Culbin Sands

We're back in Findhorn! We simply cannot get enough of this place. Easter rather than summer this year - let's hope the weather holds for us. Today we headed to Culbin Sands for a walk along the beach and through the woods.

It's a great beach and very easy to have fun - just ask Mum!

The woods were great too. Lots of places to explore and trees to climb. Here's Mum climbing a tree.

And here's Dad climbing a tree!

He wanted to go higher but Mum wouldn't let him!

We found a great tree-swing that we simply couldn't get Mum off!

Linlithgow Loch

Mum dragged us out for some exercise today. Linlithgow loch was the destination and it was the first time we'd all walked around it. It was a beautiful day to take such a lovely walk.

Culross

Even though Dad's a Fifer, he'd never been to the famous Fife historical village of Culross. So on a slightly dull and fairly cold day we decided to pop along and see what all the fuss is about.

It's a cool wee village. Very pretty and old and on a rather steep hill.

And it has an anchor!

Dad thought he was being very funny stealing this picture and sending it to his mates. He's such a wag.

And we found a ruined castle to explore!

Exploring

It's the last week of the summer holidays and Dad has taken some time off work so that we can have a few days up north before going back to school.

For one of the days we went exploring with Auntie Anne and Uncle Ian. They took us on a great walk up a Craig Mony to an ancient hill fort. The walk was through an old forest with some really massive trees!

Although the fort was barely recognisable, after a lovely picnic lunch supplied by Auntie Anne, Dad and I had to carry out the tradition of having a sword fight!

The walk back down through some more massive trees was fun.

Then it was off through another wood to reach the backs of Loch Ness. We couldn't find the monster but we did find some very friendly ducks!

After that, we went back to Auntie Anne's for some more food. We had a fabulous day and I hope we can do it again.

Salisbury Crags

I had my first diving class at the Royal Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh today. 08:30 on a Saturday morning. So obviously I was up at six am and raring to go!

Diving was great fun. We spent a while jumping in off the side and then got to jump in off the 1 metre springboard at the end. I can't wait until next week!

It was a lovely day so we needed something to do when we came out of the pool. We hadn't made any plans but Salisbury Crags were just too inviting when we headed back to the car.

So we headed around to Holyrood Park car park and went for a walk up the Crags. We didn't plan to walk far but it went well so we actually did the whole Crags, stopping along the way to take some interesting photos!

Mum and me half way up that ridge (we don't know who the guy at the top is!)

Dad and me on this ridge - great photo, Mum!

When we got off the Crags, after complaining about being tired a lot of the way, I insisted on playing with the frisbee and tig with Dad. He was thrilled! But at least we earned ourselves an ice cream back at the car!

Hadrian's Wall

The summer holidays are nearly over. It seems like such a long time ago that we had that amazing holiday in Findhorn - at least it does to me. Mum and Dad can't believe I'll be going back to school so soon.

I've had a busy holiday. It's not all on this blog but there've been things to do for me most days. The first week after Findhorn was swimming where I improved all of my swimming strokes and Mummy also had a swimming class and learned how to do front crawl properly. There's also been freestyle gymnastics, badminton, tennis and a selection of activities at the local high school. It's supposed to be a time for me to rest and I'm worn out!

Mum was getting really concerned about how tired I was and decided quite late to get us away for another wee holiday so that I could relax. Since we've been reading a lot about the Romans and I did the Romans at school this last year she found us a nice place very near to Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland for my last week of the holidays.

I wouldn't exactly describe it as relaxing though! We're home now and Dad says he'll be glad to get back to work for a rest! But it does appear to have done the trick for me. We spent most of the days outside in the fresh air getting lots of exercise and learning lots of things and had relaxing evenings in the cottage and then a good sleep overnight. Bring on primary four!

Here's a selection of memories from this holiday...

This is the garden of the cottage we stayed in. The photo is taken from the upstairs balcony and doesn't show much of it to be honest! The garden was huge and had loads of trails to follow. The owners lived in a large summer house in this garden and had a dog that I could play with in the evening. It was great fun!

The first day was spent at Vindolanda and then in the evening we headed out to the nearest bit of Wall to explore and, of course, have a fight! Dad was the Celt!

It was a beautiful evening up there.

The next day we went to the Roman Army museum and then Housesteads Fort. At Housesteads we followed the Wall for a while and collected a couple of Geocaches. And had a fight or two!

Hypocausts, you're allowed to play on them, right?

I'm the Celt this time!

All three of us in one photo!

Pretty amazing view...

Those Romans could build really straight roads. It's a real shame not all roads in the area were like this, some of them couldn't be more anti-Roman if they tried. I honestly wonder if that's what the road builders were going for - bung in as many corners as possible, and then add some more for good measure...

This isn't Roman but was the highlight of Dad's holiday and one of my 50 things to do before I'm 11 and three quarters. This is one that had worried Dad as he didn't know where we'd be able to do it... Walking BEHIND a waterfall!!!

And there was even a cave to walk through near the waterfall.

We then headed off to a lead mining museum where we got to go down the mine! It was a beautiful sunny day and very warm but it was freezing down the mine, especially standing in several inches of water the whole time. Great fun though!

Next day, it was back on the Wall. More fighting and a visit to Robin Hood's tree.

Then it was Belsay castle which had an amazing garden and I got to be a Knight!

And after this we went to see Brave at the cinema and had a go on the Dodgems!

Next day we went to Chesters where I dressed as a Roman soldier. And had a fight!

And then it was off to Corbridge, a Roman town to find all the Roman soldiers. By finding all the soldiers, I got a certificate. Luckily I found them all *just* before the heavy rain started...

Last day and we had some unfinished business to attend to on the way home. A nearby Earthcache we hadn't made it to yet and then back to Birdoswald where we'd been earlier in the week. We'd been a bit late to take part in the fun activities for the kids that day so wanted to get there to participate this time. We were cutting it a bit fine so Dad dropped Mum and me off at the door and then went to park - his turning up late didn't stop him from being enlisted though!