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Catherine and Mark turning dreams into memories

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Category: Planning

Posted on April 25, 2017January 12, 2019

Planning for the Big Lap

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About The Authors

Since meeting in early 1999 Catherine and Mark have progressively been exploring the world via land and water, maximising weekends and holidays to get off the beaten track. Over the years they have progressed from hike tent to camper trailer to caravan and motorhome, and Tassie the Burmese cat joins them on the adventure.

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sparkysparkler

An Aussie-Brit traveller, blogger, artist, wine and outdoors lover sharing stuff she likes!

We finished off our time with a visit to the glori

We finished off our time with a visit to the glorious Sanna Beach and Portuairk where we spotted our second seal of the trip (spot its head in one of the pics!), concluding with more bird spotting on our local beach, with Pied Oystercatchers napping on the rocks, and Rock Pitpits rummaging through the sea weed for morsels. Finished with another fine sunset to end our week.

There’s plenty to see just from our house, and a s

There’s plenty to see just from our house, and a short walk along the coast takes us to hidden bays with ruin crofts. Plenty of lovely birds around, with black and white Hooded Crows, Stone Chats, Wrens, Dunnocks, Chaffinches and more. But still the eagles eluded us. A buzzard hidden roosting in the cliffs of Swordle Bay was the only raptor spotted…see if you can spot it in the grainy dark photo!

Ok so all these photos have been cropped into port

Ok so all these photos have been cropped into portrait by Instagram, so sorry about that. This is our day trip over to the Isle of Mull. It was a wild start, with 80km gusts of wind and high seas, and the ferry was on the verge of being cancelled. But we made it over, a little green for me, just 40 minutes of staring at the horizon on top of the deck, sideways rain pummelling my face. And we do this for fun?!

Anyhow, I soon recovered after a cup of tea and a vegan something from the bakery. Mr A and I did a mini tour of a couple of highlights, starting with Eas Fors Waterfall, which was flowing nicely, and then over to Langamull Beach, which could have been in Australia, other than the arctic icy cold wind which found its way into every crevice! We returned to Tobermory for oysters and fish and chips, yum, and the sun came out. Hurahh, we got to see the famous Tobermory brightly coloured houses in their glory, reflecting brightly into the harbour.

The ferry home was much calmer, and we spotted dolphins swimming alongside the boat, too. Finally we finished the day with a rainbow, as one should!

The forecast was good for one morning so we all de

The forecast was good for one morning so we all decided to climb the highest peak on the peninsula, Ben Hiant. The landscape here is typical of the peninsula - and of many of the Hebrides islands too - treeless moorland with grass eaten low by the deer and sheep. It was a beautiful walk, and there was apparently a group photo at the top, but not a digital shareable one as I had thought, a miniature polaroid! So no group photo, just a selfie upon reaching 528 metres! Unfortunately the Golden and White-Tailed Eagles were absent on our walk, and is always the case, we were told “Oh five minutes ago there was one just here”! Is it not always the way? But the views were magnificent, and other than one shower (with accompanying rainbow), we remained pretty dry. I’ve included a map so you know where we are.

From Loch Lomond we drove west, stopping in Glenco

From Loch Lomond we drove west, stopping in Glencoe for supplies (where snow was falling on the peaks), and crossing Loch Linnhe on the most expensive car ferry in the world! It was after this crossing that we spotted our first seal, swimming around rocks looking for a snack. We continued on to the Ardnamurchan Peninsula, which was to be our home for the coming week, along with some friends plus their kids and some relatives. And what an experience it was. To say it was a week of rainbows pretty much explains our weather, the stunning scenery complementing the wild winds and showers. Being autumn, it is rutting season, and the red deer were out in force. To say this is big sky country, is an understatement, and our accommodation looked out across to the small isles of Muck, Eigg, Rum and in the distance on a clear day, Skye. Just magnificent.

After leaving St Patrick’s Well, we paid a visit t

After leaving St Patrick’s Well, we paid a visit to Carlisle Castle for a tour, before winding our way up to Loch Lomond. We stayed at the Inn on Loch Lomond, but would not recommend it - over priced and overall a very poor experience. But it was a bed for a few nights, so there we go. The following morning we went down to the Loch to catch a boat over to Balmaha on the other side, where we climbed Conic Hill. The hill was challenging, steep from the off and busy with the Insta-hikers - just there for a quick snap and run back down. Oh hang on, does that make me an Insta-hiker? The views from the top were magnificent, and apt reward for the hard work. We called in for lunch at the cafe in town, where I tucked into a pumpkin soup and Mr A a haggis something or other! The Loch is fabulous for photography - the skies always changing and when it is still, offering mirror-like reflections. We spotted an Osprey nest, but they are not about just now - flown off to warmer climes for the winter, but will be back in the spring to nest here like every year, we hope.

Just realised I am waaaaay behind with my photos.

Just realised I am waaaaay behind with my photos. This is from the end of October, and a fabulous road trip we did up to Scotland. We left on the morning of the 22nd and drove up to the upper end of the Lake District, where we stayed at a gorgeous pub, the Mardale Inn at St Patricks Well. On the way there we did a short walk at Shap Abbey, then at RSPB Wild Haweswater (seeing a tree that looked suspiciously like an Australian Boab tree, but probably wasn’t!), then then on to our accommodation for the night. I spotted that a ‘famous’ phone box was in our village, so we took a walk out to check it out. There was in all its polished glory, complete with guest book and flowers - none other than THE phone box which appeared in the early 90s cult film ‘Withnail and I’ - which saw Richard E Grant shoot to fame. Very lovely. It was then back to our bustling pub for a delicious dinner and a local tipple. Ready for our next stage…

A frosty 8km circuit walk from home, up into the h

A frosty 8km circuit walk from home, up into the hills for a great view of the village, and back via the orchards and some roe deer.

A gorgeous afternoon walk starting and finishing a

A gorgeous afternoon walk starting and finishing at Dunkeswell Abbey in the Blackdown Hills, with the winter sun lighting up the countryside, highlighting perfect trees looking like sculptures in their leafless state. Bonus alpacas and cattle to keep us smiling!

Sunny January walk from Cotford St Luke - fabulous

Sunny January walk from Cotford St Luke - fabulous views of the Quantocks

Christmas morning walk with the ‘girls’

Christmas morning walk with the ‘girls’

Adventure cat Aria loves her garden time #kittenso

Adventure cat Aria loves her garden time #kittensofinstagram #burmesecatsofinstagram #somerset

#bradford sparkle on Saturday then yoga on Sunday

#bradford sparkle on Saturday then yoga on Sunday - a bit of Christmas cheer followed by a zen detox complete with swans… a lovely weekend in #somerset

For Betty-Blue fans that have missed her the past

For Betty-Blue fans that have missed her the past few months, here she is this morning, checking out her nest box, doing a bit of dusting (a Labyrinth Spider moved in over the summer and made quite a bit of mess with its web) and checking all is fine. If the weather gets colder/wetter/snowier it is likely she will spend a night in here. #somerset #autumn #bluetit

I installed a new #Greenfeathers nest box over the

I installed a new #Greenfeathers nest box over the summer. These recent cooler days have finally encouraged our first brave visitor to check it out - a Blue Tit. I have a daylight sensitive light to install soon, and with any luck she will see it as a safe place to shelter over the winter, and hopefully raise a family in the spring. Hoping it is one of Betty-Blue’s chicks from this year. Betty still regularly visits her usual nest box to ensure there are no imposters…other than the odd tasty spider… #somerset #greenfeatherscamera #Autumn

A fun morning’s walk through the misty and autumna

A fun morning’s walk through the misty and autumnal #blackdownhills with @mrandoman, Claire, Amber and Sue, with a 3/4 time cuppa and sausage bap for a brief dry off. Feeling so much more human than I was a month ago! #airwaystenosis #subglotticstenosis #iSGS

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What are we doing here?

Rather than post everything on Facebook, we decided it would be better to capture our journey in one place - here we hope to share our photos, drawings and stories to bring you vicariously along with us on our adventure...

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