After a nice, relaxing Christmas, we headed up to Scotland to spend the New Year. 
We'd booked an awesome converted barn 30 miles south west of Dumfries on the coastline near Gatehouse of Fleet. 
It was a bit cold for our usual walks, not to mention that a few of us were struggling with the usual winter lurgy, so we pretty much just chilled out with a few little explores in the car.  A lovely hidden gem was an old abandoned Kirk pretty much at the bottom of our driveway.  We visited this a few times while we were there.  I spent an hour on New Year's Eve freezing to death shooting some star photos in the graveyard.
We visited Castles and Cairns.  Had a few little walks along beaches in tiny bays and stood on the beach watching the sunset.  Went and had a nosey at the awesome Coo Palace - a Palatial Dairy Farm that is currently being refurbished into holiday apartments.  Me and my little ginger had fun exploring a shipwreck on the coastline near Kirkcudbright.  We visited Dundrennan Abbey - the place where Mary Queen of Scots spent her last night in Scotland.  Like most of the other tourist spots though - it was closed, so we had to settle for views through the gateway.  We visited the lovely little Kirk at Kirkandrews and a few other local spots. 

We ate too much, drank too much, and pretty much saw in the New Year as chilled out as can be.

Happy New Year folks.  Here are a few snaps from our trip. 

Gear used.  Fujifilm X70, Fujifilm Xpro2, Fuji 35mm, Fuji 50-230mm, Samyang 12mm

Last week we had a few days away having a bit of a road trip round the Scottish border areas.
We stayed in Lower Burnmouth and had a little adventure round the area, calling into the little seaside ports and villages, and also popping back down into England to drive over the causeway onto Holy Island off the Northumberland coast.
Luckily, our little Freddie Bear wasn't in a sling this time, so he enjoyed climbing the rocks and throwing stones with his big bros!
We visited Castles, Priories, Beaches, Parks, Ports and Marinas.  We ate Ice Cream, Pizzas, Teas and Cakes.  We watched Seals, Gulls and lots of other wildlife. 
We also did our usual favourite thing - we walked our local beach every evening until the sun went down before heading back to our house to warm back up by the fire.

A lovely bit of family time. 



Here's a few (too many) snaps.

As usual, we booked our holiday house through Airbnb.  If you've not used it before, click HERE. 

We had a little time off a few weeks ago, so decided to head up to Ayrshire in Scotland for a few days.  We stayed in a lovely little apartment in Troon and spent some time travelling around the area.  Our little road trip took us from Largs down to Stranraer.
We enjoyed some proper chill out time.  We walked on the beaches, played on the rocks, jumped over rockpools, skimmed some stones, found a few geocaches, visited a few castles, ate lots of takeaway food and watched glorious sunsets over the sea.

It was cold and fresh, and certainly recharged the batteries! 

We found our apartment through airbnb.  If you've never used it and want a little money off a booking, click HERE. 

Here's some snaps from our trip.  All photos taken with the Fujifilm X70, mostly with the WCL converter.

Our second day of our little road trip was our friends' wedding day!  I've known Alex and Liz for a long time, but don't see them as much these days as they now live over the water in 'Norn Iron'.  I've known these two lasses since myself and Alex used to work together many years ago.  They are an awesome laugh and two of the most genuine, funny, affable women you could ever meet.  We had lots of drinks, lots of laughs and a superb time.  Didn't get too many snaps of the happy couple as I was busy having a good time and chasing the almostbutalreadyterribletwo year old little monster mini-me all over the place! 
The wedding was at Gretna Green, with the ceremony at Anvil Hall and the following reception at the Smiths Hotel.
Did I already say we had an awesome time?  You get the drift...

Here are a few snaps.

It was the boss' birthday weekend, so we gallivanted up to Helensburgh, Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park in Scotland.  We explored mountains and lochs and rivers and forests, and a couple of waterfalls for good measure.  We did a spot of geocaching and even visited an old SAS hero too!  We drove lots, walked lots, ate lots and drank lots.  (That last part may have been more me than anyone else...)
It was ace.  Get yourself up there for some fresh mountain air.  Be careful though - you may end up quitting your day job and looking for a cabin in the woods to live in!

Here are a few snaps.