Pining

It's now about three weeks since we returned from our holiday up on the shores of Loch Fyne. We have been to this cottage three times now and it never fails to amaze us. It is simply stunning. Secluded, quiet, RIGHT ON THE LOCH and beautiful beautiful fantastic scenery.

The very first thing BigBean did was to inflate the canoe and go off for a paddle with Small. This is his paradise.

This year, Small had his first attempt at fishing. He now has his own little rod and tried very hard to catch something for our supper. The fish didn't bite all week and we had to rely on the seafood place in nearby(ish) Tarbert, 20 miles down the road. However, we did eat THE most delicious scallop I've EVER tasted. It was hand dived by BigBean!!!
One day we went to Crinan for lunch and a mooch about. It is the most pretty little place you could imagine. Teeny tiny white cottages, a lighthouse and this stone house which overlooked the bay. I fell for this house big time. We ate a delicious lunch at the Oh-So-Smart Crinan Hotel. Time runs at a different rate up there and boy were we ready for our food when it arrived. We did have to wait but it was so worth it. Fish and seafood which had most probably been swimming and blowing bubbles that very morning.

The locks and canal are pretty amazing too and we spent quite a while watching some flashy boats starting the run along to Lochgilphead.
A bit of beachery. And we found this very Darth Vadery piece of nature. Much debate went on about what it was. No concrete conclusions were made but The Beans would be very happy to hear what you think it might be.

Wierd, isn't it?

Of course, we did a bit of sculpture. The cottage has a concrete pier beside it and this is where we always do our stone art. Much searching is done to find appropriate noses, lips and hair. The glamourous lady above has a ready prepared barnacle nose which SmallBean found most entertaining.

Here is the full line-up. Smallers creations were mutant to say the least, quite on par with albino Darth above.
Oh, the excitement of going Loch Dipping...

And thanks to Steve Backshall, here, Small has become a hardened naturalist, overcoming all his fears and phobias about beasties. Except wasps. And midgies.

This fella was alive and kicking (can crabs kick?) when Small brought him up to the cottage. Doesn't he look pleased with himself? Small, not the crab.

I'm not so sure that this poor little toad had such tender handling from Smaller. She has no inhibitions or worries about catching beasts at all and her grabby little hands were never going to let him get away. When we did let him go, he crawled off (in a bit of a panic I do believe) so I think that the trauma was all mental, not physical...

Well, if you're going to blog about Scotland there's got to be a Highland cow somewhere, hasn't there?

Mr Pine Marten came visiting to eat scraps and crumbs. Just a couple of metres away form the sitting room door!!! You don't see this very often in Cambridge.

Or this. The view from the garden. I think BigBean is pining just a little bit. And if I'm honest, so am I.