Tag: walks

When it rains in Scotland…

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You get bonus waterfalls! My favourite mountain on the campsite, Meall Mor, which is right opposite my caravan, has a couple of waterfalls which only appear after a few days of heavy rain, so I call them the bonus waterfalls. I have not been able to get a good picture of them, as they are so far away, but love watching this mountain change with the weather. 

I have also been out visiting many of the local waterfalls, both on my own and when my sister Jacky was visiting in August. We were lucky enough to have a couple of dry days to go and do the Inchree Falls walk, about 15 minutes drive from here. There is a fantastic trail up to the Falls, with great views over Lochleven.

I also went to the Glenculish Forest Trails, 10 minutes away. Although there isn’t a significant waterfall there, the streams are full of tiny little falls, which make the most gorgeous sounds to accompany your walks.

A couple of weeks ago I revisited the Grey Mare’s Tail Waterfall at Kinlochleven.  It is difficult to get a good picture of this impressive fall as it is in a wooded ravine. It is a beautiful walk through the forest and I spent time just watching the water flow in the streams.

It is fair to say that Scotland is living up to its reputation of being a country where it rains a lot. This summer has been particularly wet, with locals commenting on the unusual, even for Glencoe, amount of rain we have had.

While the rest of the country has had drought, with visitors from South of England telling us of parched grass and temperatures over 30 degrees for weeks, we are getting torrential rain on a regular basis. It seems as if it’s all come to Scotland this year. 

A recent BBC article named Scotland, and Glencoe in particular as one of the new, ‘coolcation’, spots, where people come to escape the heat. Lots of our visitors have commented that they are dreading going back home to high temperatures.

We have had some nice days, and I have been lucky enough to see lots of blue skies, but they are definitely the exception, and many of my days off have looked like this.

Not that I mind, apart from feeling so sorry for the tent campers we have. It is OK for me in my cosy caravan, with my heated fleece, but we have had so many optimistic people come for the weekends only to be drenched in their tents. Saturday night seems to be particularly prone to deluges.

As you know if you are a regular reader, I cannot tolerate heat, and am very happy at under 20 degrees. Even getting very, very wet many days this season doesn’t take away from my enjoyment of this beautiful place.

So much so that I am delighted to tell you that I have been given Glencoe as my site allocation for next season! We fill in a form in July with our preferences, and then there is an anxious wait until early September for the email offering us a contract. 

Even though in July I did think we might have better weather later in the season I don’t mind at all. I love this place, and have been blessed with some wonderful days out in amongst the wet ones.

Days like today are the perfect excuse for cuddling up in my cosy van, knitting more little Christmas outfits for fundraisers, and drinking tea.

I hope you are happy where you are, whatever the weather. It seems this year as if everyone is having extremes, I’m just glad mine is on the wet side! Take care and have fun anyway, and thanks as always for visiting.

The most beautiful place in the world?

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One of my favourite places around here is Glencoe Lochan. I have visited it four times now, and on my third visit with Kerry in May, I described it to her as the most beautiful place in the world.

Although I have been to many other beautiful places, wonderful cities, cathedrals and mountains I still think that this is my most beautiful place so far.

A lochan is a small lake or loch. The place came into being in the late 1800s, created by Lord Strathcona, who owned all the land in this area until 1935 when part of it was bought by the National Trust for Scotland.

Lord Strathcona made his money with the Hudson Bay Company and was a partner in the Canadian Pacific Railway.

He built a house here in Glencoe and created the lochan and its planting for his wife Isabella, as she was homesick for her native Canada.

He was born in Scotland, in Forres near the North Coast, and moved to Canada when he was 18. He was also involved in politics, being Canadian High Comissioner at one time, an MP in Canada, and Chancellor of two Scottish universities. He donated money to higher education and founded a college for higher education for women in Canada.

In 1895 he bought the land at Glencoe and built the house, later used as Glencoe Hospital. From reading the details of his life he sounds like a fascinating person, and I would love to find out more about him.

The lochan gives you a snapshot all the most amazing views around here. At one side is the Pap of Glencoe, the other the Mamores, and views across to the mountains near Loch Leven are just amazing.

There are three walking trails here, one round the lochan, a woodland one, and one up the side of the Pap, and my sister and I completed all of them last week during her visit. We had really good weather for most of her stay, so did 24km of walks over three days, which was brilliant. 

My four visits have all been in different seasons, and I will definitely go again before the end of my time here. I think my favourite time has to be when the rhododendrons are blooming, as I love them so much, but it is an amazing place at any time of year. Definitely worth adding to your list if you are in the area.

We are back to rain now and it is getting cooler, so I think this might be it for the Scottish summer. Leaves are falling and the fleecy blankets are back in use. Hopefully we will have a few more nice days for me to explore more. The heather is starting to bloom, which looked amazing when we visited Glen Etive again last week.

I only have 8 weeks left here now, which has gone so fast. I am busy planning my next set of adventures for driving back home to Spain in November!

Hope you are all having fun whatever you are doing, take care and thanks for visiting.

The Devil and the detail

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I have visited some very strangely named places in my time, but The Devil’s Beeftub, near Moffat is very unusual.  It is a depression in the hills, where four peaks join and is so called as the Johnstone clan, referred to as, ‘Devils’ by their neighbours, used to hide stolen cattle here.

It is a very beautiful walk, and it was lovely to be out on a wintery March day with such beautiful views.

A couple of days later I visited two places that have been on my wishlist for a while.  The Great Polish Map of Scotland is in the grounds of a hotel between Moffat and Edinburgh. This photo is from the hotel website.

It was created from granite as a tourist attraction by a Polish war veteran, Jan Tomasik,  who married his wartime nurse, and settled in Scotland.  He later became a successful hotelier and in 1968 bought the Barony Hotel.

The map was created over six summers between 1974 and 1979, mainly by Poles living in Scotland,  assisted by hotel staff and Polish exchange students.

It fell into disrepair after the hotel closed,but was restored from 2014.

It is an amazing piece of craftsmanship in stone, and it must have been so challenging to create.

The same is true for my second visit that day, the gorgeous Rosslyn Chapel.  Made famous by its inclusion in the Dan Brown novel, ‘The Da Vinci Code’, this is a stunning piece of church architecture.

There are no photos permitted inside the Chapel , these two come from the official website, but the carving is incredible, arguably the best that I have ever seen.

This is the Apprentice Pillar, and the detail in the carving is amazing, and so consistent!

The Chapel was built in 1446 by William St Clair, and later extended.  It fell into disrepair and in the late 1990s restoration began with a roof erected over the Chapel to start to dry it out.

The inclusion of the Chapel in the 2003 book, and subsequent 2006 film meant that visitor  numbers increased and raised more money for restoration which is fantastic. It really is an amazing place, I was so lucky to visit on such a sunny day as well.

I am currently sitting in the shade at the back of my caravan, we are having a mini heatwave and the awning and caravan itself are too hot! It is going to get up to 28 degrees here, which is a bit warm for working really, so the shorts and natty sun hat will be out again.

It has been a little quieter in terms of campers over the last few weeks, partly due to a long spell of rain again, but it gives us all a chance to catch up with jobs that we don’t get time for otherwise. 

We are now just over halfway through the season, with lots more adventures planned for the next few months. I am really enjoying being here, and am so lucky with the location and my team.

Last week Cath and I had an impromptu shopping trip to Oban, stopping off at this cafe overlooking Castle Stalker on the way.

I am so loving life in the Highlands, even if the weather is unpredictable! Hope you are all having a great time and thanks for visiting. 

Happy birthday to me!

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Today is my 64th birthday, and I am not only celebrating that, but also 5 years of retirement from my teaching career. It doesn’t seem like five years ago that I left the university and set off on this path, not really knowing where I would end up, but I am so grateful and happy to be here.

To be able to explore places like Glen Etive, a walk a did a few weeks ago now, is truly wonderful. The walk up the valley is beautiful,  and the the Buachallie Etive Mór mountain is just so awe inspiring to see.

It is raining today, with a lot more forecast for the rest of the week, so I am going to spend a very happy day in, knitting another couple of reindeer for a fundraiser, and counting my blessings.

We are having a team social tomorrow, a games night and a Chinese, and tonight will be some tapas from the local Co op and a nice bottle of wine!

When I started this blog coming up for 19 years ago, I had no idea that I would end up here, living and working in Scotland, and having such an amazing life. My plans took an unexpected diversion six months in to blogging, and at that time the future looked very uncertain. 

However it has truly been wonderful last 18 years, if a little wobbly at times, and I am so blessed to be able to be here and enjoy all this wonder.

Last week, like most of the country, we were quite warm, and I went on two great walks.  I have wanted to do both of these for quite a while, they are only just five minutes from the campsite, but I was saving them for a great day.

The first was the footpath from Loch Achtriochtan to the Three Sisters mountains. This is one of the most iconic views of Glencoe, and as such it is virtually impossible to park anywhere near.

However,  there is a little car park, hidden from view, just off the main road, and from there you can walk to the mountains.

On my list is to park the other side and walk back towards them, another amazing set of views that I will show you later in the summer.

Not far from there is An Tor and Signal Rock, another National Trust for Scotland places. I had briefly visited with my friend on a walk along the Greenway, but wanted to go back and do the other trails.

There are three here, so I did the blue one to the rock, and the black one round the whole hill. The rock was apparently a clan meeting place and used to light warning beacons in the 1600s.

The walk starts with a river crossing and stunning views up the valley.

It was beautiful, although quite challenging and steep at times, especially in 25 degrees, but I made it to the rock, pictured below.

I truly love forest walks, there is something so magical about them, that sense of calm with the sun shining through, and mountains just visible through the trees. 

I still can’t believe I have been lucky enough to not only get this brilliant job, and to have had two such amazing sites to work at. Speyside last year was just so lovely, and Glencoe is beyond amazing. To see this every morning,  even on the wet ones, is truly magical.

Even the fact that it rains most of the time, I am often damp all day, doesn’t alter the fact that I am having a wonderful life.

I hope you are enjoying yourselves too, whatever you are doing. Take care and thanks for visiting. 

Autumn highlights

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Three posts in one week, this must be a record! Although it may seem a bit strange to be posting about autumn when spring is here, there are a few more places that I wanted to write about from my travels in October. Then I can continue with more recent adventures.

I love autumn, as I have said before here, it always signifies new beginnings to me, being a teacher for so many years. Even now autumn is the beginning of a different life in Spain every year, so still feels like a start.

I love the autumn colours as well, and the quality of the light. I visited a beautiful house just outside of Bridlington while I was staying at Flamborough. Sewerby Hall is owned by the local council, and is free to visit. The hall wasn’t open when I was there, but they have a little zoo, and beautiful grounds.

It is also the best season to see squirrels and there were so many there! I am really hoping for more squirrels in my life this year. There have been some very cute rabbits at this caravan park which has been nice.

I also visited Beningbrough Hall on my way back down from North Yorkshire. I have been before, but that was a quick stop off during the Covid years, and only the grounds were open then.

The gardens look beautiful, they are very Japanese in style, but it was the wonderful autumn fruit and veg display in the shop are that really made an impression. Such gorgeous colours and textures!

The hall is another mainly empty property, now used for art exhibitions.

When in West Yorkshire I went back to visit my friend Sue, who has recently moved back from Scotland.  I have been to stay with her many times in her beautiful, but remote lodge in Argyll, but she has moved back to where she spent many happy years when her children were young, just over the hills from my old village of Marsden.

Even though it was dull, we had a really good walk around one of the many reservoirs in the area. I love walking around water, probably why I love Scotland so much, there is just something magical about all the reflections. 

As I was leaving Katy Kangoo at my sister’s for the winter, we thought it would be fun to have one last camping trip, to Wales. We booked the very last few days that the site was open, at the Wyeside Camping and Caravanning Club site at Rhyader in mid Wales.

The drive there was stunning, through Herefordshire, and we were really lucky with the weather. We did get a bit wet on the first day, but had a glorious couple of walks, with Ryan the dog of course, and lots of fun just playing games and catching up.

The site is right next to the River Wye, as the name suggests, and so while I pitched my tent on the grass next to my sister’s motorhome, Katy had her own pitch just across from there, so she didn’t sink in the mud!

It was interesting watching the staff close down the site, thinking about what my lovely colleagues would be doing in Scotland. This year I will be doing both opening and closing down, so am really excited for the start of the season and meeting my new team in a couple of weeks. 

I am going to be moving on from the static caravan tomorrow, I have a mix of camping and aires, and some historic visit activities planned.  The rest will be weather dependent, so I may be able to get a lot more crocheting done!

I have brought a large amount of wool with me, and am getting on really well with the granny square blanket.  I have also made myself a warm crochet hat, and matching knitted wrist warmers in uniform colours for work.

I do have WiFi at my next campsite as well, so fingers crossed will be able to keep the posting going. I have so many gorgeous things to show you from our recent city break in northern Spain. 

Until then have fun, and thanks for visiting. 

A little R and R

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As you may remember if you have been following this blog for a while, last year I started using static caravan sites as part of my travel accommodation. 

Much as I love travelling in Katy, and using aires, there is joy in staying in one place for a while, especially if it has lots of room, central heating and a shower!

After Tarland I made my way down the coast, stopping at a few of the aires I have mentioned previously, and my first rest stop was in Northumberland, at the Haven Haggerston Castle site.

The weather wasn’t brilliant, and as I have visited the area a lot recently, I didn’t do much except some short walks around the site. They have a beautiful lake, with lots of geese and swans, and it was lovely to just watch them, and listen to them visit the caravans looking for food.

From there I made my way to Huddersfield, for a weekend with friends, we have been meeting up regularly for the past few years, and although this was a smaller one than previous years, it was lovely to catch up with friends I have known for 42 years.

It was also a reminder of how beautiful my adopted county is, even though I love visiting other parts of the UK and the world, Yorkshire has a very special place in my heart.

When my children were little we had some excellent holidays to Scarborough and Filey, and Ellen and I have visited Whitby a few times for steampunk events. However I have never really explored the coast in between the resorts.

Haven have a lot of sites in this area, so I booked two of them, Blue Dolphin, near Filey, and Thornwick Bay, at Flamborough. I was keen to do some walking along the coast, and also to go to Flamborough Head, which I remember visiting briefly many years ago.

The other thing I love about staying in statics is the really good kitchens so I can do lots of nice cooking!

I was really lucky with the weather both weeks, and had some excellent walks along the Cleveland Way, which runs right past the Blue Dolphin site.

I had just been reading another book on one of my favourite subjects, mapping. This one is about the first geological map of the UK, and it was brilliant to be there looking at the same cliffs that the man who created the map, William Smith did, on his travels in the 1800s.

His work was partly practical, as he worked as a surveyor for canals, another of my great interests, but also links to fossils and ideas about the history of evolution. An interesting time to have lived.

The author of the book, Simon Winchester, is one of my favourite non- fiction authors, and I have read a few of his works.

Thornwick Bay was a beautiful site, gorgeous caravan with a very cosy lounge, complete with fire, and direct access to the amazing coastline here.

Flamborough Head was also amazing, not least because there were so many seals there. It was a sunny day when I visited, and there must have been about 50 of them, just rolling around in the waves, playing, or sunning themselves. 

This means that in 2025 I was lucky enough to see Welsh, Scottish, and English seals!

I have had a busy few weeks since my return to the UK, and some technology issues, hence less posts than I had planned.  My laptop has died, the replacement I ordered didn’t work, so I am down to just my phone. I am on the road again as well, making my way up to Scotland, and am currently in another lovely static near Moffat.

Not much is planned for this week, apart from a couple of walks as next week will be busy, so lots of crafting and working on my crochet skills.

Hope you are all having a good time, the year is flying by, can’t believe it is the first of March already, and I am back in Scotland excited for another fantastic summer. Even if at the moment it is raining very hard! At least Katy is getting a good wash 🙂

Take care, thanks for visiting and hope to be back here again soon.

From Speyside to Deeside

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Although I could have stayed at the Tarland by Deeside campsite as part of my welfare weekends, I had already booked six nights there in September, so I ended up staying as part of my tour of the north east of Scotland after I finished my contract. This is an absolutely stunning area of the country, with the Dee similar to the Spey, a beautiful shallow river spanned by many Victorian iron bridges, with lots of pretty little towns and villages around it.

It is also castle country, so on the way there, and while I was staying I visited a few of the ones I have previously blogged about. I didn’t have time to visit all of the ones in the area, so am hoping to see a few more on my way up to my caravan storage this year.

The campsite is gorgeous, very similar to Speyside as it is very wooded, with shaded pitches and views of the hills.

The village with some lovely shops and cafes is within walking distance, and the first day I was there they had a food a drink festival, so I got to go and see some more fantastic pipe bands.

There are also the Tarland Trails near the campsite, with lots of purpose built mountain bike trails, and part of these are in Drummy Woods, which is right next to the site. I had a short walk through the woods after the food festival, and met some very nice cows!

As well as a couple of lovely chilled days sitting reading, stitching, and enjoying the peace and quiet, I also ticked off somewhere that has been on my bucket list for a long time. Several of the people I follow on Instagram have done this walk and it looked fantastic. Ciss Outdoors, who I have followed on Instagram for a while, has just set up a fantastic website full of useful information about hiking in Scotland and beyond. Sam Culley has a You Tube and Instagram that I have used when planning lots of my adventures in places like the Peak District and Yorkshire.

The walk was on the Balmoral Estate and covered visiting some of the memorial cairns built for Queen Victoria’s family. The royal family were there at Balmoral when I visited, so I couldn’t do the full trail, but did get to see Princess Beatrice’s and the famous Albert Memorial, which is a pyramid overlooking the edge of the Cairngorms.

This was an amazing moment, it is quite a steep climb, but so worth it, and a very emotional one for me. Those of you who have been following me for a long time know that I have had a number of issues with my mobility over the years.

For about five years before I retired I was struggling to walk, and needed a stick even to walk short distances in the last years, which was partly why I took early retirement. To be able to do all the things I do now, especially after a season of tough physical work, is amazing, and standing up there looking at these views is something I will never forget, and be eternally grateful for.

The following day I visited the nearby Muir of Dinnet, a nature reserve with trails up through the woodland, and around Loch Kinnord. It was a beautiful day, the views were stunning, and I had a quiet picnic by the loch, just thinking about how lucky I am.

If you get a chance to visit the area, please do. It is so beautiful, and a real undiscovered gem of Scotland.

I am on the final two days of life here in La Marina. It will be sad to leave, I have had a fantastic few months, but am SO EXCITED to be going back to the UK and to Scotland!!! I still have to pinch myself that this is my life, it really does keep getting better and better.

There will be a quiet couple of weeks, blog wise, as I am visiting friends and family, but then am having a couple of weeks of caravan life where amongst some outdoor activities, I will be mainly writing. I have been very disciplined this week and have gone back to the first novel, in an effort to finally finish it this year. The last few chapters are the most difficult, but really interesting, as they are the ones set at Hardwick Hall in the 1940s, so I have been doing lots of interesting research.

So until I see you again, have fun, and thanks for visiting.

Castles old and new

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Google informs me that Scotland has over 2,000 castles, of which 1,500 are still standing, or there are significant remains. Therefore I was never going to do more than scratch the surface on my quest to visit more of them after I left Speyside. I had naively thought that at least I could do most of the ones in the area around the Tarland campsite, there is actually a castle trail in the area as there are so many, but only managed a few in the week I was there. Lots to do when I go back!

Scottish castles are really unique, as many of them have a very distinctive architectural style, and lots are pink, or greyish pink in hue. They really do have a Disney castle feel, and none more so than the beautiful Craigievar Castle Sadly this was one of the ones that I didn’t get a chance to see inside, as most of them only allow guided tours, and by the time I got there, all were booked up for theafternoon before I had to head to the campsite.

It was a beautiful day for a wander though, and the grounds and surrounding area is just stunning. Not that there are many parts of Scotland that aren’t, except perhaps the motorways around Glasgow, which confused me a lot!

After leaving Tarland I headed back to the coast, to Stonehaven. I mentioned in a previous post that it had been too windy to walk along the coast to Slains Castle, but this was an absolutely gorgeous day, perfect for a walk along the coastal path to see the dramatic ruins of Dunnottar.

I am collecting photos that I particularly love to be printed onto canvas eventually, and I think this will have to be added to that collection. Such an amazing landscape, and I was so lucky to see it in such beautiful weather.

As well as the castles there are so many beautiful baronial houses, and after leaving the Grampian Aire I went to Leith Hall Dating from the mid 1600s, it has been extensively remodelled and is now mainly Georgian inside. Again I had an excellent guided tour of the house, memorable for several curiosities as well as the wealth of textile treasure.

If you visit any heritage house you will come across taxidermy, a favourite pastime of the Victorian collectors, but Leith has a very special display, of boxing squirrels!

This has to rate as the most unusual piece of taxidermy that I have ever seen. No clear idea of the provenance, but I can only assume they were specially commissioned.

Sometimes there are just little things that really catch your eye as well, not only for their beauty, but imagining how they were acquired, and the recipient using them. I like to imagine that this beautiful desk set was a very special gift, and that happy hours were spent here writing letters and journals.

Another really interesting find was this gift of a photo montage of all of the tenants of the estate, given to General Leith Hay in 1902. A fascinating piece of social history, and one that is great for anyone tracing family history in the area, as many of these people wouldn’t have necessarily have had other photos taken of themselves.

One of the members of the Leith Hay family was a very keen needlewoman, and one of the corridors was lined with needlepoint pictures, all from kits popular in Victorian times. There musty have been at least twenty of these, along with all the fire screens and chairs. I know I have marvelled at this before, but how many hours of work does this represent!

I have been thinking about doing some needlepoint again, not that I need another crafting project ! However I used to love it, so am on the hunt for a nice kit that I can do for the caravan.

Someone was clearly a keen collector of embroidery as well, as there was this display case. Sorry for the poor picture, but there is a Georgian waistcoat, as well as shoes and bags.

There were also some beautiful bedspreads, in crochet and lace work.

I have been spending some time here working on my crochet skills, and have successfully made my first hat! After so many years of struggling crochet seems to have just clicked in my brain, which I am very happy about. Pictures of that and other recent makes soon. I have also been doing some writing, so feel like I’ve had a very productive week.

It is a balmy 23 degrees this weekend, and I am looking forward to another lovely week of social activities. We have a packed programme of coach trips to visit Christmas lights, and Christmas celebrations starting this Friday, and I had better finish making the Christmas gifts as there are only 18 days to go! My poker skills are coming along nicely as well, I won 9 hands last night and came 4th out of 8 players, so very happy with that.

Until next time, take care, have fun and thanks for visiting.

The wind and the waves

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After I left Speyside I went to the coast. There were so many beautiful places that I wanted to visit, and some park ups that I had on my list for my coastal tour. I will talk about the park ups in a later post, this one is all about the power of nature, and the importance of the wind and the waves.

I started my day with the most amazing sunset, and stood and watched as the early morning surfers took their boards out at Lossiemouth. The power of the waves was just incredible, after the stormy conditions of the previous day, but these confident surfers were out there loving it.

This part of the Scottish coast has some unique rock features, developed over time by the power of water against stone, wearing away in such minute steps, over millennia. Bow Fiddle Rick, just outside Portknockie, was my first stop on this journey.

The day I visited was very windy, but beautifully sunny, perfect for watching the waves crashing against the rocks here. Most of these small towns are also fishing ports, most now only used for leisure, rather than commercial fishing, superseded by the large Atlantic trawlers.

However the wind, and the waves, are still important here, it may not affect livelihood in the same way as when hundreds of fishermen lived here, but this area has a number of offshore wind farms, and the coastal town of Buckie is a centre for the offshore support.

The towns of Banff and Macduff, separated by the River Deveron, are still important ports, but I had come to see a lesser known area, just a bit further along from the port of Macduff.

The Needle’s Eye rock formation is another magical creation of the sea, and a little further on is somewhere I had been alerted to by one of the many van lifers I follow on Instagram.

The Tarlair Open Air Swimming Pools were built in the 1930s, and was open until the 1990s. The gorgeous Art Deco cafe has been restored and I had a very nice lunch there. The cafe is run by volunteers, has a great photo display of the pool’s history, and it is hoped that the pools will be open again at some point soon.

There are also open air pools at Gourock, a place I briefly visited last summer, and at Stonehaven, my destination a few days later when I went back to the coast. It was another gorgeous sunny day, for my cliff top walk along to Dunnottar Castle.

There is something so magical about watching the waves against the cliffs, knowing that this landscape is not permanent, that over time it will change, and that we won’t be here to see much of that change.

There is such a thrill at being at the edge of the land, just staring out at the horizon. I can’t imagine what it must be like to have never seen the sea, to never feel this wind, or watch the waves. It is such an amazing and mesmerising thing to do.

However, wind and waves can also destroy. I had a brief visit to Crovie, or to the cliffs above the village. It was too windy to walk down to the village, which was badly flooded in the 1950s, leaving it devastated as a fishing village.

It is a reminder, as we see almost daily on the news with severe storms and flooding, of the power of nature to obliterate.

I am currently at another incredible coastline, in North Yorkshire, enjoying more cliff top walks, which I will tell you about in a future post. Meanwhile enjoy life and thanks for visiting. 

The magic of the sea

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Maybe it’s because I am a water sign, or maybe it’s something else but I just love being beside the sea. Even if it’s just having a glimpse of it as I travel, or the little view from my house in Spain. It just instantly makes me feel calm and happy.

I was lucky enough to have four sets of visitors this summer, and so spent more time at the coast again with them, revisiting some of the coastal beauties of this part of the UK. 

I did have sometime off for some of these visits, though not when Dave and Louise came from Somerset.  We did have the evenings together,  and my first bbq of the season. 

This really is an undiscovered area for me, I had no idea how stunning these places were, and will always feel blessed that my first job with the club was in such an amazing area.

I now know where I am.going to be next year,  it was a surprise to me, and everyone else, and I shall reveal all in a bit.

Most of my coastal trips were beautiful weather, however the only inclement one was when my sister, Jacky, and her dog Ryan arrived at the end of July. This was the week before that very big storm that hit Scotland, and poor Jacky was in Orkney by then!

We had a visit to Spey Bay, to the dolphin centre there, and although it was grey and damp, and there were no dolphins, it was still a lovely place for a walk, at the mouth of the Spey River and the start of the Speyside Way. 

When my friend Sharon arrived from Yorkshire we were a lot luckier, and visited the fishing village of Buckie, and then on to Findhorn again, for glorious views. I think Findhorn may be one of my favourite places on this coast, but there are other strong contenders.

Maggie and Peter, also from Yorkshire,  and the previous owners of Lotte my lovely caravan,  also came that same weekend,  and we went back to Cullen, to do the coastal walk, on a wonderful hot, sunny Sunday.  My photos just don’t do justice to this amazing coastline. 

At the very end of my contract, on the last weekend,  I used my welfare nights to go to Rosemarkie, one of our sites on the Black Isle above Inverness.  Rosemarkie is famous for dolphin spotting, and I did see some, but the choppy waves made it difficult to photograph them.

It was a beautiful evening walk to the lighthouse though,  and more chance to.practice arty photography. 

I also took a trip to Cromarty, at the end of the Black Isle, one of the many historic fishing villages in this area, now home to oilfield pipe terminals, and a cruise ship port in the Firth.

There is still so much to see and do in this area, and I will come back at some point. I am now on my end of contract busman’s holiday, making my way down the coast, via Northumberland to Yorkshire for a catch up with friends, before I fly back to Spain at the end of October.

However I won’t be back next year,  as my contract is going to be at Glencoe! I was really surprised, as thought I would be staying but am so excited to be given this site. I stayed there for a few nights last year so know a bit of what to expect.  It is going to be a very busy site, and very different to Speyside. This will be my office view though, so I think I am going to have an amazing time there. 

Lotte has been moved to winter storage, and I am going to be back to pick her up in early March. Meanwhile there are historic houses galore, and the excitement of getting back to Spain and planning more adventures. 

So I hope that you are all still enjoying life as much as I am. I can’t tell you how brilliant this summer has been, and I am so looking forward to next year.  See you soon and thanks for visiting.