We're on our Hebridean holidays

On Friday we packed up the car and headed off on holiday to the Outer Hebrides where I am from, and where most of my family still live. We were ultimately heading for my mum and dad's house on Lewis but spent the weekend on Skye, an island closer to the mainland, visiting friends.

The trouble with planning for a Hebridean holiday in summer (or any Scottish holiday actually), is that you can never quite tell what the weather will do and as a result you have to take twice as much stuff with you so that you are prepared for every eventuality! This was why our car was full to bursting with all the paraphanalia you need to have fun on the beach in the sun as well as all the wellies, waterproofs etc you need to have fun should the sun NOT make the appearance you hoped for.

Friday was, actually, a beautiful day, and we had a lovely drive up through Glencoe and over to Skye. Having grown up in such a beautiful country, I think we can sometimes take this sort of scenery for granted, so I made sure I took a few photos this time!

On Saturday there was an open day at the local lifeboat  so we got to have a look around the boat.

 

We spent  Sunday afternoon, between the church services, with some good friends, The Nicholson family.

Monday morning, we visited the local pottery and James had a go on the pottery wheel. I must confess that I thought since it was his first ever attempt it wouldn't go too well but he proved me very wrong and made a lovely goblet and bowl. Calum and David both painted some ready-made pottery.

We went from here to visit some other friends, The Macqueers, for lunch. After we had been well fed we took a walk down to the shore at the bottom of their croft with the boys' fishing nets. They managed to catch quite a few shrimps and some crabs and we were thoroughly soaked to the bone when the rain came on us very quickly. So much for those carefully packed waterproof trousers. I'd left them in the car thinking, 'Och, we've got our jackets and wellies on, we'll be fine if it rains.'

From here it was back to visit the Nicholson family where our boys and their boys (and the dads!) played shinty followed by football before we all had dinner together.

  

And all that brings me up to this morning, when we got the ferry over to Lewis and drove up to my parents'. We were here by lunchtime and spent the rest of the day just relaxing after a packed weekend. The boys have been out running round the croft and David rescued a chicken from the new Jack Russell puppy!

 

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