Day 676: Slip, Slop, Slap

01/06/2023

This morning, coffees were on Eloise, Lachlan was dressed to impress in his Super Mum made tartan leggings.

Lachlan was thrilled by the Lachlan sized Rice Krispies box, they did not last long and we was having a brilliant time playing with his wee box.

We packed up after breakfast, tonight’s accommodation was only ten minutes down the road. When we were booking the accommodation a couple of months ago it was quite challenging stringing together places to stay along the NC500 route. Today we were going to be pottering around the small Highlands village of Gairloch , first stop Gairloch  Museum.

The centerpiece of the museum was an impressively large Fresnel lens from Rua Reidh Lighthouse. Eloise liked staring at the pretty colours and Lachlan just saw it as another big object to run rings around.

Upstairs Eloise and Lachlan were having a great time in the educational section. There was plenty for kids to play with. Lachlan enjoyed becoming a detective and was thrilled when he stumbled upon two cats.

After Liam was viciously attacked by a swarm of manic midges yesterday some hardware in the corner of the room caught his attention.

The museum included a couple of small art galleries with some incredibly fine paintings by local artists Dan Murray.

Since Nali and Grandpa DAVE arrived in Scotland, Eloise has missed four days of nursery, she had plenty of homework to catch up on.

Meanwhile, Lachlan was working hard making flour with Grandpa DAVE.

Once Eloise had completed her Glaswegian grammar she was ecstatic when Nali stumbled upon the dress up box.

Eloise was keen to show off her weaving skills after she visited the National Trust Weaver’s Cottage.

Even though Nali had luckily been Midgey bite free she was not taking any chances as we were preparing for another walk. The boys on the other hand were not hanging around to find out.

Turns out the carpark was right next to the Victoria Falls, that was an easy one.

It was starting to get hot by this stage, Eloise was eager for a cheeky waterfall walk to cool down and also convinced Lachlan to have a quick paddle too.

The kids were feeling great after their cheeky paddle and we dashed back before the Midges found us.

We all had a brilliant lunch at Gairloch Harbour, Grandpa DAVE did a good job polishing off the Lebanese platter.

Lachlan made quick work of his lunch and then started to steal Dad’s chippies, the boys were having a bit of fun jostling when all of a sudden Lachnado through an all mighty ferocious right hook, BAM! Have some of that Dad. Didn’t even see it coming.

Eloise then got distracted by Grandpa DAVE’s hat while Nali slipped away for some sweet merch.

We were enjoying the sun and walking around the harbor when all of a sudden Eloise spotted a kite on sale. She was so excited she was doing her little dance on the spot with uncontrollable laughter. By this point, Grandpa DAVE just thought this was the only way he would stop Nali in the shops and we headed to the beach. Eloise had been requesting a beach all day, “but not one of those ouchie beaches”. Eloise refers to the beaches with rocks as “ouchie beaches”.

The plan was that Lachlan would fall asleep on the way to the beach, which did not get off to the best start.

When we arrived at the beach, we slip, slop, slapped, Eloise could not wait to get her kite up in the air, the sun was burning and there was a reasonable breeze.

Turns out the £3 kite was possibly worse than her pocket kite. A series of engineering modifications had to be implemented to make it airworthy, this tested Eloise’s patience.

It was up, and down, and up again, sort of. By this stage, Eloise got a real thrill in the danger zone being swooped by her own kite. Her laughter woke up Lachlan who was eager to give it a crack and he loved it.

By this stage, Eloise had moved on to sandcastle building, Lachlan was determined to master the kite.

Turns out the kite was entertaining for all for the best part of an hour even with the limited flight time. Lachlan then joined Big Sister playing in the sand and shouting at Grandpa DAVE to come over. Grandpa DAVE was enthusiastically explaining his trademark signature beach drum to the kids. However, Eloise did not seem interested in his physics lecture about underdamped acoustic Q-factors and jumped into the hole he dug instead. Nali was enjoying her second summer this year.

Our hotel for the night was just across the road at The Old Inn, a beautiful spot with tasty food.

The kids raced into the room, with Eloise calling dibs on the top bunk before Lachlan could get up there. A bold move for a girl who falls out of her bed weekly. Lachlan, not a chance.

After a short rest, it was down to the “snug room” for dinner. Nali was keen for the local muscles.

After dinner we let the kids dash around for ten minutes to wear them down. Although it was ten minutes max as the midges were out.