Home again

Cornwall was beautiful.

Stephen declined to come with us, ostensibly on the grounds that he needed to study. Here he is explaining that his lack of enthusiasm for the trip had nothing whatsoever to do with a distaste for getting cold and wet.




As it turned out, the camping actually worked out really well. It rained on and off, but never at awkward times, so we were spared things like pitching and striking camp in the rain. We camped at this beautiful site on an organic farm - fabulous location, and, because no-one else is crazy enough to camp at the end of October, we had it entirely to ourselves.





View of the sea from the campsite...





... and this is the view we woke up to.




We went for long walks along the beach





and along the coastal path,





... played in the rockpools...





visited Looe and Fowey and Polperro,





and, most importantly, spent some time with old friends. It was a great break.

More photos here.

Back home, I've had to do some lesson planning. I'm being observed again on Tuesday morning; a double one this time - one observer from college and one from Greenwich Uni. Hope it goes okay... It should do, I've put enough effort into it...

Tomorrow we're getting up very early to make the three hour drive to Beccles to see my folks. Looking forward to seeing them - they've been in Canada visiting my aunt and uncle for the past three weeks, so we haven't seen them in a while.

And then Monday it's back to work. Ho hum...

Home from the Highlands

I loved our recent camping trip. The Highlands are beautiful. Mountainous and remote; it's not often that one gets a feeling of space and emptiness in the United Kingdom, so we relished it. I wish we could have stayed longer. Scenery aside, the kids always get on so well when we're outdoors, and life is so uncomplicated. Meals, for instance, are so quick and easy, and we're always so hungry that they taste fabulous. Am toying with the idea of getting rid of all our current kitchen equipment and sticking to using the gas primus and the five enamel plates and cups that we use on camping trips.




We didn't book any campsites before we left, but the ones we stumbled across were lovely.





Aside from the midges. At first we didn't think they were too bad, but after a while ... aaargh! Horrible burny itchy bites that stick around for days. Midges in your hair are horrible; we now understand why people buy these funny looking helmet thingies. And the thought of using Midge as a pet name (as in The Various, a book which Sophie read recently), seems completely inappropriate.

My natural tendency is to want to sort everything out before we go on a trip, and book ahead; I'm coming around to doing things more spontaneously though, as the campsites we've booked online have often been disappointing compared to the ones we've found serendipitously.

The first campsite was at Glencoe; this picture was taken during a walk up the mountain. They filmed some of the Harry Potter movies here; I can see why.





This is Castle Stalker - for Monty Python fans, it's Castle Aaargggghhh, from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.





And this is Stephen, on the rather scary wire bridge at the base of Ben Nevis. We didn't climb Ben Nevis, much to Bobby's disappointment - since the kids just had trainers on, and we didn't have any cold weather gear, I vetoed it. Next time we'll come better prepared.





Two more castles - Castle Urquhart, on the shores of Loch Ness





and Castle Cawdor. Many bad Macbeth-inspired jokes were made.





More pictures of the second campsite we stayed at, as well as Oban and various family members, are here.

The road trip itself went well, largely because I made a giant sacrifice, and let Stephen and his long legs travel in the front with Bobby while I went in the back with girls. Hence, the car was a squabble and shove-free zone. We also all really got into the book-on-tape which we'd taken with us - Noughts and Crosses, by Malorie Blackman. It's aimed at young adults I think; a very good way of getting people to realise what apartheid was like. Some parts of it were almost too adult for Sophie but I think she was okay with it. Malorie Blackman does not seem to be the most subtle writer in the world, but the book certainly held everyone's attention, and sparked a lot of discussion. And it made Bobby and me remember how things used to be in South Africa... So odd to think that when I was pregnant with Stephen we were doing things like go to Free The Beaches protests. Seems like another world.

The Lake District is extremely beautiful.

It rains a lot there, though.

So we just had our wettest ever camping trip.

But, it was cool seeing the real life setting for the Swallows and Amazons books. We liked the sheep, who seemed to watch our every move. And our day climbing was so wet and so muddy that it moved from "a bit grim" into "hilariously funny". Coming back down the mountain we were all so sodden and so coated in mud (think boots that slosh each time you take a step, for instance, and slippery rocks which mean that everyone falls every few minutes) that even the kids were punch drunk and giggly rather than whingy.

The rest of the Lake District pictures are here...

Note that, despite going on long (wet) walks and long (wet) isolated climbs, we all survived intact.

Yesterday, however, while helping to clean out the car in our driveway, Emily caught her thigh on a bit of metal trim on the car door.

Extremely scary looking gaping wound, lots of blood.

Seven stitches.

The nurse at the hospital was great. And we were in and out within twenty minutes.

We are certainly way too familiar with our local hospital these days.

I didn't want to come home from Snowdonia.




The scenery was stunning, the weather was glorious, and ... well, it was all just perfect.

Things we enjoyed ...

Riding a steam train to the top of Mount Snowdon

Walking back down the mountain

Having the perfect cup of coffee at the bottom of the mountain.

Sea views off Llandudno.

Finding a beautiful campsite on a sheep-farm.




We didn't book anything before we left. After our last trip to North Devon, where we'd found somewhere that looked good on the internet but which was like someone's backyard in reality, we decided that it would be better to wait till we could actually see what we were getting. The kids were rather doom-and-gloomish about this (I distinctly heard someone mutter "irresponsible" at one stage) but it worked out perfectly.

And oh, the lambs!





I had never actually seen lambs gambolling before. They jump and frolic just like kittens do. And in the evenings, when their mothers call them (and they all seem to know each other's voices), they call back and go running across the field to nurse and snuggle. It is beautiful to see.

Exploring the forests above our campsite

Finding a magical cottage in a clearing in the middle of the woods.





I long to live in this cottage. You can't access it at all by road, there's no electricity there, and I'm sure it's freezing cold in winter, but it's still the place in the world that I'd most like to live. A little stream runs by it, there are cliffs behind it, daffodils growing round the stone walls, sheep grazing, and views across the valley ... It's perfect.

Watching the kids playing at the campsite

The easter egg hunt along the river bank at the campsite. Nobody in our family believes in the Easter Bunny anymore, but we figured that since none of us believes in the resurrection story either we shouldn't let a mere lack of faith in the bunny stop us embarking on our traditional Great Egg Hunt.

Climbing.





There's nothing like climbing on a glorious day, when the sky is blue and you can hear birds singing around you, and you can see patchwork fields below you. And, where we were climbing, once you were at the top of the cliff you could walk over the ridge to see glorious sea views down the other side.

Picnicking by a lake in the forest

Exploring the village of Betws-y-Coed (extremely pretty; if you like B&B's and scenic walks, this would be right up your street)

Visiting Gwydyr Castle, with its beautiful gardens and incongruous peacocks, which was just a stone's throw from our campsite

And Harlech Castle, with its slightly scary fall-off-able ramparts.

It was a lovely holiday. And the rest of the pictures - including a wet Sophie post egg-hunt - are here.