Unusually, no photos with this one. Photos are on cameras, and the connecty bit for the camera, and the laptop to download them too, is currently buried in the depths of the car!
Anyway - WE'RE HERE! Arrived yesterday evening - journey was excellent (incredible weather with temperatures so warm I had to excavate my sandals!) ferry was bang on time (good old Calmac!) and we got here - the pub - at about 8pm. Royally fed & watered (well, fed & beered!) by Elisabeth & Alastair, and made much fuss of by Winston, who you may meet this time as we've volunteered for dog-walking duties.
We are currently as snug as bugs in rugs in the cosy cottage at the back of the pub, with the sound of birdsong all round us. Later today we plan a beach walk, followed by lunch, an exciting trip to the Co-op for shopping (mind the irony there) and finally a drive up to the road to discover our home for the next fortnight.
Watch this space for more!
Robyn
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Saturday, 26 May 2012
Thursday, 24 May 2012
Hebrides Countdown 2012...
Beaches. One of the best things about the Hebrides by far - endless beaches, white sand, the ocean crashing...bliss. We usually earmark our first Sunday over there for a beach walk - often this one:
3 miles of perfect, pretty much deserted white sandy gorgeousness. You relax just stepping on to it, although by the time you've walked a mile or so of it your leg muscles are feeling anything but relaxed - that soft sand is tough walking, you know! West beach is one of our favourites, but as beaches like this are dotted all over the islands (The Western edge of South Uist is almost entirely beach) then it's never hard to find one to walk on. A favourite down on South Uist is Kilpheder - here:
The fantastic beaches aren't just limited to the Southern islands, either - one of the most stunning views anywhere in the hebrides has to be from the main "Spine road" up through Harris, when you suddenly come across the view over Luskentyre - possibly the most beautiful beach I've ever seen
I have many MANY photos of that view. Mainly because I can rarely resist stopping - there is a handily positioned layby just there and it's ideal for stopping to take a photo, or to see if we can spot some of the Long Tailed Ducks that seem to like the water just below where you're standing!
Moving on further up to Lewis, again, some fantastic beaches to choose from. I have a picture taken on the Island of Great Bernera, to the North of Lewis itself, which I used to use regularly as a desktop on my work computer - if I had a fiver for each time someone has told me that of course it couldn't be Scotland because "there aren't beaches like that in the UK" then I would have retired by now! Then there are the amzing rock stacks on the beach at Garry, North Tolsta:
there are countless others too - Vatersay where we've had the longest, laziest lunches basking in the sunshine, Eriskay's "Princes Strand" - said to be the landing place for Charles Stewart, the bird covered beaches of Benbecula, Clachan Sands....so many to choose from. I wonder where we wil got for our first walk of the holiday this year?
Robyn
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| West Beach, Berneray |
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| Kilpheder, South Uist |
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| Luskentyre, Harris |
Moving on further up to Lewis, again, some fantastic beaches to choose from. I have a picture taken on the Island of Great Bernera, to the North of Lewis itself, which I used to use regularly as a desktop on my work computer - if I had a fiver for each time someone has told me that of course it couldn't be Scotland because "there aren't beaches like that in the UK" then I would have retired by now! Then there are the amzing rock stacks on the beach at Garry, North Tolsta:
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| Stacks at Garry, North Tolsta |
Robyn
Tuesday, 22 May 2012
A beachy adventure with cheery folk!
Well, last weekend I headed off down to Brighton to met up with some lovely folk. Some you may know - Fay for example, and Jenni, and some you may not but cheery they all were for sure, and a good time was had by all. There was beach-wandering, and piers (Some live, some dead)
There was also tea and cake, and ice cream, and a delicious and very Brighton wholefood takeaway lunch, and pizza, as someone else said, the day sometimes seemed like eating, punctuated occasionally by a wander around!
There was even paddling....well by some people anyway - mainly those with matching toenails!
Now, the bizarre thing about the group of us who met up down there was that a lot of us had never met before, and yet we all know one another really well. We met on the internet in the first place - initially when we were all involved with the forum offshoot of a very well known website, before "breaking away" with five others to form our very own offshoot of the offshoot, as it were. That was well over a year ago, and while most people from the group have met at least one other, this was the first time that any number of us have got together in the same place. Internet friendships are getting more and more common these days - a few years ago most people would have died sooner than admit that they'd actually met anyone they considered a friend that way, now though I would suggest that the majority of people have at least one friend who they have met remotely. Certainly the dynamic last weekend proved that such friendships can work really well - in fact we're already talking about when the next meet-up might be, and those who couldn't make it this time have sworn their determination to make the next!
Robyn
Friday, 18 May 2012
Frugal Friday...
Sometimes savings can be as simple as maximising what you already have. This works particularly well if you need a short term boost to your finances - for spending money for a holiday for example, or because you've had an unexpected expense or shortfall in income to be dealt with. Even once you've got this Frugalisticness (no, it almost certainly wasn't a word, but it is now!) down to a (fairly) fine art, it's still worth looking at possibilities in this direction.
One area that this" maximising" approach works really well is in the bathroom - specifially toiletries - I frightened myself rigid when I first decided it was time to look at reducing my stockpile. Shampoo and conditioner enough for a family of 6...for a YEAR! Makeup I'd long since forgotten I had, and never used. Shower gel & bubble bath...well, we won't talk about those! The first step was to identify what I had, and the second? To identify that impulse-buying tendency. Shampoo on special offer in the supermarket? I'd grab a couple on the basis that it was a good price. Half price eyeliner in the Avon book? Absolutely - better have two! Buy one get one free on something else....? Oh, go on then! Sure, it was all bought at good prices, but that doesn't change the fact that I was heading for the territory of it all going off long before I used it! Oh, you'd not realised about shelf life on those sort of things? Well true, so long as something like that smells OK it is unlikely to harm you, but that doesn't mean it might not smell different to the scent that was intended, or change consistency, and in either case you're unlikely to fancy using it. (The exception to this by the way is Mascara, which should be replaced fairly often regardless to avoid the risk of causing eye infections.) My first approach was to make a start on working through the half-used bottles of shower gel, shampoo and bubble bath. The problem was, I would get something new, open it to have a sniff, take a couple of baths or showers out of it, then move on to something else, so the bathroom cabinet was full of partly used bottles of STUFF! At least a couple I threw out - either because they smelt a bit odd, or because the reason I'd stopped using them was simply that I didn't like them. The approach with body creams & lotions was slightly different - again, I had lots, but that turned out to be mainly because I never got around to actually using them! Oops! When I made time to slather myself in something delicious smelling after a shower, not only did the stash start diminishing, but my skin thanked me for it too!
Special offers are designed to suck us in, remember. Whether it is BOGOF's in Tesco or "Better than half price" elsewhere - they are designed to get us reaching for our purse. Remember - retailers aren't putting these sorts of offers on to do you a favour, they are doing it because it turns them a good profit! The other thing I have noticed over time, is that there is always another offer along in a while - as a BOGOF finishes in ione place, a half price offer for the same product starts elsewhere. There are some products now I simply *never* buy without some kind of deal. Coffee for example, or toilet rolls. Shampoo is a great example of this. Poundland sell Alberto Balsam shampoo. So do 99p Shop, so that's a penny saved. Asda however, pretty much always sell them at 4 for £3 - so that's the unit cost down to 75p each. To really pare it to the bone, last time I was in Home Bargains or B&M, both were doing a twin pack - one Shampoo, one conditioner, for £1.49! Another good example - the Avon book. I am an Avon rep, and there are two specific tricks I've noticed over time: 1) NEVER buy anything at full price - within a few books, it will be discounted (I tell customers this!) and 2) The offers go in cycles - a "best ever" offer on Skincare or shower gel, for example, will always be repeated again a few months later. I'm guessing this applies to most shops, too.
So, go on then, go and raid your bathroom cupboard, and see what "stuff" you're accumulated, that by working your way through without buying more. You might be richer than you expected at the end of this month!
Robyn
One area that this" maximising" approach works really well is in the bathroom - specifially toiletries - I frightened myself rigid when I first decided it was time to look at reducing my stockpile. Shampoo and conditioner enough for a family of 6...for a YEAR! Makeup I'd long since forgotten I had, and never used. Shower gel & bubble bath...well, we won't talk about those! The first step was to identify what I had, and the second? To identify that impulse-buying tendency. Shampoo on special offer in the supermarket? I'd grab a couple on the basis that it was a good price. Half price eyeliner in the Avon book? Absolutely - better have two! Buy one get one free on something else....? Oh, go on then! Sure, it was all bought at good prices, but that doesn't change the fact that I was heading for the territory of it all going off long before I used it! Oh, you'd not realised about shelf life on those sort of things? Well true, so long as something like that smells OK it is unlikely to harm you, but that doesn't mean it might not smell different to the scent that was intended, or change consistency, and in either case you're unlikely to fancy using it. (The exception to this by the way is Mascara, which should be replaced fairly often regardless to avoid the risk of causing eye infections.) My first approach was to make a start on working through the half-used bottles of shower gel, shampoo and bubble bath. The problem was, I would get something new, open it to have a sniff, take a couple of baths or showers out of it, then move on to something else, so the bathroom cabinet was full of partly used bottles of STUFF! At least a couple I threw out - either because they smelt a bit odd, or because the reason I'd stopped using them was simply that I didn't like them. The approach with body creams & lotions was slightly different - again, I had lots, but that turned out to be mainly because I never got around to actually using them! Oops! When I made time to slather myself in something delicious smelling after a shower, not only did the stash start diminishing, but my skin thanked me for it too!
Special offers are designed to suck us in, remember. Whether it is BOGOF's in Tesco or "Better than half price" elsewhere - they are designed to get us reaching for our purse. Remember - retailers aren't putting these sorts of offers on to do you a favour, they are doing it because it turns them a good profit! The other thing I have noticed over time, is that there is always another offer along in a while - as a BOGOF finishes in ione place, a half price offer for the same product starts elsewhere. There are some products now I simply *never* buy without some kind of deal. Coffee for example, or toilet rolls. Shampoo is a great example of this. Poundland sell Alberto Balsam shampoo. So do 99p Shop, so that's a penny saved. Asda however, pretty much always sell them at 4 for £3 - so that's the unit cost down to 75p each. To really pare it to the bone, last time I was in Home Bargains or B&M, both were doing a twin pack - one Shampoo, one conditioner, for £1.49! Another good example - the Avon book. I am an Avon rep, and there are two specific tricks I've noticed over time: 1) NEVER buy anything at full price - within a few books, it will be discounted (I tell customers this!) and 2) The offers go in cycles - a "best ever" offer on Skincare or shower gel, for example, will always be repeated again a few months later. I'm guessing this applies to most shops, too.
So, go on then, go and raid your bathroom cupboard, and see what "stuff" you're accumulated, that by working your way through without buying more. You might be richer than you expected at the end of this month!
Robyn
Thursday, 17 May 2012
Hebrides Countdown 2012...
I asked Ben to choose a favourite place for me to write about this time, and he almost immediately said "what about Balranald?" The RSPB reserve at Balranald on North Uist is indeed a favourite place to visit for both of us. It's also one of the RSPB's most remote reserves - and the people at our local reserve are rather jealous we have been there! In fact, rather than just having been there, we consider it one of our favourites - we always visit at least twice when we are on Uist.
I asked Ben why he'd chosen Balranald, and indeed why we kept going back "there are so many different landscapes in one small area, and such a diverse range of birds too - from ground nesters such as Lapwings & Skylarks - of which there are ALWAYS several singing! - to Waders, Pipits and sea birds - Skuas and Petrels are regularly seen off the coast there" he said. It's also the home of several rarer species - the Corncrake can be heard here most evenings in the breeding season, and Corn Buntings are regular visitors too. Ben also mentioned Twite - a very sweet, and very LOUD little bird - which visits Balranald hundreds at a time and makes a deafening racket singing from the fences near the small visitors centre!
Robyn
Ps - please note, we are still not in ANY way to be considered "birders" .....
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Tuesday, 15 May 2012
Auld Reekie...
If you asked me my favourite city in the UK, then Edinburgh would be right up there, without question. I first visited over 20 years ago, when on a speedway trip north we had a few hours to kill before heading to Powderhall Stadium for the meeting, we were turned loose in the city for a whole to explore. Since then I've taken every opportunity to return - repeated holidays spent at the Fringe Festival, Ben and I got engaged there, and subsequently it was the first overnight stop on our train tour of the UK honeymoon. Any excuse for a visit really! When we were planning our recent jaunt north for Easter, it wasn't long before one of us said "...and we could end up with a couple of days in Edinburgh!"
It is an easy drive across from the Lakes, so off we headed after packing up a rather soggy tent - thankfully not required for the remainder of the trip, but more on the accommodation in a minute... A meander north via M6 & A74M, then hang a right onto the A702 and it was a straight road to our destination, the lovely Mortonhall Camping & Caravan Park - this one definitely does get a mention. Superb facilities, excellent prices for what is basically a city centre (just a short bus ride from Princes Street) location, and a Good Beer Guide pub on site - who could ask for more?! Highly recommended by us, and quite the poshest shower block on any site I've visited - underfloor heating and all! Anyhow, rather than having to erect the tent again, we had booked one of their rather fab Wigwams - here, let me show you....
Cute eh? We were most impressed that there was an electric kettle and a fridge - there's a TV and microwave too but we didn't use either of those. Basically it's a tiny self catering unit - should you want to do "real cooking" there is a small kitchen across the way in the Courtyard - we cooked breakfast in there on our second morning as the weather was terrible!
It didn't take us long (once we'd stopped marvelling at the wigwam!) to get sorted, and then the pubs of Edinburgh called us...who were we to argue?! With arrangements to meet friends later in the evening, we headed straight for one our our favourite pubs, the Guildford Arms, and followed that with a quick drink in the Cafe Royal's beautiful bar too. Edinburgh has lots of truly amazing pubs - not only from a beer, but also an architectural point of view - and the pub where we were meeting pals Colin & Aileen was no exception - The Cloisters is an old parsonage - and rather a spectacular building. Inside is no exception with about 8 handpumps on the bar each with a different real ale - a good night was clearly on the cards! From there it was a short walk around the corner to Bennetts - which boasts some of the most incredible stained glass and a wooden "gallery" behind the bar which you would never get tired of admiring! Thankfully another of this pubs remarkable features was the proximity to a rather good fish & chip shop so dinner was assured as well before getting the bus back to Mortonhall.
The following day dawned grey and cloudy, but dry, so we felt that some exploring was in order. First to Leith - our "day tickets" for the buses allowed us to travel all over the city which for just £3.50 was good value - we've visited Leith before some years back and liked it, but this time we had to say it disappointed - it seems to have lost a lot of it's "buzz" - there are trendy restaurants everywhere but no atmosphere. A shame, and we didn't stay long, choosing instead to get the bus back to the centre and walk through to the Botanic Gardens - as recommended by the lovely Fay at The Wind & The Wellies.
Well, thank you do much Fay - we loved your "wee garden" - from the beautiful and grand glass house to the area devoted to herbs of culinary & medicinal uses, via the fantastic Memorial Garden for HRH Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. Wonderful place - we'll be back! All walked out (and having sampled some tea & shortbread!) we took the bus back up the hill to the pub where we were meeting yet another friend - Laurie -(perfectly summed up by Ben afterwards - with "what a lovely girl!") so another few drinks were consumed there! Food was courtesy of the Stable Bar back at the campsite - where we screeched in through the doors at the very last knockings for food service but they were still happy to serve us up two enormous platefuls thank goodness!
Tuesday morning dawned damp, grey, and distinctly sleety. The sleet then turned to wet snow for a bit, before deciding to simply tip down with proper snow....! We were extremely glad to be in a wigwam not a tent, I can tell you! By the time we had finished packing up the snow had more or less stopped, a relief considering the length of drive ahead of us! First though a diversion to Portobello and our favourite cheery butchers shop Findlay's for some Haggis....we decided to treat ourselves to some square slice (Lorne sausage) too - not only delicious but excellent for tormenting Facebook friends with too as we soon discovered! Yum!
Robyn
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
It is an easy drive across from the Lakes, so off we headed after packing up a rather soggy tent - thankfully not required for the remainder of the trip, but more on the accommodation in a minute... A meander north via M6 & A74M, then hang a right onto the A702 and it was a straight road to our destination, the lovely Mortonhall Camping & Caravan Park - this one definitely does get a mention. Superb facilities, excellent prices for what is basically a city centre (just a short bus ride from Princes Street) location, and a Good Beer Guide pub on site - who could ask for more?! Highly recommended by us, and quite the poshest shower block on any site I've visited - underfloor heating and all! Anyhow, rather than having to erect the tent again, we had booked one of their rather fab Wigwams - here, let me show you....
It didn't take us long (once we'd stopped marvelling at the wigwam!) to get sorted, and then the pubs of Edinburgh called us...who were we to argue?! With arrangements to meet friends later in the evening, we headed straight for one our our favourite pubs, the Guildford Arms, and followed that with a quick drink in the Cafe Royal's beautiful bar too. Edinburgh has lots of truly amazing pubs - not only from a beer, but also an architectural point of view - and the pub where we were meeting pals Colin & Aileen was no exception - The Cloisters is an old parsonage - and rather a spectacular building. Inside is no exception with about 8 handpumps on the bar each with a different real ale - a good night was clearly on the cards! From there it was a short walk around the corner to Bennetts - which boasts some of the most incredible stained glass and a wooden "gallery" behind the bar which you would never get tired of admiring! Thankfully another of this pubs remarkable features was the proximity to a rather good fish & chip shop so dinner was assured as well before getting the bus back to Mortonhall.
The following day dawned grey and cloudy, but dry, so we felt that some exploring was in order. First to Leith - our "day tickets" for the buses allowed us to travel all over the city which for just £3.50 was good value - we've visited Leith before some years back and liked it, but this time we had to say it disappointed - it seems to have lost a lot of it's "buzz" - there are trendy restaurants everywhere but no atmosphere. A shame, and we didn't stay long, choosing instead to get the bus back to the centre and walk through to the Botanic Gardens - as recommended by the lovely Fay at The Wind & The Wellies.
Well, thank you do much Fay - we loved your "wee garden" - from the beautiful and grand glass house to the area devoted to herbs of culinary & medicinal uses, via the fantastic Memorial Garden for HRH Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. Wonderful place - we'll be back! All walked out (and having sampled some tea & shortbread!) we took the bus back up the hill to the pub where we were meeting yet another friend - Laurie -(perfectly summed up by Ben afterwards - with "what a lovely girl!") so another few drinks were consumed there! Food was courtesy of the Stable Bar back at the campsite - where we screeched in through the doors at the very last knockings for food service but they were still happy to serve us up two enormous platefuls thank goodness!
Tuesday morning dawned damp, grey, and distinctly sleety. The sleet then turned to wet snow for a bit, before deciding to simply tip down with proper snow....! We were extremely glad to be in a wigwam not a tent, I can tell you! By the time we had finished packing up the snow had more or less stopped, a relief considering the length of drive ahead of us! First though a diversion to Portobello and our favourite cheery butchers shop Findlay's for some Haggis....we decided to treat ourselves to some square slice (Lorne sausage) too - not only delicious but excellent for tormenting Facebook friends with too as we soon discovered! Yum!
Robyn
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Monday, 14 May 2012
Lee Richardson.
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| Lee Richardson - 1979 - 2012 |
Yesterday, British speedway rider Lee Richardson lost his life following a track crash in Poland. He was rushed to hospital, but his injuries were simply too severe, and tragically he lost his fight for life shortly after. He was 33 years old, and lost his life simply doing his job.
I have been following speedway for 25 years - in that time I have seen too many crashes to count. So many look horrific, but the riders get up, dust themselves down, and come out again in their next race. Every now and then you get one more serious - the awful injuries sustained by both Mark Loram & Chris Louis spring to mind. Both men have recovered, but neither have raced a bike again since, and there have been many others in recent times even worse - Garry Stead, Kim Jansson....
I have personally witnessed one crash where a rider sustained injuries severe enough that he lost his life some days later. It is something you simply never forget - even now, some 23 years later I can see every second of that incident. I wish I couldn't, in the same way that those present in Poland yesterday will be wishing they'd not seen Lee's crash. You simply have to learn to live with it - it's all you can do - it's that or walk away from the sport that mostly, we love so much. On days like today, it feels closer to hate.
The death of Lee has left the speedway world in mourning today. He leaves a wife and three children, and our hearts go out to them, and his other family and friends.
Robyn
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
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