Starry, Starry Night

I've been avoiding writing a new post because it will hide away my last Scotland post as if it never happened and I was never there! I'm still pining after that big old lighthouse, with it's clean air, it's stunning sunsets and all those sparkling stars.

Click on the image to enlarge, see if you can count the thousands of stars... and I mean thousands!

I can't believe Scotland has been right there on my door step all these years and I have never thought to go! I loved it so much, I might even give up one of my foreign holidays to go back (a European holiday, not long haul, there is still too much I want to see before I start giving those up)!

I hope you all enjoy hearing about my travels; this started out as a design blog (which is I think how most of you found me) but over the last few months, I have noticed that it has steadily become more and more a travel blog. I've also noticed that I've spent less and less time doing anything crafty or creative and more time fantasising about my next trip.

Well, I'm thinking that perhaps the Princess with a passport ought to pack a bag and move out on her own to a separate blog, where she can talk about travel to her hearts content. Leaving Princess with a pin cushion here to talk about all things crafty and life in general.

What do you all think? I'd really like your honest opinions... and I hope that if the left hand side of my brain moves out that you might all come along to see where it's going anyway!

I love that you all take time out of your days to read what I have to say and sometimes leave me a comment and I hope that you continue to do so, no matter what happens with my two sided Gemini mind!

Go out and have a look at the stars tonight and make a little wish...

Love,

the Princess xxx

The last King of Scotland

On Monday, we left our lovely tranquil home of the last few days (and it's murky water!) and started the long ride back down the UK stopping in Edinburgh over night.

We pretty much blasted heck out of the minibus all the way, only stopping twice all the way - once to visit Loch Maree and once because I was dying for a pee!

Loch Maree was lovely but very marshy so difficult to get close. We did manage to get some great photos though. I have to say, Scotland is the easiest photography I have ever done - you just cant seem to go wrong! The scenery is forever changing, in colour, light and even texture. If you don't like how a photograph turns out, just wait a couple of minutes until the sky changes and a new shadow is cast, or the sun shines a slightly different shade of gold against the peat earth.

We had a bit of a stress getting into Edinburgh - the SatNav got us lost and we nearly ran out of petrol! But we made it in the end. In the evening we tried out a few of the local bars. One of them was called Banshee's Labrynth which is supposed to be the most haunted pub in Edinburgh and was made up of several rooms including a dungeon complete with shackles! It was all pitch black just with the occasional red or green light paving the way through the corridors. I had a whale of a time jumping out and frightening the life out of people! Childish? Probably. Fun? Definitely!

On Tuesday morning we got up bright and early to visit the castle. Edinburgh is stunning during the day, it's still very medieval - you can see that it was never bombed during the war!

On the way up to the castle, I met a lovely old man called Tom who will be ninety one on his next birthday! I think I made his day by saying he didn't look a day over seventy so he let me take his picture in full Scottish attire.

And a man playing pagpipes - the only one we saw during the whole trip, I was beginning to think they were made up!

The castle was huge and had some great views of the city below.

At one o'clock every day, they fire a canon through the turret wall. Unfortunately, we didn't get any decent footage of the canon going off, Paul took a photo but jumped so much with the bang that all he caught was a big blur of city and a puff of smoke! One of our group videoed it but got "memory card full" just as the fuse was lit! Never mind, I think our puff of smoke serves as a great memory of the trip!

After the castle, we walked back into town for lunch and bought some of the most amazing (and definitely theee most expensive!) fudge I've ever tasted!

Home now... time to start planning the next trip!

Whale watching

We went on a whale watching mission today. Starting at Gairloch and going right out to sea.

Bear in mind, we are a good ten hours drive from Sheffield, you would expect people around here to have thick Scottish accents... They don't. I haven't heard a Scottish accent since Glasgow! When we got on the boat, the man started doing the safety speech and ended by saying "we might not see owt". We've driven all this way to get away from Sheffield and our sailor is from Sheffield! Small world!

About half an hour out, we spotted a load of birds feeding in the water, apparently that is a good sign as the birds eat the same type of fish as the whales. We hung around for a while and then saw something bobbing towards us. A few minutes later, a little head popped up to say hello...




She swam round the boat, looking at each of us individually, "have you got fish? How about you, have you got fish? You? What about you? No?" and with that, she was off!

We set sail again, eyes glued to the water, hoping to see a glimpse of a fin or a plume of water.

We saw plenty of bird life and some gorgeous scenery but still no sign of anything fishy!










Sailing back with sunken hearts, I thought I spotted something in the distance. Jumping up and down I shouted to everyone else to have a look too. Drew stopped the boat and turned off the engine. He'd seen something else. It looked to me like five dolphins frolicking in the water, leaping in and out.

Drew said they were porpoises and he'd seen two on the other side of the boat. We waited a while, hoping that they would come close enough for a photo. They didn't, but our friend from earlier came back to see if we'd managed to find any fish.

Knock, knock, knocking on heavens door...

It was great to see the lighthouse in daylight today and have a proper explore. We went out early this morning and had a good scramble about on the cliffs investigating rock pools and taking silly photos around the lighthouse...

I can't believe I've been missing out on Scotland all these years! It's such an amazing place.


All this sea air is giving me loads of energy, I just feel like running around like a child and rolling down hills! It must be something in the water... like peat!

Yes, that's tap water in the bottle - not wee or apple juice. It tastes like when your teeth bleed. Bleugh.

We found what looked like a grave stone resting against one of the cliffs. It didn't say anything on it but there was a body there... Dum dum dummmmm...

After lunch I went out and climbed one of the cliffs where I could sit in the heather with a good view of the lighthouse and paint a picture. I ended up rushing it though, my hands got so cold I just wanted to finish it!

Once I'd had a nice hot chocolate and warmed myself up, the sun started to set, casting a rich auburn glow over the water and cliffs. The sky was a mix of dark moody clouds, salmon pink, coral and blue. You could have mistaken it for heavens gate... or perhaps I've fallen off a cliff and it was heavens gate? Who knows?!

Perfection. I will sleep well tonight, my dreams filled with golden light, fluffy clouds and cherubs singing Disney songs.

Location:Scotland

Lighthouse on the rocks

Two days of driving and we are finally here! You can see why I wanted to save the location for the photos! This is one of the most picturesque places I've ever seen and certainly the most photogenic sky.

We were driving the five mile dirt track during golden hour and managed to get some great shots as the sun went down.

We have just been out exploring, in the pitch black. Millions of starts glitter in the sky above while the light house sends out flares of light, searching over the ocean and the wind whipping against your face. It's completely exhilarating. The wind is so strong as was crouching down with my tripod I got blown over!

I haven't managed to get any pictures of the stars but I got some good ones of the light by lying on the floor!

We stopped for lunch on the way up at Lochness. And we saw Nessie...

We had a break in the rain and caught some golden fingers of sun creeping through the cloud above the loch.

Of all the places I've been in the world, this is beyond a doubt one of the most awe inspiring!

Message to parents: there is no mobile phone signal here and we're about ten miles from the nearest phone but we are still alive!

Location:Scotland

On the move again...

We're off again! I'm currently squished in a minibus like a tin of sardines with ten friends and a lot of luggage. We're off to Scotland for a big adventure.

Well, adventure it is, starting this morning when we picked up the bus. We arrived at the hire shop and just as we were about to punch in our code to pay, the bailiffs arrived and did a wheel spin in the forecourt to block the entrance! They were refusing to let any vehicles out and said that they were seizing everything there! Nightmare. I know, these things could only happen to us!

Anyway, long story short, there was a big scene,the police got called and they let us take the bus. So we're on the road again.

The country side through the north of England is just beautiful - rolling hills, crumbling farm houses, hundreds of sheep... Oh and rain. Lots of rain. But that's fine, we're going to Scotland, we expect rain.

We're spending the night in Glasgow tonight where we'll pick my little bro up from the airport then off to the very northern tip via Lochness tomorrow. I can't wait to show you where we're staying tomorrow, but it's so special, I think I need to save it for the photos!

In other news, I got a very exciting email last night... Something I wrote for the Lonely Planet magazine ages ago is getting printed in the December issue! I won't tell you what it is yet, I don't want to jinx it in case they change their mind! But it is thanks to this photo which I took in Iceland.

Location:Scotland