It always takes us some time nowadays to get on with personal projects in terms of editing and collating. Part of the reason for this is ‘life’! We love embarking on personal projects as much as we can, but perhaps we don’t always have the time to reflect like we used to. Our son, Frank is nearly 2 years old! The time is flying by, but we are living each moment from one day to the next as he grows into a little boy. Part of the joy of being work-at-home parents is that we do get to see those precious moments more often than not, and the plus side is we can take off when we like on various adventures, big or small!

So our first adventure we are sharing with you today is our family holiday in the Inner Hebrides towards the back end of the summer. We loaded Helen’s Dad’s 4×4 with everything but the kitchen sink and took off on a long trip up to Scotland. We say long, because the journey up to Glen Coe alone took us nearly 6 hours with a break in Moffat. Bear in mind that a toddler and a dog to entertain and stretch, these journeys take a lot longer than they used to. We only stayed for one night in Glen Coe, using it as a stop over for Skye rather than staying to explore the beautiful landscape. So onwards from Glen Coe we drove to Mallaig and took the passenger ferry to Armadale on Skye. We chose this route because it meant less time in the car and more time outside for Frank and Rudy. Our first taste of Skye was breathtaking. We enjoyed fantastic weather and toured around the south-west cost because we’d read some very lovely things about it. So our first afternoon on Skye was spent playing in the sea in a very quiet bay called Tarskavaig. We suddenly felt like we were on holiday after the very long journey getting there. Although we still had to drive to the north of the Island, this was a beautiful place for us to stop for a while and soak it all in.

We’d booked into a family friends cottage very close to Stein in Waternish for 5 nights. The croft cottage is a rustic little place, full of charm and family quirks such as games, books and ornaments. Frank and Rudy felt at home straight away! The views from which led out across the bay and we didn’t get board of sitting in the conservatory looking out at the sunsets that kept coming. The main thing that was a bit difficult for us on this holiday was the distance we had to travel to go and do things. It was a case of everytime we went out, back into the car and dealing with a stroppy Frank (and dog) who didn’t want to have to endure another car journey be it little or long.

However what we did experience was really appropriate to us as a family. We spent time at Dunvegan Castle and explored its interior and grounds. We enjoyed picnics in quiet bays, a walk to Neist Point, local markets and an afternoon in Portree. We didn’t try to do too much, we just wanted to enjoy the fine weather whilst we had it, and when the weather closed in, we hibernated! Reading books, snoozing and playing games at the cottage. This place is cut off from the world, no internet or phone reception meant we had time to switch off from work and enjoy quality time together.

When we left Skye we took another road trip to the Isle of Mull where we had booked into Adarchy House Hotel for 3 nights. Helen had previously been to Mull on a family holiday years ago and was pretty keen to go back. Staying on the south of the island meant we kept everything we did pretty local to where we were staying. We enjoyed long walks on the nearby beach, a trip to Iona, and a day on Fidden Bay, which plays host to some of the clearest waters in the UK. It’s even been described as one of the best wild water swimming places in Europe! It didn’t disappoint! Although we had some rain and wind, generally the weather stayed pretty fine for us whilst we were on Mull.

We really enjoyed an impromptu visit to Ardanalish Isle of Mull Weavers, where we had a little tour of the weaving factory wearing ear defenders along the way. It was really educational watching the weaver at work, operating the machinery and enjoying a cup of tea in the process. There was someone else doing some documentary photography while were there with a Leica m9! Definitely the right place for this camera.

We hadn’t really thought out the guest house situation very well with Frank and Rudy in tow. Our room was pretty small and Rudy had to bunk in with us! This meant a very wet, stinking dog coming in at the end of a day playing in the sea! Still he was amazing and we survived! It was nice to let someone else make breakfast for us for a few days. They are extremely hospitable at Adarchy House, but we didn’t think they were that well set up for families…so if we were to return to Mull, we’d definitely go down the self-catering cottage route. It just works so much better!

Our journey home took even longer because we traveled in one go from the south of Mull to the Lake District including the ferry journey over to Oban. We all survived, but breaking up the journey whenever possible is highly advised! Frank was a trooper in all honesty and we had enough entertainment to keep him going when we needed to! The main thing to think about on this sort of trip is to be flexible! Don’t put too much pressure on yourself to do as much as you can in terms of travel and the things you decide to do! It makes everything so much more fun for everybody if you can chop and change plans depending on the situation. So here we go…

(All images copyright to Roscoe Rutter Ltd shot with Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0, Zeiss 18mm f4)

Leaving our simple DOC campsite we drove towards the Kauri Coast our destination for our four wheeled home was to be Trounson forest DOC which according to the info has hot showers. Whilst on our road-trip for the day we stopped off via Opononi and Omopere to take a look at the huge sand dunes which you can dune surf on if you so desire. We just missed the trip so we decided not to hang around and wait to see if there would be another. Some wandering around on the beach was a windy experience.

Not far from the Trounson DOC site we stopped in Waipoai forest to see New Zealand’s largest tree (a Kauri tree). It’s pretty large with a thick trunk, but when you have seen the redwoods of West Coast America, its hard to get all that excited, sorry New Zealand. We did meet “Pretty Girl” a travelling cockatiel perched on her owner Glen’s shoulder who are both on a 9 month tour of the north island.

After a 16km dirt track/rough road disaster at the DOC camp site, no hot water and a mediocre kitchen! We thought better than to pay $9 each and find somewhere better. We headed back towards the Waipoai Forests information area and located 200m behind is a nice little area for overnight accommodation called Waipoai Campground, from tent pitches to large dorm buildings, bathrooms and kitchen are nice and clean and both had hot water, we parked up and cooked ourselves some dinner. We got chatting to a local logger for an hour or so about all manner of topics from the Rugby World Cup to Hunting in the woods.

After a sunny morning it was time for yet more driving, but this time back towards the ocean and Muriwai Beach via Helensville which has some historic/colonial style buildings. These were few and far between so we decided to wander around the little town along the river towards the local museum. The museum is closed on a Tuesday so we walked around the outside buildings before heading back to where we parked the van for a cold drink and some cake at The Parlour.

Arriving at Muriwai Beach we checked into the Muriwai Beach Motor Camp at $14 each and went for a walk along the black sandy beach to see the Gannets nesting and raising their young. There were thousands of adults and quite a few chicks too. It is quite funny to see the relationships between the monogamous birds when they find each other after a days fishing trip as they greet each other with lots of face/beak rubbing. The campsite is located right next to the beach and has some very good facilities and after dinner we went back to see the sunset and more Gannet watching.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f/2.0, Leica 90mm f/2.8, Zeiss 18mm f/4 ZM processed in Lightroom 3)

We journeyed off down the 1 to Point Reyes National Seashore about an hour north of San Francisco. The drive down was once again very scenic and rugged, so with a few stops along the way we made our way to The Samuel P Taylor State Park to find a camping spot, the main problem being that it was the weekend and the campground was already full with more San Francisco weekend holidayers! We knew of one other campground in the area called the Olema RV resort and after a quick call we learned that camping spots were available, at an all time high of $42/night! It was a very well equipped campground and we found a spot amongst many campers, which made a change for us!

We ventured out to Point Reyes Station, a small village up the road from us where a farmers market had been taking place. It was still pretty busy when we arrived and so we walked around the village and chatted to a local photographer about his work in his little studio on the main street. After picking up some maps at the visitors Information in Bear Valley we decided to drive out to do a hike out to the most northern point in the area. There were a good few historic ranches along the way and we parked right by one of the oldest ranches in the area called Pierce Point which is open to walk around. From there the path heads out into the marsh-like landscape, it felt very much like the Scottish Highlands and wild Elk accompanied us along the way.

We didn’t manage enough time to fit in the whole walk out to the furthest point as it was getting dark but we did cover around 6 miles on the trip. At the end of the walk we drove down to McClures Beach where the photographer had talked about the rocks he’d been photographing. We took the path down to the beach watching and photographing the sun go down. The waves were immense and the sky was angry but we had an amazing sunset and there were only 3 other people on the stretch of the entire beach the whole time we were there. More amazing views for us!

We got back to the campsite when it was dark, prepared a stella meal and then proceeded to sit in the laundrette to do some washing and work indoors for a bit. We won’t miss these laundrettes!

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f/2.0, Leica 90mm f/2.8, Zeiss 18mm f/4 ZM processed in Lightroom 3)

We got up early and went south to Fort Bragg, this was our first drive on Highway 1, a route we would now be taking on and off for the next few weeks. It wasn’t a long journey at all and we were in the MacKerricher State Park campground at around 11.30am setting up our tent and enjoying lunch. For the rest of the day we walked out along the beachfront which was very windy and the sea was once again very wild. There was a loop at the top northern point of the park that took us out along a boardwalk to a couple of viewing areas. The top one was very open and we could see Harbour Seals splashing around in the waves, it wasn’t easy for them but there were quite a few watching us bobbing their heads up and down in the water, there were also many Osprey circling around above.

Later in the afternoon we drove down to Mendocino, a popular weekend resort for San Francisco vacationers. It’s a pretty nice town although when we got there it was covered in fog. Most places appeared to be closed but there were some good organic shops and markets open as well as a few art galleries. The architecture dates back to mid 1800′s and it’s a really well maintained town, nice wooden beach houses and interesting water towers dotted along the streets. It wasn’t exactly sunbathing weather so we bought a few items for dinner from the Harvest Market and along with a bottle of wine, went back to camp, lit a fire and enjoyed the company of our San Francisco resident neighbour Don.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f/2.0, Leica 90mm f/2.8, Zeiss 18mm f/4 ZM processed in Lightroom 3)

When we got up the following day the fog had cleared and we spent a few hours at the Indian Creek Cafe topping up our writing for the blog. It’s a popular place for those passing through on-route and we felt a little bad for taking up a table for just a coffee and an orange juice, friendly and funny staff though.

We drove in and out through the fog and stopped off at various places along the route. It’s a rugged coastline with rocks jutting out all along the way, there are so many stopping points it takes ages to get anywhere. We drove through some of the well known Redwood Forests and State Parks but the weather was not so good so we decided not to camp there for the night. A little further down Highway 1 and we landed in Trinidad and decided that we weren’t going to camp, instead we wanted a room…a bed!! After searching and stopping off at a few B&B’s we ended up at The Emerald Forest Resort, where we got a log cabin for a AAA reduced rate because Helen’s aunty is a member! This was our first night in a bed in nearly 2 weeks and we were pretty excited!

We walked up to Trinidad Head, which proved to be very rewarding, it’s a good little walk up to a point with more fantastic views. Trinidad is a nice little town but does seem to have most property on the holiday rental lists so it’s hard to find the community there. Back at our cabin we enjoyed food and Finding Nemo, oh how easy it is to get sucked into TV.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f/2.0, Leica 90mm f/2.8, Zeiss 18mm f/4 ZM processed in Lightroom 3)