All roads leading north Part 3.....

Our friendly coach driver asked us to meet at the front of the hotel at 9.30 a.m. again the following day (Sunday), which we did after a hearty breakfast and a good night's sleep.

Our trip today started with the 20 mile drive to Inverness station where we boarded the train which took us through Beauly, Dingwall, Garve, Lochluichart, Achanalt, Achnasheen, Glencarron Halt, Achnashellack, Strathcarron, Attadale, Stromeferry, Duncraig, Plockton, Durnish to our final destination Kyle of Lochalsh.

The scenery on the way was beautiful, as one would expect, but the sight of the Island of Skye when we arrived at the Kyle of Lachalsh was even better.

Our driver, Keith, wanted to take us to the Loch Ness visitor's centre on the way back so we only had about forty minutes to admire the scenery at Kyle of Lochalsh but it was forty minutes well spent.  I've put together a slide show of the pictures we took whilst we were there.

After a quick lunch we set off again for the 60+ mile journey to the visitors centre at Loch Ness.

We were disappointed because we seriously thought the visitor's centre would be on the banks of the loch whereas it was actually about a mile away.   We stopped there for about an hour then set off again on the journey back to Inverness and on to our hotel.   Thankfully I was able to get some good shots of Loch Ness through the coach windows.

Of course I know the question you are all asking - "Did you see the monster?"

Well guess what?    YES WE DID!

Join me next time for the final leg of our Scotland trip.

Microfiction Monday #9

Susan at Stony River hosts this fun theme each Monday, so do pop over and read the others who have signed Mr. Linky. The rules are thus:



Every Monday Susan will post a picture for the subject of your story. Microfiction means the shortest of short stories. Think Aesop's fables, comic strips, or even jokes: complete stories that can be told in under a minute. For this game, the limit is a tweetable 140 characters or fewer, including punctuation and spaces.


Here's today's picture and my contribution.

In the midst of the storm Ethel was surprised to see the mermaids,

who had come to the surface to see who had just chucked up over the side.

Friday 55 Flash Fiction #124 Superstitious....

Charlie was very superstitious.

No new shoes on the table or broken mirrors for him.

The thought of putting an umbrella up in the house

or not greeting a magpie horrified him.

Hence his dismay when a black cat ran across his path

as he made his getaway from the bank job he'd just pulled.

Friday 55 Flash Fiction is brought to you by G-man (Mr Knowitall). The idea is you write a story in exactly 55 words. If you want to take part pop over and let G-man know when you've posted your 55.

A Diversion........

One of the many tour buses

Just as a little diversion from my posts about our trip to Scotland, today I'm inviting you for a tour around Albert Dock in Liverpool - that's where MWM and I went last Tuesday. 

We arrived by coach, which dropped us off at Albert Dock about 11 a.m. so we went for a walk round before deciding where to have lunch.

This is the Piermaster's House, which is a mock up of an authentic 1940's house, so we went in to have a look......

and here's what was inside....

Here's a statue of Billy Fury -recording star with hits such as Halfway To Paradise/I'd Never Find Another You/Last Night Was Made For Love - remember him?

We had lunch at one of the lovely little restaurants and bistros surrounding the dock before going to the tourist attraction (well we were tourists for the day) The Beatles Story.   We got some great photos so if you never get to visit it you'll know what you're missing.

To be honest we didn't need to go into The Beatles Story Exhibition as we actually lived through Beatlemania and both know the story by heart.  Nevertheless, it was quite interesting to see the mock-ups of the Casbah and the Cavern and other genuine Beatles items that had been loaned to the exhibition by varioius people.

Emerging from the dark confines of the exhibition into the bright sunshine we had about 45 minutes to kill before meeting the coach for home so we sat in the sunshine enjoying a pint of IPA.

I hope you enjoyed Liverpool and will join me next week for Part 3 of our Scotland trip.

Microfiction Monday #8...

Susan at Stony River hosts this fun theme each Monday, so do pop over and read the others who have signed Mr. Linky. The rules are thus:



Every Monday Susan will post a picture for the subject of your story. Microfiction means the shortest of short stories. Think Aesop's fables, comic strips, or even jokes: complete stories that can be told in under a minute. For this game, the limit is a tweetable 140 characters or fewer, including punctuation and spaces.


Here's today's picture and my contribution.

The dog’s lazy but our staff aren’t.

Book now for the best holiday you’ll ever have.

We’re so close to the sea sharks leap into our pool!

Friday 55 Flash Fiction #123 The Funeral.....

Tears streamed down Beth's face.

She was watching her husband's coffin slide silently through the curtains.

Family and friends patted her hand, assuring her things would be fine.

They didn't know that her tears were because

she was thinking of all the hurt and humiliation he'd caused her,

before she'd laced his food with arsenic.

Friday 55 Flash Fiction is brought to you by G-man (Mr Knowitall). The idea is you write a story in exactly 55 words. If you want to take part pop over and let G-man know when you've posted your 55.

All roads leading north Part 2......

After a good night's sleep and a hearty breakfast (I didn't partake of the haggis and the fried food) we assembled at the front of the hotel at 9.30 a.m., for our first excursion of the weekend.   Keith, our driver for the weekend, did a quick head count (there were only 26 of us on the coach including a four year old boy called Andrew who was an absolute joy) then we set off for the railway station at Aviemore, where the Strathspey Railway is based.    For those who don't know, Aviemore is a small town on the edge of the Cairngorms.   I've put together a little slide show of photos taken at the station.  If you look carefully on the last two you will see me on the footplate of the train through the steam!

We boarded the steam train which took us to Boat of Garten, a peaceful Highland village set amongst heather clad hills and native woodland. Lying adjacent to the mighty River Spey in the Cairngorms National Park, Boat of Garten lies in an area of outstanding natural beauty, centrally located in the Highlands of Scotland.

Here's MWM and I on the train.

then onto Broomhill, which was the location of Glenbogle,  used in the filming of the TV series 'Monarch Of The Glen'.

After our train ride we were supposed to have a free afternoon back in Carrbridge but because the weather was drizzly Keith (the coach driver) decided to take us for a drive round and stopped off at Speyside Heather Centre at Skye of Curr, Dulnain Bridge, which was just beautiful.   We had a pot of tea here, along with a sandwich for me and a 'clootie dumpling' with fresh cream for MWM.  A 'clootie dumpling' is a traditional Scottish fruit pudding or cake.  The clootie was often made on a special occasion, especially a birthday and wrapped coins would be placed in the uncooked mixture then individually wrapped in organic unbleached muslin.   The clootie would then be 'skelped' or smacked by each person in the family to form it into a nice round shape in the cloot (the muslin wrap), the person whose birthday it was being the last to skelp it.  The dumpling was then simmered gently in the cloot, resulting in a moist, rich treat for that special occasion.  Suffice to say he enjoyed it.   They had all sorts of things for sale not just plants, there was also a lovely little wildlife sanctuary in the centre where we stopped for a while looking at the birds.

After an hour of looking round we set off to Grantown-on-Spey, a traditional Highland town on the River Spey 14 miles from Aviemore on the northern edge of the Cairngorms National Park, where we spent a happy hour in the bar of a local hostelry!    We boarded the coach again for the ten mile journey back to our hotel, where we had a short rest before getting ready for dinner, which was a Scottish buffet that evening as it was a Ceilidh (pronounced Kayleigh).    The formality of a Ceilidh can vary - some mix modern pop music with a Scottish country dancing band and dress codes range from compulsory highland dress to informal.  This one consised of a young man playing the bagpipes and a young girl dancing, plus a traditional Ceilidh band and the MC dressed in the tradition kilt.

Join me next time for our next excursion in the Scottish Highlands.

Microfiction Monday #7..

Susan at Stony River hosts this fun theme each Monday, so do pop over and read the others who have signed Mr. Linky. The rules are thus:

Every Monday Susan will post a picture for the subject of your story. Microfiction means the shortest of short stories. Think Aesop's fables, comic strips, or even jokes: complete stories that can be told in under a minute. For this game, the limit is a tweetable 140 characters or fewer, including punctuation and spaces.

Here's today's picture and my contribution.

Did you enjoy your tea Monkey? asked Pamela.

It was just lovely, but do excuse me, the cucumber sandwiches are repeating on me! said Monkey.

Friday 55 Flash Fiction # 122 The New Neighbour....

The new neighbour was worrying Anne.

A stream of men visiting daily, since she'd moved in.

Disgracing the neighbourhood.

It was her duty to report her suspicions.

The policeman listened to Anne's tirade.

"Oh we are acquainted with Mrs M" he told Anne

"she gives piano lessons to a quite a few of our officers!"

Friday 55 Flash Fiction is brought to you by G-man (Mr Knowitall). The idea is you write a story in exactly 55 words. If you want to take part pop over and let G-man know when you've posted your 55.

All roads leading north Part 1...........

We spent the last bank holiday weekend travelling to, across and back home from SCOTLAND!  We had a 20 minute taxi journey to pick up our coach at 6.55 a.m., with some other pickups in neighbouring towns before we set off on our journey proper which commenced when we hit the M6 then the A74(M) where we made our first stop at Moffat at a woolen mill for lunch.  We had taken our lunch with us and sat outside on the picnic tables enjoying the sunshine before a quick mooch round the mill at the goods on sale and our first taste of single malt whisky.

Boarding the coach again we set off on the M74 again through Glasgow to pick up the A80 heading towards Sterling then the M80, M9 and the A9 up to Gleneagles, enjoying the scenery as we went.   We stopped for a comfort break at a lovely little village called Little Dunkeld on the River Tay but were astonished to be charged 30 pence each to use the public conveniences!    The next place of interest we passed through was Pitlochry, then Blair Atholl, through Newtonmore, Aviemore, then on to Carrbridge and finally at 4.45 p.m. our hotel - The Carrbridge Hotel  - a distance of approximately 350 miles. 

Click on photos to enlarge.

We just had time to unpack and freshen up before going to the dining room for a delicious dinner, after which we decided to go for a stroll down to a little pub we noticed as we arrived.   Here we are outside the hotel after dinner.

K, T and Me

and here's the pub we went to just down the street.

Carrbridge is on the River Dulnain and the river is right next to the hotel and is absolutely stunning - take a look at this photo.

Here's MWM and I posing against that backdrop.

There's a story to that original bridge over the river.

Isn't that a great story?

After a couple of drinks we went back to the hotel to check out the entertainment which was a singer/guitarist who had a huge repertoire, all good,  and MWM and I even had a dance!

We retired before midnight as we were embarking on our first trip at 9.30am the following morning, I hope you'll join me to see where we went and the fabulous scenery of the Highlands of Scotland.