Yes - Off gallivanting again

Do these people ever do any work, I hear you say. This blog is turning into a travelogue.

Well, in anticipation of a long - and hopefully hot - summer, with no respite from work - the month of August, after all, disappears in three and a half weeks, seven days a week at the Edinburgh Festival Craft Fair - we decided to sneak away for a few days R&R and have a breather before it all gets crazy.
In order to do the sneaking, we worked our butts off last week and had all the website and shop orders finished and packed and dropped off at the various dispatch points - Post Office, carrier depot etc en route to our "staycation".
For the past few years we have headed off to the South of France at this time of year, but the volcanic ash problem (now seemingly resolved) put us off booking a flight anywhere, so instead we decided to visit a part of our own country we've not been to before.
So it was on Monday morning we set off up the A9 to Inverness and on to Ullapool on the North West coast for a night, and then boarded the ferry the next morning to Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis for a couple of nights.

Here come the pictures....

This was the amazing view of Loch Broom taken from our hotel window in Ullapool.

Saying goodbye to Ullapool as we set sail for Stornoway, a three hour ferry journey.

A magical place steeped in history - the Stone Circle at Callanish, with the peat moors of Lewis in the background.

Next day, a shoogly bus journey through beautiful scenery to the west coast of the Isle of Harris, and the breathtaking white sands and clear turquoise water at Horgabost.

We had the place entirely to ourselves.

The receding tide created interesting patterns on the sand.

And on the headland, watching over the beach was this stone - Macleod's Standing Stone - well, unless Bob manged to push it over.

Next day, after a brief flirtation with the "Tangle o' the Isles" it was farewell Stornoway and back to Ullapool, and home.

As we managed to take 117 photos in 48 hours, I reckon you've been let off lightly with just this few, but believe me these weren't the only good ones. Every picture captured an amazing view, despite the inept photographer behind the lens.

So much open space, fresh air and huge skies, sea breezes and stunning colour - we definitely recharged the batteries.

Apologies to anyone who tried to get in touch with us by phone, fax, email or plain knocking on the door - we were not at home!

But we're back, and have got started right away to the orders which have found their way to our inbox.

If I have the chance tomorrow I'll post some photos of work for a change. We do actually do some - between days off!

Next day off is likely to be in September (it's booked already).