Yesterday as we had been driving up towards Munlochy we passed at least half a dozen fixed road signs warning that heavy rain was due in the Inverness area on Thursday (today). Opening the curtains this morning the light rain that was falling last night seemed to have all but stopped and away to the west the sky looked lighter and we had hopes of a reasonable day to do some ancestry searching of the Finlaysons,Gretchen’s forebears from the Ross and Cromarty area. Audrey, our host, had a breakfast ready for us downstairs and we spent another hour or so chatting to her and husband David about Gretchen’s connection to the area. David gave us some information on where the locations were that we were looking for to help us on our way. Our final destination ... read more

When we had worked out that we were going to be passing through Edinburgh on our way to the Highlands we thought about the thrill it would be to attend the Edinburgh Military Tattoo in the place where it all started,within the grounds of Edinburgh Castle.Within moments of going online way back at the start of this year we had booked tickets and the day was set for one of the highlights of the BBA V3. It is going to be a long day today, as not only do we head north of the border to Scotland but we are also attending the Edinburgh Military Tattoo in Edinburgh and will have a 45 minute drive to get back to our hotel after the show finishes probably around 11pm. So our very good night’s sleep has put ... read more

We wondered whether sleeping above a pub might mean a disturbed night’s sleep but how wrong we were. We arose fresh and ready to go chasing a spot somewhere between Hexham in the east and Carlisle in the west to watch the Flying Scotsman go by on its run from Leeds to Carlisle. First though we have another full English breakfast ahead of us. We could have gone for just some cereal but the knowledge that if we leave here with full stomachs we won’t need to stop anywhere for lunch and breakfast should get us through until dinnertime. We were downstairs just after the prescribed breakfast time of 8.30am and it was all that we expected and really it is pretty hard to resist black pudding for breakfast, well at least for me! We had ... read more

The wind of yesterday when we were travelling has died away and the day has dawned looking very promising to be out and about. After breakfast Gretchen got the washing done and hung out on the clothes line to take advantage of the sunny weather. She was sure it would be nicely dry by the time we got back from a trip out in the countryside that Rhona was about to take us on. We drove up to the Chevin Ridge, the highest point around the Leeds area at 282 metres above sea level, and stopped at the lookout known as Surprise View. Rhona said that on a clear day you can see York Minster away to the east. However, today, although it was fine there was a haze that meant that anything that far away ... read more

We didn’t have a big distance to cover today so we could afford a leisurely breakfast and then as we haven’t had time to visit the birds in the Raptor Centre we have been staying at we are going to take advantage of free entry because we have stayed at the accommodation. With the car packed and the centre opened at 10am we took a walk around amongst the birds which included some that are housed outdoors on tethers attached to stakes in the ground. The first animals you see though are not birds but meerkats, three of them. It could be very hard not to go any further as watching these playful animals can be a time consuming affair. Next to the meerkats is a room of display cabinets containing snakes and reptiles including an ... read more