Day 1436 ROADTRIP with Gayle to Lochgoilhead! As you do…. 😂

So…… Gayle and I have been talking about going to The Boat Shed Café in Lochgoilhead for ages now… Gayle saw it on Instagram and I’ve been following it too.

It’s such a pretty coffee shop on the banks of Loch Goil and it’s about an hour and a half drive from where we live.

We agreed to meet up today as the Scottish Dog Behaviourist was working! He is so busy he’s having to work a Sunday now.

When I picked Gayle up I gave her options… the first of which was the Boat Shed and she jumped at it and we both got really excited. I was so pleased she wanted to go and didn’t think it was too far. She was pleased that I was happy to drive there.

It’s a beautiful day. After all the rain and wind we’ve been having, the cold sunshine is just so lovely. It is still pretty cold but there’s a warmth when the sun is beating down on you.

I was up at 7am and did 2 dog walks before 8.30am!!

Bhruic and Freya first…. look at that sky!!

The morning sun makes this old mossy wall look so green against the blue.

It also made me look really tall and the puppers look like wolves!

The primroses are blooming, I always think they are so pretty.

Gielsland Estate looks lovely in the sun too.

It’s so quiet I stop the 3 of us for arty middle of road shot.

When I used to have the big, heavy job and used to drink and be Mrs life and soul of the party, I would never have seen this time of the morning…. This is now when I’m at my best. No one around, sounds of the birds chirping and nothing else. I just love it!

Home and quick change for Calaidh and Khaleesi.

It’s just so beautiful.

Khaleesi zonked out in Gran’s Chair when we got home. This is the seat I used to sit in when I was off sick… it’s a great seat to relax in and lovely to see Khaleei likes it too.

So back to the ROADTRIP. Love that WordPress always puts that word into caps for some reason 😂😂😂

We set off on an exciting adventure.

It’s a beautiful drive… my trusty Co-pilot even thinks to take some photos for the blog. She’s a keeper 😂 the next 4 are Gayle’s taken from the moving car!

The drive through Scottish lochs and mountains is breathtaking at any time but when that sky is blue it’s just stunning!

We get to the turning for Lochgoilhead and the road goes down to single track, with passing places. It’s not a great single track either but a very crumbly road with steep verges at either side, if you pull off the tarmac there’s a chance you might not get back up onto it.. my anxiety heightens a little. I’m relieved that I didn’t know this in advance!

Lochgoilhead is beautiful.

The single track road runs right along the front of the loch elevated about 6ft from the water itself… no barriers, just the drop. 😬We finally get to the Boat Shed Café on our tiny single track road…. We made it!!

There are lots of people standing outside, come to think of it we’ve driven past loads of people walking on the single track road towards and away from it.

The realisation…..

The car park is over full already and there is literally nowhere to park.

We’re both completely shocked as that thought had never crossed our minds. We’d driven all this way only to not get in?!?!

We had no option but to drive right past it. I finally found somewhere to turn and we drove past again but nothing had changed.

About half a mile up I found somewhere to pull the car into. This shows how narrow the roads are…

We parked and walked back.

We stood in the queue and took the obligatory selfie with the sign in the background.

There were about 7 groups of people in front of us. I don’t know how long we stood but nothing was moving. Gayle was reading lots of comments on their Instagram page about the lack of parking and the trouble you could get into parking illegally…. We talked ourselves into worrying that the car wasn’t in a proper parking space and could be construed as in a passing place…. I went to take some photos of the loch.

I mean it would have been a lovely view for coffee but the outdoor area isn’t in the sun… the sun is shining on the road side of the building. Everyone had blankets and looked freezing.

We really sadly gave up our space in the queue and decided to leave.

We were gutted that we’d gone all this way and couldn’t get parked. It’s only 24th March, goodness only knows how hard it must be in the summer as the Loch Goil cruises go from the same car park.

With hindsight, the car was fine where it was parked and we could easily have stayed but the shine had gone a bit by then.

Instagram follows are all very well but the reality of the beauty of the place is often different. Their posts are beautiful, so appealing but obviously everyone and their Auntie want to go too!

So back in the car and took a shortcut back to the top of the Rest and Be Thankful. I say shortcut… the satnav didn’t want us to go on this road but it was so much quicker.

The Rest and Be Thankful is named after the old road which was super narrow and windy to the top of the road. You had to rest and be thankful when you got to the top.

This photo doesn’t do the depth of the valley any justice! if you look to the left you’ll see the new road which cuts up the side of the hill. This gets closed after almost every heavy rain shower due to landslides. The old military road gets used more often than it should be!

We then got back onto the A82 and headed down into Arrochar. We eventually found a parking space!

We managed to find a takeaway for hot chocolate and a chocolate bar as we were starving by now!

Spotted this GATE!!!

It’s so still and calm but clouded over a bit.

Sadly despite the beauty, the beaches are covered in plastic. It’s really sad as it’s sooo bad. it must wash up in storms but there is so much of it.

Back in the car and down through Tarbert to Firkin Point on Loch Lomond. I stopped because there are toilets here!! It’s very pretty too.

Back into the car and further down the Loch to get a picture of Ben Lomond.

Then we headed back down the road and home.

Despite not achieving our main goal, we had a great day! Great company for a lovely chat.

Happiness is what you make it and I’m never happier than out sightseeing and especially with a great friend!

Wishing you all a great week ahead!

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

Day 1393 a lovely wee trip to Luss with Gayle 🚙🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿💙

Another fantastic sleep… yesterday’s anxiety left me exhausted. We went to bed about 8.30pm and I slept right through until 6.30am.

I didn’t feel great this morning. I guess you could say today was a day of two halves but the opposite from yesterday.

I felt really tearful, I tried to hide it as no one wants to live with Negative Nelly. It just shows you that I have a lovely day ahead but I’m still not feeling great. My friend Tracey in Canada said something yesterday that has sat with me…. What are you trying to ignore? Is something not dealt with that you’re trying to preteen is fine?

Wow. Exactly that…..

I think of all the positives of today but still my stomach churns. I feel so out of sorts, should I cancel, should I go? I know I’m going to go but there’s an anxiety about it that’s irrational.

I head out with Bhruic and Calaidh, forget my phone because my head’s all over the place and bump into my neighbour Holly…. She makes the mistake of asking how I am… tears. Magic… she goes and gets her dog and comes with me. It’s freezing this morning and a bit misty but it’s lovely to have company on the walk.

No photos obviously….

I jump in the shower and head down for Gayle just after 10 and we drive up the side of Loch Lomond to Luss.

She knows I’m feeling rough but she doesn’t push me until I’m ready to chat. We catch up on the day to day.

We got to a lovely coffee shop that Claire first took me to, the Coach House in Luss. We had a lovely cheese and coleslaw roll…. I can’t decide what I want so I order the same as Gayle and it’s lovely.

I then had a Banoffee Coffee….. THE most delicious flavoured coffee ever AND a scone with cream and jam. Very decadent but so lovely. Gayle treated me to lunch which was so lovely of her (especially after I ate so much!!)

We went for a wander round the lovely gift shops and down to the pier.

Luss is the really beautiful heritage village that was featured on Take the High Road. It’s so pretty but hard to get a decent photo today with the resident’s car parking.

It’s lovely when everyone has flowers outside their houses in spring and summer.

This beautiful building is a gift shop.

And THIS is the view from the front door. Stunning.

Ben Lomond is in the mist above my head… it’s raining now.

You can almost see the snow covered Ben in this photo.

Out on the pier looking back onto the village.

This is another lovely street in the village.

We had a lovely wander round and it was really good to talk to Gayle and try to make sense of some of the intrusive thoughts in my head.

I definitely felt better for it. Some of our chat stopped the stomach churning so it really helped.

We drove back home and stopped on the banks of Loch Lomond near a huge puddle at Duck Bay Marina. I wanted to get some photos.

My friend Helen will be so proud of these reflections in a puddle. A mahoosive puddle. It always floods here.

Loch Lomond itself was pretty high water.

I was never going to cancel today but I’m so glad we went.

Back home and Craig arrived back just behind me. 3 mobile phone service has been down for a lot of the day so we couldn’t phone each other.

We popped into the pub to catch the end of the rugby and had a lovely catch up with some neighbours.

So yeah, I’ve had a lovely day. I feel really insular and quiet, I don’t know quite what to make of anything or where to put myself but I’m calm for now. Comfies on, football only has 3 minutes left to go (praise the Lord) and maybe then we’ll get a good movie on.

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

Day 1319 my 51st birthday 🤦🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️😬🙄😂😘

How did that last year pass so quickly?

How can I be 51 already?

I have to say I’m feeling all the love today.

It’s 4pm and I have had the loveliest day so far.

There have been tears.

Shocker.

I’ve had a lot of anxiety about my birthday… wanting it to be different and yet not knowing what I wanted to do. After weeks of discussion Craig finally came up with perfect day…. As he does often, to snap me out of my anxious thoughts.

Awake at 5.50…. Not the plan.

Presents by 8am.

I’ve been overwhelmed with the lovely gifts I’ve received.

Also the lovely cards and words that I have from people.

We headed down to The Little Coffee Caravan….. I have not been there in so long. They remembered me, we had such a good chat and Donna asked me if I’d lost weight!! Amazing customer service. We bought filled rolls and cake to take canoeing 🛶 this morning.

We went to Castle Semple Loch in Lochwinnoch this time. What an amazing morning.

I could write war and peace about my day but actually I want to go and get ready for dinner as we’re heading back out to Gro Coffee for dinner… I’ll have been there twice in one week but I do love it.

So I’ll just dump a whole lot of shots.

Thanks to everyone for everything. When you fee your life hangs by a thread of emotions at times, precious sentiment and moments mean the world.

Oh and thanks to Lindsay and Euan for lending us the canoe again!

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

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 1084 Scotland you did us proud today. Just stunning ☀️🕶️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

I need to find a better describing word than Wow. It seems so underrated when I use it so often. But wow….. what an amazing day so far and it’s only 2pm.

I slept really well. The warmth, the cathartic sound of the diesel heater or the progesterone induced sleep did the trick. The diesel heater was on all night and it was a bit warm at one point, but I did wake up to ice on the inside of the windows, despite that.

I looked for Aurora at 2.30am but decided I was far too chicken to go out on my own in the pitch black. Not sure why I’m scared of the dark?!? Will need an Aurora buddy to go Northern lights tracking!

At 6.30am the sky was turning a pinky blue shade. The sun didn’t actually come up over the Pap of Glencoe for a while after that. The light was stunning as it hit some of the mountains.

I had taken my running gear and was desperate to go for an early morning dog jog sans dog! I mean, who even am I these days?!? Do I need to rebrand The Rambling Sloth as The Jogging Photographer?!?! 😂 doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, does it?!?

I have no idea how I am going to sort through the gazillion photos I have taken today.

I ran from the Invercoe campsite down to Glencoe and then back up to the Glencoe Lochan again. Running felt good.

This mornings mood was all about reflection. Not a ripple in the sea or the Lochan. Everything was a reflection.

I am in my element. I am blown away but the beauty I see. I even giggle to myself, have a look around to see if anyone else is there… and go hug a tree!!!!

I ran right around the Lochan and back down to the campsite.

There were even a couple of wildlife shots!

I was out for about an hour and a half. It was bitterly cold. Even the seaweed was frosty but it was so exhilarating.

I feel an excitement bubbling through my veins…..all the time….. I have found something that makes me truly happy. A husband who is happy to let me go away, if he doesn’t want to and a real passion for writing and taking photos of beautiful nature. I could not have picked a better few days to come away. I have been so full of joy for two days, it’s so lovely.

This is the view from the van. Honestly it’s out of this world.

I had a shower… forgot deodorant but that doesn’t seem to have been as issue for me today. It’s so beautiful but FREEZING!!

I made myself a decaf coffee and headed down to the water.

I sat on a rock and watched the word stand still for a while. My bum got very numb on the cold rock but the sun is warm.

I got Abbie all packed up and put everything away in its place before heading down to Oban.

I can’t explain my connection to Oban, this little coastal town by the sea. Craig thinks that I picked up dads love of a CalMac ferry here and that’s why I love it so much.

It’s such a transient town. So many people are headed out to the islands. There are lots of English accents here today. Think there’s a coach tour in. I love nothing more than siting watching the ferries coming into port and heading out again.

I can see 3 as I sit on a bench by the sea, writing this.

Ok they’re dots on the horizon but I know they are there 😆

As soon as I got to Oban I headed to the Oban Chocolate Company. I was going to say you can visit Oban without going there… of course you can… but it’s a very decadent treat! I broke my 17.5 hour fast with a delicious rich oat milk hot chocolate with a little pot luck of choccie goodies to go with it.

I then had a wander round the harbour and a couple of shops before sitting down at the water to write. And breathe in the sea air.

It’s 2.30pm and I really need to make a move to head home. Craig’s had a lovely day in the sun too. Think it’s maybe warmer at home than it is here.

I feel like I have had the best form of reset. I’ve been SO lucky with the weather and I’m so pleased that I came this far. I might not get away in the van until the end of June now.

Right.

Moving.

Back to the van.

Of course I had to stop on the way. It was the most beautiful drive down. I stopped at Inveruglas as there are stunning views of Loch and Ben Lomond.