Isle of Colonsay

The Simpsons

Castle ahoy

Hi!

Oban

haha

Otto the watchful dog

Just turdsing up the beach...

Looking for prawns

Success! 

Hey. Next destination please! We left for Scotland at 11 for the long drive north, following signs that actually said ‘The North’, which I thought was quite funny.  We drove past Sherwood Forest, which was near Robin Hood airport. Go robin hood.  We did get a flat tire which took about an hour to find a place to replace the back two, and luckily it was that close, there was a lot of driving where there was nothing for ages. Driving past ruined castles was pretty cool, just hanging on the side of the motorway. It seemed to start raining as soon as we went over the border haha, YAY! I  do like a bit of cloudy background. Also on the way in and out of Glasgow, they had these big signs above the motorways, the ones that generally say ‘WORKS AHEAD’ and all that, and they were saying things like, ‘why not car share?’ and ‘why not bike?’ and random 3 line rhymes about both things. COOL! 

To Oban! We went on to a The Loch Fyne Oyster Bar, a seafood restaurant on the edge of the Loch Fyne, to meet some people who were coming to Colonsay to stay with us. Casually Emma Thompson was there, aaaaand I didn’t believe it was her, as she wasn't looking like snag-toothed nanny McPhee, or Professor Trelawney.  First famous person sighting ever, ooh la la. Had a mean feed there, then on to the next destination for the night, which was a little town called Oban, where the ferry for Colonsay leaves from. We found the B&B and I pretty much went straight to sleep, it was a loooong drive.  The next morning we went to the Scottish Sea life park, and by we I mean me and 5 kids.  It was kinda fun, through the drizzle and all that. Found put the the GPS things people have in cars aren’t always reliable, as once it told us to drive down a very thin walkway, then turn down a street that didn’t exist, and then to drive down another walkway to find the exit, even though I was turning out the real exit at the time. Weird.  We pizzed around till 3 then drove onto the ferry across, which is about an hour and a half I think...

On the Island time. The Island is 9 miles long and 3 miles across, and is a single track road the whole way around, and the road pretty much runs as a line across with branches  coming out to go to the beaches, ferry and school, which has about 8 students at the moment. The house we are staying at is yet another giant thing, rooms galore. Looking after children in a house with 15 rooms gets kind of difficult at times, but I haven’t had any more lost children incidents since Molly fell asleep tucked down the bottom of the bed in Hereford. And I always seem to be just about at the top. Steps steps steps.

The first day we went for a walk to the beach,  and my instructions (we were meeting the adults down there, and the other children had left already) were to go down the road and turn right, and its about a mile to Kiloran, the closest beach to the house. Off I go, not far, come on kids! 15 minutes later I’m ringing in to see if perhaps I’ve gone the wrong way, as it doesn't seem to be taking us near a beach...go Alana with directional skills! I went the wrong way. Anyway, we got there in the end, cows everywhere, all over the beach. Sweet. There are wetsuits involved in the swimming, tho not for me, I just paddle and pull little people around on boogy boards. Or whatever they are. Later on after some intense trampoline use, we head out to catch shrimp and prawns down at another beach, Machrins , driving over the golf course to get there, and as the tide started to come in got heaps of them. I drove the littles back about 4.30 for dins while the others went proper fishing at the pier and got nothing, boo. 

Here I am: