Duxford Air Show and another magnificent barbecue

Yesterday we went to the Duxford Air Show with Mitchell and Gosia. It was a gorgeous day although by the afternoon I was sweltering and had to seek the shade of the beer tent canopy! My hero Gosia brought me a cup of ice cubes which I put in James’ skip cap on top of my head; this cooled me down very effectively. The display was full and lively, mainly of WW1 and WW2 planes. Gosia had brought a lovely picnic which we ate while sitting in deckchairs on the grass. We also went into the museum where we went on Concorde, this was a test Concorde which never carried paying passengers. There were lots of other planes too and James was in his element. It was a great day. We got back to Gosia and Mitchell’s at about 6.30 and they made another fantastic barbecue which we ate in the garden in the warm evening. Mitchell and James drank a bottle of Saint-Emilion 
The England World Cup football game against Mexico was due to start at about 1 a.m. so none of us planned to watch it. However Mitchell was awoken by cheering emanating from their local pub (which isn’t even all that close to their house!) so he couldn’t resist getting up to watch the end of the game. It was worth it because they won 3-2! James and I didn’t hear him getting up and slept through the whole thing. 
In the morning Gosia and Mitchell went to work while James and I had breakfast in their garden, then Mitchell very kindly popped home to give us a lift to the airport. We also heard the happy news that our niece Jenny is engaged to James! They are a very pleasant young couple and we wish them all the happiness. 

English Villages and a magnificent barbecue

4th July
Gosia and Mitchell collected us from our hotel this morning and gave us a brilliant tour of some of the very pretty villages in Essex and Suffolk. 
These are a few of many highlights. We visited a really high and beautifully built railway viaduct at Wakes Colne, constructed of red brick in the 19th century. Needless to say we climbed up into the arches to take hilarious photos! 
Then we had a walk in the tiny village of Kersey in Suffolk, which is stunningly pretty. It has a Norman Church at one end, and a shallow ford right in the middle of the road. The beautiful medieval timbered houses had many huge hollyhocks in their gardens and even sprouting from cracks in the pavements. 
We had coffee at a wee café in Long Melford which has quirky and interesting shops along its high street. 
This was the area that Mitchell grew up in, and he showed us where his parents had a shop right across the road from where they lived in Sybil Headingham. In Little Maplestead, back in Essex, we stopped at St John’s Round Church, one of only four round medieval churches in the UK. It was a joy to behold and quaint on the inside too, with stained glass windows and a wooden beamed ceiling. 
Back in Braintree Gosia and Mitchell made us the barbecue of all barbecues which we consumed in their verdant garden. We had such a great evening in excellent company. 

Farewells and journeys

We packed up and left Ullapool after lunch yesterday. Jamie and Kerry also set off southwards and went into Glasgow to look at wedding rings, and Davie and Chanel are staying on in Ullapool for another few days of holiday. On the way south James and I listened to The Rest is History podcast about Boswell and Dr Johnson; it was very informative and in places very funny. 

We had a nice chat with Jamie and Kerry in the evening and then this morning we had brunch together at Hugh’s in Burnside before bidding them a very fond and wistful farewell when they set off back to New Zealand via Glasgow Airport and Dubai. 

However Jamie and Kerry were not the only ones setting off on a journey! A few hours later we arrived at Glasgow Airport ourselves for our flight to London Stansted. We are going to visit Gosia and Mitchell and go to the Duxford Air Show. Because of our late evening arrival we have booked in to the Radisson Blu at the airport for our first night. It is comfy and has air-conditioning thank goodness. 

By the way I have just finished a biography of Eileen Blair, the wife of writer George Orwell. I realised that the man who towed my car out of a field on Jura in 2024 is the grandson of Robin Fletcher, who rented Barnhill on Jura to George Orwell in the late 1940s when he was writing the book 1984! What a coincidence! 

Otter Spotters

Today was rather a drizzly day on and off but that didn’t keep us indoors; we walked into the village and had a convivial lunch at the Ceilidh Place.
Jamie and Kerry walked up Ullapool Hill and later we all watched the England v Congo football World Cup Game which England won 2 - 1. We had chilli con carne for dinner and then played Sequence. It was a lovely day but the best was yet to come! 
At about 10.30 p.m. Jamie suggested sallying forth into the dusk to see if we could see some otters at the estuary; Cal had told us yesterday that it was the best place to see them. I had already gone up to bed but Chanel knocked on my bedroom door to invite me and I gladly joined the young ones and headed to the estuary. We walked along the edge of the Bull Park and although there were quite a few bats flying around and there were a few ducks nestled on the grass above the riverbank, we couldn’t see any otters. After a while Chanel and I decided to walk back to the cottage and just after we set off, Chanel pointed at the riverbank just across from us. There were two otters splashing in and out of the water! We quickly phoned Jamie and Davie who were close by and we all stood and watched the otters. It was amazing! The otters seemed to be having lots of fun, playing about and running along the riverbank. What a fantastic end to the day, and the first time that I have seen otters in the wild, apart from sea otters floating past the ship in Alaska in 2013.

Midgiegate

Last night was not without incident; after the party a window was found to have been left open, a light had been left on, and ten million midges had invaded the living room where Ally and Cat were to sleep. Ally and Cat had to fight them off valiantly with a feather duster! All was sorted but there were a few very tired people in the morning. 
Cat’s second cousin James and his partner Cal arrived round for morning coffee and it was great to see them again. They were telling us about their recent adventures racing up steps on St Helena, filming a bicycle race across Africa, and their ongoing project of restoring their boat. Cal was telling us about reintroducing Manx Shearwaters to the Isle of Canna after their population had been wiped out by rats; it was fascinating. They had to move some chicks from Rum to Canna before they became fledglings, so that when they first saw the world it was from Canna and therefore they would always return there. 
We said our goodbyes to Kevin, and Jamie and Kerry drove him to Inverness to catch his train south. The rest of us also headed to Inverness where we met Davie and Chanel, who had just driven up from Uddingston, and the eight of us had lunch in the Castle Tavern which was excellent. Then off we all set to Fort George, a perfect destination for this sunny afternoon, suggested by Ally. We strolled past the barracks and up to the ramparts overlooking the Moray Firth, where we could see a number of dolphins besporting themselves in the water below us. Then we made our way around the ramparts back to the entrance. 
Sadly it was time to say goodbye to Ally and Cat, who were returning to London this evening. James and I dropped them off at the airport and met Jamie, Kerry, Davie and Chanel back at Ullapool where we had pizzas for tea. Later we watched Cal’s documentary about paddle boarding from Lands End to John O’Groats which was very interesting and beautifully filmed. 

Boat trip at Kylescu

We decided to take the ferry to Handa Island this morning but after driving the hour and twenty minutes to Tarbet we found a notice on the ferry kiosk which said “No ferries today, sorry!” This was mildly annoying because this was one of the days that they are supposed to be open, however we are all very adaptable so we had a delicious seafood lunch at the Kylescu Hotel and took the boat trip on Loch a Chàirn Bhàin to see the UK’s highest waterfall, Eas a' Chual Aluinn. We also saw lots of seals with their newborn babies, various seabirds and some dolphins leaping from the water. The sun came and went behind rain clouds but it only drizzled for a short while and we got fantastic views of the waterfall and surrounding hills. James had a very heavy nosebleed earlier, so after our boat trip James, Kevin and I headed back to the cottage while Ally, Cat, Jamie and Kerry stayed in the north to visit Ardvreck Castle among other places. I dropped James and Kevin at the cottage while I went to Tesco but when I arrived home I found that James had inadvertently locked me out. The trouble was I knew that both men had been going to have naps so I didn’t want to disturb them so soon. So I sat outside the cottage on the love seat to read my book, which wasn’t a problem until a very persistent seagull arrived to investigate my shopping bags. I didn’t realise just how bold it was until it jumped forward and pecked a hole right into a packet of venison meatballs! I had to chase it away again and again! 
The young folk arrived home and found me outside; Ally opened the living room window which I hadn’t realised was unlocked and climbed in to open the back door from the inside! 
My dinner of venison meatball casserole (not made with the ones that the seagull had pecked) went down very well; I served it with pasta and garlic bread. Then James and Kevin relaxed while I played Sequence with Ally, Cat, Jamie and Kerry, the board game that Gosia and Mitchell taught us. The young ones took to it like a duck to water and we had a hilarious time. The party was still going strong when I went to bed! 

Cullen Skink

On Saturday morning James and I set off to Ullapool with Ally and Cat, as did Jamie and Kerry with Kevin in their hired car. Davie and Chanel will be joining us on Tuesday after their antenatal class. We met for a very nice lunch at the Route 7 cafe in Aviemore, and stocked up on beer at the Cairngorm brewery before arriving in Ullapool mid afternoon. A trip to the pub was followed by fish suppers and an evening of excellent chat. 

We woke to a beautiful sunny morning on Sunday and walked down to the village for coffee at Tea by the Sea and then lunch at the Seafood Shack. It was sunny and warm sitting outside and Kevin had his first ever Cullen Skink. The seafood there is so fresh and delicious; I had Cullen Skink too because I’m toying with the idea of becoming pescatarian to improve my vegetarian diet. We strolled home and had a relaxing afternoon at the cottage reading and chatting, before having haggis neeps and tatties for dinner. Then at Jamie and Kerry’s suggestion we watched an amazing documentary about an Australian doctor who is an expert cave diver and who was planning a big dive in New Zealand’s unfeasibly deep Pearse Resurgence. I would absolutely never want to do this but the documentary was fascinating. Their adventure was so extreme and technical but also based on trust and friendship. The doctor, Richard “Harry” Harris, is an anaesthetist and, as a cave-diving anaesthetist, he was uniquely qualified to assist in the rescue of twelve schoolboys and their soccer coach when they got caught in flooded caves in Thailand in 2018. Harris anaesthetised the boys so that they wouldn’t panic during the rescue through water-fillled tunnels and they all survived. He’s a proper hero, as is his friend and diving partner Craig Challen who was also part of the Thailand rescue and also in the documentary.