots out of playing with them too, despite being nearly 13.

We’re off tomorrow and are planning some fishing which we’re looking forward to lots. I’m not sure when else we will be off although frankly this is hardly working anyway so we’re not too worried. There is a beaver trail in the nearest big town which we defintely want to do while we’re here and there has been talk of going out in the family canoe too so we’re happy to work as and when if there are things like that on offer really.

We went downstairs this morning and had breakfast. Peter and Carina had already left for work / school so it was just Ed and us. Ed said he had some stuff to be getting on with this morning so we should go and explore the village and work this afternoon instead.

He pointed us in the right direction to walk past the castle (just a ruin now) and down into the village. It is incredibly pretty, very much a tourist hotspot and apparently rather deliberately trying to look like Tobermory which is where Balamory is filmed. There are loads of gift shops, cafes, restuarants and shops, a very cool outdoor exercise area type playpark and the gorgeous quayside, the ferry area and loads of wildlife – we saw all sorts of gulls, gannets, herons and buzzards flying overhead – no golden eagles yet though!

We had a good wander round, took some photos, had a look in the shops and sat for a while just looking out over the loch and watching the ferries come in and go out.

We went back for lunch, which was soup and we helped cook it. My heart sank at the thought of soup but actually it was delicious (very large chunks of carrots, potatoes, onions and spinach cooked in chicken stock from yesterday. Everyone, including the kids had seconds and would have had more I think. We finished with oatcakes and cheese :).

It was about 3pm by then and we’d still not actually done anything other than eat our third meal here but finally work kicked in. First we carried some wood up the hill. A neighbour is cutting down some rhoddedendron trees and had given the bigger branches to Ed and Carina for fire wood. I loaded Ady, Davies and Scarlett up and they walked it up the hill and put it in a pile. Next we were to chop it up but Ed realised his ear defenders are at their new house (they are about to move out of this house into a new build 20 miles along the coast, which is where most of our actual WWOOFing work will happen) so he cycled off to collect some from a friend the other side of the village and left us to mow the lawn. We had use of a mower which actually started, cut grass and did the job which was a real change from the norm! We’d finished that when Ed arrived back and I spent time feeding him the lengths of wood as he chainsawed them up and Ady lopped off stray branches. I had a go with the splitting maul to split some of the larger logs and Ady helped the neighbour a bit too. We stopped for a teabreak, had loads of time just chatting to Ed and were still finished not long after 6pm – so far from hard work!

Davies and Scarlett had gone off to play with Peter when he arrived back from school. We had time for a quick shower before dinner (which we were ushered away from when we tried to offer to help with ‘no, you should be resting!’) and then ate – salad mostly from their garden, cold chicken from last night, potatoes from their garden and some courgettes, mushrooms and onions fried up which looked nice but I didn’t try due to the whole mushroom element to it. Again we had a glass of wine each with dinner and there was leftover crumble from yesterday or apples from the garden for dessert.

Ed went out to choir practise after dinner, the three kids made biscuits and we sat chatting with Carina. It was all very nice and even better everyone heads off to bed at 10pm which lets me sit in bed and catch up online :).

Can’t quite believe we’ve only been here one day. Davies and Scarlett are loving it, the scenery and location is just stunning and the hosts seem really very lovely indeed, the work is easy and with the exception of the house being very cold (old stone house) I can’t think of anything to complain about 🙂

What a mad day!

It felt very strange leaving North Wales on Friday, waking up in Motherwell on Saturday and finding everyone speaking with broad Scottish accents, particularly as Hamilton looked like any British town really. Today we really hit Scotland proper, travelling through breathtaking landscapes, ferrying across peninsulas and approaching a fishing village that looks a bit like the opening credits to Balamory!

Last night had been a late one with Ady sitting in the awning watching iplayer and me sitting in the van on my laptop, occassionally chatting and drinking lots of cider 🙂 So this morning was a fairly late start. Ady got up, fed the kids and then came back to bed! We finally all got up and started packing up at about 10am. It doesn’t take long and having the awning to put things in, particularly if it is raining is a huge help. We are loving our trug for washing up too, don’t know why we left it so long. I know it’s funny to be pleased with an awning, a trug and a little chopping board but these are the things that make such a difference to living in a very tiny space :).

We pulled away about midday and the satnav said the journey was 76 miles and included a ferry. Unsure about the cost of ferries I asked it to reroute without including the ferry and it said it woudl be 114 miles. We decided to head for the ferry port and aslong as it was under £20 it would be worth the saving in fuel and travelling time / wear on Willow. We had a bit of a drive around Hamilton to find a supermarket to get fuel as our satnav is rather old and tired and has not had updates so is not aware of some places, new roads or different road layouts and gets confused. We decided today a decent map is in order really so we can properly be aware of where we are. We have a little map in our C&CC book and a great big Childrens Map of the UK with lots of interesting facts but not much in the way of navigation assistance. Sat nav is fab but I think being able to look at our journey on a map too and plot it more would be good, particularly for this leg.

So we headed off, through Glasgow and then alongside water for ages, trying to decide if it was sea or loch and if so which one (see, map would tell me that!). We reached the ferry port (Gourock to Dunoon) and had to borrow cash off Davies as they didn’t take our debit card. Must remember that and carry cash in the van! It was £18 something which made us feel it was worth it and the crossing was mad. The wind and rain and sea spray made for a very rocky and wet crossing. The kids and I got out and stood for a while and then nipped to use the loo. Getting back in was almost impossible for me as I struggled to hold the door from swinging out my hand into the car next to me and swing in / climb up into the van. The bloke in the car next to me was wetting himself laughing at my antics!

” alt=”” />

We then travelled from one peninsula coast to the next through some incredibly beautiful landscape, barely seeing another car. We did see loads of roadkill though including pheasants, a baby deer, rabbits… we’ll certainly not starve on our foraging missions here! Loads of gorgeous places to pull over and spend the night too. Really looking forward to all that :).

The summit of the drive was at Tighnabruaich view point which was gorgeous. We stopped and took photos of the amazing view and then decided it was cup of tea o’clock to recover from the crazy ferry trip so put the kettle on and had tea or hot chocolate and biscuits, appreciating both the view and the antics of various people who stopped to take a photo. Ady jumped out to take a few shots for some people including a beautiful and very friendly family who are holidaying in the UK from Africa (two of the most gorgeous children I’ve ever seen). We caught up with them again later in the day at the next ferry point.

” alt=”” />

” alt=”” />
” alt=”” />

The battery ran out on the satnav so when I restarted it it found the new route and asked again about ferry crossings which when we realised we had a second one to make. At that point we were just 15 miles away from the hosts but feeling poor so rereouted for not using the ferry and it quoted 76 miles so we decided ferry it would be! This time it was even more at £28 so we won’t be doing ferries again every time, although when compared to fuel it is not really so pricey I guess. Our hosts said the locals rarely use the ferries though…

This crossing was equally rough and wet but we just had to get a self timer. Love that you can see Willow’s roof in the bottom left corner.

” alt=”” />

How we didn’t lose the camera overboard I don’t know! 😆

The ferry pulls right into Tarbert and although our hosts are not right on the front they are up high so can see the ferries from the windows. We arrived to find a note to say to come in and they would be home about 630pm so had a quick explore round the house. We’d not actually discussed where we’d be sleeping but it’s a four bedroomed house and all the beds were made up looking ready for us and sure enough we are in the house. The kids have a bedroom and so do we, complete with basin in the room, comfy bed and gorgeous views. Couldn’t be better.

We grabbed some stuff from the van and unpacked and then dinner was ready – roast chicken which the kids devoured. Davies having second and third helpings of the carrots and cauliflower and the kids both saying how much they love cauliflower. This is my kids, who only used to eat smooth peanut butter in white sliced bread!!! If *nothing* else WWOOFing has done wonders for their diet! 🙂

We had apple crumble for dessert and were told working hours are 930 til lunchtime and that’s it. Days off will definitely be Thursday this week as they are both out working (Carina is the village GP, Ed is a permaculture teacher and also writes for Ecology and Archaeology magazines). They are adamant we spend time off and exploring! They have a nearly 13 year old son who is very lovely; friendly, loves having WWOOFers here and particularly was excited to have children near his age. He won Davies and Scarlett over by chatting to them loads and they spent an hour or so after dinner all playing in his bedroom with a toy pirate ship. He seems very sensitive and ‘nice’ and happy to still play despite his age – I think the three of them will get on well.

Ady and I helped dry up and chatted to Ed and Carina, learnt that they know our hosts from Cookes West Wood Farm pretty well, Ed and Wilf have done courses together. Small world 🙂 Everyone retired to bed at 930pm and I have full signal on phone and mifi so have been able to have some computer time to upload pictures, blog etc. No real idea what the work will entail yet but first impressions are very favourable – kids have already declared they ‘love it here!’ 🙂