I'm back...

...from my holiday in "sunny" Scotland. (Actually for the most part the weather wasn't too bad - it's been far worse since we returned.)

Before I tell you a bit about my holiday though, I must show you the lovely goodies I received from Amanda for the fabric swap which Kandi kindly arranged.

 

So much loveliness!! Amanda has obviously done her research on me - I absolutely love everything. aren't those beautifully colourful hand crocheted  coasters wonderful? And so much luscious fabric to play with. A big thank you to Amanda and also to Kandi for organising the swap.

Now to bore you tell you about my holiday.

Back in January I told you about our frugal holiday plans and how we had booked a caravan costing only 

£190 for the week. Because the caravan was four berth we decided to invite along our middle daughter and darling granddaughter Flic.

The caravan was fantastically clean and had everything we needed including fantastic views.

 In the distance Castle Tioram.

We spent some time exploring around the castle which is sited on the rocky tidal island of Eilean Tioram. 

Flic loved exploring the tidal pools and spying out crabs.

We also went on The Jacobite steam train journey from Fort William to Mallaig and crossed over the famous "Harry Potter" (actually the Glenfinnan) viaduct.

We took the mountain gondola up Aonach Mor. The gondolas take you from 300ft to 2150ft up the north face of Aonach Mor the eighth highest mountain in Britain.

Flic loved waving at the occupants of every gondola that we passed, and the views from the top were amazing.

We had a genuinely sunny day for our picnic on the Silver Sands of Morar where Local Hero and Highlander were filmed. The beaches here are truly stunning with beautifully fine silver sand an turquoise sea.

Flic loved playing with mam in the sea.

We took the ferry from Kilchoan to Tobermory Balamory which Flic recognised instantly excitedly telling us all that we were in Balamory! It was an overcast, drizzly, chilly sort of day so we headed straight for the cafe at the Tobermory Chocolate shop where both Flic and her mum had "death by hot chocolate" a huge glass with hot chocolate made with melted chocolate and milk, topped with marshmallows, malteesers, whipped cream and grated dark chocolate. I think come winter we will recreate these at home (minus the horrendous price tag of £4 each!!!!!)

On our last day we visited the Scottish Sea Life Sanctuary. We adults were very disappointed at this, it was very expensive - tickets were £13.20 each, though luckily enough we had a voucher for a free childs ticket (£11.20!) for Flic. Although they stress that tickets are valid all day and you can come and go as you please there is really not enough there to entertain for more than an hour or so. The facilities are also very run down with only one tiny seal pool open- the other one drained - and that with water so filthy you could only see one of the two seals if they came right to the surface. However Flic loved seeing all the "fishies" and the "mister crabbies" and she was the main reason for visiting so not a wasted journey.

It was wonderful for Dave and I to spend a whole week with my daughter and granddaughter and to see world through the eyes of a 4 year old where everything is a wonder and an adventure.

Love Linda xxx