Never mind the Balloch

Ye alrightie laddie! Been up tae bonnie wee Scotland tae see me cousins.

Mum, Dad & I left home on Thursday evening to drive to Scotland in the car… yes, we are crazy. Car journeys fly by when you’ve got Douglas Adams reading “Life, the universe and everything”, and I may have had a bit of a nap. I also spent the time writing my Guilfest blog. We slept in a Travelodge in Preston on Thursday night. Big breakfast Friday morning at the service station filled my stomach nicely. Last few hours in the car took us into Scotland and to where auntie Janet lives which is in the rather unfortunately named “Balloch” (say it aloud and you’ll see).

We arrived just in time for lunch and I got the tour of the grounds (including climbing all the appropriate trees, of course). The house and grounds are huge. 13 acres of grounds including a tennis court and 2 horses. The house has too many rooms I care to count, but certainly enough for 2 adults and 5 children (plus another family staying over).

I don’t get to see my cousins Sam, Emma and Nathan very often, and even less since my uncle died in 2004. It was brilliant to see them all again, much taller and changed. I could mention that nostalgia word again, but it was just so good to catch up that I felt it was almost like starting again. Sam and I have both changed in the last few years with Sam moving and me going to university.

The rest of Friday it was good to relax and just absorb being back in Scotland after so long. On Saturday Sam took me swimming in the morning before we all headed out to the highland games in the afternoon. The highland games are basically an excuse for old men to dress up in kilts or try and run the 90 metres. Sam and I took it as an opportunity to ride the funfair rides and eat ice cream :)

In the afternoon we went for a stroll up this hill called the dumpling. You get a really good view of Loch Lomond from the top, and on Sunday we went for a closer look right down by the shore.

All the time Janet provided us with delightful culinary treasures: cakes, scones, chicken, etc. By the time we had to leave on Sunday afternoon I’d managed to persuade Sam to join me on the boat trip, which was great news!

The boat trip starts on Monday in Stourbridge (just south of Birmingham) with 5 of us on board. Ben and Kevin (who are good friends from sixth form), Matthew (very long time friend from back in primary school) and now Sam. We’re travelling through Birmingham for the first two days. Then on Thursday Matthew and Sam leave at Tamworth leaving Ben, Kevin and I to take the boat the rest of the way into London, finishing in Uxbridge. There’s lots to tell you about the boat trip, but I can explain as we go along.

I’ll be able to blog on the boat this year because we’ve bought a wireless dongle for the internet. Still, I expect the updates might fluctuate slightly, so consider the last few days of posts a pre-payment to the steady lack of posts in the next two weeks.

I’ll end this post here because it’s already very long and I’m getting tired. Hope to write here again soon.

• Happiness.8 out of 10
• Tiredness. 2 out of 5
• Last Meal. The obligatory Chinese from the takeaway where the boat is moored
• Song of the day. Dizzie Rascal - Bonkers
• Thought for the day. Isn’t it a bit early to be planning Christmas?
• What I’m Doing Now. On the boat with Mum, Dad and Sam. Mum & Dad are leaving in the morning to go to work and my friends arrive in the afternoon to start our boat trip!

PS (written on Sunday evening)…