Tag: exploring

Day 1498 a lovely day in Exmouth, now ready to go to my goddaughter’s wedding!

Unfortunately due to some unforeseen circumstances, Craig has had to get an earlier flight home to look after the dogs.

Please don’t worry, we’re all ok, obviously I was gutted to see him leave at 7.30am and he’s only just landed back in Glasgow at 2.30pm, it’s just not my story to tell.

After he left, I sat out in Helen’s mum’s garden and enjoyed the lovely weather. It says it will only reach 14°C today, but it feels way warmer than that to the ode of us from beyond the wall!

The flowers are beautiful!

I love the early morning sunlight.

We woke at 4.18 and I tried to get back to sleep but not sure that I did.

This is the lane that the house is on! Typical Devon high hedged lane.

We left just after 9 to head down to Helen’s. I will wonder around Exmouth for the day and come back to Helen’s to get ready.

You know me, I love a wander, especially in the sun!

I got to have a sneaky peak at the beautiful bride to be, Mother, Grandma and sister of the bride before I headed out.

This is the view on the way into Exmouth.

The harbour is looking beautiful in the deep blue sky and bright sunshine.

I love the colourful houses.

The tide is in, but starting to head out, it looks positively tropical.

I think that’s the boat we will be on later, sir the Reception.

I walked along here to the beach.

The water seems so clear.

It’s nowhere near as busy as I expected but there a good few boats and yachts out.

The tide here flows out really fast.

This is an upside down photo.

I love the wispy clouds…. It’s to rain later, it’s hard to see that in the sky.

This is the start of the main beach in Exmouth which is huge.

I stopped and got an ice cream at the Sea Shore Ice Creamery. It’s a bubblegum waffle with Turkish delight AND a flake. The guy said it was “a bit out there”. 😂

I surprised it’s not heaving for bank holiday weekend.

Spotted all these Scotland flags 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 in the English sky!

I love these cliffs, part of the Jurassic Coastline.

I found a wee path to save me walking in the sea.

The contrast in colours is stunning.

Random big rock.

So quiet.

I wandered around here for a while.

I love that the photos don’t really show the folk that were there!

Heading back into Exmouth.

The current here is so strong and it’s like the clouds are mirroring the speed!

The clouds are starting to roll in.

Back to the boat we are on tonight.

And the harbour.

The sun shone all day.

I came back to Helen’s and got ready. Here I am sitting with my other goddaughter’s beautiful kittens.

I’m glad I ironed my dress!!

They are soooo lovely.

Right I best dash, finish off and get down to the boat!

Hope you’re having a lovely weekend!

Stay safe everyone ☀️☀️☀️

Day 1434 train trip to Stirling to meet Mum and Dad!

Today The Rambling Sloth Explores Stirling…. Well Stirling Castle to be precise. I’m meeting Mum and Dad up there. Our tour of Scottish castles continues!

I love doing things like this with them as we are making memories rather than sitting about in each other’s houses.

I woke at 5 but managed to fall back to sleep before the alarm at 7am… only got 86% for last nights sleep…. Love that I think Fitbit is scoring me. 🤦🏻‍♀️😂

My train is 8.42 out of Glengarnock to Glasgow Central.

The forecast is not the best for a day out but as the week’s gone on, it’s got slightly better and there is sun now, in amongst some showers. It is very windy though!

This is my journey from home up to Stirling.

Of course I’ve taken the train as I like doing now. I get to watch the world go by rather than have to drive and find parking spaces.

Just as we pull into Stirling the heavens open but Mum and Dad are already in the car park waiting for me. We head straight up to Stirling Castle.

Within 5 minutes the sun is shining again and that’s par for the course all day.

Mum took this lovely one of Dad and I looking at the Sir Robert the Bruce monument and in the distance over to the Wallace Monument, if you zoom in.

I tried to get a photo without all the cars parked on the Esplanade.

This is actually all you can see of the castle as you walk in.

Mum and Dad are members of Historic Scotland so mum only had to book a ticket for me. We went straight to the Unicorn Cafe for coffee and cake… can’t sightsee without sustenance!

By the time we come out it’s raining again, but the mini daffodils are so pretty in the stunning gardens around the castle.

I got talking to a couple from the Gold Coast in Australia, right under that big tree, as we sheltered from the rain. We were talking about the history it must have seen in the past. I love taking to people I don’t know.

The views off behind that tree are just stunning. Stirling Castle is built high up with views for miles around.

You can also see the next band of rain moving in. actually this one was moving away!

This is the Wallace Monument which is off to the other side.

Back into the gardens.

This is the back of the Grand Hall. It’s beautiful in the sunlight and look at that sky! We are soooo ready for some sunshine with actual heat in it. In Scotland we can sometimes have some warm weather in March, not so this year.

You can tell how windy it was!! Mrs no hat is creating havoc for the selfie.

Love this tunnel.

The front of the Grand Hall.

And this is inside.

With the Queen on her throne. 👸🏻 😂

Last time I sat here I was with my Australian cousin Linda in 2018!

Love this one of mum and dad… not posed, just resting.

The stain glass windows are stunning in the sunlight.

This is the gift shop but sure it was something else long before that!

The circle on the ground below is the remains of the Kings gardens. I’ve never noticed this before. The Queens garden is just out of shot.

The flags 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Guess you have a rough idea that I took loads of these until the Scotland flag actually blew in the right direction!

Another favourite shot of mum and dad… both being present in the moment.

Now I made them pose!

I love this of Mum wandering around the chapel.

Now we’re inside the newly renovated Palace. Dad says when we were kids we walked through this and it was all just stone and wood. It was refurbished in 2011 to look as it may have back in the day when Kings and Queens lived here. (I have to confess to not being too great on the history of it all… there’s way too much to remember and I’m more taken with the beauty than anything else).

The ceilings are stunningly beautiful. This is the famous Stirling Heads. Which are carved oak roundels, recreated from the 1540’s.

Not the best shot but there was a full rainbow when we left.

I’ve had the best day. If you’ve followed the blog for a while you will know that I’ve realised that THIS is what makes me tick. I love exploring, catching blue sky and taking photos of the beauty that I see.

My head is clear, I’m present in the moment all day. There is no stress, no worry, no fear, no irritation. Just calm…. And a fair wee bit of excitement. Quite a bit of excitement to be honest.

This is living for me. Making the most of each day as much as I can.

Happy weekend to you all!

Stay safe everyone 🏰🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿👸🏻

Day 1130 Reykjavik Café Röst, Omnom Chocolate shop and The Sky Lagoon!

Oh wow we have had an amazing day. A day that dreams are made of.

As we sat over dinner in the Sky Lagoon, we remarked how this holiday is the kind of thing that happens to other people.

It really has been out of this world. I would kill for another one day but hey, it’s not to be and we are home tomorrow morning. 🇮🇸✈️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

As I’ve done the past few days, I’ll post a few photos and then this will be a total write up in itself over the next few days or weeks.

We had an actual lie in this morning. I did wake at 5.30 but finally fell back asleep and didn’t wake until 8.30am.

There is so much of Iceland still to see but we have run out of time. We could have spent the day visiting the famous Golden Circle but neither of us had that length of drive left in us. We realised that yesterday’s trip was the equivalent of taking a day trip up to Ullapool and back home in one day, with stops along the way! It was a huge drive!!

So we decided to have another reccy in Reykjavík this morning and managed another 17k steps. (It doesn’t get any easier to spell regardless of how many times I type it!!!)

Our favourite Reykjavik eaterie where breakfast cost us £55. 😆 it was exquisite so you really can’t get too bent out of shape!

Sage and Maple latte….

Serrano ham and cheese platter for me and Craig had a smoked lamb sandwich. I mean the food really is as amazing as it looks.

Craig found a doggy in his favourite chocolate shop, Omnom.

So by this time we are stuffed. I should say I managed almost a 23 hour fast as I didn’t eat after our huge lunch yesterday as I was so full.

I actually love this next photo of me. It’s not often I see pure joy in a photo of myself. This is it.

We were booked into the Sky Lagoon this afternoon for 3.30pm. I will tell you all about it when I have more time. We booked the date night package which gave us use of the geothermal heated lagoon and a 7 step spa programme.

It was OUT OF THIS WORLD. We both feel so lucky to have been able to do that today. It’s definitely a day that we will never forget.

2 alcohol free beers as Craig was driving!

Followed by the Sky Platter for dinner. This plate was close to £30! Again… just exquisite food and perfect amount.

I can’t find the words to say how amazing this holiday has been. Everything has gone just perfectly. No stress, no drama, no pressure. It doesn’t feel like we have only been away for 3 days… we’ve done so much.

I haven’t even considered taking antidepressants…. Lots of food for thought when I get home.

I will miss these crisp, pure white bed sheets without dog hair. 😆

It will be good to get puppy cuddles though!

Stay safe everyone 🇮🇸✈️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿