I've written about this on a few occasions before, and now that it's happened I thought I would break my (unintentional) silence to round it all up.

Yesterday, between seven in the morning and ten at night, the people of Scotland had the chance to vote on the future of their nation. It's a rare thing in these islands for such an obvious democratic ( Read more... )

Yesterday evening I phoned Rebekka, now safely back in Switzerland. She and Philippe flew back on Friday afternoon. I told her that I thought I would give them a couple of days to come to terms with the fact that a t-shirt can actually be an article of clothing in its own right, rather than just another layer out of many.

While I was fearing the ( Read more... )

Sunday was my last full day with Rebekka and Philippe before having to head home. Because of that I really wanted it to be special but things conspired against me. I woke up in my little tent decidedly wind-blown and damp. Rather than risk it blowing away during the day I took it down and put it back in the car; I could pitch it again in the ( Read more... )

After our lovely afternoon at Tayvallich the weather filled in and we had a wet, stormy and decidedly windy night, for me partly brought on by an overly creamy mushroom carbonara. We packed up early in the morning and headed north again through fantastic countryside to the village of Kilmartin.


( Read more... )

I set off for Scotland early. After all, it was quite a long way. By five o'clock in the morning I was on my way north. And let's face it, from Somerset it's quite a long way north. I had a very good run. By 7.30 I had cleared Birmingham, almost on the stroke of 9.30 I was in Cumbria. From there it was Scotland next. A little over eight hours and ( Read more... )

Just to let you all know that I'm back from my few days in Scotland.

In a totally opposite way to my time in Switzerland, I can't say I had the best time. It was great, great to be with Rebekka and Philippe again, great to be in Scotland - the land of the ancestors of one side of my family, great to be somewhere I hadn't been before, but not great ( Read more... )

This time tomorrow, with a fair wind, no hold-ups and not too much rain, I should be in Scotland, still with some way to go, but getting there. I will be setting off at about five o'clock in the morning and heading north, north and a bit more north. That way I should miss all the traffic that builds up around Birmingham from about seven in the ( Read more... )

I've just made the kind of booking I never expected to make. I've just booked a couple of pitches in a Scottish campsite. I thought my camping days were over, but apparently, they aren't.

At the beginning of July I will be on the shores of Loch Lomond, undoubtedly admiring the view. Rebekka and Philippe are hiring an old VW campervan for a couple ( Read more... )