Having had this trip already in the pipeline we have halted our Great Australian Adventure and headed to Europe via Perth.
Fulfilling a long wish to all holiday in Scotland together we are traveling across with mum and dad Glover before joining the Hall Clan to walk sections of the West Highland Way.
Making wonderful family memories, catching up with dear friends and taking advantage of not having a tight and fixed work/school schedule this is what we got up to in our photo blog.
What a vast contrast to the last isolated month we have had in Cape York.
What a bonnie time the Hall and Glover clans had together in Scotland.
Stronachlachar, Scotland
Our first AirBnB in Scotland at Stronachlachar in the Trossachs, a beautiful area of Scotland that feels very remote, yet is only an hours drive from Glasgow. It was our base for the southern part of the ‘West Highland Way’ walk.
Jodie and her boys capture the island on Loch Katrine!
Enjoying a boat cruise on the loch
Sunset views from the house
All ready for our first walk on the WHW – ‘Blamaha to Rowadennan’. The statue is of Tom Weir, famous Scottish broadcaster and climber – Tom inspired my imagination as a kid with his TV show ‘Weir’s Way’ in the 70’s and 80’s where he’d walk all the great walks of Scotland.Walking turned out to be a brilliant way to have great catch up conversations with our families that we only really see every few years.Love this image of my nephews, James and Michael. They are both troopers when it comes to walking.
One of the cracking days of sunshine, Loch Arklet in the background.A few us decided to tackle Ben A’an the “mountain in miniature” at 1,512 ft.Girl Power!
We all done this cracking walk on an old military track to Inversnaid following Loch Arklet from the house. Bruce completed it twice!
Ardgour House, Corran, Scotland
Brilliant nights with the family socialising in the great room at Ardgour House. This was to be our base for completing sections of the northern section of the West Highland Way. My brother Ryan and his partner Margret were able to join us for this week of the great clan Hall gathering of 2018.First up was was a walk around Glen Coe. Spectacular, breathtaking, the scale, beauty and ruggedness of this place is mesmerising.Lulu, loving it at the wee playground at the Clachaig Inn, where we all caught up for lunch.Nana and the girls
Another cracking walk in the Glen Coe area.Georgia, closing one of the gates behind us, the girls loved the walks in Scotland.The whole family took the Jacobite ‘Hogwarts Express’ from Fort William to Mallaig What a great experience and of course the kids loved all the Harry Potter connections.Luke and Charlotte all ready to depart from Platform 9 Âľ
Seems like the adults needed a rest
Bruce and I took a walk up to the Glenfinnan viaduct where the crowd climb the hill to see the ‘Hogwarts Express’ come through.Glenfinnan Monument to Bonnie Prince Charlie and the 1745 Jacobite Rising Runner Up of the 2018 Clans talent competition!Charlotte & Luke competing in the Harry Potter Trivia compAunty Jodie took all the kids rock climbing at the National Ice Climbing Centre in Kinlochleven – Gold!Well done guys!Sadly it was time to leave our families and Corran and head our separate ways to explore more of Scotland.
The girls at Eilean Donan CastleNext up was a special treat for the girls organised by Bruce and Beccy at Shieldaig Lodge Falconry. The Harry Potter tour of Scotland continuesGeorgia had a ball, she just loves birds.
Was brilliant getting to spend some time with Bruce and Bec before we headed on our own to Skye.Gotta love the stunning Scottish landscapes
Skye, Scotland
Leonie’s seem more of Scotland that I have, but I get to visit Skye on the trip, the Skye bridge is in the background.Kilt Rock, Skye – changing dramatic scenery was just round every cornerOur AirBnB looked on to the dramatic Cuillins, inspired us to watch a bit of Outlander in the evenings!Colours, I wouldn’t normally associate with Scotland.Great family day out to Dunvegan Castle
We celebrated Leonie’s birthday in style at the award winning ‘Three Chimneys’ for lunch in Skye, the girls were amazing, really adventurous with their food choices and big thumbs up to the restaurant for making us feel really welcome as a young family.The quintessential Skye shot, love a Hairy-Coo!
Stow, Scotland
Next up was a big drive to Stow to catch up with our special friends from when we lived in Scotland, Paul and Helen. They always make us feel so welcome when visit and we all still pinch ourselves when we see our kids running amok together!We never let a homeschooling opportunity pass, and we had a great day out visiting Melrose and took the opportunity to pop into the science fair.Georgia made a new bestie!And I managed to go mountain biking around Stow with my old bestie.
Edinburgh, Scotland
And on the way through to Edinburgh, we managed to have a great wee catchup with another dear friend from my uni days Jen where we got to meet the gorgeous Iona for the first time. Edinburgh always brings back so many great memories for Leonie and I and the girls loved it.Of course, Charlotte was hyped to be in the birthplace of Harry Potter…
Diagon Alley
The sorting hat correctly chose Ravenclaw
Tom Riddle’s Grave!
We got to visit our old favourite places to eat!And just had a jolly good time!
Wellingborough, England
We couldn’t leave the UK without seeing my folks again, so we headed down to Wellingborough to spend a few more days with my my mum and dad and sister.
Crete, Greece
In some ways its sounds crazy to say we felt like we needed a holiday, but a week of doing nothing but eating, swimming, and sleeping in a beautiful setting certainly felt like it hit the spot.
Paris, France
We got to spend a few days in Paris, before heading back to Australia – Charlotte just loved it.
The Bastille Markets were a hit!
Perth, Australia
And then back to Australia, for Charlotte’s Christmas present to Taylor Swift live in PerthAnd we got to share Lulu’s 2nd Birthday with the family in Perth before heading back to Cairns to continue out Great Australian Adventure. Phew!
One Reply to “Halling around Europe, Days 131 to 191.”
WOW Brings back fantastic memories what a wonderful time we all had that will take a lot of beating. France 🇫🇷 looked great well done and thank you both for making a dream come true xxx Mum and Dad Hall xxx
WOW Brings back fantastic memories what a wonderful time we all had that will take a lot of beating. France 🇫🇷 looked great well done and thank you both for making a dream come true xxx Mum and Dad Hall xxx