Of course today did not go as smoothly as I thought it might. We had a lovely morning pottering and getting ready to leave whenever we were ready. There was no timescale, no rush.

We’re travelling lighter than we ever have I think. The last few trips have taught us what we actually need versus everything we would normally want to take.

So you know that I struggle to travel with all 3 dogs…. Well it doesn’t make it any easier to leave these 2 behind. I was almost in tears when we left Calaidh and Freya to wait for their Gran and Gramps and Cookie the Chihuahua to come and look after them for a week.

Madame Bhruic on the other had us all set ready to go.

I started to get a little bit anxious before we left. I think it was my hiking boots that set me off…… yup, you heard right…. I was only going to take my new hiking boots and flip flops and I started worrying it might be difficult to drive in my heavy soled hikies…. Just before we left I added a third pair of shoes into my armour…. Driving Converse of course…. That was better…

This is the trip was are making this time. Stopping in Oban overnight tonight.

It was a beautiful drive up. the sun was shining but the roads were heaving and my anxiety kept building…..until I questioned my position in the road every time a car drove past me on the other side of the road. My eyes felt like they couldn’t focus properly, I think I was panicking that I would make some huge mistake and ruin everything. Drama, drama eh?! I tried to talk about it, tired to ignore it, tried to talk myself “down”…. But I didn’t enjoy one minute of the drive as a result. I was determined to do it though, To hand over driving to Craig would have meant that I was giving into “it”… whatever “it” was….

When we arrived it Oban the heavens opened…. The rain was torrential and the queue for the town was right up to the top of the hill.

We found a great parking space on the road up to the ferry terminal. We sat for a bit and the rain stopped so we headed out for a wander.

And the heavens opened again so we went for fish and chips and came back to the van to eat them. We were soaked.

Eventually it stopped again and started to brighten up so this time we went for ice cream!

I had Turkish Delight and Craig had Vanilla.

We had just commented on the lack of union jacks on our way up north.. given that our village is festooned with them…. And the first ones we saw were in our ice cream!

Craig said he’d get a photo of me so I fixed my hair!!!

We sat down on the rocks and watched the shops coming and going out again…. We saw CalMac’s Isle of Mull, Loch Striven and the new Loch Frisa.

We took it in turns to walk Bhru.

I follow the Scottish Maritime FB page and they’ve been following the progress of the Loch Frisa all week, there have been so many posts about her and she hoves into view…. What are the chances?! (that’s a Blackadder quote there…. Hoves into view 🤦🏻‍♀️🤣🤣)

I love this place…. It enchants me for some reason. It’s a transient town as people move through it to get out to the Inner and Outer Hebrides. I always wonder who all these people are and where they are going and why? I’m so envious of ferry traffic… we passed the queue for Colonsay today. Never been there…. But we’ve never been to Tiree either and we sail at 7am tomorrow.

So we’re sitting in the van now and I’m shattered. We won’t get the best sleep but that’s ok. We have a week to rest. My anxiety is gone. I am disappointed it raised its head today but hey… it’s the gift that keeps on giving. I just have to keep fighting it. Even on holiday.

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️