Hello again. Thanks for all your comments on my last post; it seems you all liked that mischievous donkey. Welcome to some more new followers too.
Before I tell you some more about our recent holiday I have to tell you that I actually won a Giveaway!! I've never won anything before so this was a real surprise. Thanks to Jo, writer of her great blog The Good Life, for sending me a packet of Mini Munch cucumber seeds (together with a lovely wee card).
Well, after spending a week on the Isle of Skye, we headed south to where we were going to stay for the next few days. The scenery driving through Scotland was magnificent.
We stayed in one of the self-catering cottages at New Lanark Mill. It is a great place to stay with plenty to see and do. We were right beside the river and could hear the water making gentle music outside our window.
I went for a bit of a wander about and took a few photos.
The mill complex was huge! I walked along the river to the Clyde Falls. It was very quiet and peaceful.
Walking back towards the mill this was the view I had first down river and then back towards the falls.
There is a lovely shop in the old mill where they sell mostly gift type items but also their own wool. They have DK, Aran and chunky weight in an array of gorgeous colours. Some are 100% wool and the rest are 90% wool with 10% silk. I chose five balls of Aran weight wool with silk.
Their yarns are all very reasonably priced and are also available to buy online.
One of the reasons we stayed in this location was so that I could go to the James Inglis shoe shop in Peebles on the following Monday! I had an appointment to have a fitting and try shoes in the hope of getting something to fit my long, narrow feet. I'm sure I must have tried on fifty pairs of shoes!! That poor sales assistant carried them to me in huge piles. Thankfully I was able to find two pairs to buy. And that's not unusual, apparently; that one would only find two pairs out of fifty that are suitable. It was an experience anyway and I now know what's the best fitting type of shoes to get in future.
I'm busy crocheting and knitting and weaving. My peg loom arrived while I was away on holiday but it has since been unpacked and tried out. I'll let you see how things are coming along in another post.
All the best for now. Make my day and leave a comment!
Thanks for all your lovely comments on my Yarndale post and especially about my skirt. And welcome to my new followers; nice to have you join in.
As I said in my last post, Yarndale was really the end of our holiday so now I need to go back to the start and tell you about the rest (basically all) of our holiday from the start.
The husband's holiday started a day before mine. Early (before 7 a.m.) on Thursday morning (11th of September) I left him to the ferry terminal in Larne. He was taking the ferry to Troon and then cycling to Arrochar, a few miles from Loch Lomond, in Scotland. I was going to work and then finishing the packing on Thursday evening!
On Friday morning I was up early again and back to Larne to catch the same ferry to Troon. It was a pleasant journey and I spent most of it reading my Country Living magazine and crocheting. When I arrived in Troon, I then drove to Arrochar to meet up with the husband. The weather was good though a bit misty at times. Arrochar is a beautiful village situated at the top of Loch Long, just a couple of miles from Loch Lomond. We had a bit of time for a drive and a leisurely walk before having a lovely meal in the Village Inn, celebrating the husband's special birthday. This is also where we stayed for the night. Here are some photos of Arrochar, the Village Inn and some of the locals that we met on our walk.
Another couple of pictures as the sun was going down. The mist was also coming down more and more.
On Saturday morning we started our journey to the Isle of Skye. The scenery driving through the Highlands is spectacular. We had a quick stop in Fortwilliam for a coffee and then didn't stop again until we reached Eilean Donan Castle. The castle is situated on an island at the point where three sea lochs meet, and is surrounded by some majestic scenery. It has been used in various films including Highlander and The World is not Enough, where is was used as the Scottish headquarters of MI6. I was able to get a few pictures for you.
Isn't it magnificent? Anyway, we carried on with our journey to Skye; it wasn't much further to go. We crossed the Skye bridge and felt that our holiday was really starting. This is where we spent our honeymoon and a few days later it is where we celebrated our wedding anniversary.
We had hired a house in Glendale, a tiny village on the north-western coastline of the Duirinish peninsula on Skye. This is the house we stayed in; a typical one for the area. It was built from stone and the walls are about two feet thick.
We had great views both to the village and across the bay.
This beautiful flower was growing in the garden and the neighbouring field. Neither of us knows what it is called.
There were several ruins of blackhouses round us. Glendale used to have a much bigger population before the clearances.
This place is so peaceful and quiet. We were able to relax and really chill out, especially as the weather was exceptionally good. We did plenty of sight seeing while we were there which I'll tell you about in another post (this one is getting too long!). There were two places we visited more than once during the week; the Red Roof Cafe and Neist Point. They deserve another post rather than squeezing them into this one. And there are a few other views to show you, as well as what I got up to craft-wise.
So that's it for this time. Hopefully it won't be too long before I'm back with the next instalment. The holiday washing is done but there's a mountain of ironing!
