We are writing this from our new digs in Warsaw, Poland. We’ve had a long day driving from Berlin and have just put Hamish to bed. He is on the sofa bed one meter away from us. Our dinner consisted of a mish-mash of ingredients: chicken, carrots, cauliflower and pasta, with apple sauce on the side for Hamish. It’s dark in Poland at about 4pm, so the night has crept up on us; it’s just past 930pm.

 

Our last few days in Berlin were great. Here is a small recap of Friday thru Sunday:

 

Friday: As with most days in Berlin, we start with a trip on the M10 tram – we have been lucky that our landlords have left us their annual public transport cards. The M10 is 100m from our apartment building and links us to all other public transport routes in Berlin. We have only had to change lines a couple of times, catching the M2 to Alexander Platz (city centre) and the M1 to Mattia’s apartment.

 

On Friday we headed for the Berlin Wall Memorial and Museum. We didn’t really know what to expect and were a bit cautious, as our trip to Mauer Park had been a bit, well, odd really due to a distinct lack of anything.

 

The first thing you notice about the Berlin Wall Memorial is a huge picture of Conrad Schumann on the side of a building, close to where he jumped over the barbed wire; you cannot miss it and of course, as he is now Hamish’s hero, we did not. The Memorial is a long, linear park with a range of displays which describe life behind the walls. The ‘inner’ wall is still intact in parts, the outer wall, is portrayed by metal rods – it looks amazing. Along the manicured lawns (the only ones we’ve seen in Berlin) are steps to show tunnels running from the East to the West. Hamish re-enacts escaping via one of these tunnels, however, we don’t tell him he has managed to escape to the East.

 

At the end of the park is a reconstructed section of the wall, which shows all parts of the Eastern defence; inner and outer walls, watch tower, lighting and anti-vehicle trenches. The impact of this is not apparent until you climb 100 or so stairs above the museum across the road to a viewing platform. It is obvious the DDR went to quite a lot of effort to keep their people in the East, 156km of effort to be precise. It is both amazing and sad at the same time.

 

We spend a bit of time in the museum where Hamish draws an interpretive picture of the wall and has this hung up with other pictures and messages.

 

Our next stop is Brandenburg Gate. We get back on the trusty M10 and exit at the very large, multi-purpose train/metro/subway stop (S & U Hauptbahnhof). After some brief instructions from the tourist information booth, we walk to the Brandenburg Gate, via the Reichstag. A traffic accident, courtesy of a driver who stopped for pedestrians and a cyclist who wasn’t paying attention, keeps everyone on edge, especially when the cyclist opens the passenger door to yell abuse at the driver. It’s awesome.

Saturday: We meet Mattia and his girlfriend Eva at their favourite café for brunch. Whilst there it starts snowing, which is very exciting for us Aussies. However, it is not so exciting when we exit the café and head to the Christmas Markets. It’s cold, it’s miserable, the snowflakes are bloody huge – it’s like walking in very, very soft freezing rain (which, I guess is what it is). The markets are closed and we make the decision to ditch our plans due to the weather and not being appropriately dressed. We plan to meet Mattia and Eva back at the markets that night for food and Gluwein. Eva says it is essential to drink Gluwein in order to survive the markets.

 

 

This is our first taste of a European Christmas market and really, it’s not that different to markets at home: inflated prices for things you don’t need, crowds and cranky kids. There is a story in here about fairy floss and a huge lolly pop; if you use the words: Hamish, difficult, devious, bad mood, disappointed in any order, this basically covers the story.

 

Sunday bloody Sunday: Once again, we have been caught out by the lack of Sunday trading in Europe. Thank God for Dads: Rod goes to the service station for bread, so we can have some breakfast. The service station is a place of bounty: he brings back bread, milk AND orange juice, a feast! After two late nights, we manage to get organised for a trip into the city centre (Mitte) by midday. Our plan is to see Check Point Charlie and the GDR Museum. However, at the M10 stop, there is a sign that says something about a demonstration and the tram will not be going to the S & U Hauptbahnhof.  Whilst on the tram, we spend the next few minutes frantically scanning the route map to work out how we are going to get to our destination. As luck would have it, we get on the M2 and end up exactly where we want to be in Alexanderplatz. The Christmas markets are in full swing and we head over to the action. There is food aplenty, carousel rides and market stalls as far as the eye can see. We purchase some hot, sweet, deep fried pastry treats dusted with icing sugar and devour them as we walk around – Hamish calls them ‘sugar biscuits’. They are amazing and trump the service station feast we have had for breakfast. We follow this up with an array of pork specialities for lunch: sausage (25cm long), meatball (200gm) and steak (generous).

With full bellies and umbrellas up, we head to the GDR museum. It’s busy and the queue is long. Still, we persist and are rewarded with a great display of life in East Germany, resplendent with polyester evening gowns, stretch Volvos and nude holidays.

 

Dinner with Eva and Mattia top off our Sunday and we head home with a tired boy – actually, the three of us are leg-weary and sleep well. So well infact, we have a late departure, which means, we arrive in Warsaw at about 530pm. We leave Warsaw Thursday for Krakow and then will be heading to Prague. We will be home in 6 weeks – how quickly the time has gone!

We left a cold but sunny Dusseldorf by 930am on Monday morning with a packed lunch from Ulrike. When I say ‘a packed lunch’, think deli-style baguettes, not the usual ham and cheese sangas us Aussies make for road trips. We had allowed about 6 hours to get to Berlin, including a couple of stops, however our plans were slightly interrupted by extremely slow moving traffic on the freeway to Wuppertal. So basically the 30 min head start was shattered early on. Regardless of the ‘free’ speeds we could achieve on the autobahn; we were never going to make up half an hour.

Thankfully Hamish is an excellent traveller in the car, but this morning his ipod had not been charged, so we decided to charge it in the car, which meant listening to one of his many, many play lists. This particular play list of 50 songs (I am not kidding) was a mix of Foo Fighters, Beatles, Sparks (you might need to google them), Gorillaz and the Wonky Donkey thrown in for good measure. It wasn’t too bad and is, in some ways, easier than listening to his version of the songs whilst wearing headphones.

 

We made pretty good time. At one stop there was a bit of snow around, which is pretty exciting for us. Hamish ran through it in his runners and had to spend the rest of the trip in his socks. I think near this stop, we came across a sign “Welcome to East Germany” which was followed up with a now defunct guard tower. It was a wow moment.

 

We finally arrived to our apartment at about 430; but it was dark and cold and poor Mattia had been waiting for us with the key. Apartment is beautiful, spacious, warm and in walking/tram ride of most things. Tuesday was spent doing a bit of grocery shopping, catching up on the washing and exploring the neighbourhood.

We are living in the suburb of Prenzlauer Berg in former East Berlin and the entire week thus far, has been spent in pursuit of former sites, streets and stories of the wall. Hamish has particularly embraced this. His new favourite person is Conrad Schumann, immortalised by a picture of him jumping over barbed wire; the first East German soldier to defect. Wednesday we visited Mauer Park (former ‘death strip’ between the wall and East German military) and the ‘Life in the DDR’ museum in PB.

 

Thursday we went to East Side Gallery, which is the site of a couple of kilometres of still standing wall, now brightly painted by artists from around the globe. Hamish again, very keen to see the artist impression of Conrad Schumann.

After spotting our first group of skin head/neo-nazi’s, we caught the tram back to our apartment. Rod is out tonight with Mattia and his friends listening to the Berlin New York Times Bureau Chief talk about ISIS and I guess, global terrorism. This is something Mattia has organised at a wine bar, so Rod should be right at home. As he left, he said he hopes the talk is in English. Hamish and I have had a quite night at home watching Toy Story 3 and drinking lemonade. Lovely.

 

 

 

 

 

Written by Belinda

 

After a bleak and blustery night, we left Almere, Holland and headed to our next destination of Bruges in the NW corner of Belgium. I had booked a room for two nights, breakfast included, at the Novotel Bruges in order to keep my points balance with my Accor Hotels membership card. This is the first chain accommodation we have stayed in on this trip and it did not disappoint. We arrived in the afternoon and headed out for a gentle exploration of the surrounds – we also needed to find a bite for lunch as driving through Belgium we noticed a distinct lack of roadside stops, so we were fairly hungry by time we arrived in Bruges. We loved our first taste of Belgium frittes, of which this country is famous. Bruges is a very historic and picturesque town and I was very, very pleased to find a beautiful shopping strip. On the way home, we purchased some local chocolates, another of Belgium’s delicacies.

 

The next day, we split up so I could get in some retail therapy. Rod and Hamish took a horse and carriage ride around town and visited the chocolate museum. It rained, but was not too cold. We met back up in the lobby of the hotel and had a long lunch of meats, cheese, bread and beer. Beer is the third thing Belgium is famous for – one store advertised selling over 500 brands! We did not sample them all.

Friday we planned a bit of a WW1 historical tour, firstly stopping at Tyne Cot Memorial Cemetery and then onto Toronto Ave Commonwealth War Graves. There is a big museum at Ypres, but the suggested 2 hours for this was out of our reach with Hamish. Upon arrival at Tyne Cot, other than the bitter cold, we were surprised by how big it was and how many visitors were there; school children and older visitors, from many nationalities. This is the biggest commonwealth cemetery in the world, the home of many fallen Australian, New Zealand, British and Canadian troops. Four German servicemen are also buried there. The centre of the cemetery is highlighted by the “Cross of Sacrifice” which is the former site of a German bunker, captured by the Australians. On the way back to the car, we noticed a sign saying “No picnics allowed” – we thought if nothing else, these men had fought and died for our right to picnic where we want.

Whilst driving through Passendale, the weather was getting a bit worse so we decided to scrap Toronto Ave (near the French border) and stop at the Passendale museum. The grounds of the museum are surrounded by former trenches and Rod and I felt very moved seeing them now as lawn and with the background sound of children playing in the school across the road. It was decided that I would go into the museum and Rod would keep Hamish occupied outside. After this, we stopped for some lunch – this changed the rest of our day as the news was showing how Brussels and Antwerp were in lockdown due to bomb threats (the staff at the shop filled us in). So we changed our course for Dusseldorf, heading SE towards Liege. This was the long way, but we thought is best to stay away from the other cities. I was pretty glad to get to Germany.

 

 

We have stayed the weekend with Ulrike and Hans-Georg Nelles in beautiful Dusseldorf (you might remember Mattia who lived with us as a gap student five years ago, these are his parents). As we approached Dusseldorf Friday evening, satnav seemed to want to send us the long way. Due to past experience, we don’t really trust satnav, so I redirected Rod using my MapsMe app (thanks Ricky McCarthy). I got us bang on 41 Volmerswerther Strabe and was very proud of my efforts; it’s dark, it’s busy and we have been driving all day. Mattia had mentioned there was a hotel next to his parents’ house, however, there were no hotels in sight. We call Hans-Georg and Rod nearly suggested he walk out on the street to find us. Lucky he didn’t. It turns out, there are TWO 41 Volmerswerther Strabe in Dusseldorf and we are 9.1km from the correct address. So we humbly return to satnav who seems to know where to go.

 

After eating delicious home-made pizza this evening, it dawned on me I have not cooked a meal in 7 days; I think I have managed to make myself a cup of coffee – Rod has poured cereal into a bowl. We are being totally spoiled by our European hosts and quite frankly, seeing the best of the city they call home. We have seen many lovely sights, but at a pace Hamish can cope with and often with Hamish in mind. They dusted off their daughter’s blade scooter for Hamish to ride around yesterday whilst we walked to the Rhine-side (a bit like our South Bank in Melbourne). We rode the speedy lift up the Rhine-Tower (169m) and Hamish gave us all sweaty palms as he fearlessly lay on the windows. It even bothered other guests to see him do this! I saw adults gripping furniture to peer over the edge of the windows; thank God for German engineering. Later in the afternoon, Hamish and Hans-Georg turned down the opportunity to walk around the old town in the cold and rain, but this did not stop the rest of us.

Sunday morning we headed to the ruins of Kaiserswerth Castle (also along the Rhine) and walked through the old city centre there. The castle is just a bit older than the ones in Scotland – 1000 years old. Hamish enjoyed the open spaces and ran around in the ‘fresh’ morning air of 5 degrees. The afternoon was spent at a special animal park, the name of which none of us can translate to English (Hofclen im Sudpark); there were many super-sized animals such as, pigs, goats, sheep, chicken, rabbits and geese. The ‘Pink Palace’ (Schloss Benrath) was our last stop for the day, beautifully presented and surrounded by many parks and gardens, however, I spent much of my time chasing Hamish around and trying to get him to put on his beanie and gloves as the mercury dropped to 3 degrees.

Tomorrow sees us heading to Berlin for one week. It snowed there today and is forecast for more ‘snow showers’ this week. This will test our winter gear which we may need to fine tune for the rest of trip.

 

 

Written by Belinda

 

I had booked tickets for the Anne Frank house/museum for Tuesday with separate times for Rod and myself. This way, one of us would be with Hamish and the other would be in the museum. We caught the train from Almere to Amsterdam, a quick 25 minutes. To make the most of the city with Hamish, we chose minimal activities and not too much walking. This started with a canal boat ride which was both pleasant and dry.

It was forecast to rain on and off during the day and much of the rain occurred whilst on the boat; our timing was perfect. This gave us a good overview of the city whilst Hamish listened to his iPod and looked out the windows, with us occasionally pointing out things for him to look at: birds, other boats, houseboats.

We had a quick sandwich at subway and made our way to the Anne Frank house through a maze of side streets and canals with the frequent strong scent of weed. The museum was easy to find due to the Westerkerk cathedral being next door, plus a long line of people waiting to get in. Because we had pre-booked, we had a separate door to enter and thus, walked straight in. We were earlier than our allocated times, but this didn’t matter and we were admitted immediately.

 

Hamish and I went to the café whilst Rod visited the museum. Maybe this took him half an hour? Hamish had only just polished off our “shared” brownie when Rod returned. Then it was my turn. He didn’t say anything, just ‘off you go’.

 

The story of Anne Frank is one I have known my entire life. I read this story as a girl and have re-read it over the years. So when I saw the book case which hid the entrance to the annexe, I was overwhelmed with feelings I cannot describe. To be standing there, in my lifetime, some 70 years later – it was surreal. The atmosphere in those few rooms was also something difficult to describe. All of us strangers yes, but I think a feeling of solidarity with those hiding in the annexe, as well as with each other, particularly in light of recent events in Paris. Particularly touching; Anne’s pictures still on the walls of her bedroom, not unlike Jessica’s room, the marks on the walls measuring Anne and Margot’s heights as they aged, just like we do with Hamish. It’s not hard to identify with the Franks. I wrote a quick message in the online guestbook and returned to my boys in the café. Only then did Rod voice his experience; it was the same as mine, very emotional.

 

We made our way outside and headed back towards the train station, dodging bikes and buses. One thing we did see, which was fabulous, was a bike with a tub-like contraption on the front with space for about 10 children. We saw a few of them. Didn’t get a picture, but I might google it and see what I can find.

Our trip to Amsterdam is our most incident free travel day with a swipe on swipe off Myki-esq travel card. I say incident free, because as Hamish and I swipe out of the station at Almere, Rod’s card is not letting him through “None shall pass!” After a few attempts at getting through the automated gates, he uses the assistance phone (and I use this term loosely) to find out what’s going on. Seems his ticket was not validated at the Amsterdam end, so he can’t exit at Almere. He checks if he has credit, he does, but still no good. In the end, he sneaks out silently tailing another passenger. It’s hilarious; I haven’t seen him move that quickly for a while!

After being thoroughly looked after by Ben and Maria, we are now in Bruges (Belguim), spending the weekend in Dusseldorf (Germany) before heading to Berlin for a week. The past week has been pretty shocking in Europe; so much is going on and to be honest, I am not as relaxed as I was a week ago today. Having said that though, we are as safe as we can be and there’s more chance of us being hit by a speeding bicycle than anything else! I was stopped in the street today by an Oxfam worker trying to get some donation or opinion or something. He started talking to me and I just said, I’m Australian. His reply? “Oh to be Australian, how lucky…”

 

Written by Belinda

Not wanting to travel on Friday the 13^th, I booked a cabin on the Pride of Rotterdam for Saturday 14^th November, months ago back in Australia. Hamish and I watched a few YouTube clips and were pretty excited about this prospect. However as the time drew nearer and nearer, my excitement was turning to dread. The UK was experiencing winds and rain from the West due to a storm cell (hurricane, actually). As I write this from The Netherlands, York is currently flooded and there have been reports of -6 degrees combining with the rain to cause widespread snow across The North.

Rod and I anxiously kept an eye on the weather for the crossing. However, it was unlikely we were going to amend our plans, so we stopped looking: there’s only so many things we can change in this trip and the weather is not one of them. Just before we went to bed Friday the, the news of Paris was on the internet. Needless to say I didn’t sleep very well that night with many ifs buts and questions racing through my mind. This is the only time in 7 weeks that I have felt a long, long way from home.

We set off Saturday morning for our port destination of Hull; approximately 4 hours south from Dunbar. Had a long and delicious lunch with an ex-nursing friend from Australia and after much catching up and with full stomachs we headed to the ferry.

We queued up with other vehicles and checked in – not dissimilar to getting on the Chunnel. However, this time our vehicle was randomly searched. The port officer looked in the back seat, with the mass of bags and jackets and Hamish still in his car seat who proclaimed: “Nope, nothing.” We parked on the ferry and found our room relatively easily. We unpacked and decided to check out the various forms of entertainment and shopping on the ship. Plenty of bars, two restaurants, café, shops, a kids play area and a few armoured Police just to round it off. Whilst Hamish was watching 101 Dalmations, I checked the weather again. Gale force winds (7-9 on Beaufort scale) and 4m waves expected. Great. We had a light dinner of sandwiches and headed to our cabin as the ferry departed, where we all took travel sickness tablets.

To cut a long story short, the trip was uneventful. Hamish sleep soundly, no-one was sea sick and although there seemed to be plenty of noise, it was mostly from partying passengers returning to their rooms. Don’t get me wrong though, that ferry rolled and swayed all night and now I can say I’ve done it, thankfully I don’t have to do it again.

When daylight came around, there was plenty of chop in the sea which made showering interesting, but by time we headed downstairs for breakfast we were in the smooth harboured waters of Holland and it was like the previous night had never happened.

As we exited the ferry, all drivers were breathalysed and stopped at Customs. More questions about our red number plates (thanks Drive Away Peugeot), our nationality (you’re holding our Australian Passports) and our plans. Two hours later we were safely in Almere in the home of family friends eating chocolate mousse cake and drinking the best coffee I’ve had for two months.

Today I took Hamish to the indoor pool in North Berwick whilst Rod went to the Scottish Sea Bird Centre. This is the first swim Hamish has had in 7 weeks since we left Australia. He was having weekly swimming lessons in Wangaratta and was really getting the hang of it: long arms smacking into the water, legs kicking from the knee, stopping to breathe and a gorgeous wriggle to keep it all going. Today he flapped around like it was the first time he has ever been in the water!

It occurred to me how easy is has been to get out of the habit of doing the things we love, but take for granted. Back in Australia, every Thursday we rush to get to swimming lessons on time, we’re often tired, got other things to do, I mean, if you have children, you know what I am talking about.

The thought of travelling is empowering: no school, no hospital, no uni, not having to stick to boring old routines at home, this is what we have worked for! Having time to exercise (hasn’t happened once), read (I have finished one book), help Hamish with his writing (maybe twice), the bliss of deciding how you spend your day (do anything or do nothing), the romantic ideation of being in exotic places, soaking up the history, the atmosphere, the endless castles…

The plain truth about travelling? Well, even without taking into account Hamish’s age, a road trip of this duration is difficult and often routine. Much of our days are spent working out a bit of a schedule to suit everyone, or researching what we might like to do in the time we have (and working out how to get there). The weather forecast again, takes up nearly as much time, because A) the schedule often depends on B) the weather. Food is another factor of our daily lives that consumes us (no pun intended). Do we need to shop, what’s for lunch, are we eating out, are we taking a picnic, is Hamish eating too many sausages, where can we buy vegemite…I mean, it’s endless!

Washing again, a daily contemplation: will it dry in time, when we will get to wash again, can we hang the wet washing directly on the radiators, how does the washing machine work, how many times is it appropriate to wear your jeans without washing them?

Hamish sleeping in till 8am every day is a huge bonus, but also means we are pretty slow to get going in the mornings. However, having said that, this is not a complaint because NO parent complains about their child sleeping in. But the boy is often tired and even though we are trying to pace ourselves, he does get worn out. Yesterday he fell asleep in the car – it was 5pm in the afternoon. Today he and I had a nap in the afternoon, his second for the trip. If we were back in Wangaratta, Hamish napping in the afternoon is about likely as a speeding ticket in Italy.

Just so you know, even though the blogs are showing some pretty cool stuff and you may be a wee bit envious, it’s not all wine and roses (well, it is often wine). There’s still the boring stuff and it helps to keep things a bit normal when you’re 16 000km away. Will update next from the Netherlands – wish us luck on the ferry crossing.

Oh and Rod ate Haggis for dinner.

Written by Rod

It’s a gentle and largely uneventful drive on Monday from Gourdon to Spott, which is just outside the coastal town bearing our family name; Dunbar. A highlight is the massive bridge across the Firth of Forth. Our new accommodation is owned by Dougie Gray, who has been the most hospitable and informative host one can imagine, even before we arrived.

The night before was somewhat more eventful. Hamish woke up vomiting at about 3 am, and 4 am and 5 am. We are worried how we would handle the car trip and he has a couple of “incidents”. Once in Spott, he has some food, but it comes back up a while later. Two nights later and Belinda is similarly afflicted. Thus our activity in and around Dunbar has been restricted. However, we have had a good look around our family town, buying some souvenirs bearing our name.

I have a half day driving, checking out the coastal scenery to the south whilst Belinda minds a convalescing Hamish. The next day, whilst Belinda sleeps, Hamish and I take in some more coastal sights to the north, including a fascinating walk at Cove and even a look at the local Nuclear Power plant. John Muir’s birthplace also gets a view. Very informative and Hamish is very engaged.

Come Thursday and it’s a beautiful morning and we are all well, so we head into Edinburgh. We drive to the “Park and Ride’ at Wallyford and try to catch a bus. The local timetable is confusing and we let through two number 44 buses, bound for Balerno (Italy?). We hail what we believe to be the right bus, route 108, only to be told by the driver that we need one that is bound for Balerno! Twenty minutes later, we catch the bumpiest, swerviest bus we have ever been on. This tests Belinda’s tummy, but she copes. The bus ride is an hour of adventure. I find a free newspaper, telling us that George Clooney is in town today.

We spend a lot of time walking around the city. The buildings are impressive. The National Museum is free and we are there for the better part of 2 hours. It’s very interesting and Hamish loves both the steps and the lifts. Then it gets difficult, as we try to navigate around the city on foot with a tempestuous 5 year old, who keeps tripping over his own feet. To make matters worse, the weather really turns nasty; gale force winds (which un-straighten Belinda’s hair) and rain. I briefly try an umbrella, but it spends most of its time upside down, much to Hamish’s amusement. We finally get near enough to Edinburgh Castle for a good look, before quickly heading off to ‘The Dome’, which is quite a posh hotel housing some extravagant Christmas lighting. Hamish loves it, of course, partly because there is a very interesting staircase, which we try to mostly keep him off.

No sign of Clooney, so it’s time to go. To head back to the Park and Ride, we decide to give the train a try. It’s a bit dearer than the bus, and is packed, but takes 6 minutes. Six minutes! How on earth did the bus manage to add 54 minutes to this trip?!? Probably the extra distance by bouncing up and down all the way.

Tomorrow sees our last day in Scotland. Hopefully I will not come down with the bug that has flattened Hamish and Belinda. Saturday we catch the P & O Pride of Rotterdam ferry from Hull to Rotterdam; we have been watching the weather closely hoping that the crossing will be smooth. The weather forecasts 31 knot gusts…what’s that again in kilometres?

Written by Rod and Belinda

Travelling with Hamish has provided some minor challenges in regards to getting the right balance between sightseeing and child meltdown, but we are getting a bit better at planning activities that are suitable for the three of us. So what is required for Hamish to last the day without a monumental breakdown? Not too much walking, preferably outdoors, not too many rules (city centres are difficult) and a regular food intake. Bribes don’t work, reasoning is out the window.

Wednesday evening we mapped out a bit of a driving tour incorporating a number of castles. This way we could drive, get out, look at a castle, Hamish could run around the grounds and we’d pack a picnic for the car. Hamish’s job for the day was to work out if the castle was a ruin, or if someone lived in it, was it old or really old.

Dunnotar Castle is the first stop, which is only 10 minutes into the journey. Hamish tells us that this one is a ruin. Nailed it! It’s about 1000 years old and has been visited by all the usual suspects: Robert the Bruce, King Charles II, Mary Queen of Scots, Oliver Cromwell and Mel Gibson. It is wild, windswept and spectacular. We walk down 180 steps to get to the bluff on which it stands. The coastal views are stunning, though it pays not to look down unless you have a good head for heights. There is much to explore here, including one (Drawing) room that has been restored, and we spend over an hour exploring.

Our second castle is Crathes Castle. It’s very pretty and doesn’t stir the imagination like Dunnotar. It’s 16^th century, so not that old. Hamish is happy to run through the autumn leaves and Rod equally as happy to get a coffee. He thinks it’s a ruin; it can be confusing at times. You be the judge.

We decide not to stop at Drum Castle (our third), but I get pics on the way past for comparison at a later date. We are confused by a large nursery which has been built to look like a castle, but find the actual castle 750m down a single lane track. Again, beautiful grounds – how does one afford to keep a castle? Drum’s oldest section is 13^th century; a gift by Robert the Bruce to the family who have pretty much lived there since.

Castle Fraser (15^th Century) is the next on the list and we get out and walk around. It’s lovely (again). There’s a cool park for kids and we also make use of the toilets. From what I gather, for some time the Laird was Elyza Fraser. She and her ‘companion’ Mary Bristow designed the gardens and travelled Europe together.

Tolquhon Castle is a ruin and Hamish spots this like a pro. However, it is only open during summer. It’s a quick stop. It’s starting to get dark and we are still a good 40 minutes from the coast. We decide forgo our visit to two other castles in an attempt to get to Duff House (our last castle) before it closes.

Duff House is indeed shut when we arrive just after 4pm. It is no ruin; it is a beautiful Georgian mansion and it looks like a painting. We walk around it and have a play in yet another cool park next door.

Before we begin our journey south back to Gourdon, we have one more destination to reach. The small seaside village of Penan (pronounced, Pee-nan). This tiny fishing village was the setting for many of the scenes of Rod’s favourite movie ‘Local Hero’. It’s a steep, narrow decent in the dark to the village, which is no more than one row of houses on the coast and one street. Like many tourists before him, Rod is keen to make a phone call from the iconic pay phone which featured in the film. Alas, there is no + button on the payphone, nor is there any mobile signal. The whole scene is actually quite spooky after the nervous descent to the village, to be fair, the road does seem less frightening as we head back up the hill.

We begin our longish trip back to Gourdon after fuelling up the car and ourselves. Hamish has been a trooper all day and proves that you can take your children travelling.

Written by Rod

Hamish is adjusting to the Scottish climes by sleeping in past 8 in the morning, which is fine by us. It’s Wednesday morning and we have decided that today will be a home day. Balancing tourist activity with down time is something we need to be conscious of at all times.

It’s another foggy/misty day. This marks about the 8^th time I have employed the phrase “Scotch mist”. It just seems entirely appropriate. When asked, the night before, how we should fill in our home day, Hamish begins by suggesting that he and daddy light the fire first thing in the morning. The boy is a chip off the old block. The fire consumes me for much of the rest of the day. Belinda said that I was “giving it CPR” every time she looked up. It’s a lovely day to be inside and we pass the time with games, TV, drawing activities and so on. Hamish also does some of the above. Belinda has also been organising accommodation in Berlin and Krakow – there’s still a few weeks to be planned and she is taking advantage of the bad weather and good wifi. At the end of the day, I struggle to remember the last time I have not even opened an external door, much less stepped outside.

My medications have been giving me some grief, I hope. General malaise/light-headedness, etc. But I try to soldier on and not be a burden to anyone.

I check the weather forecast for Aberdeen, which is about 40 km away, on 3 different web sites. They all differ. However, none mention fog (wrong) and they all suggest mostly fine/sunny weather (completely wrong) over the next few days. They seem to have to invent many different expressions over here for “mostly cloudy”, so as not to sound too repetitive: sunny at times, cloudy at times, periods of sun/cloud, partly sunny/cloudy, mostly sunny/cloudy, sunny with periods of cloud, cloudy with periods of sun… Belinda tells me to stop checking; Scottish is the only word needed for the local forecasts. However, we do not mind. We expected the weather to be a bit bleak. And it is not that cold, with maxima of about 12.

It’s Thursday and Hamish awakes at 8:30. We are heading to Dundee today, which is about an hour south. Belinda drives there through the fog. I feel a bit light-headed for driving, but just suggest that she have a turn at the wheel so that I can admire the foggy scenery. Don’t want her to worry about my health.

Dundee is interesting, with a most impressive bridge across the Tay, which Sat Nav suggests we drive across, even though it is not on our way. The “if possible, do a U turn” message is not well received half way across a 2 km long bridge. We spend 2 hours at Discovery Point. This is a terrific spot which houses many interactive displays, as well as the ship upon which Robert Falcon Scott sailed to Antarctica.

After this we try to head off on foot to explore the city. However, a recalcitrant 5 year old and worsening weather mean we head back to the car. The whole of the harbour area is currently behind boards, getting a “revitalisation”. If you come back in a year or two, Dundee should look spectacular, on a nice day.

We take the scenic (coastal) route on the way home. The fog is now especially scenic.

We stop at the local supermarket. I finished my meds this morning (tried to keep this low key) and I am looking forward to having a drink in a day or so. I am delighted to find that they stock our favourite brand of Jacobs Creek bubbles! I have one final try at seeing if my Fly Buys card is accepted, to no avail. Belinda books Hamish in for a hair cut down the street, whilst we are still in a spot where they speak something approximating English.

It’s dark when we get home, at 4:30, and I realise I will need some more coal for the fire. I head to the coal bin downstairs (I kid you not) to re-stock. It’s also Guy Fawkes Day and we see fireworks out the window, about 10 metres away. Listening to ‘Absolute 80s’ internet radio. They had a competition to meld a band’s name with a fireworks theme. Men at Fireworks got a mention, or was it Firemen at Work? I think the medication has messed with my memory, but I will keep this to myself.

Addit: (by Belinda)

Just to add, Rod’s medications state: medication may cause hallucination leading to confusion. This was evident overnight when Rod started punching me in the ribs in his sleep. “Stop that!” I said. He did. This morning I asked what he was dreaming about, he said that I was being mean (as if) and he was trying to push me away (nice).

Also, my beloved failed to mention my final grades were released today and I have officially finished my degree. Two assignments I finished whilst in Europe. I am celebrating Scottish style by drinking a Crabbie’s Alcoholic Ginger Beer, 500ml, straight from the bottle.

Monday morning we left Frodsham with reports of the entire UK covered in fog. Airports closed, traffic chaos, expected delays – we expected the worst on the way to our new destination of Gourdon in Scotland. Leaving at 10am, we thought we would arrive between 3pm and 4pm, but with the weather hazard, who knew how long this would take.

Just north of Liverpool however, the fog lifted and we were doubly blessed with sunshine and picturesque views of rolling green hills and old fashioned farms on our way to ‘The North’. I am not trying to value-add here, the sign posts actually have ‘The North’ as a possible destination.

Hamish was content to listen to his iPod as we made the journey North and it wasn’t long until we crossed the border into Scotland. Rod and I hi-fived and Rod attempted talking with a Scottish brogue, until I gave him my honest opinion of his impersonation. You’ll be pleased to know it hasn’t stopped him and he has spent the day calling Hamish ‘laddie’ – but Hamish says he’s not a laddie, he’s a Hamish.

We arrived into Gourdon and found our cottage easily. I like to think we’re getting better with the navigation, but to be honest, there are only a couple of streets in Gourdon; we couldn’t really miss it. Apart from The Travis and Dawn’s house, the cottage is absolutely the best accommodation we’ve had so far. It’s spacious, it’s warm (but not too hot like other houses in Europe), it has ocean views, the pub is 50m and the Chippie is 55m – and, it’s been recently renovated. This place was nice before the renovations, but now it’s just beautiful.

Rod popped up to the local shops to get some Scottish sausages for dinner (delish) and Hamish and I started unpacking. Rod’s antibiotics are making him feel a bit yuck, so Hamish and I particularly enjoyed dinner, whilst Rod managed one small sausage and some mashed veggies. Hamish didn’t take much rocking to fall asleep (as my Dad would say) and Rod and I cosied up on the couch (in front of the fire) to watch a Jimmy Carr DVD.

We awoke after a bit of a sleep in to bright sunshine. Scotland – who knew it would be sunny? We took a couple of photos to prove it, ate breakfast and watched the fog roll in. Never mind. We rugged up and walked up and down the coastline, did a spot of rock pool viewing and shell collecting before heading back home. The locals are very friendly and one lady kindly told us where we could take Hamish to a nearby park.

After midday, we headed to just south of Aberdeen to do a big grocery shop at ASDA. Cross between, Target and Coles – but better. And cheaper. The fog lifted and settled for the rest of the day. Just about to tuck into some of my homemade chicken and vegetable broth (it’s nay called soup in Scotland). Thinking about relocating here. Loving it.