Scottish diaries ..lazy day

It raining, I fact it has been raining pretty much all day so we stayed in reading,knitting, spinning, ukulele playing and sleeping. We only left the cottage to pop to the shop as we had run out of bread.

The only downside is that I have to unpick a row of my knitting as I missed out the decrease row :-( ooh and we have new neighbours.

We came back a couple of days ago to find the field behind us populated with sheep and cows .

Scottish diaries..past times

During the week we spotted an advert for the  farming yesteryear and vintage rally at Scone near Perth.  The poster promised steam traction engines so we ummed and aahed about having another early start and long drive. In the end we said sod it and were on the road by 8am.

After parking up and changing into boots as the weather had been so wet we spent 2 hours simply looking at the stalls round the outside of the arenas. A quick refill stop at a marquee cafe and we looked round the exhibits.

A little disappointed at the lack of traction engines but well pleased with the spinning wheel display.

And we can confirm that the vintage ice cream caravan was dispensing  excellent 99's.

Scottish diaries, over the sea to ......

hi,

Anyone who reads this blog, does anyone still read blogs? will remember that we visit the Isle of Skye from tine to time and we were last up there in May.

From where we are based it's a 100 plus miles journey but the chance to catch up with people was to big a draw. Setting off at 8 we managed to make the first crossing at Glenelg at 10 and ticked off the first job on our list. Two dogs work on the ferry, inspecting travellers,checking the ferry is all there and still smells the same and All the other important things that dogs do.

One of them has his own Facebook page :-)

We dropped off dog biscuits and treats for them to share.

Next stop was the Windrush bookshop and café,  we have come to know the owners over the last few years and any cafe with a spinning wheel set up and obviously in use is the place for me. A quick hot chocolate and hubby wandered off to watch the shinty match at Portree leaving me to chat with some knitters and spinners that  knew from previous visits. 

After the shinty (skye lost) we wandered off to Skye Batiks. Now , anyone who knows me will have seen the patterned trousers that I usually were. These all come from Skye Batiks along with some of my bags and other clothing. This time we were picking up a parcel for someone I work with and dropping off two fairisle hats for two of the staff.

Several cups of coffee later we left having purchased several packets of there new range of curry spice mixes. I will report back on them later :-)

After a quick look at the harbour we had to head back, but we hope to be back on the island next May :-)

We took the bridge back...... not so much fun as the ferry though

The Scottish diaries...books :-)

Hi,

 In theory we are supposed to be downsizing and some point and we are getting rid of books and other items. This said it is a bit dangerous going into a large second hand book store.

Another damp day and neither of us could be bothered to do much so we went over to Inverness to try and find the book shop that we visited 14 years ago. After a good wander round, we found the old shop (now closed) and remembered that the new shop was just around the corner.

After an hour or so and several temptations later we left, empty handed. I earmarked some books to go back to next week.

We entertained ourselves with a walk through the Victoria market which unfortunately had quite a few empty stalls.

Then it was time to check out the book sections of the charity shops where I found two of the books that I had seen at the book shop marked at 50p each. These are books that I read years ago and just fancied rereading again.
Total haul from charity shops in Inverness? 5 books costing £7
Bring the holiday total to 8 oops!!

Scottish diaries, what no wine,

Hi,
Another lazy morning spent knitting and chatting. Eventually we decided to brave the rain and head out towards Inverness.

Last time we were up in this area was about 14 years ago and we found a little winery up at moniak castle so that is were we were heading.  Slight problem,  took the back road into the village and couldn't find the castle. Retraced our steps and recognised the gate house but no signs that it was open to the public at all.  Drove back up to the main road through the village and we saw that the sign was blacked out.

A bit of research when we got back revealed that the castle us permanently closed and the winery no longer hand bottles the wine and the address on the website is for a winery in Devon.

Never mind, we drove up through Dingwall to Strathpeffer, a small interesting looking spa town and I think we will be popping back to visit further.  The actual reason for going to Strathpeffer was to visit the Highland museum of childhood which is housed in part of the old Victorian railway station.

It's a lovely small museum, dolls and toys, old photos of local children with details from their lives but the best bit was a short film of childhood reminiscences from four elderly residents of the area who I believe are no longer with us.

We followed this with lunch in the station cafe and a good look at the sculpture  (almost a totem pole) showing the history of Scotland from early days through iron age, viking attacks right up to nuclear power and north sea gas rigs.

We ended the day in tesco having decided that 3 carrots and a bit of cheese wouldn't make much of an evening meal !

Scottish diaries...wet,wet,wet

hi,
Yesterday, Wednesday 7 sept, we awoke to rain :-) so decided to have a slow morning knitting, spinning, watching TV and eating croissants. Well we are on holiday!

The garden here is full of birds,  many of which come up on the patio area and two so far have tried to get in only to realise how hard glass is. No birds have been injured.

Eventually we realised that it would be an idea to go out for some air so we went down into Fort Augustus, about 2 mile down the road.

Fort Augustus is at the bottom of Loch Ness where it meets the caladonian canal and is quite a tourist attraction with a flight of locks with a swing bridge at the bottom.

After wandering round the few shops (and picking up a darning needle to deal with the loose ends in my knitting) we walked up by the locks rathe intrigued  by the large boat moored at the top.

Getting closer we could see smoke coming from the chimney and smell the familiar smell of steam.
It was ....... A Clyde puffer boat built in 1943 now being used as a holiday boat carrying 12 passengers.

She caused a great stir as she descended the locks and got a round of applause and cheers when she reached the bottom.

Then back to the cottage and great British bake off on the telly.

Knitting update..