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Walking the labyrinth, Bath 🧩 🚶‍♀️ Swimming, Islay 🏊🏼‍♀️ 🥶 Summitting Ben Nevis 🥾 ⛰️ 🙌🏼 Tubing on the River Garry 🌊🍩 Finding whanau 🪦 Ferries! ⛴️⛴️⛴️ Fairies! 🧚🏼 Deciding to visit The South 🎓 🛁 Weaving 🧵 Puffins! 🪶 DL23ZXK 🚗💨 & my best guy — love you Geoffrey ❤️ thanks for an awesome holiday 😍

And so the circle closes and we are back in Manchester. Firstly, a quick panegyric in honour of the Vauxhall Corsa, a small but sturdy workhorse of a car. Our Corsa took us everywhere, largely uncomplaining, occasionally noisy, always getting us there in the end. A rental car to be proud of. We salute you DL23ZXK 🫡 Yesterday we had a lovely time in Oxford, visiting the Bodleian Library and generally just wandering around soaking Oxford up. After work (what is work?) Sarah took us on a decent walk along the river (her lockdown loop) where we enjoyed watching people punt, row, picnic, fall in, etc.

We’re staying with Sarah (& Duke) in her leafy flat, next door to the castle. We are trying not to be too annoying… Duke, leaving… On duty, while Sare works Yesterday morning we wandered the shops, had a small shopping spree (Uniqlo, Clarks 😬) and bought another suitcase to bring our loot home. It’s a thing that we do when we go away: leave light; return heavy 🧳 Oxford is awash in students and tourists, but this is hardly news. After lunch we enjoyed a tour of the castle and prison — ably and entertainingly led by Yiyang, who is studying creative writing at Keble College.

Today started well, with two breakfasts. Kind of made up for missing dinner last night. We had a slightly over-promise and under-deliver Turkish eggs experience at Cortado (but a great flat white); and then headed next door for espressos and natas. Super yum! Natas 💯 The Great Bath We headed for the Roman Baths and enjoyed a great tour, which included a comprehensive audio guide and great narratives about how the baths were built and used. We are now the proud owners of “The Essential Roman Baths” booklet if anyone would like to borrow it.

We left York fairly early and headed south. First stop, Owston Ferry, to visit the ancestral home of the Gabites. And very nice it was too… We had a good wander round the cemetery, a look at the river, and stalked the pub (closed), then resumed our trek south. Several relatively uneventful hours later we arrived in Bath. We had a wander about, visited the Abbey (in time for evensong - great choir) and headed to The Raven for a restorative drink.

We left Edinburgh bright and early, locking up our apartment and wishing it a fond farewell. One of its lovely quirks was that while the front door was a basement entrance on Cumberland St, the bedroom at the back of our single level flat had a first floor view… Not to mention a charming window box. Anyway, time to head south. I had hoped to include a video of our return to England, but for some reason there were technical mishaps resulting in a short film of my boot, which doesn’t really fill the brief.

Today we rode the alpine coaster. We had bought three goes each, but thanks to the kind young men who were running the operation we got and extra go (because we got held up on a run by other tourists going excessively slowly while they took selfies). It was fun - just what we expected… Geoff finishing his coaster run There were also lovely views of Edinburgh and the surrounding countryside. The coaster is at the Midlothian snow sports centre, where people can practice on all-season ski runs. It looks like sort of white carpet stuff and a few people were practising.

We went to Falkirk; observed the wheel; and visited the giant kelpies, which were modeled on draught horses, Duke and Baron. Rough Castle Tunnel, Union Canal There’s always a Lego version Both the lock engineering and the sculptures are things of wonder… I suggest you follow the link for the wheel if you’re interested, and I’ll leave it to the engineers to explain how clever it is. The Falkirk Wheel Human scale 🤳🏽 OTD Inside Kelpies are the taniwha of Scotland. Read more here if you’re keen. Suffice to say that they are best avoided, except as art.

⬅️ This is our street and this is our apartment ⬆️ we love it here! Apart from working out what to do with the car, Edinburgh is great! We think we’re going to love living here for the next three days. We have a basement apartment, which is a novelty for us - and it’s very nice. There is a Tesco express just around the corner for basics (we have breakfast at home when we can) and then there’s the rest of Edinburgh. Yay! Happily, today has been an ice cream day.

We went river tubing today. We were a bit worried about how cold it is (a forecast high of 15 degrees today) but our wetsuits were up to the task. To be fair, getting ourselves into the wetsuits was the most demanding part of the day, but eventually we were kitted up and ready to go. Nae Limits - definitely recommend ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The trip starts at the aptly named Soldier’s Leap - where we did indeed so some leaping - and finishes at the Garry Bridge. It’s the more relaxed of Nae Limits’ tubing options, with some small rapids and some very chill (and chilly) drifting down the river.

That’s how many steps you take to visit Dunottar Castle, on the coast, south of Aberdeen — 179 down; then another 179 on the way back. Worth it though. This is a castle ruin with a rich history, covering everything from Picts, William Wallace, Jacobites, Covenanters, and a lion! We had a good wander around, and the biting wind made us feel right at home. 🤳🏽 OTD Staircase Wallflowers! The banquet hall reimagined Whigs’ prison Some epic chimneys We headed south to Dundee, where we went straight to the modern-day castle that is the V&A…

We’ve just watched Spain give England a kicking in the women’s EUFA nations league. Obviously being in Scotland we are pleased about this. View from our bedroom View from our lounge “Fit like” is Doric for Hello, how are you? Anything further you’ll have to teach yourself, but it’s been commemorated nicely in this piece of jewellery we saw at the fantastic Aberdeen art gallery this morning. Made by Gabrielle Reith, 2018 This gallery had great energy, heaps of interesting and challenging exhibits, and lots of fun stuff to do…

We went to Prickly Thistle this morning and I invested in some serious tartan. Can’t wait to bring it home! We had a long awaited lunch rendezvous with Dave and Jenny, who are recently returned from the Outer Hebrides. I’m guessing I’ll never write that sentence again, but I really enjoyed it! We had a fantastic catch up, then they headed south and we headed kind of north east-ish — both in our trusty Vauxhall Corsas, the ubiquitous rental car of Great Britain. 🤳🏽 OTD We headed for Portsoy, which boasts an ice cream shop of some renown.

Alas, nothing much to report… Geoff’s new hair cut not much in evidence thanks to the cap We decided not to visit Urquhat castle as the car park was full, and pressed on to Fort Augustus, which is a lovely village on the southern shores of Loch Ness (the southernmost ❤️) and which boasts a complex system of locks, part of the Caledonian Canal. We had lunch here and then drove back up the eastern side of Loch Ness to visit the Clava Cairns and Culloden.

We’ve had a lovely day. Initially we had planned to visit Loch Ness and other places nearby, but ended up staying in town — we will venture further a field tomorrow. We had a bit of a slow start and enjoyed having breakfast at our apartment, which is very conveniently located just a short walk up the hill from the town centre. The good people of Inverness really love their wolves… These sit nearby the Inverness museum, which opened at 10am and had lots of fun things to do as well as great natural and cultural history.

It was only 10 o’clock, but conscious that we hadn’t yet tried Orkney ice cream (not really ice cream weather - even for me) and learning that there is a Highland Park whisky and marmalade flavour, I was in. So it was two flat whites and an ice cream, at 10am. It was so good Geoff even liked it — and he’s not really an ice cream guy. Thrilling! Delicious! Ferry arriving in background We loved Orkney so much — and finishing on this note — perfection! We hope we can come back one day…

Today dawned very wet and cold. Accordingly, we wrapped up and bravely set off in search of wonders. First stop, the Italian Chapel, shown on the map as the northernmost heart ❤️ There’s something poignant about it — so unexpected, so hopeful. It is a wonder. Next, with the rain still persisting, we headed to St Margarets Hope to visit the Hoxa tapestry gallery. That’s the other ❤️ on the map. No photos - not allowed. But a wonderful place to visit, with really beautiful work. Still raining. Undaunted, we headed to Orkney’s southernmost point, Burwick, the ⭐️ on the map.

Yay. Puffins! We saw two - maybe three - at the Brough of Birsay. You can only access this small island either side of low tide, when the causeway is uncovered. It’s rich with birdlife and ancient history - including Pictish, Viking and Orcadian ruins. Sea pinks Northwest Orkney Puffin I think it was the highlight of our day — but there was tough competition. We visited Skara Brae and Skaill House, the ring of Brodgar, and the Stenness standing stones. We had an amazing snack at Archive Coffee, and a good wander around Kirkwall — including St Magnus’ Cathedral and another fabulous bookshop.

We are sitting in our room at a lovely B&B in Thurso. We can see Orkney from our window. We’ve made it to the top! Room with a view: Ferry heading to Stromness Today’s drive took a lot longer than google thought it would — and involved many single lane roads. Many. The tyres did their bit - and we had no tech issues. The rain did its bit - and disappeared pretty much every time we stepped out of the car. The scenery over-performed. My god, what a place! It’s terrific up here.

So many things have happened on our day off! We didn’t find any otters and the rain didn’t stay away. However, we did find time to visit an excellent bookshop, listen to a free concert by the People’s Show Choir at the Ullapool Ferry Terminal, eat an ice cream, enjoy a beer, and get caught in a rain shower. ⬅️ A bargain of a book and a very expensive book mark! ➡️ Highly recommend this great local bookshop

Today is an official day off. We have nowhere particular to be and nothing special to do. We did want to check the tyre pressure, as we got another warning light yesterday. Alarmingly, while three tyres were at 28 (they should be 31) the right rear tyre was 16. We re-inflated the tyres (it costs £1 here) at the filling station and hightailed it to the local garage, who were able to check and repair the tyre (£30). Apparently a previous repair hadn’t sealed properly and we’ve been roaring around with a slow leak.