The leaving of Doune

Not a ferry blip, but a blip being ferried. We left Doune at 9am this morning, after an amazing week. Where else do you go for a week's stay and ending up hugging the hosts after you leave? Mr A's blip shows R and Cap'n Bob waving us off. My first extra shows Bob's wheelbarrow, which he has obviously constructed from various odds and sods since he arrived at Doune last October. My second extra shows some impressive working boats in Mallaig harbour on arrival soon after 9.30am.

We made good time, initially, on our way back. We had agreed to take S, an Australian freelance journalist who had stayed the full week (the other guests had swapped in and out during the week) into Glasgow, as she would otherwise have had to improvise a bus trip. It all went smoothly until we got to Crianlarich, where we discovered road closed signs preventing us turning off towards Loch Lomond (that was the second day in a row that the A82 was closed for an accident ... it was closed around Bridge of Orchy for most of yesterday). It seems that there had been an accident involving a motorcyclist at 8.30am this morning, and the road was closed until after 2.00pm. Undaunted, we carried on towards Callander and then headed down the A81 towards Glasgow. It was rather slow, and probably slower than the satnav's suggested route of going all the way to Stirling and then taking the motorway to Glasgow, but it was pretty relaxed and scenic. Having dropped S off very close to her hotel, we pointed the satnav at home, and were home quite smoothly on a surprisingly quiet motorway and surprisingly quiet Edinburgh roads.

One load of washing has been done, we've had pizzas for tea (missing Doune food....), and we're chilling with the balcony door open. Things have sprouted on the balcony, and we now have open lilies and even nasturtium flowers. I'll go out and water everything tomorrow morning.

What an amazing holiday. I love our early summer Scottish summer holidays, whether on Mull and Skye (as we enjoyed last year), or this time on Knoydart. While we were really lucky with the weather last year, it hasn't been so good this year, but there's been enough decent weather really to enjoy our surroundings, and it didn't stop me swimming, the company of some excellent people. What a magical time, made all the better by wonderful scenery, food and company.