Rushing about

I got home from work on Friday to find that The Vixen had (more or less) been repaired.  There are one or two things that need doing but they can wait until we get back.  But at least she is now driveable which made the weekend a whole lot easier.

Nevertheless there was still much to be done.

The sun was shining brightly so The Undergardener donned a hat and headed out to pick more soft fruit.  It is unfortunate that we seem to be getting massive crops of soft fruit just as we are about to head off for ten days. I made things ready for the freezer. We organised and did things and remembered to have dinner and rushed about a bit more.

We did some more rushing on Saturday morning until Tabitha, Gareth and Cally arrived to pick up some keys to our place (what have they done with their set, I wonder?) and then we headed off to do our stint at Bishops' House for the afternoon.  It had turned into a lovely afternoon and we had lots of visitors.  After we went to Freyja's place in Nether Green, packed up our car with her stuff and took her and the stuff (but not Simon who was going over on his bike) to their beautiful new house in Woodseats, not far from T,G&C's place. They will, eventually, when it's ready, have the bedroom in the attic with its absolutely spectacular view over Sheffield and beyond to the hills and moors. A trip to Trsco and then fish and chips outside on the patio with perhaps a glass or two of wine.

And so to Sunday.  We were ready to leave at 8.15 and made our way to Paul and Carol's place, where we transferred our belongings and ourselves into their car.  Paul drove us up to Scotch Corner then across to Penrith, where we stopped to fill the car and take a coffee break.  Thence up past Glasgow and Loch Lomond, round and up through Glencoe (our house's official name is Glencoe ) and so on to Fort William, pausing for a late lunch at a fish and chip shop which is certified by the Coeliacs Association and does gluten free fish and chips, plus has a tasty vegetarian menu. I had wondered why we had driven and drive. And drive. And driven, well past lunch time to get to this place. All became clear once we got there!

And now we are in the Premier Inn in Fort William. It's a nice little place (the town, not the Inn, though that is perfectly pleasant too!). We went for a walk after dinner yesterday evening, down to the loch and around.  There's a seafood restaurant down by the loch and below that there were two young otters having a meal of some fish that someone had thrown onto some steps leading down into the water.  That was a real treat.  You very seldom see otters in the wild!

Marlo was very suspicious when we left yesterday with one of our big suitcases. That usually indicates that we are going to be away for weeks. I wonder if he will be surprised when we get back next Monday. And in the meantime he has Cally to play with for most of this week

Fort William