Category Archives: Scotland

When a Holiday Doesn’t Quite Go to Plan

Posted on by

2

Or… I got Covid. Yay.

There is something about arriving in Johnshaven that always feels like coming home. It doesn’t matter how long it has been since the last visit; as soon as we see the sea and the harbour, it all feels familiar again. That is exactly what I like about it… every visit feels like we are picking up where we left off. The village had grown slightly, with some new houses that had been built since our last visit a year ago, but not enough to see a huge difference. 

I was looking forward to seeing my favourite place in the world: Dunnottar Castle, and we decided that at the first opportunity we would go there to see the sunrise. As luck would have it we were able to do this within the first 24 hours of arriving. The castle looked as striking as ever and I sat on the clifftop for several hours, just taking it all in. It’s difficult to describe – I have never felt as connected to a place as I do there, and if given the opportunity I would just set up a tent and move in. 

Continue reading →

A Visit to Glamis Castle

Posted on by

2

Every time we have driven up to Johnshaven we have passed the road signs for Glamis Castle, making a mental note to include it as part of our sightseeing. Yet somehow, we have never quite managed it. This year, however, we decided to make it a priority. It is only a 45 minute drive from the village, and we wanted to do something a little different.

Continue reading →

A Visit to Stirling: Stirling Castle and The National Wallace Monument

Posted on by

2

After the sadness of losing my little friend, I was more than ready for a break in August, and there was only one place that The Bloke and I wanted to go: the west coast of Scotland. It’s my favourite place in the world, we have visited a number of times (even getting engaged years ago on the clifftop overlooking Dunnottar Castle), and we had been looking forward to it for months after booking the same beautiful cottage that we stayed in last year. 

The drive from Birmingham is a long one, though, so we decided to break it up with an overnight stop. Last year, we stayed in Falkirk and visited The Kelpies and Blackness Castle, and then visited Doune Castle the next day. This time, we chose to stay in Stirling. We have passed it on many occasions during the drive up there, and it has been on our list of places to see for a while. It felt like the perfect place to pause.

The drive up was surprisingly easy, and we arrived earlier than expected, so we decided to spend the afternoon at Stirling Castle. 

Continue reading →

A Long Overdue Holiday in Scotland

Posted on by

8

At the end of July all of the schools had finished for the summer holidays and The Bloke was working out his remaining annual leave for the year before it resets in September. As an IT Tech he doesn’t get the same amount of holidays as the teaching staff and has to be savvy when he takes days off, so it made sense for him to take his two remaining weeks at a point where he would also get an additional few days with the Bank Holiday at the end of August. 

We started discussing the potential of going away on holiday – the last proper holiday we had was a week in New York in 2018 and we were both in desperate need of a break. Over the last year or two it has become a regular conversation, but every time we have actively looked for somewhere to go something seemingly happens that then becomes the priority, and after that particular crisis is resolved we then find ourselves back into the daily life and work routine. 

The following day, as if the universe was listening, I found a gorgeous (and more importantly, affordable) little cottage in the tiny village of Johnshaven in Scotland that was available when The Bloke was going to be off work.

Continue reading →