Mull of Kintyre.....1st July
[This is a part of the west coast of Scotland that is reknowned for its surf, esp for beginners.]
Mhairi, a Scot we'd met in NZ, was planning to join Neil, Ruth, Matt and Clare on a surfing trip to celebrate the occasion of Neil's 25th birthday. We had also met Neil briefly while he was in NZ, and our good kiwi friend Clare was flying over from Sweden especially! Well, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to invite ourselves along too! Mhairi's bro, Gavin, and his Aussie girlfriend Jen also came which made it a merry gathering indeed. We tried surfing, ate birthday cake, visited cute little Machrihanish, the larger Campbeltown, camped in the dunes of Westport, melted marshmellows on the camp fire and drank Pims!!
Breamar and the Cairngorms....7th July
Mhairi planned to visit her folks at their holiday home up north in Breamar, a little touristy ski resort village. We were fortunate enough to be invited along! Heather and Ian were fabulous hosts. They served us our first ever gin & tonic, cooked up a huge BBQ feast and lent us gear for our hiking mission.
Yes, Mhairi is one of these crazy adventure racing types! She was keen to 'bag some Munroes'. Pete, who lives in Aberdeen drove over to join us too. He and Mhairi have done some adventure racing together. I was a little nervous that I might not be able to keep up, since I'd been a travelling bum for a month [and I was sick in Thailand], but I just did it slower! We rhomped around the Cairngorms and bagged the second highest mountain in Britian, Beinn Macdui 1'300m. It rained a lot and the wind was bitter. Pete kept saying this was 'typical Scottish highland weather' but isn't it ment to be summer!!!?
It was great to be out in the elements and the shower afterward was magic!! [wink]
No comments:
Post a Comment