And now we go again...

foxgloves

Have a fabulous time,
F x

PennysIntoPounds

Hope CalamityMac is behaving for you!

beanielou

PennysIntoPounds said:

Hope CalamityMac is behaving for you!

Love  it 😆

Blackcats

Hope you have a wonderful holiday.
looking forward to seeing some photos 

EssexHebridean

Thanks all! We are BACK! 

PennysIntoPounds said:

Hope CalamityMac is behaving for you!

I can't begin to say how much I love that nickname for them - I will be stealing that for sure! This time however, they mostly did - although we did have drama and uncertainty on the way up due to the weather forecast - wind was right on the limits for the ferry but all looked good the night before...then we got up on the morning of the crossing and JUST too late for us to change our destination port easily, through came the yellow warning of possible disruption...sigh! we made a somewhat faster departure from the Lodge of Travel than we had planned, and got on the road, with me frantically checking for further updates while MrEH was driving. We reached Fort William which was our "decision point" - we either had to commit to heading to Mallaig for our planned departure or further north to Uig while checking whether we could even get ON the boat from there, and just as we arrived, I could see on the tracking system that the boat had left the Uist side to come across - and as we know she can't tie up overnight at Mallaig, that meant we could pretty safely rely on the sailing going as planned! Phew! 

In spite of the weather which was a right old mix of chilly, showery, cloudy, sunny and windy (and sometimes at least 4 of those options simultaneously!) we had a fabulous break - lots of walking, lovely food, a fantastic boat trip with wonderful White Tailed Eagles to watch, and general time to switch off, relax and re-set. Perfect! The journey back went smoothly - it was a late arrival home but we'd expected that, but it was SO lovely to return home to somewhere we love, without having to worry what upstairs neighbours might have done while we were away!

Spending was generally fairly under control - This time I opted for checking items on the CC bill as they appeared, then just transferring chunks of cash as we went along to clear the card, so we have got back with just the last few bits still to sort out checking and clearing - far easier to deal with things that way. I will probably take a look at those last transactions later on and get that sorted out. We treated ourselves to a few bits for the house - from a lovely potter who we have purchased from a couple of times before - her stuff is beautiful, using clay and glass along with natural textures from shells and similar to really bring the colours of the islands to life, and we had reserved some of the Virtual Sealed Pot money from last year to buy a piece of her work - we actually ended up with three smaller pieces which are now sitting looking glorious on one of the living room windowsills! we also bought another glazed pot that we found elsewhere which we both loved - but in true MSE style we went away and thought about it, and committed to buying it later in the week! That's now on the landing windowsill, and again has been bought using the VSP money.

MSE Stuff:
- I remembered to re-shuffle my pay to where it needed to be at the right time, so all good there.
- Diesel prices up there were actually lower than we were paying at home when we left, which was a joy! 
- Gained several free books from the book exchanges while we were away, which is always a win! (including one about the history of cheesemaking in Britain!) and discovered a new to me Author who I will be looking out for more from in the future - David Baldacci. 
- £158.xx OP'd to the mortgage from last month's surplus - and a bit shuffled to other savings pots too
- £100 OP'd to the mortgage at the beginning of the new month from the OP pot. Mortgage now sub £108k and I should be able to take it to £107,000.00 with the end of month OP - YAY! 
- Some of what we spent in our last few days away related to food to bring back - a large black pudding and a smaller fruit one will need slicing and freezing; lots of oatcakes and crackers from the local bakeries that we can't get down here; a LOT of cheese - again from makers that we can't easily get in the south! Oh - and some beer too! I will probably shuffle some money from the food account to take account of some of that as obviously some of it is money that won't be spent from the regular budget. 
- Found a couple of things that I am going to buy for MrEH's birthday later this month - a book that we saw in a cafe and both thought looked interesting, and also a small piece of artwork - nothing fancy, just a print which there is a copy of in the cottage and we'd already liked, but I FINALLY remembered to turn it over this trip and check the artist details - I will just need to get a frame and mount for it when I get it. 
- Also bought a book for myself which we looked at in the same cafe - one on herbs which dates back to the 1970s and is an interesting read - just found it for £2.28 delivered so that was a win! 
- Planned spending - I'm going to join the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Club as it's a good way of supporting them - that spend will come from my airshow account. I also need to book some more airshow tickets although at the moment I'm needing to make a decision about which day I book something for. 

That's me about updated I think - I'm sure there is stuff I've forgotten but I also suspect that none of it will stop the world from turning, so...! 

kayannie

Your dash for the ferry reminded me of the last time we holidayed on Orkney. We hadn't booked the return crossing on the Saturday as we were assured, when we made the outward journey, that there was no need as it wouldn't be busy. Famous last words! We arrived on Saturday to be informed that they were fully booked until Sunday. Luckily we were in our camper van so were able to park up somewhere overnight. As I was due back at work on Monday morning, we drove as far south as possible on Sunday before being too tired to continue, woke early Monday morning to drive the rest of the way home to the midlands with just time to shower & get to work on time!

Glad you had a lovely time - it's always good to bring back quality handmade gifts that are unique.
KA

EssexHebridean

Eek Kayannie - yes, we know from long experience that our return definitely needs to be booked well in advance. Saturdays tend to be the busiest day of the week on the Outer Isles ferries as it's changeover day for the holiday lets rather than the Friday that a lot of places do, which is another reason we prefer Sunday travelling! 

I forgot to mention the garden didn't I! Lord knows how as it has gone absolutely crazy! We have lost a few bits - the pak choi has bolted but we will still get some leaves from it I think. The broad beans are utterly COVRERED with blackfly - always a risk with those - and I suspect we have lost the lot, but we are commencing with dilute soap spraying and crossed fingers. The main letter trough is flourishing - I picked a good amount for salad for tea last night along with some of the first sewing each of radishes and carrots - the radish leaves also got added to the salad, and some of our sorrel leaves as well. Potatoes are attempting to take over the world which is heartening, the tomatoes are a bit less enthusiastic but doing OK, and the three courgettes in the ground are all flowering and beginning to fruit which is most exciting! (The one in the pot is a bit behind but also got swamped by other stuff while we were away - I've now moved it and it's already looking happier). Not doing so well on cucumbers - 1 got totally eaten, 1 is doing well and 1 looks a bit half-hearted but may yet perk up. The original sage I bought has also died - but that looked unhealthy before we left - and the new purple one looks alright so I might get that transferred to a pot at some stage. the real disappointing is that we have had NO luck at all with runner beans - the two which had germinated before we left got eaten, and the ones we planted in either haven't germinated at all or perhaps have but again, immediately got eaten too - no way of knowing, We're thinking buy some more seed and get them sown at the weekend, now. 

lucielle

Did you see me waving????
Sounds like you had a great time. The outer isles are on our to do list. I’ve a friend who had just cycled the length of them, I think there’s a route a bit like the NC500. 

Mixed news on the garden but it sounds like you’ve got a plan in place. 

L

EssexHebridean

ROFL L had that ferry been cancelled and we'd been unable to get onto the Uig > Lochmaddy you may have been getting a panicky message asking for floor space for sleeping bags! LOL! 

Definitely get a trip to the Outers in though - couldn't be easier for you to get to now either, could they - you've got the options of the Southern bit OR the Northern bit! There is indeed a cycle route from Vatersay all the way to the top of Lewis now - the Hebridean Way - indeed we saw a lot of grumpy looking cyclists battling the wind and rain last week in particular! 

I've just found Redo's GreenFly thread so will probably be using that for some plotting and planning - pun intended! 

PennysIntoPounds

Welcome back! Ha, steal away.
That sounds like a fabulous trip, and how nice to be able to get some gifts for your home and Mr EH's birthday too.
Envious of the beer and cheese!