16.05.2010 Our first Munro!

This weekend was Cees-Jan's birthday and Iwona treated to a weekend away in the Highlands! More specifically west Perthshire, an area of stunning valleys ('glens'), mountains ('bens') and lakes ('lochs'). Here we're at Loch Rannoch with Schiehallion in the background, at 1083m one of the highest mountains in Perthshire. From here it looks almost like a volcano!

Further down the valley going towards Pitlochry there's a beautiful viewpoint over Loch Tummel called the Queen's View, apparently visited incognito by Queen Victoria in 1866. A bit of a tourist trap but nevertheless well worth it.

On Sunday it was CJ's birthday and to celebrate we decided to climb our first Munro! For those not familiar with Scottish hills, Munros are peaks over 3000 ft (914 m), as opposed to the lower Corbetts (>2500 ft) and Grahams (>2000ft). There are 283 Munros in Scotland and climbing ('bagging') them is a favourite pastime of many Scots.  

We picked a mountain with the unpronouncable name Maell nan Tarmachan for our first attempt, as the track here starts at 470m so we only needed to climb about 600! Nevertheless, after a long lazy winter of enjoying too much good food and drink it was a bit of a struggle. Here is CJ re-energising for the rest of the climb. 

  

And here's Iwona wondering in despair if she'll ever make it. Every little summit she decided it was enough but some hard talk that you haven't climbed a Munro till you're at the top kept her going.

  

But after climbing for three hours we finally made it to the top! All 1044 meters of it! The views were amazing and we felt on top of the world. Little did we know that going down is the hardest part.... Three days later we can finally stretch our legs without it hurting.

02.05.2010 Holland here we come

We went to Holland this week for the first of two family weddings this month! Luckily the skies were temporarily clear of volcanic ash so no trouble there. The wedding was not till Monday morning, and on Sunday we went to Utrecht to meet up with my good old friend Harold and to shop some wedding thingies for Iwona. Here's the three of us having lunch at a little cafe called the 'Colonie'. Great chips with peanut sauce!

The wedding of Cees-Jan's brother Hans-Peter and his girlfriend Lieke was on Monday. They wanted it to be low-key, and it was, but they looked lovely and it was nice to see them happy together. They are moving to Singapore this summer so all the best to them! The next day we decided to visit the Keukenhof, which is a famous park dedicated to bulb flowers and open only in spring till mid May each year. There was an beautiful exhibition of orchids too, which Iwona is admiring here.

There was such an extravaganza of beautiful flower beds that it was difficult to decide where to look, and 100s photos later it is hard to pick which ones to show! Even so, this doesn't even remotely do it justice. We were blessed with some sunshine which made the festival of colours look even more spectacular.

My parents came along too, the dedicated followers of flowers they are, and here's Cees-Jan's mom doing her best impression of Donald Duck. Well, I think that's what she's doing, although I am not sure why. Dad was simply enjoying a few rays of sun like everyone else.

To finish things off, the view from the Keukenhof over the flower beds that you find everywhere along the coast in Holland this time of year. That's where your bulbs come from! We're starting to notice more and more how flat Holland really is, now that we're living in Scotland. Still loving the big skies though!

24.04.2010 Melrose

We went to Melrose today upon recommendations of two Scots we met way back in the Lake District. It's a cute little village in the Scottish Borders and even though rather small it is worth visiting if only for its abbey. Although in ruins it is beautiful and part of an old monastery of which the fundaments are still visible. It's also famous for Robert the Bruce allegedly having his heart buried here, although nobody knows where exactly.

Melrose is near the river Tweed which flows all the way to England, which is straight east from here. It looks great for canooing although there are some fearsome rapids. Lots of fisherman which made us wonder if salmon ever get up here.

A footbridge connects to the other shore. We were lured across by the promise of a pub on the other side, but it was closed. This while we risked, according a sign, a two-pound fine or imprisonment if we had been caught loitering or intentionally swinging the bridge! We decided to celebrate our luck and freedom back in Melrose with a cold pint and a glass of wine.

10.04.2010 Pentland Hills from Balerno

On one of the first warm and sunny Saturdays of the year we wanted to do a bit different hike through the Pentland Hills than usual and found a nice circuit that would takes us in from the southwest side. And we were happy we did! After an initial steep climb the landscape flattens out with great views towards Fife one way and the hills impressively towering over us the other way.

Walking through the valleys towards the reservoirs we were treated to a great waterfall. The area has now been closed off because of damage to the landscape by all the visitors in the past, so we couldn't get close (without illegally hopping a fence which of course we would never do). Nevertheless, a great view.

We had to cross a little stream to get close to the waterfalls and this is Iwona's happy grin of relief when she made it over the water without falling in. It was quite entertaining watching other hikers scrambling to do the same...not always as succesful!







A little further the track leads down to the first reservoir which is popular for fishing. We had gotten here before coming from the other side, but had no idea of the stunning landscapes just behind, where we came through today.








Here we still look pretty chirpy. The whole circuit was probably another two hours as it was about eight miles long and went up in the hills! We'd been smart enough to pack some water this time but could have done better for food...so we arrived back starving and exhausted. We really need to get back into shape after the winter!