Ben Nevis and Inverness

This is hard ... so many photos, so many stories, so many things to remember. What to add and what to leave out? I thought that I would try to combine days and places as best I could. Some days run into the other but I kept a daily diary of what we did and I am hoping it will help me to remember what we did and where we were.

From Stirling we headed to Fort William and camped at Glen Nevis Camp Ground, where we did some climbing ... the camp ground was great for Lars and Roxcy and it had a great shower. Camping is very big here ... much like NZ. The camp grounds here are mixed ranging from average to above average. No kitchen facilities but wash up areas, showers and laundry. We missed the use of a kitchen when it was raining. We had an awning for the side of our camper but it was pretty light, not a very good protection from the rain. 

From Ben Nevis we went to Inverness.

This happened to Roxcy in the first couple of days. It was a challenge for the Tooth Fairy to find Roxcy but she did ... thank goodness.

We took a walk up Ben Nevis, which is the highest mountain in the United Kingdom. It is a very popular area here for tramping, mountain biking, cycling and kayaking, in fact Scotland really is the 'Great Outdoors' with lots of out door activities. This photo is one of those moments when I regret not having a 'real' camera!

I really wanted to get a photo of the valley behind Lars and Pete but I thought the photo would be more interesting with them in it. Pete is wearing Roxcy's hat to protect his bald head from the sun.

Catching the last of the sun on Ben Nevis.

I have spent many hours sitting with washing machines like this. I have enjoyed it as time out. I know I have said this in previous posts but washing is the most expensive thing!

The weather forecast for our trip was not favourable ... lots of rain predicted. When we were camping in Inverness Pete decided to buy umbrellas for us, a great idea. Yes it has rained a lot while we have been here, but it stops and starts. It has not been cold, mildly humid and it has made sleeping at night in our van more comfortable than if it was really hot.

We went out for breakfast in Inverness. I had porridge, Lars had bacon, Roxcy had French Toast and Pete had a Full English Breakfast which included this Haggis. I did try it ... I don't think I could ever acquire a taste for it. Pete did not try it at all.

Roxcy was very excited about this store. It was fun watching her choose her pick and mix and required a lot of patience. I remember going to the dairy as a child and buying a 10cent mixture of lollies. It was such a fun thing to do, pinch some money from my Mothers wallet and go down to the corner dairy and buy a pick and mix. So many lollies to choose from and so much to eat when I had made my choices. Some of my favourites ... eskimos or bananas, snifters, jaffas, minties, wine gums, pineapple lumps to name a few.

These are the boiled sweets, which Roxcy does not like ... she picked all soft sweets.

We went for a walk along the canal in the evening when the rain had stopped. A discussion ensued with Roxcy and she got a little heated. The next thing Roxcy storms of yelling ...'my head is going to explode!' I got the giggles which really did not help.

From an exploding head to a sleeping angel with her most cherished possession, her blankie that is being worn out with love.

Roxcy tried scones and liked them. I grew up with hot scones. My Grandma Worsfold made the best scones and I remember having them hot with jam when I was a girl about Lars and Roxcy's age. Fresh hot scones with jam are the best. My Grandmother Crombie took me out for Devonshire Tea from time to time and that is when I discovered the joy of whipped cream on fresh scones ... yummy! Grandma Gibson used to make good scones ... she would put egg and sugar in hers. I used to make scones for our children when they were young and we would have them for a meal or with soup. There has been quite a range of taste with the scones that we have tried. Some have been definitely better than others.