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Sunday 19 February 2012

Holidays!

Well, I’ve just booked a short break… to somewhere I have always wanted to go to… ICELAND!  You’ll know I’m not a sun worshipper, and much prefer cooler climes!  Well I reckon it will be cool, in more senses of the word than one!  It’s just for three days that will be packed with sightseeing.  The nice thing about the journey there is that I fly from Glasgow which is not that far away.  Generally trips abroad/overseas tend to mean a flight from Edinburgh to London, or Amsterdam, or Paris, depending on where you are going.  Going from Scotland to London, only to fly north again seems to me to be a right waste of money and time, but that’s what often happens!  So, if I can’t fly to Iceland from Edinburgh, the next best place is Glasgow!  We’ll be seeing waterfalls, geo-thermal areas, geysers, and volcanoes too, I hope, as well as going on a whale spotting cruise, and a tour of Reykjavik, the capital, which is where we’ll be staying.  I say we, by which I mean me and my travelling companions, whoever they may be, as I am going on my own initially!

However before all that, I will be heading over to Ireland to a weekend of workshops in various aspects of Celtic culture – language, music, dance, story-telling, history…..  That all came about through the college where I attended Gaelic classes in the last couple of years.  A group from the college are going over and I’ve been invited too!  It should be great.  The Irish people are very friendly and the culture related to the Gaelic culture over here!

Every year I try to go on the lace-making week in Knoydart, the large piece of the Scottish mainland opposite the south end of the Isle of Skye, and more particularly in Doune, which I have blogged about for the last few years.  Usually it’s a summer visit but this year is a spring one, and I’ve now written to book my place!!  As we don’t make lace all the time, if the weather is good we should get out and about to enjoy the spring flora and fauna.  It will be interesting to note the differences – foxgloves perhaps, instead of fungi!   Hoping for good weather there – and it will be light well into the evenings too!!

Unfortunately I've had to put my visit to New Zealand on hold, due to this blinking shoulder – frozen shoulder?  cuff rotator syndrome? bursitis? tendonitis?  Who knows! The pain started last summer, and at times I felt like I could happily cut off my right arm!! Physio and also an injection into the muscle hasn’t really helped much, but I think it might be slightly better now than it has been.  At least I don’t feel like cutting the arm off so often!  Anyway, lugging baggage around airports, and driving a lot, just doesn’t appeal just now.  It wouldn’t give my shoulder a chance to recover, so reluctantly I am putting NZ off for a while.  On short trips I can travel light with just a small “cabin case”, and I won’t be doing any driving.

So three short breaks to look forward to, and of course I’ll be sharing them with you through the blog here and my photos!

Talk again soon. 

10 comments:

Mary Ann said...

I'll so look forward to all your photos of the upcoming trips!

Evelyn/Ev/Evee said...

Thank you Mary Ann. I'm really looking forward to them!

Mary said...

Firstly, sorry to hear that the shoulder is still giving you "jip"...!!!
Good on you arranging your trips.
I will also look forward to reading all about them - especially the one to Iceland.
Got to get on and do these things while we're still fit and able eh?

Evelyn/Ev/Evee said...

Yes, Mary, I'm afraid the shoulder is still a problem. However, I think it is a bit better than it has been. The Iceland trip is the one I am most excited about, though I'm looking forward to the others too!

Katrina said...

I am so jealous, I've always wanted to go to Iceland, the other trips sound good too. My physio for frozen shoulder also included massage which helped a lot. I hope yours improves soon.

Evelyn/Ev/Evee said...

Hi Katrina, I saw the offer on the internet and just decided to go for it. Always wanted to go to Iceland too.
Thanks for the advice about the massage. I'll look into that.

Peggy Ann said...

All the trips sounds like great fun! The lace making one is really interesting to me. Is it hard to make lace? I love doing a trip to the same place every year even though it is nice to go to new places too! Can't wait for pictures (of your lace too?)

Evelyn/Ev/Evee said...

Hi Peggy, Here are some of the posts I did about the lace-making in Knoydart over the last few years. If you look either side of the posts you'll see some of the views of Doune. Lacemaking is like anything else - when you know how it works it gets easier, but you need a lot of concentration!

http://evelyn186.blogspot.com/2011/09/knoydart-next.html

http://evelyn186.blogspot.com/2010/05/more-lace.html

http://evelyn186.blogspot.com/2010/08/mallaig-and-knoydart-once-more.html

http://evelyn186.blogspot.com/2010/08/more-photos-from-doune.html

http://evelyn186.blogspot.com/2009/09/down-lace-mine.html

http://evelyn186.blogspot.com/2008/08/part-iii-lacemakers.html

Lesley Mason said...

Oh Evee, how wonderful. have a great escape and I hope you see the northern lights! We are off to Ireland on March 31, not long now. We are staying in Ennistimon which I think is in County Clare. Anyway it is near the cliffs of Moher.

Evelyn/Ev/Evee said...

You'll love Co.Clare, Lesley. Ireland and the Irish are great!

I'd love to see the Northern Lights in Iceland, but I don't know what the chances are of seeing them in May. I'm hoping!