Even Further North

As we were having a month of summer in the middle of the NZ winter it was the perfect opportunity for me to take asdvantage of the warm conditions, do lots of training and return to NZ a finely tuned athlete in peak condition. For this reason my running shoes travelled up and down the length of the UK in the boot of the car. Comrie was the only time they saw daylight. A run up Glen Lednock to the reservoir was stunning but sadly I had no pockets so couldn't take the camera.

Once I got back we jumped in the cars and drove to Loch Morlich for a few days playing amongst the mountains. In the three days we were there we never got to see the mountains but they were there somewhere in the clouds. But a little cloud and rain wasn't going to dampen our spirits or stop us enjoying what Loch Morlich has to offer.


Ewan at Loch an Eilean

 Campbell, Callum and Ewan take a leap

 The boys and Lorna

 Strangely nobody offered to join Callum

Further North

OK, time for some more photos from our trip.
After leaving Edinburgh we headed north again to see Flea, Bobby and the boys in Comrie. Once there we headed out for a walk round the shaky bridge, which really isn't shaky at all, much to our disappointment.

Finlay persuades his cousins to do the hard work

Livingston

After a morning of retail therapy we took the boys to Almond Valley Heritage Centre to see the animals and have a play. It was fantastic, well worth going and we could easily have spent the whole day there. The boys got to play on a bouncy castle, mess about with some cool toys in the adventure zone, see lots of animals and drive some karts.
Ewan and Finlay enjoy the interactive toys

Cameron enjoys a bounce

Ewan and Grandma look at one of the bigger residents....

 ...while Finlay gets close up with something a little smaller.

 Then the boys went karting

Edinburgh

So finally into Scotland.

After staying with Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Ken we jumped on the bus, threaded our way through the tramlines and roadworks up to Edinburgh Castle.

It was a typical Scottish summer day, clear blue skies and a scorching sun and the boys loved looking round the castle.

Finlay inspects the cannon

King of the Castle

Cameron and Finlay look around the castle

View from the top

                                                          Castle Count: 2

Before we left Cambridge we had a few more people to see,

At Mark and Sarah's house Finlay trains them on the kiwi style of rugby.

"then if you want the ball back just shoot them with a water pistol"

 Everyone except photographer Vicky

 Reclining at Em's place

Then we headed north again. Despite an unscheduled hour long stop going nowhere just past Peterborough thanks to a lorry accident it was a pretty good trip with the boys coping surprisingly well with being so close to each other for so long. On the way we stopped at Alnwick to let the boys out and got to see a little of Alnwick Castle on the way out. Seeing castles was one of the main reasons for the trip as far as the older boys were concerned. And after Alnwick, onward to Scotland...

At the market cross in Alnwick

Castle Count: 1