Carnassarie Castle is only about three or four miles from where we were staying and is just outside Kilmartin. So, wishing to explore it, I offered to take the kids there. Being about ten in the morning and wishing to stay in their jammies a while longer (lazy sods), they declined, so I went myself with the dogs.

At first, we had the castle to ourselves, but as I was climbing up to it, I turned around to see a tourist bus draw into the car park below. Sigh. So, I hurried the dogs up and we explored it in peace for about ten minutes. The tourists turned out to be German and were most taken with my mutts. We couldn’t stay long because Millie (aka Mrs Barky Pants) lived up to her name. She is a fabulous wee dog, but sounds ferocious when she barks. She’s not.

Anyway, here are some pics:

There’s nothing I like more than exploring a castle, any castle, including those in ruins. You can climb right to the top of the castle to see a magnificent view. However, we – me and the three dogs – only managed to the second top level as the pug (who is a bit elderly) was struggling on the stairs. It was great.

Later that same day, me and the kids drove down to Inveraray to meet up with my youngest sister and her kids for lunch. They were coming to say overnight in the house with us, along with my parents and their dogs (although the latter stayed for two nights). We had a really nice lunch at the George Hotel, I’d recommend it. Anyway, our parents caught up with us there and me, my sister and all the kids did a tour around Inveraray Jail, which was fun. Then we all went up to Auchinellan where we had dinner – beautifully made by my mum who is a great cook (home-made steak pie, heaven!) – and wine.

The following day, we drove up to Tayvallich for a cuppa. It’s a gorgeous wee coastal village. We popped over the hill to a beach which had a stunning view of Jura. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t too great, but the kids still had fun hunting for dead crabs on the beach. My boy found a dead bird, so the kids had a short ceremony and burial for it.

We then drove down to Lochgilphead for lunch. At first we couldn’t find a café or restaurant that was big enough to take us all (there were seven of us – the girl had declined to come with us. Teenagers!), but we eventually found The Smiddy bistro, which was able to accommodate us. Can I just say that The Smiddy makes the best Cullen Skink I have ever tasted. It was so good, that me and the kids went back there the following day.

Anyway, we said farewell to my sister and her kids later that afternoon. It was such a shame they had to go home for we were all having a great time. However, my parents were still there and we had a nice meal in the house with some wine.

On the Thursday, me, the boy and my parents drove up to Crinan with the dogs and took them a walk. There’s a really nice cycle path there and the scenery is just gorgeous. We had a cuppa in the local café and then parted ways. My parents went home and we popped into Lochgilphead for supplies. We then went back to the house, fetched the girl and returned to Lochgilphead for lunch at The Smiddy again.

Friday, and the kids went pony trekking. Me and the girl had already done this on the Monday and she loved it so much, I agreed she could do it again. The boy, who had not wanted to do it on the Monday, now wanted to do it, so I booked them both into the Lunga Riding Stables.

This place is on the Lunga Estate on the Craignish Peninsula and surely has the best scenery for horse riding in Scotland. It’s gorgeous. On the Monday, my horse was Winnie and, thankfully (for I was a bit nervous), she was a gentle soul. The girl had Paddy, who was a bit mischievous. She got him again on the Friday and the boy was on Ralph. They both really enjoyed it and while they were away, I took the dogs down to the beach for a bit of adventure. I basically love exploring and that is what we did. We had a wander about the estate and then went back to where the car was parked. We literally sat in the car for about 15 minutes before the kids showed up on their horses. They were both red faced and smiling. They’d loved it.

We went back to the house for a final dinner and to pack (although I had already basically packed).

I’ll fill you in on our last few hours in Auchinellan House in the next post. Til then.

Dawn xxx