Carry On Camping

Since I'm having problems with Virgin at the moment and can't send or receive any emails, and it's driving me MAD (grrrrr), I thought I'd post a few pics of a short camping trip we took recently (well, it keeps me amused :-) )

A couple of weeks ago we tried out our new tent and camped near Killin, at a nice little site five minutes walk from the shores of Loch Tay. After some initial discussion about which bits went where, we got the tent up with not too much trouble and went about the serious business of trying out the (new) stove and kettle and making a cup of tea. This proved successful much to my relief and I settled into our one deckchair while the others went exploring. It was pretty misty the whole day until a heavy bout of rain cleared things up nicely. Unfortunately, it also brought out the midges!

The following morning heralded a bright and warm new day.

Hamish was rather naughty on the whole trip and kept getting Mr Adam into trouble. He has been told he had better behave from now on (he is rather prone to mischeviousness).

Can you tell?

We walked in the woods...

Played...

Walked to the loch...

and visited some family of Hamish.

We weren't too far from our favourite place - the Scottish Crannog Centre. It is near Kenmore at the opposite end of the loch, so we took a trip along. It was still as good as ever.

Some fleece dyed with local plants.

Miss Lucy tried to make fire again - she does this every time we visit. It's really difficult to do, but she has managed to get some smoke going before!

Our trip was over all too soon, but we thoroughly enjoyed it. Even those of us who weren't that keen (having been camping all over Britain when small - no matter what the weather!) had a lovely time (that kettle was a lifesaver).

Good Trip to the Crannog

Our trip to the Crannog at Kenmore on Loch Tay today was really good. We stopped at Dunkeld (again) on the way and had another walk around the Cathedral and the town. I won't post any more pics of Dunkeld after last week's ones but I did think this fallen down tree was rather lovely. The children all had a great time here running around and not one managed to fall into the River Tay!Then we headed on to the Crannog itself (stopping for a picnic on the way of course). If you want to find out any more about the Crannog itself (no, it's nothing to do with aliens - you know who you are!) then here is the link to the website -http://www.crannog.co.uk/docs/crannog_centre/scc_centre.html . You have a tour inside the Crannog and the guide gives a little talk etc. She asked my son and nephew what sort of fish they thought might have been swimming around in Loch Tay in times gone by and their replies were - goldfish and sardines! After the tour inside, there are activities to try outside such as using a lathe, spinning wool with a drop spindle, making a hole in a stone (more fun than it sounds, honest!), turning wheat into spelt flour, and making fire - oooh the men always love this one for some reason lol. My boy liked grinding the wheat into flour with a stone...

So did the girls...My other 'boy' just had to have a go at making fire!...

All the children had a go at mixing the clay - which was to be used to repair a clay oven. They really liked this, it was mucky!

This was some wool spun on a drop spindle. It has been dyed with plants - berries, lichen, bark and so on. I absolutely loved this, the colours are fantastic aren't they? I was tempted to run off with it!!

It was a long drive home and we were stuck behind a tour bus from somewhere in Germany for ages on narrow twisting roads for ages. We managed to get past the bus and carried on merrily until coming up behind this - a three wheeler! - I haven't seen one of these for years (showing my age now lol).

All the adults are quite tired out now but are the children - NO! I know this because my two and one of their cousins are in the next room to me supposed to be asleep!! I will have to go in to them and adopt my stern voice in a minute! Somehow I think it's going to be a long night.....