Day 195 - 6 Jan '23 - Killearn to Oban. On the road again! But first, packing...
Despite buying only two jumpers (one really thin, one a medium weight fleece), my rucksack seemed a lot harder to pack. Alex struggled to get everything in his, and Abigail had collected a ridiculous amount of 'things'.
"When we come back here, we're going to have to do a serious cull," Dan pointed out, as we kept finding more of Abi's things around the house.
"I agree. Same goes for you, Alex."
"Yes, mum."
"We'll need to leave your raincoat Abi, and your pink coat."
"But I LIKE my pink coat!"
"Yes, I know, but it's not waterproof, and your new blue winter coat IS!"
"BUT I DON'T LIKE THAT ONE!"
"WELL, THAT'S JUST TOO BAD!"
We don't actually have a lot of items in our packs, but they were heavy and fully packed, and there was no room for sentimentality. We still have a few more things to buy, like proper gloves for Dan and I, and possibly some snow boots for Abi. Goodness knows where we will put them.
We eventually had almost everything loaded (we'd left a few things behind since we were coming back in four days), and began our journey to Oban.
It was a very frosty morning, but because of the cold air, there was low mist hanging over Loch Lomond, which meant we didn't get to see the views. We did get to see some highland cows though, and they looked very pretty in the frosty mist.
"Anyone driving past must laugh and think we're crazy, taking pictures of Highland cows. I mean, they're COWS! Just like we've had a laugh at Asian tourists taking pictures of Fresians!"
The mist slowly disappeared as we kept driving, and at one point we saw the most incredible reflection in the River Awe. There wasn't a single breath of wind, and the water was like a mirror; it was hard to tell where the hillside stopped and the river began.
We got to Oban around 1pm, and had some lunch down at the harbourside, then we went up the hill to see McCair's Tower (or Folly, depending which sign you read). This was a colosseum-esque structure, privately funded by a banker, for no reason other than to provide a focal point for the town.
The views from the tower were lovely, looking across the harbour towards the Isle of Kerrera, with Mull in the background.
We checked into our Airbnb for the night, went back out to buy some groceries, and after dinner, sat once again with our devices, planning more of our trip. So far, we have three nights in Paris, followed by two nights in Brussels. We're slowly getting there!
Day 196 - 7 Jan '23 - Oban to Isle of Skye. It was very frosty when we woke up, and the roof of our car even had a bit of hoar frost on it! Lots of little, delicate, feathery spikes sticking straight up.
We had a wonderful drive towards Skye today, with beautiful blue skies, no wind at all, and a 0-1°C steady temperature. We pulled over briefly at Glencoe, passed through Fort William, then paused at the Commandos memorial, which overlooked Ben Nevis.
It was quite ethereal, with the mountains rising out of the clouds, bathed in the low-lying winter sun. What an amazing view for the soldiers to stand sentry over.
We next stopped at Loch Garry. Here we saw the most incredible mirror-like reflections, even more so than yesterday.
It was absolutely breathtaking. So utterly still, not a single ripple. Until, that was, that Dan said "yes" to Abi's request to throw a stone in the water.
"No!" I cried. "It will RUIN it! The ripples will last for ages!"
"It will be still again in no time."
"No it won't! Don't do it Abi!"
Abi scooped up a rock and threw it into the water. Ripples spread out. The mirror was broken.
We got back to our car, and another car had pulled up to see the view.
"See? What did I tell you? Now their view will be ruined!"
"Well, WE got a good picture!" Dan laughed as we drove away.
Our next brief pause was at Eilean Donan Castle, one of Scotland's most photographed castles. The sun was starting to get lower in the sky, and the castle was already in shadow by the time we got there, so the colours weren't as striking as they could be.
By the time we got to Skye, and drove to the capital Portree, the sun had gone behind the clouds. The winter daylight in Scotland is quite deceptive - at 10:30am it felt like dawn, and at 3:30pm, you could have sworn it was almost 6pm.
We stayed in a house built in 1912, that was later turned into a convalescence home for returned WWII soldiers, before being converted into a guest house. I was convinced, therefore, there would be ghosts!
Day 197 - 8 Jan '23 - Skye to Inverness. No ghosts (luckily). We did get breakfast provisions, in the form of a variety of cereals and muesli bars, as well as Tunnock's teacakes! Yummy!!
"Are you taking ALL of them?" Dan asked in disbelief.
"Yes, of course I am," I answered, dumbfounded at such a stupid question. "We've paid for breakfast, they don't know how much we've eaten or not. We could have had some for pudding last night."
I did put one tub of porridge back, just to appease him, and I left both cartons of milk unopened, but the remaining four muesli bars, two tubs of porridge, one packet of muesli, one yoghurt, four weetabix biscuits, three Tunnock's teacakes, and two packets of cereal, came with us.
Call me cheap, I don't care! I like think of it more as 'savvy'.
We took the highland route to Inverness, driving through mist and fog for most of it. Every time we climbed a hill, we broke through the cloud, and the sky was a glorious blue. There was again no wind, and Dan commented that he had never seen so many reflections in the still waters.
"I agree, it's absolutely incredible. No need to stop for these ones though."
We went to Castle Urquhart, on the shore of Loch Ness, but because of the mist, we decided not to walk around it. The view down the loch was completely obscured.
We drove back to the wee town of Drumnadrochit, to see the (admittedly, pretty lame) fibreglass Nessie that I could remember as a child, floating in a pond there. Unfortunately, the lady behind the counter at the Loch Ness Monster Centre said it went a few years ago.
"Well, that's a shame."
"But you said it was lame," Dan pointed out.
"Yes, but still, the kids would have liked to see it."
As we carried on to Inverness, we decided that it was the perfect weather conditions for Nessie to show her head, with the mist sitting on the water surface. If she did happen to make an appearance, then the kids didn't spot her. Oh well, no millions today!
We were a bit early to check in to our Airbnb, so drove to the nearby Clava cairns. These burial mounds and their encircling standing stones, have been there since the Bronze Age.
It was still frosty at 2pm, which wasn't really surprising at -1°C. The late-afternoon sun was shining through the trees, and the information sign said the original builders had positioned the tallest standing stones to catch the rays at specific times of the year.
After that, we went to nearby Culloden Battlefield.
"Shall we go in?" Dan asked me.
"Nah, I don't think so. It's just a field. It was a field at the time of battle, and it's still a field today. A historic field, yes, but just a field. I remember coming here when I was about 13 and being rather underenthused. Although, there is some embarassing film footage of me laying a piece of heather on the MacDonald grave marker and saying some words."
By that time, it was late enough for us to check in to our house for the next two nights. The house was back down in the mist, and there was still ice everywhere - it hadn't thawed once all day.
We sat in the lounge for an hour watching some TV, and the house felt like it kept getting colder, despite every radiator being on and the temperature set to 20°C. I checked the thermostat, and it had dropped to just 16.3°C. Dan got up to have a look at the boiler settings, and I went around the house, closing the curtains.
I got to the kid's room and...
"WHO OPENED THE WINDOW???!!!"
"Me," came the reply from Alex.
"WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU OPEN THE WINDOW WHEN IT'S MINUS ONE OUTSIDE???!!!"
"Because I was hot."
"IT'S NOT HOT! CAN YOU NOT SEE THE ICE EVERYWHERE?"
"COULD YOU NOT HEAR US TALKING ABOUT HOW COLD THE HOUSE WAS GETTING?" asked Dan.
"No! I was hot!"
"IT'S NOT HOT! IT'S MINUS ONE! DID YOU NOT THINK TO TAKE OFF A JUMPER? WHY WOULD YOU OPEN THE WINDOW??"
"IT'S HOT IN HERE!"
"IT'S NOT HOT! IT'S ONLY 16 DEGREES IN HERE! NO WONDER THE HOUSE WAS GETTING COLDER, WHEN THE WINDOW IS OPEN!"
Alex has been driving us insane recently, with his apparent inability to think things through. Yesterday he was throwing a water bottle up and down, yet was surprised when it hit the ground and cracked and sprayed water on him. He was spinning his kindle in the air, yet was surprised when it slipped through his fingers and hit the ground. He was running on some frosty pavement, yet was surprised when he slipped.
His answer was always the same: "I didn't think".
Later that evening, he and Abi went outside to play on the frosty path, slipping and sliding.
"Be careful," Dan said, "as it's slippery."
And what happened? He slid down the path and then onto the road, where he slipped and fell on his knee. Abi laughed, so he stormed back up the path and pushed Abi out the way of the door, whereupon she slipped and fell onto her bum, then started crying.
"I didn't think the road was slippery."
"Why would you NOT think the road was slippery?" Dan asked. "It's minus one, and the roads have been icy all day!"
"I thought it was just the pavement that was icy."
Like I said, he just doesn't think.
Day 198 - 9 Jan '23 - Inverness. We had an interesting sleep in our double bed. I don't understand how people still have double beds, when even a queen size feels so much bigger. Every time one of us rolled over, the other felt it and/or got an elbow or knee jabbed into them, some places softer than others.
"You could just cuddle me more," Dan pointed out.
"Ha ha ha ha ha!" (I like sleeping on my tummy).
In the morning, Alex wanted to join us for a cuddle, but there wasn't enough room.
"Sorry Alex, but there's not even enough space for two adults, never mind you as well!"
It may come across as a lot of moaning about bed size, but we left a superking in New Zealand, so going back to a smaller bed requires getting used to. That being said, I'm sure we will be sleeping in a lot more doubles (or singles) in the months to come.
It was foggy and -4°C when we got out of bed. Today's high was going to be -1°C! The first thing Alex did when we went outside, was to stand on a bucket that had ice on it.
"I didn't think my foot would go through," he said, when he came back inside with wet shoes.
*sigh*
We went on a day trip to Aviemore, and on the way there saw some amazing frozen trees and plants. The fog had kept the temperature below freezing all night, so again, nothing had had the chance to thaw.
It was quite magical; everything looked like it had been sprayed with some kind of flocking. The kids reckoned we were in Narnia!
We broke through the fog on the way to Aviemore, where we did a quick shop for some gloves for Dan and I, then bought some lunch, before heading up the mountain road.
We stopped at Loch Morlich, which had frozen as far out as we could see, maybe even all the way across! We all tried breaking the ice around the edges, but were successful in only making some cracks.
We went up the Cairngorms, winding up the road until we got to the carpark at the base of the ski lift. The view back down the mountain towards Loch Morlich was cool to see, and I imagine it must look even better covered in snow.
Speaking of snow, the kids had lots of fun in the small patch of frozen snow we could get to. All they could scrape up was a couple of handfuls of crystals, which they threw up into the air like glittery confetti.
We made a quick stop back at Loch Morlich (still no success in breaking the ice), then drove back to the house in Inverness. It was still foggy and -2°C as we descended into the city, so there was no point in doing any sightseeing. The kids played outside on the path again, and Alex was a bit more sensible with trying to break the refrozen ice, this time using his hands. Without gloves.
"Can you pass me my gloves please mummy? My hands are freezing!"
*sigh*
We unfortunately had a bit of drama in the evening, when Abi suddenly complained of a sore stomach. I didn't really believe her too much, and sent her to bed with some doTerra DigestZen rubbed on her tummy, then went downstairs to watch a movie. A few minutes later we heard running footsteps, as Abi made her way to the toilet to be sick.
She repeated this move a few more times, finally getting to "the yellow bit, so I'll be okay now". I went to the rubbish bin and pulled out the pasta bake wrapper she'd had for tea.
"Oh man," I said, "it's not gluten free!!"
"Who picked it?" Dan asked me.
"Me, but it was at the gluten free section that Abi took me to. It must have just been the shelf next to it, and I grabbed it and didn't check."
"Poor girl."
Eventually she was all done, and went back to bed. Fortunately mistakes like that don't happen too frequently; it sure will be interesting on our travels, when the labels will be harder to read!
Day 199 - 10 Jan '23 - Inverness to Killearn. It was still misty, but not as freezing, with a light drizzle making everything even more slippery.
I got a phone call from the travel clinic, who had been unable to secure the cholera and Japanese Encephalitis vaccines in time for our appointment tomorrow. This was a decent inconvenience for us, and I then had to phone another nearby travel clinic to see if they could fit us in at short notice and have the vaccines we required. The new clinic also wouldn't let us take our second dose of cholera away with us (it's a drink), unlike the original clinic. So now we had to find another clinic in London for that in seven days' time.
We made our way back to Glasgow via Perth and Dundee. We stopped at House of Bruar near Pitlochry on the recommendation of Jonny, and when we saw the cars parked out front (Jaguar, Porsche, BMW etc), some eyebrows were raised.
"Well, I don't think we'll be able to afford anything here!" I said.
"Why are we even going in then?"
Fair comment, but I did need the loo! It was such a fancy shop, that it wasn't even called the 'toilet' or the 'bathroom', or the slightly more elegant 'washroom'.
"I'm going to the cloakroom!" I said with a huge grin.
The kids spent some of their own money on some fudge, then we carried on to Dundee. We didn't get out the car. Actually, that's a lie; Dan and I swapped seats so I could drive to Stirling while he could close his eyes.
I'm sure there must be some interesting things to do and places to see in Dundee, but other than the RSS Discovery (the research ship Scott and Shackleton first went to Antarctica on), there wasn't anything else we wanted to see.
We went back to Stirling for Dan to get his beard trimmed again. The Turkish barber he went to last time did such a great job, that we went specifically back there! I was a bit disappointed with the result though...
"I thought you were just getting a trim! Not half your beard taken off!"
"This is a number two," Dan protested.
"But it's so short now! I didn't realise you were going to get so much cut off!"
"I was always going to get this much cut off."
"Oh well, I guess it will grow again."
I carried on driving back to Glasgow, and we joined Susan again for dinner. This was our chance to actually say goodbye properly, since last time we never got to.
We left after a couple of hours to drive to nearby Busby, to visit my oldest friend in the world, Elaine. We moved next door to her and her family when I was just nine months old, and were the best of friends growing up before we moved to New Zealand. The fence between our driveways had a gate that was used constantly, and we were in and out of each other's houses and gardens all the time.
I could write about so many stories (breaking their whirligig washing line, making perfume for our mums, helping her do the dishes in the morning before school (because she was never ready!), secret clubs in their garage, cowboys and Indians, finding their rabbit Thumper when he escaped the hutch, singing into hairbrushes to Madonna or Roxette, going around the streets on our Rock n Hoppers, wheeling down the corridor of her mum's work building on office chairs...) but I'd be here for days!
Her mum and dad were at her house also, and we got to meet her husband and their two beautiful children. Unfortunately her little sister Rachel and her family couldn't be there, which was a shame, as we won't get the chance to see them too before we leave. It was a wonderful evening of catching up, and I would have dearly loved more time with them all, but we all had to get our kids to bed, and we still had to drive back to Killearn.
We arrived at Jonny's house just after 10pm, and quickly got the heating turned up, before scrambling into bed to stay warm. Early start tomorrow, back to Glasgow!
Day 200 - 11 Jan '23 - Killearn. 10am and we were back at the travel clinic for another set of jags. Tick borne encephalitis for everyone, hep B for Dan and I, and Japanese encephalitis for the kids. This time, Abi was very brave and didn't cry at all. I almost did though, when I paid the £586!
We then went to the second clinic, where Dan and I got Japanese encephalitis, and everyone got the cholera drink. It wasn't the worst tasting drink I've ever had, but it certainly wasn't the nicest.
"Do you have rabies as well?" I asked the nurse.
"Yes, we do."
"Fantastic! Shall we get them too, Dan?"
"May as well."
"NOOOOOOO!!!" wailed Abi, who burst into tears.
Abigail had asked repeatedly how many jags we were getting today (only two, then a drink), so the sudden announcement of getting another one caused her to panic a bit.
"We need to get them, Abi. And we'd always said we would get as many as we could!"
For the privilege of the extra skin pricks, we left the clinic £610 lighter (we've now spent almost £1900 in total!). We did have one bit of good news - because I'd already had a full course of the rabies vaccine about 18 years ago, I didn't need any more, and today's jag would be a booster.
So now, all that's left for us to get is: two doses of tick borne encephalitis, one dose of Japanese encephalitis, and one of cholera for all of us, one of hepatitis B for Dan and I, and two of rabies for Dan and the kids. Just a few, ha ha ha!
"Time to go home," said Dan. "It's been a very expensive day."
We spent the rest of the day in the house, taking it easy. Our arms didn't hurt as much today as the last time, but a quiet day after so many vaccinations was the best idea.
Day 201 - 12 Jan '23 - Killearn. Today we did the painful job of sorting the kids belongings into piles: coming with us, being sent back to New Zealand, throwing out, leaving for others. Abi went first, and it took almost an hour going through all the little things she'd collected over the last six months. Saying goodbye to her lovely pink coat was the hardest part, as it still fits her, but we can't take two coats with us. Alex didn't take as long, but still had quite a few things to throw out or leave behind, including a raincoat that still fits him.
We've now got a box of things to send back to New Zealand, including some plastic cups from Yankee Stadium and Universal Studios so we'll need to do that tomorrow.
"Don't throw them out, Daddy!" Abigail implored when she saw the cups.
"I'm definitely not throwing them out," he replied. "I'm not carrying them for over three months just to throw them out now!"
In the afternoon, the kids and I went for a walk to follow a Pokémon Go route. Approximately three minutes into it, and there were arguments.
"We can't walk three abreast!" I said.
"But I was already holding your hand!" cried Alex. (Which he had done to make sure Abi couldn't walk beside us).
"Well, one of you need to walk in front."
"I don't want to walk in front!" said Alex.
"Neither do I!" said Abi.
"Fine! I'LL walk in front! One of you will need to walk at the back."
"But I don't want to walk at the back!"
"Neither do I!"
"FINE! I'LL walk at the back!"
"Move over!"
"YOU move over!"
"I'M GOING HOME!" yelled Alex as he ran back in the other direction.
A walk! It was a walk! And they argue over that!
In the evening, we went to Rachel's house, where we had pizza and drinks with Rebekah and Scott and their two youngest, Deborah and her three, and Uncle Alex.
It was such an amazing night - so much dancing and drinking and singing and eating! A fantastic farewell evening! We got home shortly before 2am, and I was asleep in seconds. Dan went back to Rachel's house to drive Rebekah and family to their house, and he made it home about 2:30am.
Not that I was aware of that at all...!!!
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