Day 10 - Honeyholm

Day 10, July 13, 2013:

This morning we started the day with a British custom that would be the death of me if I lived here for any length of time – The English Breakfast:  sausage, bacon, beans, fried bread, egg, fruit, fried tomato and blood pudding – and to finish; toast with Marmite.  Pauline's brother in law is a huge lover of Marmite and has a complete collection of "special editions"...  if you can believe!  This morning we were treated to Marmite Gold .... which actually sparkled in the sun.

 

We literally rolled out of there and back into the van for the second stage of our journey.  We stopped briefly at the border into Scotland for lunch (Connor polished off a full roast pork dinner while the rest of us settled for a drink at the pub) at a little place called Gretna Green which for over a century has been performing weddings in the blacksmith shop.  Apparently under age couples would come to be married by the blacksmith against the wishes of their families.  In reality it is now a set of gardens where couples come to tie the knot.  We enjoyed the piper and the wedding in progress then soldiered on into central Scotland. 

 

We arrived at The Honeyholm, our new home for the next week late in the afternoon after a half hour of rally driving on twisty roads, thank god for the GPS.  This is a 400 year old farmers ‘cottage’ backing on to a salmon/trout stream with the lovely green mountains behind.  We are sort of in the middle of nowhere (near the village of Balfron near Stirling) but only half an hour from everything!  The cottage is lovely with three bedrooms each with a bathroom, a large kitchen, a great living room with a view of the mountains and access to the gardens and best of all a trampoline!  Our adjoining neighbors (who are also the land owners) are a family with two children a few years younger than Connor and Duncan.  Really nice people who greeted us with fresh scones and homemade jam.  We unpacked and headed into Balloch the nearest larger town at the foot of Loch Lomond to stock the larder and get a look at our surroundings, then had a wonderful BBQ and ate a late supper outside on the patio watching the sun set over the rolling hills behind us –this is the life!  Tomorrow we are off to explore the Lochs.