Wow - I have just returned from 9 days of extensive driving and extreme swimming!
And I fell in Love again! - but I'll tell you about that part later.
First I travelled from St Neots to my parents lovely home in Rattray in Perthshire. We were delayed by a few minor roadworks but nothing serious - and we stopped in Edinburgh to do some "school" shopping - oh Phoebe has grown so much this year that hardly any of her old school stuff fits - in fact it doesn't fit - everything is too short!
So I decided to treat her to some new and updated and more trendy school wear - when did school uniforms get so trendy by the way? God did we miss everything in the 80's?
Anyway - finally we reached my parents place, had some dinner and promptly fell asleep early in the evening. The next day Phoebe and I drove over to Creiff where my Grandmother stays - we had a nice time catching up on the news and we did a little bit of shopping where I managed to get a quick visit to my favourite sweet shop to stock up on some macaroon bars - very yummy - shame there is not much left!
On Tuesday morning we had to wait until the thunder and lightening storms had passed before we dared to venture onto our next location - Strathconon.
We reached there early evening - and settled down to a lovely dinner of mince and tatties. The following day we spent cycling up beside the loch and playing around in the country side - only to return in the afternoon exhausted. We feasted on another great dinner - I forgot how lovely it was to have someone else cook for you. And retired early again to bed!
On Wednesday we made our way to Inverness - not only to look at the new shopping centre - which really wasn't that great - same shops different location - only wetter. Then we made our way to the outskirts of Inverness to meet up with our friends who were driving up from Aberdeen. I managed to fit in a 10 minute back and shoulder massage with an on-site massage therapist - pure heaven.
Finally we drove back and had some lunch before Phoebe took everyone rambling up the loch side. That evening us older girlies relaxed with some wine exchanging gossip and giggles.
My friend is from Columbia and is currently studying astrology part-time - a very interesting person who has become one of my most cherished friends. Both our daughters where in the same class at the same school and that is how we met over a year ago.
We spent 3 great days together - visiting Strathpeffer - where I spent some of my childhood - wandering up the loch side, and visiting Loch Achility where as I a child I would cycle to in the summer time and play. We decided to put on our bathing suits and brave the cold water everyday - and it was fantastic - Adriana and I even managed to swim to a little island about 500 meters from the shore. The water was very refreshing!
The only down side to that area is the darn midges and nasty biting horse-flys oh and the blood sucking ticks! Now I remember why I left :)
I'm now covered in little red bumps that I have to itch every few hours - grrr.
We had fun applying henna to give ourselves tattoos, and making bead necklaces. I even managed to knit another scarf - and I've already started the 2nd one which I hope to complete this week.
But my most wonderful part of my holiday was when "The Dude" finally arrived, we only had 24 hours together before I had to head home to sunny St Neots - so we made the most of our time, "The Dude" took me to the gorge where he went swimming as a kid, a difficult area to get to but not only did we manage but so did Phoebe! We will make a rock climber of her yet.
I was amazed at the beauty and the freezing water, but I took the plunge and swam in the fresh cold water that came rushing down the rocks. There is a lot of peat in the water so when you are swimming around your skin takes on the hue of a really bad fake tan if you look at it from the water!
This was a really romantic part of the holiday, where I fell in Love again, I was deeply touched by The Dudes words as we were swimming - those moments are little gifts from heaven - for someone to say that they love you and want to spend the rest of their lives with you - I will cherish for a long long time to come.
To my Dude whom I love with my heart and soul....