Oh my god, she's back from the dead. Last year I had what I believe was my longest ever break from blogging because my poor potato head had nothing in it. Zero. Zilch. Well, apart from maybe 'how much Modern Family is too much Modern Family in a day?'. Writing and reading are two of my favourite things in the world to do, but for the majority of last year I did terribly at both. I've always enjoyed sitting down and writing (or typing) whatever came into my head but, every time I went to do it, my ideas and my confidence ran away, hand in hand, and hid in the corner of my head as a lone bit of tumbleweed slowly blew across my brain. This tweet sums it up perfectly. Along with a whole lot of us, I felt like I really lost myself last year and - like one of my friends said (about themselves that is, not about me. Then my confidence really would have stayed in the corner) 'my funny bone has well and truly shrivelled up and died this year'. Nothing felt right. However, my butterfly thoughts finally managed to settle long enough for me to read my first book in over 7 months at Christmas - The Midnight Library if you're wondering, the perfect book to lose yourself in - and from there it felt like the creaky cogs in my head started turning ever so slightly again. Don't get me wrong, they're far from normal working order and are still in need of several doses of WD40 but, for now, here we are: back at my desk. Well, kitchen worktop - located thrillingly close to the snack cupboard - writing up one of my favourite kind of posts: the mighty travel post. Last year was, of course, not the year of travel, but we did manage to get away twice in those lovely months where restrictions were the lightest they'd been to see some more of Scotland. This is something I've wanted to do for a long, long time so that was a definite positive from one funny ole year. I've done it a little topsy turvy and this was actually the second of the two trips - the first was to Skye and there's a blog post on that coming very shortly - coming to to you from a few different locations around the North of Scotland.
We started our trip in Lochinver at the beautiful Batbox. We stayed there once before in Winter and loved it so were eager to go back and see it in the Summertime. The views are truly incredible and, even if the weather's bad, it's the perfect place to cosy up with some DVDs or a book, some good food and a little tipple. There's no wifi in the cabin itself - hence the mention of our old friend, the DVD - so it truly is the perfect place to completely and utterly switch off. We weren't there for long so didn't get to do and see everything we'd hoped (as always, I was far too ambitious with my 'to see' list) but of everything we did do, I'd highly recommend Lochinver Larder for one of their famous pies, Clachtoll Beach and Achmelvich Beach for some of the bluest waters you ever did see. If you fancy spicing up your day at the beach, take a shot for every time you shout, 'I can't believe this is Scotland!'. We didn't manage it this time as the fog was so bad you couldn't even se your own hand if you held it out, but The Old Man of Stoer is also supposed to be a real sight to behold.
Arket bell sleeve jumper (very possibly the most worn item in my wardrobe last year)
Karen Millen wide leg trousers (a very flattering shape on ye olde bum)
We also visited the Falls of Shin to see the salmon leaping (where my enthusiastic woops could be heard for miles around) and Dornoch Beach, which is absolutely beautiful for a walk along or a picnic when the weather is right. And now I feel it's time to approach the most important issue here. The elephant in the room. Or should I say... the pig in the room. That's right - where did those little pigs on Clachtoll Beach come from!? I honestly have no idea. At first I thought it was a mirage (Rob was taking a video of the sea at the time and you can hear me, slightly bewildered, in the background whispering, 'can you... see those piglets too?'. Our theory is that they'd hatched a crafty plan and escaped from a local farm for a day out by the sea but, whatever happened, it was truly one of my favourite moments of 2020.
Well, we made it! One whole blog post down. Huzzah! I'll be back on Wednesday with another blog post - I'm not sure what at this very moment but I'm thinking maybe... Skye? Before I go, I just wanted to send out one massive hug after the lockdown announcement last week - definitely needed but it doesn't mean it doesn't feel heavy at the same time. We'll get there and one day any talk of Covid will be prefaced with 'remember when...', even if it doesn't feel like it right now. For now, one day at a time.
Ok, snack cupboard, I'm coming for you.
Amy
