:: The Holiday, part one

First of all we went to the farm, which was great, as always. Bertie flushed out a couple of hares on his first excursion - whee! He might have caught them if they weren't so clever and he wasn't so out of condition. Andrew is in the throes of renovating his new home -- it had rot downstairs, so all the floorboards and joists had to come out. The wood expert was there ripping it all up, so I spent quite a bit of time helping Andrew cart rotten wood to the bonfire site. We also went for two great long walks (one up on the moors and another at the seaside near Nairn) and mowed the (very large) lawn at his aunt and uncle's cottage. Another highlight was feeding the little calf they're hand-rearing. It was a twin and the cow didn't think she could be bothered to bring them both up. She's a tiny skinny little thing, but is thriving.

Here are some photos:


John feeds the wee calf


Me patting the calf -- it was butting me quite hard, looking for milk.


John and Andrew in the kitchen of Andrew's new house -- "The Aga's going over there..."


Something nasty found under the floorboards. The floor had been laid directly on to the earth.


Bertie was confused by the earth floor: "Are we inside or outside?" Later he decided it was outside and had a pee. Oops...


The new/old house from the outside. It had been divided into flats and rented out, but now Andrew's making it a house again. It's going to be lovely -- fantastic views of the Moray Firth.

On Friday I loaded up the car and Bertie and I headed for Royal Deeside, to do some hillwalking. There was a slight hitch to my plans, in that it turned out the Balmoral Games were being held at the weekend, so all the accommodation was booked up. We had to stay in Tomintoul, the other side of the Lecht pass from Deeside.


This was one of the B&Bs we stayed at -- a wonderful farm tucked away in the hills. We had a family room with TV and private bathroom. Great place. Bertie blotted his copybook by trying to kill the cat, but later on suffered the humiliation of being chased by the puppy. Working dogs, hard as nails!


A spring on the path around Loch Muick (pronounced Mick).


Loch Muick


Ditto. That's Queen Victoria's Highland hideaway in amongst the trees, a nice solid stone house right on the lochside.


Lots of water for a thirsty dog. It was a beautiful day.


The next day was tougher: we went up Lochnagar. This is the view from near the ridge, on our way back down. The carpark is far, far in the distance.


Lochnagar. The summit is behind the cliffs -- you had to clamber up a steep slope and work your way round the clifftops. I was too knackered, and so was Bertie. We had a picnic by the loch and then headed back.

Then we came home!! I'll write more later on -- right now I've got to get to the supermarket, my cupboards are bare. Sarah is still here -- she went to a photography course on Skye and stopped off for a few days on her way back south. She's a great guest, it's a pleasure to have her to stay.