UK Adventures 2016

Beaconia, Canada

Mon, 23 May 2016 17:14:39 -0500

Dave and Peter went for a kayak in the afternoon.

Lovely sunset Friday night

A little soccer Friday evening

Kayak wars! LOL!

Cody's veggin'

Three in a hammock and it didn't tip over! LOL!

Sam did some spinning sparks with her sparklers for me. ;)

Bright and early Saturday AM and Peter's enjoying his coffee

Dad and Sam on the boat dock

Mowing inside the dog run of course requires the riding mower... :P

Al arrived and the guys spent a bit of time winching crap out of the water so we don't hit it with the boat next weekend.

Tires, logs, all kinds of cool stuff in there. :P

Sunday afternoon we all did a little fishing off the dock and Sam was thrilled to catch her first-ever-fish! A baby jack. She even let it go herself. <3

I was washing the floors at the cabin this morning and slipped on a wet spot. Attempting to stop myself I flung my hand out and connected with the wood cabinets in the kitchen.

Winnipeg, Canada

Sat, 30 Apr 2016 18:31:52 -0500

Low tire warning went off for the second time in 2 weeks... But the guys are taking good care of me as always.

Portree, United Kingdom

Thu, 14 Apr 2016 20:35:59 +0100

Peter and Cody trying to find a way down to the little cave

Then we happened upon another trail (not part of the plan) and decided what the heck. Well it was horribly muddy but we found this awesome abandoned farmstead (or??) at the top of it. The fence said to stay out and it wasn't safe... did I listen? 'Course not! LOL!

Great breakfast daddy made before we began our day

Finally got a shot of one of the highland cattle... they call them coos. :D

That rock formation at the top of the hill is called "Old Man of Storr"

Closer pic of Old Man of Storr

More waterfalls. I'm in love! <3

Then we went for a hike to Lealt Falls (Lethallt in Gaelic) where we explored the area.

The cave

Ruins we saw way down below... see next photo to get a sense of scale and distance

The same ruins as in the previous photo but from a wider view. That's Peter down there on the right.

Signboard along the trail back to the car

Love how low the clouds are

Next up - Kilt Rock and Mealt Falls. Just gorgeous but only a small little viewpoint and no real way to (safely) get any closer. Oh well this'll have to do. ;)

One of many villages we drove through

Just as we were leaving the parking lot at Kilt Rock, I spotted this absolutely perfect reflection in the water so of course had to take a shot.

One of many villages we drove through

Another island in the distance and this cool cave-like thing. It was soooo hazy out so hard to get a decent pic but you get the idea... surreal.

Not sure what this was but caught a shot of it in flight.

Then as we're heading back to the car (thankfully done for the day), Peter says to Sam "walk slowly 'cause the mud is really slippery right here" What does she do - RUNS! Silly girl.... bail she did and this was the result. I managed to get the worst off her and we had a blanket in the car that she sat on for the ride back to Portree. :P

This was today's driving plan

Random road scenes

Neat bird I saw in Portree the night before

Random road scenes

Neist Point

this little guy thought it would be a good idea to check out my camera bag.

Random road scenes

Neist Point

Random road scenes

Dunvegan Castle

Waterfalls around Dunvegan Castle

Dunvegan Castle - this scared the crap out of Sam. There was a little alcove in the castle just tall enough for her to go in... so she goes around the corner and I hear a shriek! LOL!

Random road scenes

Dunvegan Castle

Random road scenes

Found this in the middle of nowhere! LOL!

Dunvegan Castle

Waterfalls around Dunvegan Castle

Portree, United Kingdom

Wed, 13 Apr 2016 21:04:37 +0100

Sam's dinner of some sort of fish. ;)

Inverness, United Kingdom

Wed, 13 Apr 2016 21:04:37 +0100

Kyleakin, United Kingdom

Wed, 13 Apr 2016 21:04:36 +0100

Inverness, United Kingdom

Wed, 13 Apr 2016 21:04:36 +0100

Drowned Rat! :D

Inverness, United Kingdom

Wed, 13 Apr 2016 19:39:49 +0100

Inverness Castle and the River Ness

Random scenery on the drive

Standing on High Street in Edinburgh, raining and windy and COLD. Not happy campers with the car showed up an HOUR late. GRRRR!

The River Ness in Inverness

Best wet floor sign!

Weird elevators here - ground floor = 0, 2nd floor is 1, etc.

Took a walk after breakfast to the "Ness Islands" which is basically a little park with pieces of land connected by foot bridges about a 20 minute walk from downtown Inverness.

Ness Island exploring

Then we found directions to a fairy glen so we went on a hike. Aside from sticking the palm of my hand into some stinging nettle, it was a fun trek!

Ness Island exploring

Fairy Glen

Cromarty

The afternoon found us doing a loop around the Black Isle. This was taken after we had lunch in a little town called Cromarty overlooking the North Sea

Cromarty

I barely caught this in time with the camera but HAD to share! LMAO! We need these signs here! :D :D

Black Isle

Then later in the day, we headed to Culloden - the last battle ground where the Scots lost to the English during the Jacobite Rebellion

Black Isle - a place called "Wyvis Lookout"

The memorial cairn

And just one for the English

One of may scottish clan stones

This is not the original house but it was documented that there was a smalll farmstead on the culloden moor at the time of the battle so this was recreated so show visitors what it might have looked like then.

Taking a drive to a restaurant for dinner - along the Loch Ness

A humbling experience

The Jacobite side of the battlefield

Cute little building beside the "nessie" parking lot

Found this SUPER cheesy place where they used to do a lot of Loch Ness Monster touristy stuff (half the buildings are boarded up and this "nessie" has seen better days) but the kids had to pose for a pic just for fun.

Totally looked like fall along these trails instead of spring! The colours were awesome!

Random scenery on the drive

So pretty!

Random scenery on the drive

Waterfalls everywhere!

Then we arrived at Eilean Donan Castle - the most photographed castle in Scotland.

I ran some timelapses while the rest explored.

"Over the Sea to Skye" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUBRbJPJtio

There's the Skye Bridge in the distance

More waterfalls...

Driving along Loch Ness and despite the rain the clouds were just awesome!

Urquart Castle - actually owned by the Gordon clan for a short time in the 1400's

Peter and the kids got to do a little archery at Urquart Castle

Loch Ness

And Urquart was the guys' favorite - because it was the only one with a trebuchet! LOL!

The roadway along Loch Ness... so pretty!

After the castle we hiked up to a waterfall in Invermoriston

Timelapse fun in the rain!

Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Tue, 12 Apr 2016 16:19:08 +0100

Thankfully my strapping young man and dear, dear hubby took the heavy loads while Sam and I lugged all our carry-on. We eventually made it to our apartment and discovered that instead of over 100 stairs to climb, there was actually a more flat way to get there (albeit longer) that would have only required about 12 steps to navigate. *sigh*

Then we hit High Street to explore a bit before dinner. This is Advocates close - the path to our apartments.

After refreshing ourselves we took a moment to appreciate that we were in SCOTLAND! Such an incredible feeling to be standing beside such old architecture and we could just feel the history surrounding us. Behind Peter and the kids is St. Giles Cathedral... right across from the entrance to our "close" (means backalley for lack of a better description) that led to our apartment.

After we got off the train, we GPS'd how to walk to our apartment... it was supposedly a 7-minute walk so we thought "no problem! the suitcases have wheels... we got this!" Only to discover that old town is nothing but miles and miles of bloody staircases - EVERYWHERE!

St. Giles Cathedral again but from a bit further up high street.

A scotish monument spotted in the distance

Standing in the same spot as the previous photo but this time looking up toward high street.

Advocates close just outside the entrance to our apartment looking down and away from high street

Holyrood Palace as seen from Holyrood Park

Holyrood Park

Awesome buidlings all along High Street

Holyrood Park - this is Arthur's Seat

Holyrood Park

Even Cody's gotta take pics here... so gorgeous!!

Holyrood Park

A view of the North Sea from Holyrood Park

Holyrood Park - ah, this is the life!

Holyrood Park - those specs dead center of the frame are Peter and the kids. :D

Holyrood Park - that's Peter and Cody and you can *just* make out Sam running down the hill below them.

Holyrood Park

A Grey Heron I spotted enjoying his lunch of frogs legs.

Swans!

Holyrood Park

Grey Heron

The boys making the trek over to the duck pond where Sam and I were.

Holyrood Park

Holyrood Palace

One of the houses we saw on our way to the palace

Holyrood Palace

Holyrood Palace - last indoor photo before I got told once again - "NO PHOTOGRAPHY INSIDE!" :P

Holyrood Palace

A tavern enroute up high street to the castle

Edinburgh Castle

The view from the top of Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh Castle

The view from the top of Edinburgh Castle

And a few tunes were heard on our way back to the apartment.

A busy day exploring so time for some ice cream!

Ussie! :D

Sam sporting her awesome hat (which I subsquently shrunk in the wash after we got back... I'm SO in the dog house!) :(

Samantha and I had afternoon tea at Holyrood Palace.

One last shot of Advocate's Close by our apartment.

London, United Kingdom

Tue, 12 Apr 2016 16:19:02 +0100

And of course a gift shop right next door. :P

Hot chocolate while waiting to board the train in London

While at King's Cross, we did manage to find the famed (but cheesy) Platform 9 3/4

Time to board!

Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Tue, 12 Apr 2016 16:18:55 +0100

From the train

We went through a tunnel at one point and the camera caught this reflect of us.

Had the gopro running on the train but we were moving so fast that most pics are a blur. I did manage to salvage a couple from the over 4000 images it took enroute. LOL!

From the train

All that stair climbing worked up a thirst so we found the closest pub and set up camp for a bit.

London, United Kingdom

Mon, 11 Apr 2016 18:57:27 +0100

Cheval Three Quays Apartments in London

The Ritz Hotel

Eaton Place

The Ritz Hotel

The shard seen along the bus route

Selfridges

The British Museum

Selfridges

The British Museum

A neat shop seen from the bus

Drury Lane! :D :D

Alas... no muffin man. :( LOL!

My fav pic from London! :D

Pano with rainbow

We had lunch at the White Hart restaurant on Drury Lane and I saw this sign on the wall. :)

And we ended our evening with a fantastic dinner at an Italian restaurant called "The Don"

One more of the rainbow.

The Tower Bridge lit up at night

Tower of London

First up... inside the Tower of London

Tower of London

Thames River Cruise

Tower of London

Thames River Cruise

Thames River Cruise - war memorial

Thames River Cruise - St. Paul's Cathedral in the distance (so sorry we ran out of time to go there!!)

Big Ben and the Parliment Buildings from the Thames

Tee hee... not sure if he'd have liked having his pic taken but I just LOVE their hats! :D

Random London street scene

Westminster Abbey

Random London street scene

Saw this coming out of the gates to the palace

Buckingham Palace

New reflects the old

Buckingham Palace

Random building seen from the bus

Hyde Park

No idea what its called but a beautiful church seen from the bus

Random street scene

No idea what its called but a beautiful church seen from the bus

Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey - this is the ceiling inside the Henry the VII chapel... considered one of the wonders of the world!

Westminster Abbey

Ussie at the palace. ;)

Family shot across from Big Ben

We visited the National Gallery and this is Samantha posing with a da Vinci!

Winnipeg, Canada

Fri, 08 Apr 2016 23:45:44 -0500

Toronto, Canada

Fri, 08 Apr 2016 18:23:48 -0400

We have arrived in Toronto after a very very long flight. As you can see, Cody is still chipper but Samantha is toast. Three hours to wait before we board for the final leg home.

Must do the second we arrive back in Canada.

London, United Kingdom

Fri, 08 Apr 2016 12:13:54 +0100

Um... WTF?!? Ewwwwww!

Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Thu, 07 Apr 2016 18:00:53 +0100

Last dinner in the UK. Homeward bound tomorrow bright and early. ✈️

Boarding shortly for the loooooooong, three-plane hopping trek home. ✈️ First journey: Edinburgh to London (1 hour 40 minute flight)

Glasgow, United Kingdom

Thu, 07 Apr 2016 14:04:40 +0100

Our view from the top of Stirling Castle.

Portree, United Kingdom

Wed, 06 Apr 2016 16:56:13 +0100

Fort William, United Kingdom

Wed, 06 Apr 2016 16:32:31 +0100

Our hotel tonight (those three windows are our room.)

And the view from our room.

Portree, United Kingdom

Tue, 05 Apr 2016 15:23:25 +0100

A beautiful morning exploring Neist Point on the Isle of Skye.

After lunch, Sam and I had to take a pit stop to explore a cemetery. The boys thought we were weird and stayed in the car. ;)

Funny sign I saw in a bathroom.

One last shot to share today... this will give you an idea of the incredible countryside we are driving through on the island. Can you imagine having this as the view from your backyard?!? Wow!

Kyleakin, United Kingdom

Sun, 03 Apr 2016 17:20:52 +0100

Spent a bunch of time doing time lapses from here. Awesome views!

Now this country really knows how to do abandoned buildings right!

Well we have two tired guys and after an epic wipeout, a slimy and very muddy girl... So we are back at the flat and while they are all taking a breather, I'm starting to process time lapses. ;)