The Mini Moss Project » Holidays

Pictures of Canada

barn — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 17:39:35 +0000

We returned from our four-week Canada trip last weekend. The photos are now on flickr. There is a Canada page, a set of all photos, and a set of my favourites.

In the end we covered 5,996 km in 27 nights on the road (the 28th was on the plane). We had about four days when we drove for over six hours, and we got through two sets of felt tips and five princess colouring books. We only had two tantrums – one from Pip and one from Laurie. The accommodation only didn’t work out one night. We stayed in four B&Bs, three cottages, one hostel, two rented houses and with two cousins at their homes. We kayaked, fished, hiked, swam in rivers, lakes and oceans, watched sunsets and moonrises, starry nights and shooting stars, barbequed and picnic’d, ate lobster, chowder and poutine, and Indie learnt to crawl.

Bath-time now (err, for Indie, you understand) so I’m signing off but what I’m trying to say is it was fantastic!

Click here to view the embedded slideshow.

Ginny’s photos are here.

Canada II

barn — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 16:13:50 +0000

We’ve covered a lot of distance since the last update. We’re currently in Glenora whisky distillery, just north of Inverness, in Nova Scotia (New Scotland). We also are experiencing traditional Scottish weather.
Laurie is dancing a mini ceilidh, and Indie has just crawled her first crawls. Laurie also learnt to crawl on the floor of a Scottish hotel dining room.
Since Ottowa we had two nights in Quebec City – 36 degrees and humid is perfect for a city tour day with two kids – then we finished with French-speaking Quebec and crossed time-zones into New Brunswick. Two seven hour days in the car, and an out-of-gas situation in the longest empty section of the trans-Canadian highway, got us to Saint John’s on the Bay of Fundy, but the kids were going mental by then so instead of the beautiful coastline we spent three hours exhausting them in the soft play centre. Pip and I also dined on the remains of Laurie’s child size pasta from lunch, which says a lot about portion sizes here!
The next day we drove 40km to a scenic cliff-top drive, but missed the signs and so didn’t see any Bay of Fundy at all. We pressed on over the 13km bridge to Prince Edward Island and rounded off the unaccompanied section of the trip with the surprisingly good Anne of Green Gables house, and a swim on the red sandy beaches in the National Park. Then across PEI to meet the Aunts – Gin, Liz and Lucy have now joined us. A day of hiking, swimming and lighthouses at the East Point of PEI then on Sunday we took the ferry to Nova Scotia, where we are now starting the Cape Breton trail.
Again, limited photos on my iPhone, but I do have this one of a large beaver.

Canadia The First

barn — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 02:24:03 +0000

It’s Sunday night so we’re at the end of our first week in Canada. We’re staying in Ottawa with cousins of Pip’s, and as well as a spare room, they have wi-fi, so I may blog.
We flew from Heathrow last Sunday on an 8:30 a.m. flight, so the girls were exhausted and slept on the flight. Air Canada were much better than their call centre suggested, and weren’t fussy about the number of car seats we had, didn’t make us check the buggy into the hold, and didn’t insist on the tyres being deflated. They didn’t fine us $50 when Indie sat up in the basinet, although she didn’t get a seatbelt, as warned, and we had to hold her tightly whenever we felt the plane might crash. The eight-hour flight actually went very well, the girls were perfect, and by the time we arrived Indie has trained a couple of rows of people to tilt their heads on her command.
We picked up a car at the airport and drove West to Niagara. We unloaded at a lovely little B&B in Niagara-on-the-Lake, then drove on to Niagara Falls in time for the illuminations and the 10pm fireworks. By then we’d been up over 24 hours, it was 3 a.m. UK time, and we were so spaced out we sat in the car for 15 minutes waiting for a rain shower to pass, before we realised we’d parked under the fallout from the mist-plume, and we just needed to walk five metres to the dry.
Anyway, the falls are great, although the town is horrific, like a low-rent tawdry Las Vegas, if that’s possible.
Having successfully beaten jetlag (four hours sleep in 44 and anyone will sleep for eight hours) we returned to the falls in the morning so I could take Laurie on the Maid of the Mist boat into the spray. Highly recommended if you’re anywhere nearby.
We then turned and started the 1,700+ mile drive East to Novia Scotia. Toronto is a great place to see why building bigger roads doesn’t reduce congestion – we hit the evening rush-hour, which starts at 2:30 p.m. and which gridlocked the 16-lane highway both ways!
We then spent four nights at Cousin Julia’s place in Brighton, with its own private beach on Lake Ontario. This was a really good time and we ticked off most of the Tengs, with Julia, Kathy and Toivo in Brighton and Bonita and Mike further East. We even managed a night out on Julia’s birthday.
On Friday we were back on the road to Ottawa, via a fairly unexciting boat trip through the Thousand Islands from Kingston. I’ve decided the back-country, with its gentle green hills dotted with lakes, clapboard houses, red barns and silver grain silos, is endlessly beautiful, but the big-ticket tourist attractions can underwhelm. No more boat rides for us. Also much cheaper that way!
We’re staying here with Tom and Kyna and their kids, and spent yesterday looking round Ottawa with Geoff and Tanya. In the evening we had dinner with our hosts plus Roshelle & Bud and Uncle Ed & Valerie. That was all the Williams done!
Today was lunch in Kanata with John Muggeridge, his wife, and three of their six kids. Our two both fell asleep there as they’ve seen and done so much recently. Indie also sucked into my lap as it is Fathers’ Day.
From lunch we drove out to Carp for a picnic with Ed, Valerie, Geoff, Tanya and Roshelle, swam in the river and floated down the rapids for a couple of hours. Then back to Ed’s amazing property for a barbeque and tour before the girls finally flakes out completely and we has to bring them home and carry them to bed.
Tomorrow we have our longest drive, six hours to Quebec City. The forecast is sunny and 29 degrees.
I’ve not got many photos to show you on my iPhone, but this is Laurie after her incarceration for asking which day was Children’s Day.

The Great Wilderness – Dundonnell and Fisherfield Forest

barn — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 13:54:41 +0000

Our second annual Highlands trip was at the end of April 2010, to Dundonnell and Fisherfield Forest, near Ullapool in Wester Ross, the Scottish Highlands.

Gin, Ol, Kitty, Griff and I (Pip was in a play in London so had to stay behind with the Grandparents for support) planned three nights of rough camping and Munro bagging. It didn’t go to plan because Flybe lost my bag on the way up – I didn’t fancy a 4° night in a tent wearing just my jeans and t-shirt – so we spent Friday night and Saturday morning finding a place to crash, and borrowing bits of kit. Anyway, once we’d begged and bought enough stuff that I could survive the weekend, my bag turned up, so we set off just 16 hours late.

The area is known as the Great Wilderness, and the further in you go the more remote it feels. Because we’d started so late, we camped only about five miles in, on the bend of a river under some budding silver birch trees. It was a perfect spot.

Even if it was surrounded by deer corpses – there were three within five meters, and they scattered the whole area, victims of this year’s particularly harsh winter… After setting up the camp, we took a little stroll to some waterfalls a mile or so off.

On the Sunday we had a choice of hills. The most dramatic, An Teallach, was not possible because the rivers were in spate and because the crags are dangerous enough in the summer when they’re not covered in snow. The girl who lent me some waterproofs had a friend who slipped off the path two years ago and fell to her death.

We chose Beinn a’ Chlaidheimh, the northern summit of a long ridged massif of three Munroes. First off, crossing the icy burn. It was a simple climb, with just a little scrambling at the top, and the weather was good throughout. The summit was attained after a few hundred metres along the snowy ridge, then we descended a little and stopped for lunch.

On the trip down we detoured to a waterfall before returning to another camp-fire, another great dinner from Kitty , and drank all the whisky we had left.

On the Monday morning we struck camp and walked out via the Shenavall bothy and the foot of An Teallach. The route was boggy but beautiful. We were back at the car for 2:30 and the airport for 4, and I was in the bath in London by 8pm!

Thanks everyone, I had a great time!. Full photoset is on Flickr here, and there’s a map here.

Click here to view the embedded slideshow.

Amsterdam 2009

barn — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 23:22:05 +0000

We nipped over to Amsterdam to visit Fi, Wim and Stephanie. We drove over, via Dover, and got upgraded to Le Tunnel Sous La Manche on the way back, due to the storms. So now Indie’s three months old, and has been to Italy, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. France and Belgium twice.

It rained so much we skipped the traditional parade of blacked-up city employees, and hid in the library instead. Julia was over from Canada so we caught up with her and Steef as well.

Photos here.

Click here to view the embedded slideshow.

Sally’s 60th in Perugia

barn — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:22:08 +0000

Despite the Lambeth Registrar’s best efforts, we finally got a birth certificate for Indie and Pip went directly to Petty France for an express passport application. Indie was interviewed to determine her suitability for British citizenship, a passport photo taken in the split-second between Pip removing her supporting hand, and Indie’s head rolling off to one side was accepted, and the passport arrived last Saturday lunchtime. On Saturday evening we’d booked flights for the Wednesday, for myself and four Moss women – Pip, Laurie, Indie and my Mum.

We flew out to Bologna early on Wednesday morning and drove three hours to Perugia, where we furtively rendezvoused with Ginny. She led the way up into the mountains where Sally and David had rented an trio of enormous converted farm buildings (1, 2, 3) on in isolated hillside for Sally’s 60th birthday party. We got Laurie changed into her swimming costume and rubber ring just in time, and Sally was overcome (to say the least!) when we sprung the surprise.

People were coming and going all week, but on the Thursday it was full house for the main event with around thirty of us. Caterers came in to cook us a big Italian dinner, there were speeches, singing from Janie Dee and Jo, and Maureen led some vigorous dancing.

The rest of the week we spent our time around the pool, visiting Assisi (as in St Francis), Cortona and Perugia, and walking up and down the Roman road outside the villa.

Here’s a slideshow, and the full gallery (now with hi-res versions if you want a print) is here.

Update – my Mum’s posted her photos here!

Update – Keith’s posted his photos here!

Click here to view the embedded slideshow.

Sardinia

barn — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 22:25:47 +0000

We’ve been on holiday to Sardinia. Pip, Laurie & I went with Griff, Clare & Amy, Fi, Wim & Stephanie, and Clare, Alan & James. Four couples, three two-year-olds, and an eleven-month-old. Surprisingly, it went very well!

We hired the surprisingly magnificent Villa Enrico. It was set in 40 acres of olive and lemon groves in the countryside outside Alghero. It was over 40°C in the sun most days and it turns out that much sun, four lots of baby-wee and an under-chlorinated pool will turn a nice blue pool into a nice green pool in just a few days.

Green notwithstanding, we spent most of our time in the pool…

…or on the beach…

Wim and I tactfully negotiated a day and a half’s babysitting to get some pretty spectacular cave-diving from a cliff-top dive-centre with it’s own train down to the boats. I did one dive right through the headland of Capo Caccia (home to Nero’s Cave if you’ve been to Sardinia) and back through separate tunnel systems.

The three girls absolutely loved it.

We’ll probably do it again some time, although I suspect Griff & Clare may want to travel direct from Edinburgh next time

The full album is here.

The Rough Bounds Of Knoydart

barn — Thu, 07 May 2009 23:18:12 +0000

Over May Bank Holiday, I walked around the Rough Bounds of Knoydart in the Western Highlands, with Ginny, Griff, Kitty and Swetty. The Knoydart Peninsula is the most isolated part of mainland Britain, and is only accessible by either driving 21 miles down Britain’s longest dead-end road then walking in for two days, or by open boat from Mallaig. It was a great trip, although it would have been better if I had managed to catch the train Gin & I were booked on – that would have saved an emergency £270 train fare before we’d even left London!

We chose the former, and left the car at Kinlochhourn on the Friday morning. We walked a wet seven miles (rain and rivers) down the shore of Loch Hourn, and slept in the bothy at Barrisdale that night because the weather was coming in and we’d arrived early enough to get a few bunks.

The day ended with a stunning rainbow spanning the loch.

The next day, the weather was even worse so we changed our plans and walked over the Mam Barrisdale pass to the tiny settlement of Inverie, rather than climbing Ladhar Bheinn. At 400m on the pass the wind was so string we could hardly stand, so it was the right decision. Also, Inverie has a pub (not just any pub, Britain’s remotest pub, and a pretty good one at that), which we were in by 2pm.

We camped on the bivouac site, on the beach with possibly the least shelter on the whole coast. I worked out why in the night – the ground was sandy, and the torrential overnight rain drained away – the rest of the land was peaty and a total bog.

We got up at six the next morning. Not only had the rain had stopped, but the sky was clearish and there was a light coat of snow on the tops. We climbed to the ridge of the corrie and spent the next five or so hours alternating between rain, freezing hail and long warm sunny patches. We could see the next few weathers as they queued up over Skye to approach in turn. The ridge went up and down a fair bit, and there was a little scrambling, but after lunch we got to the main body of Ladharr Bheinn and half an hour later we summited at 1010m.

The descent was much quicker as we bombed straight down the steep boggy shoulder and back to the pub for dinner. We camped again that night, then caught the 8:30 ferry to Mallaig. It was a freezing open boat and the 45 minute crossing drenched everybody in sea spray. After a breakfast where we had numb hands and couldn’t hold our forks properly, Griff and Kitty set off on the four-hour trip to fetch the first car. The rest of us caught the train (one of the top train journeys in the world, and a Harry Potter location) to Fort William to meet them, and drive back to Edinburgh for urgent shower facilities. I was back in work by Tuesday afternoon, exactly five days after I’d left.

The full picture gallery is here. If you’ve got Google Earth the KMZs are here and here.

More Dorset Photos

barn — Thu, 07 May 2009 22:21:22 +0000

My Mum’s posted her photos from Dorset…

Peebles and Bam-Bam

barn — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 15:36:02 +0000

We went up to Peebles again last weekend to see Griff, Clare and Amy, and Ol, Amanda and new baby Duncan, and Kitty who’s back from NZ.

Laurie delivered her usual mix of extreme affection and violence to Amy, but they seem to have kissed and made up.

For some reason we didn’t take any photos of Duncan or Kitty, but did get one of Clare’s smoked fish melange.

Full gallery here.