Holiday 2011 - Sunset Cycle

Part 2 of the holiday snaps selection...

We took our bikes with us. During the day we did a couple of family rides and in the evenings hubby and I took turns to go out on our own.

Compared to where we live there aren't many good cycling roads near Arisaig. This is true for much of the Highlands - the land is just far emptier than the central Lowlands where the bulk of Scotland's population lives. As there are fewer people there are fewer farms and other small settlements needing connected by the unclassified roads which are so ideal for cycling. However, we had enough quiet roads to keep us very pleasantly occupied for the week we were there and the scenery was fantastic.

One evening I cycled up the coast from the campsite to Morar and then inland along the shores of Loch Morar. I picked a good evening...

Joining the Road to the Isles from the campsite. I like the rosebay willow herb, the sharp bend in the road and the white cottage.

Past Traigh golf course, this is the very dinky clubhouse and it sits on a beautiful bay.

Although I did take photos of the beaches and sea on the way out I prefer the ones I took on the way home - you'll soon see why. The next little collection of photos included here is therefore of Loch Morar which lies behind the village of Morar. It is reputed to have its own monster, called Morag, but I never saw her. The evening light up at the loch was just perfect giving beautiful tones of blue and purple to the water and hills.

This is as far along the loch as I went which was about a mile before the road ends and just before a huge hill which I'm afraid I couldn't be bothered to go up. I was also aware that the sun was setting and I wanted to get back onto the road home to catch the sunset over the beaches and sea...


The next few photos are all of Traigh bay, it's high tide at this time in the evening.

The little clubhouse at the head of Traigh bay bathed in the light of the setting sun.

Lastly, one final view of the sunset over the next little bay. It was the best sunset we had all week and I'm so glad I was able to get out on my bike and appreciate it fully. I'm also glad of my little camera which seems to cope well with capturing some of the beauty in the landscapes around us. Digital cameras are such a wonderful invention.

Holidays 2011 - Camusdarach Beach

We've just returned home from our summer holidays.

We rented a caravan about two miles north of Arisaig. We last visited this area five years ago and I'm sure we'll be back again. The coastline between Arisaig and Morar is quite sublime. It has the most fantastic beaches - huge expanses of clean white sand which slope gently into a beautiful turquoise sea and gorgeous views beyond to the islands of Rum and Eigg.

I took a lot of photos (over 900), not all will appear on my blog! To start with, here are a few of Camusdarach beach (used as the location of the beach scenes in the film Local Hero). We visited this beach a few times so the photos are from different visits.

To get to the beach you follow a narrow sheltered sandy path for several hundred yards from a small car park.

At the end of the path you get your first glimpse of the beach.

Sand, lots of it, and almost all to ourselves.

The sea. In the far distance are the islands of Eigg (the flat one on the left) and Rum (the mountainous one on the right). Somewhat obscured here but there'll be lots more pictures of them to come.

A face in the sand by A.

A view of Eigg from the dunes.

This particular day I left hubby and the children happily playing amongst the dunes while I went for a walk over the headland at the southern edge of the beach.

Looking South over the next bays.

Looking back North over the main beach.

Clover.

Rocks.

Probably my favourite photo showing just how clear and beautiful the sea appears here. This was from the third bay along which was much more sheltered from the wind than the main beach, it was hot!

A little gate at the top of the bay.

Heading north again, using a different route.

Back on the main beach. The dots in the distance are A & N playing. There were other people at the beach but not many as it's so far from anywhere it's only those who are holidaying nearby who visit.

Right, better get back to the washing. Load #5 is ready for hanging out. Many more photos to follow, not all of beaches! I'm also looking forward to catching up on the blog reading I've missed while being away...

Gingerbread Muffins (with recipe!) and Many Other Cakes.

Catching up...

I found the muffin recipe I was looking for. I'd not been able to find the recipe on the internet but then remembered I'd photographed it from this book:-

A good friend was leaving to stay in Germany after living here for six years. As she'd often commented on how much she liked Scottish baking we (the craft group ladies) got together and wrote out all our favourite recipes and collected them together in a photo album. The first card of each recipe also included a little story about the recipe - where it was from, why it was liked, etc, just to make it all more personal.

So here (courtesy of Carol, and minus the top card) is the recipe for gingerbread muffins (click pic to make bigger).

I had the job of gathering in all the recipe cards. As soon as I saw this recipe I knew it was one I wanted to try.

Mmmm!

They were scrumptious (note - not all the empty cases were mine!). Definitely a recipe I'll be using again.

I took down my birthday cards to make way for the next ones (we have three birthdays in the family in the space of just over a month). This is the front of my birthday card from hubby; he knows me too well.

I've started a new project.

Can you guess what it is?

I managed one more baking morning before resorting to weetabix and toast. Inspired by this post at the Quince Tree, I used hubby's normal muffin recipe and added some Nutella.

They were rather nice too. Unfortunately I then had an opened jar of Nutella in the cupboard. It didn't last long.

We've been partying again. N will be 3 later this week, any excuse for more cake. I was all set to make him a chocolate cake, just as well I let him know as he said he'd prefer a yellow cake.

So here is what I think he meant. A Victoria sponge with butter icing, strawberry jam, and yellow coloured glace icing on top. I use the recipe from Rachel Allen's Bake book, but I increased the ingredients to make a 4 egg mix.

Again, we were lucky with the weather and were able to host the party in the garden. July has actually been pretty good here (so far!)

Plenty of left overs for the craft night.

A busy bee!

Right, definitely need to cut down on the cakes from now on...

Saturday Morning Bike Ride

An unexpectedly sunny and warm day.

I set off a little later in the morning than I normally do.

On the way up the hill. I wasn't looking forward to tackling it today but it's fine and I get some lovely views.

Past the roadworks.

Off the B road now and on to one of my favourite unclassified roads. The verges here haven't been cut so there are lots of wild flowers.


A fence post made from an old telegraph pole. I see a face!

The post in context.

Cow line up.

More cows posing with Bracraigs Reservoir in the background.

Now a view of Cuffhill Reservoir.

In the distance, behind the overheating sheep, lies Kirkleegreen Reservoir. The three reservoirs are all very close to each other and make for a scenic clycling route.

Grainy fence detail.

Curly wire detail.

Open road and big skies. Further along this road lies the picturesque, dilapidated, but inhabited farm I want to photograph. Unfortunately one of the inhabitants (suitably dilapidated looking herself) is out and about, so I've still not managed to take a picture.

Sheep seek shade under the old trailer.

The folly on the hill in the distance with an abundance of wildflowers in the foreground.

I take a detour through the woods.

From the woods I push my bike up the hill for a view over the loch (and manage to swallow a fly in the process, yuck!)

Interesting farm buildings.

A sunny field.

The twisty road home.