Tag: scotland

Can you relax by being busy?

We were talking to our son Rob this week, who is about to go on holiday. He has been working very hard recently and is pretty stressed. His question to us was how best to use the holiday time to relax. Mandy’s answer was to do as little as possible. Maybe sit by the pool and read a book. My answer was that you can relax by being busy. Go on adventures. See some historic places. Explore the island. I then realised that that is exactly how Mandy and I have been spending our time in the Outer Hebrides.

Mandy has been mostly sitting in the cottage doing cross-stitch sewing or completing jigsaws. I have been dashing around, either with our guests or by myself, seeing new places and discovering new things.

For instance I mentioned in a previous blog the road end sculptures which you can find in some of the most out of the way places in North Uist. This week I went to see “Sanctuary” which is several miles down a road to nowhere. The sculpture is a metal tree on top of a rock on a small hill surrounded by tiny lochs. From the sculpture I could see a small cairn at the end of a peninsular in one of the lochs. I decided to wander out for a closer look, and to my surprise, on top of the cairn was a tiny version of the same sculpture.

This tiny sculpture is not mentioned in any of the guide books, not signposted, and is not even very accessible, requiring a bit of a scramble across rocks at low tide. And it made my day.

But are these adventures what I should be doing? Mandy is often asking why I can’t just chill out and do nothing. After all, I have been retired for nearly five years now. Shouldn’t I be finding my pipe and slippers?

My answer is that this is my way of relaxing. There is nothing better for me than going to bed with new memories to take to my sleep.

Am I wrong?

0

No more narrowboating this year – so what is next?

Narrowboat Thuis is back at the marina in Stone for the winter and we are back in our house in Lancashire. As always, we are a little sad at the end of this year’s adventure, but we will be back on “the cut” next year, and can look forward to the next few months of bricks & mortar life.

And I can engage in my favourite pastime of making plans. I get bored very easily and the idea of a quiet retirement fills me with dread. So we will have a couple of weeks at home, seeing family and friends and doing jobs around the house, and then we will be off to North Uist for six weeks.

North Uist is a small island in the Outer Hebrides. We have stayed there before and it will be very peaceful at this time of year. The tourists will have left and restaurants & attractions will have closed. But what will be left for the locals is simply stunning scenery and amazing nature. The weather will either be sideways rain, in which case our cottage with the open fire will be very welcome, or it will be clear and sunny with the best light in the UK. My brother in law is joining us for the first week and he is unconvinced. I can’t wait to take him to see some of the beaches and see what he says.

After the Hebridean trip it will be Christmas and maybe skiing in January. And then, all too soon, it will be February and we will be back on the boat. Come the end of this year I will have been retired for five years. Is it time to go back to a job? Not yet!

0

Maybe wild swimming isn’t as bad as I thought

This week we have been on holiday in Scotland, staying on our niece’s farm. It has been lovely to be back in Scotland. While we love our house in Lancashire and our summers on Narrowboat Thuis, we have both missed this wonderful country, and the family and friends that live here.

We have had many adventures this week. Ten Pin Bowling, Stately Homes, beach walks with the dogs, eating Polish food (it’s a long story), Lammas Fair, family meals, celebrating our 39th wedding anniversary, watching a herd of cows being moved, listening to the very noisy sheep. But my most scary adventure was going dipping with our son Martin (Tin) and his girlfriend Cheryl.

Tin and Cheryl are big fans of wild swimming. All year round they seek out waterfalls, lakes and lochs to dip in. They have amazing countryside in Scotland and they say that going in cold water is invigorating and great for the health. It has never appealed to me.

But on Saturday, Tin had booked a visit to a beautiful country park for four people, where they have a sauna next to the lake. The two people that were meant to join Tin and Cheryl were unable to come so they invited Mandy and me.

Cheryl and Tin jumped straight in. Mandy found a shelved area to slowly immerse herself. And I stood on the edge of the platform for a good ten minutes, trying to build up the nerve to jump. Eventually I made the leap and the shock of the cold water took my breath away, even though it was a warm sunny day.

But I soon warmed up in the water and it did feel good. We then alternated time in the very hot sauna with leaps into the lake. I felt a little dizzy but I was enjoying myself. And best of all, for several hours afterwards I felt energised.

So while I am not sure I will ever become a dipping fan in the way that Tin & Cheryl are, I would do it again, especially during a heatwave. I guess it goes to show that even at 61, every day is a school day.

0

Why are we not moving the narrowboat?

We have sold our house, visited our sons, sorted the packing. And now we are back at the boat. The plan was to be back on the move by now. So why are we still moored in Lyme View Marina?

It is all about Ziggy. We have two dogs – Lulu and Ziggy. Last week we took them to the vets to get their teeth cleaned. Lulu was fine but when the vets checked Ziggy’s blood, she was found to have really low sugar levels. Since then she has undergone a number of tests and the vets have ruled out the most common diseases. We have left Scotland because we no longer have a house, but the vet there has called us to say the most likely problem is an insulinoma, a growth on the pancreas.

So rather than setting off on our journeys we have registered with a local vet near Manchester and are waiting for a an ultrasound scan to see what is going on. Ziggy seems fine in herself so hopefully it is not too serious, although the prognosis for insulinoma is not great.

In all honesty I am finding it a little frustrating. I want to be back on “the cut”, cruising the canals. But Ziggy is family and family comes first.

At least this gives us time to do some house hunting and have some adventures. It was not my plan, but sometimes plans have to change. Apparently.

0

Houseless not homeless

By the time this blog is published, we will be houseless. After nearly two years on the market our house in Scotland should complete its sale today and will have new owners – a lovely family who will get to enjoy the history of this nineteenth century farmhouse which became swallowed by a new town in the shale oil revolution around 1900.

I deliberately use the word “houseless” not “homeless” because we still have a home on our narrowboat. Dictionaries define “home” as simply the house where you live, but I think it means more. You know you are home when you sit down with a happy sigh. It is the place where you feel most comfortable and most safe. So much more than a house.

And when we arrived back at the boat last night we immediately felt at home. It just feels so right to be here. Putting all our stuff into storage this week has been pretty stressful. It has also reminded me how over the years we have collected things that we really don’t need. We are no happier in a house surrounded by chattels than we are in the boat where we have very little.

We do still want a house as a base for winters, and for the future when we can no longer operate locks or moveable bridges. Next week we will be staying with our eldest son and his fiancée near Brighton. We are looking forward to seeing them and their new home. And when we then return to the boat, we will properly start our house hunt.

But for now it is great to be home on Narrowboat Thuis. Entirely appropriately “Thuis” is Dutch for “home”.

1

Is buying or selling a house more stressful?

Mandy and I have moved house twelve times since we have been together. It has become a joke amongst some of our friends who say they never know where to send the Christmas card. I often claimed that it had just become normal for us. People would ask me why I never wanted to put down roots. I would say that we are just good at setting up a new home anywhere we go.

But this time feels more stressful.

As you know we are retired and spend more than half the year on our narrowboat. That certainly feels like home when we are there. But we want to keep a house for the winter, when it is muddy. We want to keep a house for when we get bored of the boat or are too infirm to open locks. We want to keep a house so we have somewhere with a little more space for our stuff.

And this time, instead of moving for my work, we are moving closer to Mandy’s family and friends, from Scotland to Lancashire. This week we have been spending time in both as we look to sell and buy.

The sale process has been fraught. We have been “on the market” for two years and twice we have thought the sale was happening. The first time the buyer turned out not to have the money after several months. The second time, the chain of buyers fell apart at the last moment. We have waited and we hope that in two weeks we will be moved out. It has been stressful, and the solicitors are still throwing out last minute complications such as whether we can find some paperwork the council signed off when we did work on the house seven years ago. But the removal company is booked and we have begun things like cancelling utilities. We have not enjoyed selling the house at all.

We have tried to keep buying a house less stressful but we have failed. The idea was not to look at houses until we were sure the sale was happening. Our plan instead is to live on the boat while we look. But last time we were confident and found a lovely house. Of course that has gone after the failed sale, so this week we have been looking again, with our fingers crossed on the sale. This weekend we are driving round Lancashire viewing our shortlist of houses. This should be an enjoyable time. It should be exciting to find our new home. But for some reason we are not feeling excited. Perhaps it is the worry that the sale could still fail. Perhaps it is the worry that we will make a bad choice. We are not enjoying buying the house at all.

I am naturally a very positive person. I am confident it will all work out for the best. But I don’t this stress. Maybe it is because I no longer have the stress of work, so this seems like a bigger deal. Maybes it is because it is summer, and we would rather be back on the canals. But we just want to hide in our narrowboat.

First world problems eh?

0

Five reasons a house is better than a boat. And five reasons a boat is better than a house

We have spent the week travelling the Leeds and Liverpool canal across West Lancashire, finishing up in Reedley Marina, near Burnley. We have moored in a marina because it is a safe place to leave the boat while we spend ten days back up in Scotland. Despite spending more than half the year living on our narrowboat, we still own a house for the winter months and have returned to get a few jobs done. I have a dental appointment, a blood test and a big birthday to celebrate.

Narrowboat Thuis in Reedley Marins

Arriving back at the house has made me think of the five things I prefer, living in bricks and mortar to on the water:

1. A house is so much bigger. On a boat we have to think carefully before acquiring anything because the space is so limited

2. Our house has a bath. The shower on the boat is great and after a day’s boating the water is toasty warm, but I do like a long soak in the evening.

3. When things break it is usually less catastrophic. There are things I need to fix around the house but they are not critical. When I reversed the narrowboat into a wall this week, the rudder was knocked from the “cup” it sits in and the whole boat became unsteerable. Fortunately my son Martin was with us, and jumped into the canal to reseat it.

4. We have a car in the drive. When we are on our long cruises we don’t use our car because it is simply too difficult to keep moving the car to be near the boat. This may be better for the environment, but it does make things more difficult when we need to get anywhere away from the canal.

5. The full fibre broadband to our house is super fast. We do like to have fast internet, for browsing or streaming. On the boat we have three different mobile networks on our phones and the wifi router to try to make sure we have good access, but sometimes in cuttings and out of town, it can be a problem.

There are also good reasons that living on a narrowboat is better than living in a house.

1. Life on a boat is simpler. We don’t have so much “stuff” and we have learnt that we don’t need it. We shop locally. We talk about simple things such as where we are going tomorrow, and what to have for tea.

2. The views are stunning. Our house is on a Main Street with road noise. Our boat can be in a different mooring every day, Last week we passed through some pretty run down industrial canals in Blackburn and Burnley, but we still found one of the prettiest moorings between the two towns, on an embankment, next to a golf course, with incredible views across to the Pennines.

3. Exercise is part of our lives. We don’t have to think about needing to go to the gym or for a run. After 21 locks, we are pretty exhausted and it feels good.

4. The dogs are more settled. Lulu in particular, runs around the house sniffing at walls and barking at pigeons. On the boat she just jumps onto the sofa next to Mandy, and cuddles.

5. The community on the canals and rivers is more friendly. We have good neighbours in Scotland, but travelling along, locking together or just meeting people on the towpath, everyone wants to help, everyone has a story to tell. By nature I am pretty antisocial, but not when we are on the boat.

I guess we are very lucky to have the house and a narrowboat. But if I had to choose, I would choose living on a boat. It is a good life.

0

I miss having kids

We spent a day with our niece and her children, Fred and Thomas, this week near St Andrews. After what seems like months of solid rain, we were lucky enough to get some sunshine, and we visited a beautiful garden and a dramatic beach.

It was such a good day. The boys are about six months and nearly three years old, so full of energy and character. I have always loved children. My wife and I were married young and had children straight away. We really wanted them, and also wanted the freedom of them leaving home when we were still relatively young. That worked out well and we have been able to enjoy the life as narrowboaters, travelling around the UK, without worrying about children at school or university,

However, sometimes I do miss having kids around the house (or boat). For a number of reasons I think it is unlikely we will have grandchildren, so we make the most of great nephews and nieces, like Fred and Thomas. And we still enjoy time with our sons and nearly daughter in law, even though they are now in their twenties and thirties, so hardly the same!

I bet if we did have kids again, we would soon find them tiring and would miss our freedom. Maybe we should borrow some 🙂

0

How to deal with a bad day?

I am naturally positive. My instinct is always to see the best out of everything and to look for opportunities in adversity. Indeed, when I was working I would sometimes be criticised because I would not spend enough time on “what went wrong?” because I was always looking for “what can we do now?”.

But even positive people occasionally have bad days, and Wednesday was one of them for me.

Two things went badly wrong. The first was the dentist. I had an appointment for a crown replacement, but my new dentist took one look and told me I have bigger problems. Apparently I grind my teeth at night and they have worn down to a level where the back teeth are rubbing against each other and putting pressure on the side of the crown which was why it had split off. Fixing could cost thousands of pounds which I don’t have. In the meantime he put in a temporary crown and left me in a lot of pain as the anaesthetic wore off.

Then just as I was feeling down, my phone rang. It was the couple who are buying our house. At least they were. Their buyer had just fallen through so while they still want our house, our planned date of March 22nd is now impossible, which means the house we were buying in Lancashire is also off.

So no house and in pain. Not my best day. Mandy also understandably angry and upset. So what to do?

Normally my response would be to switch on my positive energy and find five great reasons to be happy about the day. It would probably have irritated all those around me but it would have made me feel good. But for once it was not what I wanted to do. I just wanted to wallow in my miserableness. I found a quite corner and read a book.

So now it is two days later and and I am very much back to myself. There are lots of good things that will come out of this. My teeth are fine – for now at least. We get to stay in Scotland longer. I will even get my 60th birthday Scottish bus pass. And if the Lancashire house falls through, there will be another one, Fate is our friend.

I have also decided – sometimes even the most positive of people is allowed a bad day.

0

Ten things I will miss about Scotland

We had some news this week that we have a provisional date for selling our house in Scotland – 22nd March. We have bought and sold enough houses to know that a lot can still go wrong, but in Scotland the process is more certain and so we are optimistic.

Dundee, a couple of Sundays ago,

I say optimistic because this is something we have been hoping for. Mandy wants to be closer to her family and friends in the Northwest of England, so it makes sense. But we are both still sad to be leaving Scotland. It is such a wonderful country. So it is hard to narrow it down to ten things I will miss. But here goes:

1. The hills. Scotland is built around large ranges of mountains, munros and hills, with classic names such as the Trossachs, the Lomonds, the Cairngorms and the Pentlands. They provide a challenge to climb and a background to so many views,

2. The sea. With such lengthy coastline, very often isolated and bleak, I have walked many miles along beaches and cliffs, lost in thought, with just the dogs for company,. Mindfulness at its best.

3. The islands. Some of my most emotional memories have been formed staying on holiday in the islands – Islay, Skye, The Outer Hebrides, Orkney. Each has its own unique character and beauty. I love them all.

4. The cities. Edinburgh is probably my favourite city in the world. Surrounded by hills and coast it is all within walking distance but still has so many restaurants, bars, museums, parks, monuments. But the capital is not the only great city in Scotland. I also love Glasgow, Perth, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee.

5. The food. This is an odd one to claim because Scotland is more famous for haggis than it is for haute cuisine. However Scotland has some of the best produce in the world – Aberdeen Angus steak, incredible lobster and crab, as well as deep fried mars bars and irn bru.

6. The accents. I deliberately say “accents” rather than “accent” because it is only as you stay here that your ear becomes attuned to the soft highland voices, the warmth of the borders and the rasping Glaswegian.

7. The empty roads. We have spent a deal of time driving between England and Scotland this year and it is such a relief when you cross the border and suddenly the jams disappear. So much space.

8. The independence. Let’s be clear. I am a unionist and would hate to see the break-up of the United Kingdom. But I do admire the independence of spirit of the Scots. It does feel very much a separate nation as well as part of the UK.

9. The whisky. Selfish to choose this one but I do love a whisky and no-one makes a whisky like Scotland. I love the gentle Macallan, the rich Glenmorangie, the salty Talisker and the peaty Lagavulin.

10. The people. It’s corny but true. Scottish people give you time, not always in a rush. Scottish people also have attitude – strong wills, strong opinions, And Scottish people make loyal friends.

Such a great country. We will certainly miss it.

0

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑