Day 1193 a lovely walk and lunch out!

What a lovely way to spend a day off. I slept like a log again courtesy of sea air and progesterone. That stuff is good for a great nights’ sleep.

Up and out for a dog jog for the first time in a VERY long time.

Check the action shot 😂

I actually managed to run a fair bit of it, which felt great, considering it’s been so long. it’s a really good way to start the day.

We still have the barriers outside the house, from the water pipe work that was done while we were on holiday. 🤦🏻‍♀️

It was raining, but warm enough for me to have just a T-shirt on. I got wet but it didn’t matter, it actually felt really nice not to care.

I did some housework and then went to Kilbirnie Loch, Lochshore to meet my friend, Shelagh, for a walk and lunch.

The heavens opened as we arrived but we set off anyway. Check the hood up shot but it was raining very heavily.

The rain cleared and the sun was lovely for a bit. We definitely got the best of the day.

It’s pouring again now incidentally and forecast for rain forever!! 🤦🏻‍♀️😂

Shelagh has a really wonderful energy and spending time with her is really special. She is healing from a year and half of cancer and treatment and is inspirational in the way she has handled it. She makes sense of my head which is lovely too.

For those who’ve been reading from the start, you may remember that she was my original Health Kinesiology Practitioner. It’s lovely to spend time with her now and get to know her. She obviously knows everything about me as I’ve poured my heart out to her over the years… and she stuck around!! 😂😘

We had a lovely walk for about an hour and then headed to the Lochshore Café for lunch. We had a bowl of tomato soup. It was so good after our walk. I had a white chocolate piece of rocky road with an oat milk latte for desert. I scoffed it before I thought to take a photo, it was soooo good!

Really lovely to have a catch up.

I headed to Tesco for a food shop afterwards and then back home for more housework and I’m just waiting on the Scottish Dog Behaviourist to get home from work so we can have some pizza and garlic bread. My mouth is watering at the thought!!

It’s 6pm on a Friday night and he’s just driven into view outside the house. A long shift for a Friday!! Love that the dogs know he’s out there!!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

Day 1192 a busy day at work, bags to charity, a massage and a wee trip to Largs!

I am so proud of myself…. I finally took 4 big bags of clothes to the charity shop after work. They’ve been sitting around for MONTHS! It isn’t hard to do and honestly only took maybe 20 minutes out of my way.

Check. Me.

Work was really busy again today, it’s been such a busy week. I was in military precision mode after I left work too!

Charity shop, fill the van with diesel and straight to my massage with the lovely Norma, at Harmony in Beith for 5.30pm.

It was SO good. My back bad been really bad after my holiday sleeping in the van. Norma worked her magic and it feels so much better!! So relaxing.

I then drove to pick Gayle up and we headed out to Largs for ice cream and a walk. It was surprisingly warm when we got there.

This is a bit blurry but the heart stone is still in the same place that we saw it before!!

It’s such a lovely random stone as we’ve both wondered if anyone has noticed it before?!?

The sun is shining and there only a light wind.

CalMac’s Loch Shira coming in to dock.

We got a two scoop tub of ice cream and sat on the promenade and chatted for ages, so much to catch up on. This was the view.

It clouded over as we walked and got a wee bit chiller. It’s such a lovely way to spend and evening!

Spotted this cygnet in the river. It was so fluffy!!

Largs looking lovely in the evening sun.

The tide has come in and covered the heart shaped stone on the way back!

A lovely evening with great company!!

Shattered now and my weekend has already begun.

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

Day 1191 another busy day, back on Fb with much trepidation this time as it still doesn’t feel right 🤷🏻‍♀️

I slept like a log last night. Another progesterone induced sleep! Don’t remember anything!

I’ve had another good day at work. It’s super busy just now. I’m not getting time to breathe but thankfully had some help today from the boss man’s daughter. She’s amazing. She picks up everything immediately and honestly made such a huge dent in my backlog today. It felt so good to be getting on with things while she cleared out some tasks I’ve been trying to get to for months.

Oh to be young again. I don’t have to tell her anything twice. I can say a word and she will see it on the screen straight away. Doesn’t spend hours hunting for it like I do!! I also enjoy her company which makes for a great day.

So yeah, in other news, I’m back into FB again. For now. It’s still not right. My profile is still in the UTC+7 time zone and my FB pic has gone, replaced with a blank head and shoulders. I seem to have 2 foreign admin on my account…. Not invited obviously.

We were so lucky to be able to sit outside for lunch today, given the forecast was rain all day. I love to get the break from my desk.

It was war but super dark and cloudy when I left work.

I went to Tesco straight after work but realised it’s left my handbag at work… 🤦🏻‍♀️ so headed home.

I made my lovely salad for work tomorrow. They are different every day, but I’ve been eating mixed salads for as many meals as I can since we came back from Iceland. A bit of everything in them.

Had biscuits and cheese for dinner tonight and sat outside but it’s really windy and I ended up eating my hair!

Crochet is cancelled tonight so I’m wrapped up in my joggies on the couch. And relax.

Stays safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

Day 1190 a brighter day today… still under a FB ban 🫣

Another blog that hardly anyone will read but hey… as I said, if you find it here then thank you 😘

I’m still barred from FB until about 10pm and then hopefully tomorrow I’ll be able to plead my case and get them to take me off this horrible list I seem to be on. I just want to go back to my account, unhacked and WAY more wary of the vulnerability of it all.

If that’s not possible then I will consider leaving FB altogether and I’ll find another way of publishing my blog and photos.

So yeah, I feel different today. I feel like I’ve accepted the reasons for everything that’s being going on. I woke up this morning, opened my eyes and knew instantly that something was different. I’ve felt really hard done to in the last week or so. I’ve felt like everything seemed a bit hopeless. I’ve seen the negative in everything.

I can’t tell you how good it is to feel a wee bit better. Life doesn’t feel hopeless today.

I don’t know why I feel better. There’s obviously always things that happen to me that I can’t write in the blog. Things that affect me but are not my story to tell. The blog feels like a real chore on those days.

I’ve been so irritated by everything this last wee while and today I see the positive in everything, the reasoning behind everything, rather than the anger. It really makes such a difference. However the switch got flicked I’m not complaining. It’s so draining when you feel mentally rotten.

It poured with rain overnight last night. Absolutely stotting down when we went to bed. it was the same again this morning.

Mid afternoon the sun came out and it’s been lovely and warm. Long may that continue.

I’ll leave you with some Just Jules sunset photos again…. Because they make me smile!

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

Day 1189 WordPress renewal and another day chasing Facebook 😩

So yeah that’s WordPress renewed for another year. It costs me £100 a year to rant and moan 🤦🏻‍♀️😂 maybe I should just write it down on some paper, save a fortune and be done with it?!? 😂 Acht I know there are more positive days when I get to travel around our beautiful country and share photos of stunning beaches and sunsets!!

Also another day of being public enemy number 1 on FB. My account has definitely been compromised, to put it mildly. I’m still barred for another 29 hours or so. The majority of my readers are on FB… my new photography page is on FB. I know life does not revolve around Fb but from a positive point of view mine has recently. Maybe this is a lesson to rely on it a bit less and look for other ways to do what I do?!?

Hmmmm… I’m angry and upset and have struggled to come to terms with how difficult is for me to voice that opinion to the FB powers that be. The hackers keep finding me no matter how many times I change my password. I’m not sure how that can even be possible?!?

Anyway, it is what it is…. I’m home now and it’s pouring with rain outside so we have all the candles lit and none of it seems quite so bad.

I have a feeling my account will never be quite the same again. I feel like I’m on some list that is now easily targeted. I’ll see how the next few days go and maybe have to start afresh.

For those who read this tonight, thank you for finding another way…. And I’m sorry for the negativity!!

I’ll end with some Just Jules Photography shots just to brighten the mood! It works for me anyway. 😆😘♥️

Ahhh that’s better!

Have a good Monday night!

Stay safe everyone 🌧️🌧️🌧️

Day 1188 a gorgeous day and a longer FB ban 🤷🏻‍♀️🥺

It’s a beautiful day here today. It’s been the perfect temperature and I’ve spent all day outside.

So last night it would appear my FB account was seriously hacked and I’ve been blocked for 2 days which doesn’t sound that bad but I can’t do anything this time.

Once again for she who breaks no rules, ever….. this is a bit of a pain in the proverbial backside. Since the middle of June there been suspicious activity on my account. I’ve been blocked for days, here and there, about 3 or 4 times.

FB is the hardest company to try and get hold of. I’m exhausted going round and round and round in circles trying to get them to believe that I didn’t post those horrific pictures that actually did show up on my page last night. All of a sudden my time zone has changed from GMT to UTC+07 wherever that is.

I’ve changed my password about 4 times in the last few weeks and yet they are still getting to me. I don’t even understand how that is possible?

They’ve made me question my own judgement for weeks. Was it the start of the Just Jules Photography page? Was it the fact that I use positive quotes in the blog and maybe don’t reference the authors properly?

What am I doing wrong?

Then last night at 10.18pm I finally realised it most definitely wasn’t me. FB are still to catch up to that fact though.

I had just invited lots of people to my photography page and now I can’t even reply… I just look rude.

Anyway, I’ve reported the hacking about 100 different ways so hopefully they’ll get round to checking it sometime soon. The majority of my readers are on FB so none of them will even get this post. Hey ho, there are worse troubles at sea, my Gran would say.

We didn’t get home from Craig’s mum’s until after midnight, so I had a long lie until 9.30am. Check me. I had been up to let the dogs out so they were ok.

I pottered about in the garden, pulling weeds (there are millions of them) and cutting back bushes that were threatening to take over.

I took the dogs out over lunch time and actually it was maybe a bit too hot.

I love the clouds in these next pics.

They had a play in the burn to cool down for a bit and then we were on our way again.

For the rest of the day I’ve been pulling weeds and relaxing. This has really been the longest weekend as I’ve forgotten what it’s like to have 3 days off and be in the house. I’ve done 4 washing loads and they are all dry already!!! I love that!

The clouds are moving in now and we are due some spectacular rain overnight. Apparently I slept through a very loud clap of thunder last night….. Craig said it sounded like a truck had crashed out in the road. Oblivious!!

I’ve nipped in next door to feed the cats! Gorgeous boys.

As soon as I got back I the house Calaidh seriously sniffed me all over. You’d think I lay down next door and rolled around the amount of sniffing I got… I can assure you, I did not!

So all in all a lovely weekend once I got my head round being at home. I feel nice and refreshed and ready for a new week. Just need to get my FB account sorted once and for all…. Or leave it… that’s another option. 😆🤷🏻‍♀️

Hope you all have a lovely Sunday evening and the best week.

Stay safe everyone ☀️☀️☀️

Day 1187 two whole days off in a row and mother in laws birthday get together!

I must admit I could actually get used to this again. It’s only early Saturdays afternoon and I’m already off longer than I have been every weekend since September. (Except holidays… it does feel different when you’re in the house!)

I lay in till after 8.30am again and straight up and out with the dogs. I wore my sloth T-shirt today that my lovely friend Helen got me!

It’s a beautiful morning. It’s hot already.

I was roasting half way round!!

The thistles we’re looking lovely in the sun. The sun always makes everything seems a bit brighter. The key here is to staying positive and happy on the darker days too.

I went straight back out to the supermarket to do a quick food shop so I could keep eating healthily.

We’re off out to Craig’s mum’s this afternoon for her birthday.

Having a lovely afternoon and evening with family and friends.

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

Day 1186 a day in the house!

It feels like ages since I had a full day off work just to be in the house. I got up about 8.30 but I’d been awake since 6.30, just lay and dozed.

Took the dogs out first thing and it’s really cloudy, overcast and damp here after last nights rain but it’s really mild.

I wasn’t up for a run, just a gentle walk this morning.

So I’ve had a super productive day and have done lots of things that I’ve been meaning to do for weeks. I’ve tidied out cupboards and drawers in the kitchen, hung out washing and hoovered.

Randomly I haven’t eaten all day and am coming up to 24 hours fasting! It wasn’t deliberate until I realised I was at 22.5 hours without even thinking about it.

I’ve been on the go all day. I only have a half hour to go so I’m going to hold off. It’s funny how some days it’s super easy and others I could eat my right at off by the time I get to 16 hours. 😂

In other news The little gift shop announced the closure of its Lochwinnoch shop. I work in the Beith shop but it means I might only be there one Saturday a month from now on. I’m super sad as I loved it so much but totally understand Gayle’s reasoning behind it. I’ve had mixed emotions today feeling grateful for the day off but thinking where I should have been.

I always worry that I don’t have enough time off so the positive way of looking at it is that I’ve just added 24 days extra holiday to my year!!!

Now to get planning what I can do with that!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

Day 1185 more ramblings 😔😆

I feel the blog has been so half hearted this week… I’m sorry. There’s not much to say and you really don’t want to know everything that’s going on in my head as it’s been super self destructive this week.

SC Laurie of Butterflies and Pebbles is a great follow!!

“Life is more than giving yourself a hard time”.

In some good news, I felt so out of balance that I arranged a kinesiology session for tonight, so that has helped calm the tornado of thoughts swirling around.

I could sleep now. I love the calm that a kinesiology session brings me. It takes all the stress out of all the negative thoughts. It corrects my thought processes.

So yeah not much else to say tonight. It’s pouring with rain. I’d thought about going away as I’m not in the little gift shop this weekend, but the forecast didn’t look great. Heavy rain and strong winds again so I’m going to stay home and do housework instead! I might manage a wee trip away for some coffee and cake. 😆

I’ll leave you with a couple of sunsets from our holiday last week. As much to remind me of our lovely break.

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

Day 1184 better day today!

I slept right until the alarm today. Didn’t hear the Scottish Dog Behaviourist get up to start work. I was out for the count!

I still felt really sluggish and couldn’t really wake up but I have to say I’ve had a much better day that I did yesterday. Thankfully.

I’m a lot less antsy. A lot more focussed.

I listened to a really good podcast today that struck a chord. It’s called “How do you cope? ” by Ellis and John.

The always start by asking each other “how’s your shame this week?” John put my life into perspective. 😂

He said he’d been at an event that finished later than expected and he was 25 minutes walk to the train station and was going to miss his train. He said it could of gone one of 3 ways.

1. Fume that the event finished late, try to rush for the train, which he was never going to make, talk down to himself the whole way saying how daft he was for not noticing the time, how ridiculous it was to try and catch the train. Of course typical that he is single and no one can come and pick him up. How useless he must be to not be able to keep a girlfriend… what a waste of space he is…. 😔

2. Take time to walk down the road for the later train, enjoying the view and appreciating the new surroundings 😊

3. call a taxi 😂

I often still end up in option 1 and that’s where my head has been these last few days. I’ve been all over the place and I’ve tried hard to calm the whirlwind in my mind.

I am so lucky that most of my life is spent living option 2 now. ♥️

Been with the crochet hookers tonight so this is a late one. It’s the calmest I’ve felt all night listening to the ladies talk about their week. They’ve all had such hardship recently with parents or in-laws passing away. Puts life into perspective.

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

Day 1183 dog walk, work and village hall accounts

Not certain that I’ve add the best job of living in the present moment today. My head has been all over the place. I am super antsy, niggly, irritable and I feel like my back teeth are crawling. I just cannot settle. There are tears burning as I write this. They’ve not been far away for a fair bit of the day.

I’m just so unsettled just now that I feel like I’m caught up in a whirlwind of emotion and drama. I know I’ll read this back sometime (probably fairly soon!) and think jeez get a grip, way too much drama….

I’m in a right fankle since we got back, I feel like things are in a mess, I can’t find anything and I’m just irritated by it. I’m irritated by everything to be honest.

I’ve actually just had a wee smile to myself as we are sitting out in the garden and Craig is sitting opposite me and has no idea the craziness going round in my head. He is in oblivion which is sometimes how it needs to be. He doesn’t need to know, there’s nothing he can change to fix it. he’d probably tell you there was nothing wrong with me.

Again the main reason for my blog. Everything is a bit better when I can write it down. It calms the noise a bit.

I got up at 5.30am to walk the dynamic trio (is that even a thing?!? 😂) . We walked. There was NO way I was going to run today.

It’s cloudy but dry. We have a lovely walk and don’t see anyone.

I start to take photos of some lovely flowers and thistles.

These guys made me laugh! The one on the left was a wee bit intense and scary looking. 😂

I got loads of thistle pics this morning.

These are going to be amazing when they all bloom. They’re right across the road from my friend Anne’s house. She’d better keep a lookout so I don’t miss them 🫶🏼😂

Work was fine today too. We’re still super busy so every day flies by!

We’ve had a lovely salad dinner again followed by some Dime Bar cheesecake. It was pretty good!

We’re finalising the village hall accounts tonight…. Which I could see far enough but it will be great to get them done so we can arrange the AGM. Rachel two doors down is coming to keep me focussed 😂

I’m very aware there’s a stroppy teenager inside of me that’s just in a big huff just now. Probably coz she’s not a teenager anymore 😆 by a long time!

That says it all and I need to remember this. We are all just here to live.

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

Day 1182 back to work and food shopping!

It’s nearly 7pm and I just sat down.

I didn’t sleep well last night…. That is, until about 4.30am where I knocked out for the count…. Thankfully the Scottish Dog Behaviourist got up early to walk the dogs! He’s a good lad.

Back to work this morning and surprisingly not the chaos that I expected. 😆 I enjoyed catching up on my spreadsheets and getting everything back in order. There’s not a single clean mug for anyone to use but hey, that’s the worst of it. 😆

Ellison and I went out and sat in Abbie the camper van at lunchtime as I had some soup to heat up. It was really nice to have a wee mini camping lunch and catch up after her holiday then mine.

Straight after work I headed to the shops and didn’t get home until just after 6. We’re stocked back up again.

I’d fasted for 21 hours and 45 minutes today which as great. I always find a Sunday afternoon into a Monday really easy for some reason. Tomorrow I will be ravenous by 10am 😂😂

I’m back out of Facebook jail, still none the wiser how I ended up there but I did have a new random FB page open on my account this morning. I finally figured out how to delete it. I think they think I’m infringing copyright by sharing my Just Jules Photography photos with a Just Jules copyright on them. It’s only because I don’t want people to steal them but it’s the only thing I can think of….

I’ll try a few without the copyright and see what happens.

Hope you all had a good Monday!

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

Day 1181 last day of holidays!!

I’ve honestly not done that much today. It’s 5.25pm and we’ve sold a desk that we had up for sale since we moved the house around, had Claire in for a quick cuppa and been out for lunch to the new The Canny Man in Lugton. Now that I write that, it seems like a lot. 😆🫶🏼

I obviously have a million things that I think I “should” be doing and don’t want to do any of them really. That old weekend chestnut. 😂

I seem to have found myself in Facebook jail again for some reason. I have NO idea what I’m doing wrong. I feel like it must have something to do with my new Just Jules Photography page as it seems too much of a coincidence. I start that page and I’ve been banned from FB twice in the last few weeks for breaking their “community standards”.

If you know me you’ll know I’m the least like ever to break any rule…. 🤷🏻‍♀️😂 the thing is they won’t tell me any more than that. If I could speak to someone and find out what they are not happy with then I would either stop doing it or stop it from happening. If you delve into it then you just wade into a massive list of general things that might be wrong and there’s not one that I think that applies to me.

It’s very hard for “she who breaks no rules” to be told she’s doing something wrong but we won’t be more specific than that.

I know I sound a bit grumpy today, maybe just post holiday blues.

Before I got jailed, my Rambling Sloth FB feed gave me lots of lovely messages.

Wow they’re all a bit wild and reckless. Definitely some kind of message for me in there. Still burning to travel some more but that’s not highly practical for us at the moment. I want to see every country in the world, I always have. The Rambling Sloth goes worldwide…. 😂 I wish!!

Hope you’ve all had a great weekend!

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

Day 1180 back home, washing done, van cleared out and Starbucks with Gayle!

Once again it’s all in the title! 😂

I have to be honest and say I didn’t feel great when I woke this morning. I’ve been super dehydrated all week, not drinking enough while we were away, and have had tight neck and shoulders for a fair bit of the week. Either that or I was sitting in a draft 😂 It was so tense this morning. My head was thumping too…. But onwards and upwards.

We took the dogs out early on. It’s been like April today with sunshine and showers… we missed the shower thankfully. I cannot believe it’s actually July!!! How did that happen.

Wait till you see my next thistle pic…. I think I should call this one barbed wire instead. It does sum up the day!

We met a couple of neighbours along the way and everyone was feeling a bit down. Must be the weather. It was good to have a chat and a wee hug and try to cheer other people up, all the while feeling pretty grumpy myself.

I pulled the van over to the front door and emptied everything out. I cleaned all the seat pads, swept it out, cleaned the sink and hob. I love getting it all done after a holiday.

As I dumped everything at the door, Craig had it all moved and dealt with before I finished outside. He’d even hoovered up after Bhruic who is now moulting everywhere! He’s a good ‘un 😂 (well, for today anyway…😆😘)

I then went for a soak in a hot bath and actually took some ibruprofen to help loosen my muscles. That really did help. She who normally hates baths, loved this one. It was nice to just lie back and breathe for a bit.

I did have several interruptions…. The first was Craig telling me a lady had just stared into the dining room window as he sat working at the table…

Then literally a few minutes later to tell me she’d just walked in the front door and asked him if the pub was open as she fancied some pub grub!?!?! He was in a T-shirt and boxers as he ushered her out the front door!?!?! That’s a first. 🤦🏻‍♀️😂

I arranged to meet Gayle for a Starbucks at 2pm since Craig was making dog behaviour enquiry calls and I caught up on all the shop news. I see loads of new stock in which is exciting. She doesn’t need me this week as Lochwinnoch is closed for holidays so I get some extra days off. I’ll miss the shop banter but will be good to have a short week first week back.

So yeah, maybe post holiday blues, not sure, but my head is all over the place today. Guess I need to take some of this advice… just once I figure out exactly what it is….

Hope you all have a great Saturday night.

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

Day 1176 a soggy day in Ullapool with a coffee and filled roll at The Bothy ☕️

Freya and I went for a lovely walk before we left Clachtoll.

We couldn’t stay at Clachtoll for the full week as they were fully booked on the Tuesday night so we used it as a chance to pop back down to Ullapool and get some supplies.

Ullapool is a beautiful village in the Scottish Highlands. Craig and I got engaged in Ullapool in 2009. We had done the famous North Coast 500, although it wasn’t called that back then. Craig tried to propose at every place we stopped but the wind was howling so waited until we were checked into our hotel that night.

In true me fashion I couldn’t let that just be all romantic and lovely as I freaked at how much he’d spent on a ring, but that’s another story 🤦🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️😂

Back to Ullapool. It rained all day… and it was pretty windy.

My first port of call was The Bothy which is a wee coffee shop that’s opened at the entrance to the Broomfield campsite.

It’s such a lovely space.

I had a haggis roll and Craig had a roll with link sausage. My decaf oat milk latte was just perfect, it hit the spot.

Since we had signal, Craig went back to the van with Freya to make some Scottish Dog Behaviourist calls, while I had a wee wander around the shops, as you do, with a keen eye on all things gift shop!!

They’ve widened the Shore road and it just looked SO different. I miss the quaintness of the original street but at the same time, like everywhere else, it needs to change to cope with the amount of visitors.

I had a great wee wander but got totally soaked. There’s no such thing as bad weather, only the wrong clothes and I was definitely wearing the wrong clothes!

We decided to head to a couple of pubs for the afternoon. We started at the Arch Inn where we got engaged.

Now Freya has been exceptional this whole holiday. We have never spent any time with her alone. Freya does not like the inside of a pub. Totally spooked and scraping to get out. Wee soul. I’m much the same but marriage is about compromise and Craig spent the day on a beach with me yesterday 😂😂 not his favourite thing. 😂

We sat outside under cover in the Arch. Freya could just about cope with that, cured up in a corner, refusing treats the barman gave her…. In a total huff!

We then headed along to the Ferry Boat Inn. She came in but really did want back out so we didn’t stay long.

We then went to The Chippy for fish and chips to take back to the van.

It rained and blew a hoolie all evening. I did get out to watch the Loch Seaforth head out to Stornoway.

Couldn’t miss a CalMac ferry could I?!?

Stay safe everyone 🌧️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🌧️

Day 1175 one of the most beautiful days in the Scottish Highlands 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿☀️☀️☀️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

What a beautiful day at Clachtoll Beach.

It will turn out to be the best day of the week weather wise but we don’t know that yet. The joys of writing this a few days later. The sun shone all day.

It really is the most beautiful beach. There’s often no one on it. The waves have been high all week as it’s so windy but it’s lovely to see it in the sunshine.

I started the morning with Freya on the beach.

We both took a walk out in late morning to Split Rock, which Freya is showing off in this photo!

The colours are absolutely out of this world.

You can’t really see it’s a split rock when you approach it walking though… it just looks like a rock 😂

I was far too scared to climb up it. It looks like nothing here but I got a wave of vertigo and had to sit down!! Craig was off up there like a mountain goat!

I decided I would finally go in for a swim… checked the beach and didn’t see any jellyfish 🪼 so back to the van to get all my kit ready and back down to the near idyllic bay in the last few photos.

And there were jellyfish EVERYWHERE. All different colours, shapes and sizes. Now I know that many of them are no bother, whatsoever, when you are wearing a wetsuit, but sadly that seemed irrelevant at the time. I’m still putting my face in and snorkelling. Plus the wind is coming from the west bringing them all into the beach. I’m gutted to say I got spooked after only a few minutes of snorkelling. I saw two Lion’s Mane Jellyfish almost straight away. The sea was teeming with them. I admit to feeling marginally relieved when a couple and their son came down for a swim, fully suited up, and decided against it. Their son was at Uni studying Marine Biology and reported back that a good few of the jellyfish 🪼 were the poisonous ones.

I’m a bit gutted that we came here, or I did, a at least for the free water sports and it’s been too jellyfish-y (nope not even a word!) and far too windy for a novice to do anything else.

We sat on the beach for a bit enjoying the sunshine but came back up to get everything dried.

We cooked fresh chicken on the BBQ for dinner and had it in Brioche buns. Freya got a good few more walks too!

I take out the camera and boom, she hits the deck for a photo!!

It was a magical day today. Scotland in all it’s beauty.

Stay safe everyone 💙🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿💙

Day 1179 ROADTRIP from Clachtoll through Ullapool, Drumnadrochit, Fort Augustus, Fort William, Glencoe and home!

We’re home a day early. The forecast was dreadful today and it rained incessantly from teatime last night right through. I think that would be ok if you’re in a caravan or Motorhome but we’re literally sitting on top of each other in the van and nothing dries.

We took a leisurely drive down the west coast of Loch Ness, which adds about an hour and a half to the journey, but we’ve seen some amazing scenery.

It’s much windier roads although it looks like the straighter route.

We left here around 9.30am.

Via The Bothy in Ullapool for brunch, for the third time this week!! Freya approves. 😂 A roll and haggis and an oat milk decaf latte!

A leisurely walk through Ullapool…. No rain here thankfully!

Then off on the road down the west coast of Loch Ness, through Muir of Ord, Beauly and Drumnadrochit.

We stopped again in Fort Augustus, to take Freya for a walk down by the lovely river. It’s drizzling now.

I spotted some thistles on the way back to the car!

None of them had a stunning backdrop sadly….

We carried on down and hit traffic just outside Fort William. 20 minute queues just to get into the town! So straight through and stopped just at the Isle of Glencoe Hotel at Ballachulish. My trusty Co-pilot took photos as we went over the Ballachulish Bridge.

It was so calm when we stopped. After the incessant wind of the last week, the calm was very intense and almost loud, if that makes any sense. I said to Craig it was like being inside but outside. 😬 he politely said he knew what I meant! 🤔😆

Freya had a good walk and run around and we had some biscuits and cheese before the last leg of the journey, down through some of Scotland’s most beautiful scenery, Glencoe and Loch Lomond.

Of course it was VERY cloudy but after all the rain, everything looks so fresh and green again.

I wasn’t 100% certain that coming home was the right idea, but the heavens opened just north of the Erskine Bridge and it’s been pretty torrential ever since. We had a lovely day meandering home rather than a bored day being stressed about being stuck inside the van on a soggy campsite. It was absolutely the right decision.

I am devastated the holiday is over already. It seems so fast and almost like I didn’t appreciate it enough at the time. The weather hasn’t been the best but we have been lucky with a couple of lovely days. It just passed in a flash. the Clachtoll Beach Campsite is impeccable. Spotlessly clean. Motivational signs in the toilets.

Free use of paddle boards, kayaks, boogie boards…. If it’s not blawin’ a hoolie outside!

Freya has also been an absolute joy. What a lovely wee dog she has been. We never get that one on one time with her. Very special and obviously all thanks to lovely Louise next door for moving in and looking after the other two (who seem very big now that we’re home!!)

I’m very proud of myself for taking over the driving on Tuesday when we drove back up from Ullapool…. I’ve not written that blog yet… but I will. I’ve overcome my driving anxiety and felt more comfortable driving than being a passenger, no offence to Craig!!

So back to auld claes and porridge as my Grandad used to say.

Calaidh and Bhruic were so excited to see us… and we did come back to some waterworks and traffic lights outside house. We’d sprung a leak so at least that’s been fixed!

Lots more blogs to follow when I can get round to them!!

Stay safe everyone 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿💙🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Day 1174 a day in Scottish paradise, 3 seasons in one day!

(Again posting on actual day 1176 as no signal on the campsite!!)

Oooh I did not sleep that well. I was shattered but between the heat, some strong gusts of wind, Freya panting in the heat and someone snoring, I felt like I was awake a fair bit. That is ok, I have all day to do absolutely nothing if I want to.

The campsite is very busy but generally quietened about 10.30 to 11 ish last night when I went to bed. We sat watching the bunnies in the field in front of us. At one point there were 5 of them running about right in front of us. Fascinating to watch them.

This was the view out the window at 4.30am. It doesn’t get that dark up here. Even at 1.30am there was light in the sky.

It’s forecast to be sunny this morning and it’s trying really hard…. Not quite managing it.

Freya has been exceptional. Honestly we are blown away by our youngest pup. She’s always been the youngest of 3 so has always been more of a dogs dog than a people dog.

She’s lying at my feet now, honestly barely a peep out of her… except for that exceptionally heavy breathing through the night. The material for the sleeping bag isn’t the best for the heat. It’s amazing in summer but it was holding the heat a lot last night. She got herself a bit too embroiled in it! By the time I moved her, she stopped panting almost straight away.

So it’s now 8.15pm and with all things it’s not always perfect in paradise. It was so windy that we had to pack up camp to a certain extent. Down came the windbreak and pop top and we wound in the Fiamma awning. It was wild.

We went for a walk before it rained and the scenery was still stunning.

We went to Flossie’s Little Blue Shop in the Clachtoll village. It’s the cutest little place. We had cheese toasties.

Then the heavens opened and it rained for about 4-5 hours. Solidly. We went for a nap and I read. Don’t know if I’ve said that there no phone signal so I’m not glued to my phone which is nice.

We had a lovely salad late afternoon and it brightened up. We took Freya our for a lovely walk up to Stoer, the next village.

We walked round the Stoer headland and found the famous Broch. This was a stink g place. Must find out the history when we have signal.

It’s now 8.30pm and the sun is shining. It’s much cooler than it has been these last few weeks but it’s beautiful and that’s the main thing.

Stay safe everyone ☀️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿☀️

Day 1173 ROADTRIP To Clachtoll in the Scottish Highlands! 🚐🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿☀️

(Posting this from Ullapool on what is actually day 1176 😂 we have no signal at Clachtoll which I really rather nice. I wrote 2 days of blogs and I’ve had Monday and Tuesday off completely… doesn’t happen often!)

We are finally on holiday!!!

I’ve been awake since 5am and we finally got out the door about 10.45. It felt like it took forever… there were a few last minute things that we had to hunt for that took a bit of time. 😳

The whole works well under pressure… NOT…. Reared it’s ugly head this morning. I am not good when we need to find something that has been in the same place for 100 years, until we moved the house around and I put it in a safe place. I was raging!!!! But I found it…. Eventually 🤦🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️😂

Anyway, here’s wee Freya all secured in and surrounded by crochet 😆

Calaidh and Bhruic have stayed home and our next door neighbour, Louise, has moved in to live with them for a week.

It’s a 5 and a half hour trip without stops so we won’t be there until about 6 I reckon. Craig is driving Abbie the camper van. Very nice of him! I’m sitting taking random photos as I do!!

We stopped at Ralia Café to let Freya out and grab a late lunch. I don’t know what we are both doing but I liked this photo 😆

The gift shop here is called the Hairy Coo funnily enough, so I bought a pair of cosy socks… forgot to bring socks for my hikies 🤦🏻‍♀️

Next quick stop at Tesco in Ullapool to pick up supplies. Freya and I went for a walk while Craig went to Tesco…. Girl chose wisely!

We had the best drive up though the last 6 miles is a very tight single track road. Mrs anxiety was very glad not to be driving!

The campsite is everything we could wish for. Never been anywhere as friendly as this. It’s a 2 minute walk to the beach. Just beautiful.

Saturday nights sees the local fish van the Catch Toll, open for business.

Oh and did I say we have ZERO SIGNAL. So nothing is getting through. I feel bad for the poor girl Loki f after the dogs as she will have no idea why we disappeared but other than that it’s rather lovely.

Freya has been the best dog ever… and check the view out the window. That says it all. It’s 10.40pm and it’s still light, I’m still in shorts and flip flops but I’m very tired. 5am was a very long time ago!!

Stay safe everyone ☀️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿☀️

Day 1172 a lovely day at The little gift shop and home to pack!

I’ve just sat down for a wee rest and it’s 8pm. I’m shattered. I’ve been on my feet since 6am!

I took the dogs out first thing for a jog that ended up just being a walk. It was really light rain. It’s actually rained on and off all day, so different from the scorching sun of yesterday. I just didn’t have the energy to jog! I’ve been tired this week!

Look how tall this grass is behind me in the field!! It really is just actual grass… how is that possible?!?!

When did grass get so high?!

I also spotted my first real thistles this morning. I’m hoping they will be pretty special up in the Highlands!

These ones are just at the side of the road or just inside the field. Not the best photos but still beautiful!

Then we met these guys!

Thought this next one looks a bit intimidating.

The little gift shop was lovely today. Gayle has done a complete reshuffle and got lots of lovely new stock in. In-keeping with the thistle theme, Lindsay did a beautiful window.

We were really busy!

As soon as I got home I’ve been running round trying to get everything together and packing the van. I’ve got the fridge full and lots of stuff into the dining room ready to go in at the last minute. Still loads to do and there’s always something we forget.

The forecast is all over the place so we have to cover all seasons!

So as usual can’t guarantee signal to be able to blog so will see how it goes. I’m hoping to be in the sea a lot. The campsite we are staying on has free use of paddle boards and kayaks. I have one of Claire’s books with me and I’m taking some crochet. Hoping to just chill and relax.

HOLIDAYS!!!

Stay safe everyone 💙🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿💙