Helloooooooo,

In case you thought I'd dropped off the face of the earth..........I haven't!  Those who check in on my 'occasional' Facebook posts, would know that the boss and I have been on a three month vacation.
I can't quite believe it myself...... 3 months sounded such a long time  at the very start of our trip but in fact the weeks just flew past.

We went home!

We flew to London then drove to Liverpool which was our base this trip.  Ian has a sister there who has three daughters close by. Two of the girls have five daughters between them (all girls on Ian's side lol) and the third owns a little furnished house she let to us......how lucky are we?

Used to being just the two of us we soon became part of the family group, which was fabulous.  We enjoyed three Birthday Parties, one of them Ian's. Family lunches as well as an early Christmas celebration!

We'd booked a two week coach trip to Scotland from here in Australia. Planning it for about the half way point of our trip, however once we'd settled in we decided on a week away with Ian's sister and her husband so booked an earlier trip to Jersey in the Channel Islands.  It's years since I'd been to Jersey and there have been quite a few changes.  It's still such a pretty place and with the weather being glorious we saw it at it's very best I think.

Back in Liverpool we took in the sights, visiting one of the two Cathedrals, Museums, Galleries and National Trust  homes and gardens.

We had nights out with old friends, some of them from Ian's teen years which was lots of fun. The boys were  chuffed they recognised each other after quite a few years and spend some happy time reminiscing.

Scotland was fabulous! It's years since either of us had visited and never together.  We drove up from Liverpool as our tour started in Glasgow just before the Commonwealth Games so we saw the City dressed and ready to host an amazing games.  The tour took us to Loch Lomond then up to Oban and over to the Isles of Mull and Iona.

Up through the highlands and over to the Isle of Skye.

Further up to Thurso and over to Orkney to visit Skara Brae and the Ring of Brodgar.

Back to the mainland and on to John O'Groats. We stopped for a visit to the beautiful Dunrobin Castle, which was probably one of the most beautiful we visited.

We paid a visit to Culloden, where Bonnie Prince Charlie was defeated in 1746. From here we visited Fort George, where we actually saw dolphins swimming in the beautiful clear waters. Onward to Inverness, Pitlochry and on to St Andrews (for the golfers).

Our trip ended in the beautiful city of Edinburgh, where they were getting ready for the Festival.  The city was jumping, lots of tourists from all over the world. Best of all our Hotel looked out onto the Castle which was getting ready for the Edinburgh Tattoo!

We visited so many castles and ruins I lost count! Whisky distilleries with some tasting......thanks but not for me! Tried Haggis on a couple of occasions which was OK I have to say, though I didn't like it with whisky poured over it. Needless to say Porridge with a nip of whisky was not my thing either :).  I danced the Gay Gordons, tried my hand at sheep shearing the old fashioned way!  We made some new friends, had lots of laughs and learnt so much from the guides.

The weather was amazing, so warm  I think our timing was spot on.  Scotland was a real highlight of our trip, I'm really glad we did it. It was our first ever  coach trip, so I was a bit nervous. As it turned out our group was just 12 Americans and us so we had plenty of room to spread out on the coach and our stops at all the lochs and castles was smooth as!

Ireland next time I think.

I caught up with family which was great, spend time with my Mum in the Cotswalds and shopped! We walked the walls around beautiful Chester, and shopped! Spent a day in Clitheroe, visiting some pretty villages.  We drove over to North Wales, visited Llandudno, Conwy Castle, Llangollen with lots of other stops too.  Took hundreds of photos between us, so I thought I'd share just a few today.

We packed lots in though didn't quite complete our 'wish list'. We certainly didn't have time to fly to Europe this time, but that's fine...........we might just have to go back next year :)

We've been home a few days and are still suffering from jet lag........I guess that's another thing that happens with age.....right?

Poor 'Walshie' had one very important job to do when we got here:

The washing machine wouldn't fill with water as a valve had gone!!! Just what you need after a trip ah! Still everything else was fine so no complaints here  :-)

See you soon I hope.......