Very sad, our last day exploring in Banffshire. We are pleased though that we did our outdoor things yesterday, our only 100% fine day We drove firstly through Glasshaugh where my 4 greats grandmother was born back in the 1700s, and then continued on to Fordyce. I was really hoping to see a wild deer over the stone wall, as Tom did the other day, but no such luck. We do still see pheasants by the sides of the roads and in paddocks. They have an “old Kirk” at Fordyce that has been turned into a bistro and I thought “great, we’ll dine in my ancestors old church” but then I read that it had been consecrated in 1804 and that’s too recent for my family! The old, old Kirk is my family’s Kirk - St ... read more

This weather is just crazy. We were laying in bed planning our day after having our brekkie (lovely habit we’re in) exclaiming over the giant yellow thing in the sky shining radiance upon everything in the land … and then it was snowing. Then it was sunny …. Then it was snowing. We thought we’d venture out nice and early on Wednesday’s itinerary and drove as far as the turnoff to Keith, but the Yaris wasn’t so keen. It wanted to slide around on the snow, so we turned around to return and promptly passed the snow plough on his way to plough the road to Keith and throw salt on it. But return to our cottage we did, where we just relaxed until it was almost lunchtime, then set out again. We drove down the ... read more

We woke really early this morning which was handy because today we left Rothbury and headed north, back into Scotland. We stopped off at a Morrison’s supermarket, our favourite, at Dalkeith, on the Edinburgh bypass, for some groceries and then continued, taking the long scenic way because we didn’t need to be at our accommodation till later in the afternoon. At Morrisons we bought a meal deal each where we got a choice of sandwich (which was really soft and fresh, and the roast beef was sooooo tender), a snack (I chose the millionaires shortbread, which is shortbread, caramel and chocolate) and a drink (we both chose Starbucks chilled coffee). We also stocked up on porridge, frozen curries, chips and cheese and crackers. The Sharwoods frozen curries are sooo good. They are for 1 but we ... read more

Considering it is snowing outside, it’s incredible that we STILL have to take the doona out of the quilt cover and pile it in the corner! We even have those little top windows open to get fresh air. The owners specially left two extra space heaters and extra blankets here for us, but we don’t need them. When we headed out this morning our car was covered in snow. Really thickly. It was 10am, and 2 degrees. Tom cleared the snow off the windows and the rest of it eventually left us as we journeyed. What an amazing day! For those of you with itineraries, we didn’t follow it today. Because of the snow we’ve had to make adjustments, we start later in the day and lost yesterday, but today was a day of exploring some ... read more

Wow - what a day we had today! Mind you, we didn’t sleep too well on this heavenly mattress. It could’ve been something to do with the nightclub across the road disgorging its drunk patients at 2am. We had thought the freebie earplugs were cute - we were on the 5th floor! Anyway! Tom went off and got us a Scottish breakfast from the same Maccas he used to go to a few years back, last time we were in Edinburgh, about 2018 or 2019. They now offer everything in vegan and vegetarian as well as the usual. And they do porridge! It was awesome! After brekkie we wandered down the hill of the Royal Mile to Canongate Kirk, where Tom’s 3 greats grandparents were buried along with several other family members. It was easy enough ... read more