Welcome to Scotland where the weather is FABULOUS!

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Big Eggs go Adventuring by Ninkynonk: Part I

Hi to all and sundry, and welcome back to our little page after our severe blog drought period of what must be about 9 months. Did you think we were dead? We could have been laying in a ditch at the side of the road and no-one would have known or cared......

Yes its been quite a while since we gave a little update on here. Thats mainly due to the fact that we haven't been undertaking many travel adventures of late. Actually lets just rephrase that - we didn't go ANYWHERE for ages. We swapped all that travel malarkyness for a Project Manager contract in Knutsford and a 'domestic' House Renovation Project in Uddingston (Glasgow) and basically anything that happened outside of those two things for about 5 months revolved round a couple of bottles of wine and a nice steak n chips somewhere in Glasgow. Not forgetting our beautiful, if a tad reluctant to sleep, daughter Beth keeping us on our toes practically 24/7 these days.

''So what's a Ninkynonk then?'' I hear you ask. Well techincally speaking a Ninkynonk is a little train thingy from a BBC baby TV show called 'In the Night Garden' which Beth goes nuts for. Untechnically speaking, its our affectionate name for the 'mid life crisis mobile' that we bought in December 07- a Black Beamer Z4. Unfortunately the Ninkynonk has only got 2 seats so this presents a bit of a problem if we want to use it for adventuring purposes as a family, cos we can't go bodding about with Wee Beth packed in the boot. Normally therefore, it has solo occupation, apart from Friday nights when Beth stays overnight at her grans - but that's the night that we usually get legless drunk and everyone knows that you cant drive about if you cant see or speak. However - on Monday of this week - while wee Eggylina was at nursery, the Bigg Eggs took themselves out on a big day of touring of the central Highlands for a spot of snowy sightseeing and a smidgen of traditional Scottish fare for lunch up Loch Lomond way....... in the Ninky. Hurrah!!!!

Needless to say, the weather wasn't sunny but we weren't bothered. Everyone always goes on about how terrible the weather is here in Scotland, but Billy Connolly says 'there's no such thing as bad weather - just inappropriate clothing' and these days we tend to agree. There's no point moaning about something you have no control over and actually the Highlands are incredibly beautiful in winter. There was lots of snow cover on the higher ground and we took a few snaps along the way. The only thing was that the rain kind of interfered with our ability to take decent piccies - and these shown here are the best that we managed to get. You can actually see the rain falling in some of the clearer snaps.

We really enjoyed our little day trip and have now booked ourselves an overnight this Friday in a hotel on The Isle of Skye so we're really looking fwd to that. The journey (according to AA Route Map website) takes about 4.5 hours, so we'll need to be leaving about 9am to make decent time. We'll maybe stop off in Fort William or something on the way for lunch.

Righto - this is obviously a very short blog, and we'll prob do another one of our Skye trip next week. Yes, it's all feast or famine with us you don't hear from us for a year then you cant get rid of us.

Tatty bye for now then,
Eggs. xxx

ps: Some photos on here of when we took Beth to Edinburgh zoo last Sunday - wow, couldn't believe how much she loved it. We'll be back again soon for another visit as it was a bit cold and a lot of the animals were having a game of Hide n Seek when we visited this time.

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Photos

Ninkynonk with lovely scenery on the way to Killin from Stirlingshire.
At this point we must have been up pretty high as we were driving through snow as opposed to viewing it on the hills. It was beautiful. Very Christmassy.

Beware! Deer on the roads.
I've yet to see a deer on the road. Or on a hill. Or in a valley. Or anywhere apart from outside Santas grotto at the garden centre where I took Beth at Xmas. Its not at all like the Kangaroos on the roads signs we saw in West Aus. Now they were pretty accurate.....

Falls of Dochart.
They are not high waterfalls as such - instead you'll find a number of scary mary rocks over a wide stretch of the river Dochart which the water wooshes right over at high speeds. Its especially exciting at this time of year when the snow has fallen and the water is at a higher level.

Roaring peat fire
This lovely warming fire was in the Falls of Dochart Inn, where we had our lunch. We could smell the peat burning from outside in the car park. Peat burning smells amazing.

Inside the Falls of Dochart pub.
It's pretty big on Scottish atmosphere what with the Coats of Arms & Big Deer's heed etc.

Ben Chonzie 931 metres high.
At least we think its Ben Chonzie. Was teaming of rain when we took this - thats why its so hazy, but the colours looked fantastic in real life. Ben Chonzie is just north of Callander.

Cruising in the rain
Note that there are not many people taking advantage of the facility on this particular day. Wonder why not?!

Steam rising on the mountains above Loch Lomond.
It looks like snow clouds but believe it or not it really was steam.

Shaz in the pub, getting cosy, waiting for her lunch to arrive.
Shaz had steak pie with rosemary roasted potatoes and Alan had Haggic Neeps n Tatties. For dessert Shaz had the lightest ever Sticky Toffee Pudding with Chantilly cream and Alan had Rhubarb n Apple crumble with Creme Anglaise. All the food was really excellent but the downside was that it wasnt cheap. Our bill with two cokes and two coffees came to £35. Crikey.

Gary's 40th birthday night.
Alan, Shaz, Gaz & Elly. We all went to Smiths restaurant in Uddingston where we live. It was lovely aqnd a good time was had by all.

Beth making Elephant noises at the zoo.
Just at the entrance to Edinburgh zoo there is a huge life size elephant which Beth just loved. She can do an elephant trumpet and made the noise all the way round to the zebras at the top of the hill. She can also make lion, tiger, horsey, fish, sheep and monkey noises. Bless!

The Zebras at Edinburgh zoo.
There are about 5 or so zebras in a huge field. There's a walkway above the field so you can get a brilliant view of them. One did a pee while we walked past and it was flourescent green. All that grass chomping we guess.

M6 Southbound in January.
Heading south on the M6 towards Knutsford for the last time to clear the little cottage we rented while Alan worked down there. This was one of the most windy days of the year and we saw three lorries overturned on the other side of the motorway.

The lane to our cottage in Knutsford.
Mega quaint, Oldy English, leafy greeny, red bricky, very tiny, dampy wampy.

Comments

[Occasionally Bob]

Glad to have you back
Thanks guys. I feel homesick. It looks amazing. The rain in NZ cannae compare to the tartan clad misery guts rain we get in Sco'lund. Can I give you a mission to make me feel better? Gonnae stick up a photo of the hideous buildings at the Nevisport end of Fort William High Street. Everytime I think of the building and carpark around WHSmith, Mackays and the Doctor Surgery I get a warm fuzzy feeling about not being there.

[Morv]

Hey, good to see you back blogging! Cute photos of Beth!

[Amanda]

Great, as always
I love your blogs. The writing is funny and entertaining, but not in that crap "Holiday 2008" way. Looking forward to the next one.

[Swaino]

Barbados bound
We'll send you a few sunny pics to balance the cold and rain. VB - am off soon back up to FW for start of Caley Challenge (June). Shaz and Al - look fwd to coming to weedgie land in April and seeing B'pops. Love from Norms and Lu xx