Contains the usual round of cats, kids, a little bit more work than usual because I spent a lot of time in the lab, and a quick trip to Cornwall.

Apologies for radio silence on both posting and commenting. We were away all weekend at Butlins in Minehead, Somerset, with the children and two families containing middle school friends of Humuhumu's. Minehead is on the coast and so we had access to the beach, which was lovely.

Butlins, on the other hand, contains many things which are nightmarish for me, like the massive arcade and the shows and the lights and the overstimulation. The children had a brilliant time, in between meltdowns from exhaustion, which is the point of the place, but I find it a little draining.

I have now holidayed at both Butlins and Centre Parcs. While in theory they offer the same activities, I think the difference can best be illustrated with an example.

Pottery painting at Butlins: You can book onto an hour of pottery painting at Butlins. You select an item to paint (fancy and large items cost £3 and £5 extra), and you sit down at a table with a rainbow array of paints and different brush sizes and you spend the next 50 minutes adorning your ceramic. You are given regular warnings about the time, and at the end you are instructed to place your item on the shelf to dry, and collect it two hours later. No other processes are performed on the item other than you applying the paint.

Pottery painting at Centre Parcs: You can book onto a pottery painting session at Centre Parcs. (Note the lack of time constraint.) You have a dizzying array of free or pay-extra items to select from. You sit it down at a table with a rainbow array of paints and different brush sizes and you spend the next however long you want - or rather, however long you can get your kids to sit still and pay attention - adorning your ceramic. At the end, you place your item on a shelf to dry. You cannot collect it until the next day, because once you have left it, it will be glazed and fired and, if it is a usable item of crockery like a plate, a bowl, or a cup, you will in fact be able to use it afterward.

Now to be fair, Butlins probably hasn't got this wrong. You are not going to be creating masterpieces with kids who are hopped up on slushies, sweets, and the company of their equally jet-fuelled friends. Your wonky garden gnome with the mismatched pupils can go outside unglazed and still give you great joy, even if won't last quite so long. But here we are, in the UK, where a glazed gnome will double or triple the price of your weekend away. Ah, glorious Albion.

As we all expected, UK schools are now officially set to close on Friday for an indefinite period, though rumour has it the closure will last until September.

This is a rather monumental shakeup for everyone, and presents a logistical nightmare for working parents who rely on steady provision of school and wraparound services in order to keep to a 9 to 5 schedule. The bloke and I are both full-time employees and although we are doctors, we are of the PhD rather than the MD flavour, and thus don't qualify as "key workers".

We will be spending our weekend planning how we will teach our children, get enough exercise without any of the usual classes or playground usage, and still work the requisite number of hours per day. I suspect this is an experiment whose parameters will take some time to optimise.

View from the canal barge party boat heading into the final lock on the Leeds & Liverpool canal.

I survived the 40th birthday party last night, mostly by dint of drinking lime and sodas all evening. The highlight of the party was the three-hour canal barge trip down the Leeds & Liverpool canal via several massive locks. It was a delightful venue and an interesting journey. We had a grand time visiting with all the bloke's old uni mates. I snuck off into a cab at 11:30 PM and was therefore nice and fresh for child care this morning.

Home now. Tired and happy.

Dear 18-25 year old voters,
It's an omnishambles of a result and it's going to take months to sort out. But OMG well done all of you for turning up - an estimated 72% of you - and confounding the initial expectations for this general election. Keep it up. You swung it. I'm so pleased for you.
Love,
Nanila

Dear people in power,
See that letter up above? Start paying attention, start thinking long-term and start putting in place policies that aren't going to screw over their futures.
Kiss kiss bye bye,
Nanila

I saw this in a derelict shop window on the high street of my local village. It reads: "SAVE BRITAIN: CULL TORIES" and features an image of a badger with a Union Jack painted on its face.

Thus I feel compelled to announce that the UK GE2017 campaigning has attained the Badger level of discourse.

I should be sleeping. Instead, I'm watching the results of the European elections come in, with a mounting sense of horror.

The massive gains by far-right parties in mainland Europe.

UKIP winning its first-ever seat in Scotland.

UKIP topping the polls in England.

And I'm wondering, did I become British just to watch the UK I admired and wanted so much to be part of, crumble in front of my eyes? I don't want this to be so. I very much don't want this to be so.

I voted. What else can I do to stop this seemingly inevitable march towards xenophobia, racism and isolationism?

Welcome to a state, where the politics of hate
Shout loud in the crowd, watch them beat us all down
There's a rising tide on the rivers of blood
But if the answer isn't violence, neither is your silence

( If you have never read the lyrics to this song, you really should. )

By the way, I want it on the record that if next year's general election results demonstrate that I'm overreacting here, I will be overjoyed. Because I care far more about compassion and kindness winning the day than I do about being personally in the right.

I still can’t quite believe we were able to go to St Kilda. It was the highlight of the trip. I suspect it will be a highlight of our lives.

For those who don’t know, and I certainly didn’t until the bloke & I stumbled across it in two books in quick succession (The New Naturalist Scotland book and Kathleen Jamie’s Sightlines), the St Kilda archipelago is the remotest part of the British Isles, 41 miles (66 kilometres) west of the Outer Hebrides. It is no longer permanently inhabited. The last 30 native occupants were evacuated in 1930. Today, the MOD, the National Trust for Scotland and Scottish Heritage assume joint responsibility for maintaining the islands, mostly for conservation efforts.

St Kilda is a World Heritage Site and is possibly Europe’s most essential breeding location for North Atlantic seabirds. (Seabirds formed the major part of the native St Kildans’ diet.) It also plays host to a unique species of mouse and wren (which we saw, but I couldn’t photograph well), and the Soay sheep, which are a primitive breed dating back to the Bronze Age.

To reach St Kilda, you have to either: work for Qinetiq or the MOD, pay to volunteer for a stint on Hirta (the main island) or pay someone to take you there by private hire boat. We selected the last option, as it’s the only way to commit to a mere day trip.

Day 6
We rose at 6:30 AM (although I was awake at 5:30, scared we’d miss our phone alarms and thus the boat), ate a quick breakfast and packed up our tent. We’d been told to arrive at the speedboat that took us to St Kilda no later than 7:45 AM in Leverburgh and though we were a few minutes early, we were the last ones there, so we were ushered quickly on. I was allowed to go on the condition that I remain seated in the cabin for the entire journey, which I did. Of the 12 passengers, three were seasick. I was not one of them. Of the 12 passengers, three were under the age of fifty. The bloke and I comprised two of the three.
( Speedboat to St Kilda. )

Even by speedboat, it takes three hours to get to St Kilda from Leverburgh on the southern end of Harris Island in the Outer Hebrides. By the time we arrived, we were itching to get walking through the glorious sunshine.

As soon as they would let us after the dinghy ride to the tiny pier, we started to climb up the slope of Hirta, the main island, from the MOD base into realms of the cleitean. These low stone turf-roofed structures were used mainly for food storage and they were all over the St Kildan islands. Presumably cleit-building was a major source of entertainment as well as a necessity, as they appear to be in some rather impractical though aesthetically pleasing places. The isle of Dun can be seen across the harbour in the photo.


( Our hike up the slope to the cliff edge. )

Nesting fulmars and their chick in the cliff. You can probably tell that I’m lying down again to take this photo.


We walked up the edge of the cliff a little way before my pregnant body protested at being hauled any further in a vertical direction, and we stumbled across these rocks. It looks to me as if they’ve been deliberately arranged to reflect the shapes of Boreray and the sea stacs in the distance.


We hiked back down the grassy slope. My only regret on this trip was that I couldn’t manage to walk all the way around Hirta, which we had time to do (3.5 hours). Instead, we visited the little museum and then went to sit out at the edge of the village to watch the flotillas of seabirds - and the seal! - in the harbour.

( Harbour views. )

It occurred to me when we went to the post office to get postcards that it would be good to have at least one photo proving that both of us were there.


We returned to the boat at 3:30 PM. It’s the one furthest right in the harbour.
( Last view of Hirta harbour. )

Everyone was exhilarated as we clambered from the dinghy back into the speedboat. The crew met us with cups of tea and generous slices of rum and raisin cake, which we devoured sitting on the deck. I was happy when we set off to circle the other islands and they didn’t ask me to return to the cabin - presumably because I’m still pretty mobile and I didn’t get seasick. This is Boreray and the stacs as we headed toward them.
( Next destination. )

I was not prepared for the effect the leisurely boat trip around the stacs was to have on all of us. It was truly like being dropped into a wildlife documentary. Imagine seeing Stac Lee in its 175 metres of glory, which hosts an estimated 6000 breeding pairs of gannets, and then riding straight up to it. It’s overwhelming. The silence - apart from the calling of the birds - was largely unbroken by conversation.


At first we thought all that white was bird droppings. Well, some of it is, but the rest of it is birds. Birds, birds and more birds.
( Did I mention the birds? )

All those black specks are birds. The noise was phenomenal. So was the smell.


( Puffins and guillemots and gannets, oh my! )

As the sun finally began to dip toward the horizon, we regretfully turned our backs on the stacs and Boreray. No one was seasick on the three-hour journey back to Leverburgh. We were all too worn out from excitement and sun. Most of us fell asleep.


We drove from Leverburgh to Luskentyre to check in at our B&B. Our kind hosts warned us that we should go immediately to Tarbert to find something to eat as there was only one restaurant on the island open past 8 PM, in the hotel. We ate in a state of quiet exhilaration, exclaiming periodically over the day’s observations, before driving back through a glorious sunset.


I feel privileged to have spent an afternoon simply being at St Kilda. I feel privileged to have been able to afford to make the journey. I feel privileged to have been allowed to travel there despite being almost six months pregnant. I feel privileged to have had calm seas and clear skies on exactly the day we had planned to go there. Many would-be St Kilda visitors spend their entire holidays hanging about on the Outer Hebrides, hoping to go, and because of the weather or rough seas or both, are unable to make the journey. We were so, so lucky. I will not soon forget the experience.

This is part one of three of the Epic Driving Holiday from Cambridge to the Outer Hebrides. We decided to drive and alternate between hotels/B&Bs and car camping, given my current knocked-up condition. The bloke bought me a special inflatable mat, dubbed “The Princess Mat” for our camping nights. It was luxurious indeed, although he didn’t get one for himself and instead insisted on sleeping on foam pads, aka “The Pauper Mat”. There is probably some interesting logic involved in this, whereby it isn’t proper camping unless you’re cold and uncomfortable. I’m perfectly fine with this logic, as long as no one tries to apply it to me.

Day 1
We made it to Scotland! 430 miles from Cambridge to Callander, a sleepy little town with some lovely hikes & one outstanding pub, just outside Stirling.

We stopped at the National Trust property Sizergh Castle for lunch in Lancashire. Very pretty rock gardens and deer park...and some rather terrifying scarecrows. The castle was shut as it's still occupied but we didn't mind as it was just a quick stop to eat, have a walk and break up the journey.

( +4 )

We got to Callander at 4:30, checked in to our hotel - which was probably a grand affair in the 1960s but whose glory has considerably faded since - had a cup of tea and drove to Bracklinn Falls for a 2.5 mile walk. It was to be the only time on the entire trip that we needed our wet weather gear. We felt we’d earned our supper by then, so we consulted the Lonely Planet guide and chose the Lade Inn for a seafood dinner. I had prawns. Francis had mussels. All local food and very good indeed.

We were early to bed so we could have the energy to tackle Ben Nevis. (Not really, given that I have to rely on my walking poles to ascend even a gentle slope.) But it would be nice to walk at least a short length of the West Highland Way, which stretches 96 miles from Milngrave to Fort William.

Day 2
We drove to in Kinlochleven today, our stopping point on the way to Skye. Did a spot of walking in the Mamores in the afternoon, so I’m satisfied to have walked a couple of miles of the West Highland Way. The poor bloke got bitten badly by the midges which is doubly unfair because I'm pregnant, therefore supposedly tastier and also unable to wear DEET. But the views were lovely.

House on the loch, taken from the car, prompting fantasies of retiring to the Scottish countryside.


( +2 )

Camping tonight. It was dry, which was a bonus. I had a nap on The Princess Mat earlier after our walk, and it met with approval.

We also splashed out on a really nice dinner at a special seafood place on the loch. They grow their own shellfish in tanks - making them very clean - and fish from the sea (accessible from the loch). We shared the cold seafood platter. The bloke had to eat all the oysters & cockles because they were raw. He assures me it was a terrible sacrifice. Hm. But at least I could have the razor clams, mussels, clams, langostines, lobster & crab, so I didn't feel too hard done by. Passenger seemed to approve of it all too. Supposedly a fetus can start to taste what you're eating around this time so I have to make sure she has a healthy & eclectic palate!

The Place of Feasting.


We're off to Skye in the morning so next update comes from there.

Day 3
Today we drove to Skye across Kyle of Lochalsh bridge. On the way, we stopped at a popular Point of View over Loch Garry (which looks like a map of Scotland) and were accosted by a very friendly bagpiper and his daughter. He insisted on playing “Yankee Doodle” on his bagpipe in my honour. The bloke insisted on taking pictures. Ack.

( +2 )

Oh my.


We stopped off in Fort William for coffee & cake and a look around the delightful little museum before heading north. There seems to have been a long history of feuding in the area. Intraclan feuding, inter-clan feuding and, when opportunities presented themselves, feuding with the English. Apparently the Highlanders can really get their teeth into a good grudge.

We passed by stunning views over lochs and the restored Eilean Doran castle which is probably the most photographed castle in Scotland. We didn't go in because our guidebook gave us the impression that it's a tourist trap. But we felt quite lucky that we got to see it on a sunny afternoon.

Eilean Donan castle


( +1 )

We got to Uig and booked into our hotel for a quick refueling and rest before going for a long walk on the rocky beach. Lots of sea birds - noisy little oystercatchers, herons and small gulls. Saw the ferry come in too. We'll be on it (going to Tarbert on Harris Island) tomorrow morning. V exciting.

Uig pier, Isle of Skye.


Coming in Part Two: Harris Island and Lewis Island, featuring stone-based ruins and white sand beaches.