a trip to crinan...

 

I was lucky enough to get a couple of days near Crinan, on the west coast of Scotland, a few days ago (whilst gate-crashing my folks' holiday as my mum turned the Big 70). And the sun shone (for some of the time)...BLISS.

I can't think of anywhere that does it for me better than the west coast in a bit of sun. 

 

 

 

 

A nice wee blogging story from the trip: my other half Ken recognised a American cycling blogger (whose blog he used to look at many years ago) who was sitting on the next table to us at the Fyne Ales Brewery. Her & her partner were over cycling in Scotland for a few days. Of course he introduced himself...."I hope this doesn't sound too creepy but...". I think they may have been a bit gobsmacked by the recognition (considering she lives in Texas and had wound up the blog 4 or so years ago) but thankfully not too weirded out to visit us on passing Perth today! You just never know....

24 hrs in kintyre

Took advantage of the lovely weather and went out west at the weekend to the Kintyre Peninsula (around the Tarbert area) - and had a wander along the Crinan Canal in the sun.

Nothing beats the west coast of Scotland when the sun comes out (for me anyhow). Thanks to our very own Wills & Kate for letting us crash their holiday.

weekends

Weekends can be very short when you work in a shop. A few recent ones....

Jazz night at Blair Drummond Safari Park. Music, picnic, penguins, dancing, dodgems, & the big blue wavy slide thing. Very exciting! Finishing off with high-kicking to New York, New York.

Atholl Highlanders Ball and Atholl Gathering (the following day) in Blair Atholl. All the usual events (dancing, tossing the caber, tug-of-war etc) with a bit of wrestling and vintage Skoda pulling thrown in. Ken (my man) can just be seen behind the guy with the big drum (and up top 3rd from right in the 'Highlanders' race) -whilst I retreat up the hill to feed my hangover chips and curry sauce.

the clootie well

A few pictures from the Clootie Well on the Black Isle last weekend. I've passed this many times but this was the first time I've stopped for a proper look. A clootie well in Celtic tradition was/is where people would come to tie a 'cloot' (a rag or a piece of cloth or clothing) from a sick person to the trees surrounding a holy well in the hope of curing their illness. As the cloot rotted the illness was believed to leave the person. This clootie well is very much still in use and there certainly is an 'atmosphere' to this place - albeit somewhat interfered with by the abundance of socks, jay cloths, and synthetic materials hung amongst the branches. If you could ignore that it could almost be quite beautiful. Maybe best not to look too closely.

a good days cycling

On Sunday myself & partner Ken went cycling in Rob Roy country around Loch Katrine. We took the bikes on the Steamship Sir Walter Scott from Trossachs pier to Stronachlachar, then cycled across to Inversnaid on Loch Lomond, back to Stronachlachar for a cuppa (+ chips), before cycling around the rest of Loch Katrine and back to Trossachs pier. Lovely weather, lovely scenery, lovely chips, lovely day!

On the way home we took a wee diversion to Aberfoyle to have a look at the Cabin Collective - a new shop (in a cabin) opened by glass artist and boo vake supplier Alicia MacInnes. If you're in the area it's next to the Wool Centre and well worth a visit. Snapdragon has a picture on her blog here.

a daytrip westwards

home- Dalwhinnie-Spean Bridge-Fort William-Port Appin-Connel-home. Missing the sea.

a day out in edinburgh...

On Monday I took a rare trip to Edinburgh and apart from fighting through the festival crowds I managed to get round a number of great small and independent outlets of which there are loads in our capital city. Those familiar with Edinburgh will spot that (apart from one) these are all within the locality of the Grassmarket and this is mostly because I have almost no sense of direction (having orientated Edinburgh round the wrong way for years!) and, in the absence of being able to see the sea or any other water feature, too much directional information to deal with makes my head spin and results in meltdown (this also happens in department stores and shopping centres). Anyway I was pleased to have got from Waverley Station to along Princess St (for the west end craft fair), quick stop off at Habitat, then upto and down Victoria St to the Grassmarket, and I was particularly pleased to find Broughton St was roughly where I thought it might be. Result.

Clockwise from top left are Iconic (favourite for vintage & retro bits & bobs), Analogue (on recommendation from customer - fabulous & perfectly formed art & design bookshop & gallery - might just be new favourite shop), The Red Door Gallery (mecca for affordable artwork & lovely things), Concrete Wardrobe (designer run contemporary space championing Scottish design), Armstrongs (vintage clothing emporium), Owl & Lion Gallery (lovely print applied to textiles, notebooks & cards), Godiva (handmade independent fashion & vintage clothing), and lastly Blackcherry (cafe with extremely tasty baguettes and great pot of tea!).

ps. if you're in Edinburgh and you fancy a decent pint then the Beehive Inn (also on the Grassmarket) has been taking ludicrous amounts of ale from the Inveralmond Brewery (brewed by my lovely man!). I'm sure there might just be some left.