Tag Archives: Scotland

When a Holiday Doesn’t Quite Go to Plan

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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. 

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A Visit to Glamis Castle

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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.

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

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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. 

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2024: A Year in Review

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Over the last few years I have added a ‘Memories & Highlights’ double page into my Bullet Journal. This serves as a reminder at the end of the year of all the positive things that I’ve been lucky enough to experience over the last twelve months, and is extremely helpful during times when things are tough. 

Perhaps the most challenging part was at the start of the year when we moved house, and what followed was MONTHS of individual battles with various companies including SCS and So Energy (that went on for nine months until I lost my temper and started leaving negative reviews – amazing how a 1* review on Trust Pilot suddenly makes a company pay attention). We quickly realised that neither the landlord and the property management company weren’t interested in helping too, which hasn’t been great.

However, 2024 (despite all the challenges and annoyances we’ve faced this year), has in fact been pretty great for the most part. 

The Bloke and I have again been extremely lucky to watch numerous shows at the theatre. My favourites? Book of Mormon, &Juliet, Hamilton, I Should Be So Lucky, Here & Now and Dear Evan Hansen – many of which were on my bucket list. Additionally, I got the opportunity to meet STEPS at their press launch, and I don’t think I blogged about it at the time, but I met Pete Waterman TWICE. I won’t go into detail now as this post is already going to be a lengthy one, but I was so overwhelmed by meeting him that I cried when I got home. 

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A Week in Johnshaven, Scotland

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Back in August The Bloke and I took a last-minute, much-needed holiday in Scotland. We were lucky to find a lovely little cottage (that is rarely available) had a vacancy at the time where The Bloke was on annual leave, and booked it immediately – as if the universe had stepped in at a point where we really needed it.

We decided to add an extra day, staying in Falkirk overnight before we were due to check in so that we could see The Kelpies and Blackness Castle, and then stopped in at Doune Castle on the drive up the next day.

It was definitely the right decision, as it meant that we could split the 10 hour drive over two days, and saw things that had been on my travel bucket list for a while.

We found the tiny, winding road down to Johnshaven easily. There have been some changes – since the last time we visited, a bunch of houses have been built on the edge of the village which was a bit disorienting at first, and there has been the addition of a cafe and a lobster shop.

But as soon as we pulled up to the cottage, it felt like home.

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Back to Dunnottar Castle

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Dunnottar Castle is probably my favourite place in the whole world. 

Sitting on top of a 160ft rock near Stonehaven, the castle was once a fortress of the Earls Marischal, one of the most powerful families in Scotland. It now sits as a stunning ruin. 

During our first stay in Johnshaven in 2016 we had marked it as at the top of our list of places we wanted to visit, and I had watched lots of videos about it in advance, but nothing could prepare me for just how utterly breathtaking that first sight of the medieval ruins were. 

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The Kelpies and Blackness Castle

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After booking a last-minute holiday in Scotland recently we decided to split the travel over two-days and do some extra sight-seeing along the way. 

The day before we were due to check in to our little cottage in Johnshaven we set off at 5.30am and drove the 5 1/2 hours up to Falkirk. It’s a pretty simple drive in terms of it being primarily on the motorway, but setting off at silly o’clock was definitely the right decision – there were multiple areas of roadworks on the M6 which would have been a nightmare during peak travel hours – and we made it without any issues or getting stuck in any traffic jams. 

There were two things we wanted to see in the area: The Kelpies and Blackness Castle. 

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A Long Overdue Holiday in Scotland

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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.

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An Amazing Few Days in Scotland

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Wow.

It only seems like five minutes ago since I published my engagement post, but since then The Bloke and I have been busy exploring the incredible sights that this area of Scotland has to offer. We’re staying at Creel Cottage in the coastal village of Johnshaven, and as well as relaxing and enjoying the views and calm atmosphere here, we’ve been able to go and see some things that have been on my Bucket List for a long time. It’s like something from a film set – everything is just beautiful – and the people are open, warm and friendly.

Dunnottar Castle
The view from Dunnottar Castle
The view from Dunnottar Castle
Driftwood huts on St Cyrus beach
The Bloke’s footprints
The waterfall at St Cyrus

Here are just some of the highlights: Continue reading →

Creel Cottage, Johnshaven

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image

This is the view from the harbour, just outside the cottage. Gorgeous.

Those of you who have been following the blog over the last few days will know that The Bloke and I are in Scotland on a long overdue holiday. We’re staying in the beautiful little fishing village of Johnshaven, about 30 miles south of Aberdeen, and we’ve been incredibly lucky to find Creel Cottage as our accommodation for the week. Continue reading →