Tag Archives: stress free travelling

Finding Gromits and Owls

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Summer feels like something of a distant memory now and, I have to be honest, it passed in something of a whirlwind once again. As the children get older, we seem to squeeze more and more into every spare minute we can find, creating precious memories that I hope will last a lifetime. This year we had the added bonus of exploring just how to make the most of having introduced bananas into M’s diet as well as pushing the limits with a few more trials along the way too.

Our summer plans were originally to stay close to home, with my Mum helping out by looking after G and M for much of the time whilst Mike and I both worked. Things changed just after Easter and we found ourselves having to bring forward our plans for a Christmas trip to Canada and head back in the summer instead. However, between the end of the school year and our long-haul flight to Toronto, G and M took part in a rowing course and touch-typing course respectively and we also managed to find the time to head to the beautiful cities of Bristol and Bath for a day in each to explore their summer art trails – Gromit Unleashed 2 and Minerva’s Owls. We’ve enjoyed taking part in an incredible variety of sculpture trails over the years, including the Shaun in the City trail in 2015, so it was great to be able to dip into these 2 challenges, although M in particular was disappointed that we didn’t have time to find all of the sculptures that formed part of the trails.

The glorious weather made it a real pleasure to spend time outside on our feet, though M might disagree with me after our very hot day in Bath, where we had to resort to searching out a supermarket to find some allergy-friendly ice-cream and ice lollies to cool us all down. Food-wise, we enjoyed both eating dinner out at our all-time favourite, Wagamama and an idyllic picnic lunch catered by Marks and Spencer. One evening M even commented that it was just like being back in Syros because he was happily walking through the city in the evening wearing shorts and a t-shirt. All in all, those first couple of weeks of our summer were busy, but amazing and a great start to what the rest of the holiday would bring.

Quick summer catch-up

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So the last 6 weeks or so have been filled with these moments and memories. Lots of posts to follow to catch up on all that we’ve been up to.

Scotland Photo Round-up 2018

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“10 days” seems to have become a mantra for our holidays over the last few years. Be it Portugal, Greece or Scotland, we’ve had some amazing fun, making memories and just spending time together. Here’s the photographic proof:

Homeward bound

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With our whistle-stop tour of Scotland almost over, there were just a couple of places left on our hit list before we finally got back home. Mike was keen to detour via the Angel of the North, whilst G was desperate to make Scarborough our destination for the last night of our holiday. The last 2 days we were spending away from home were very much going to be all about the travelling, so it was good to have a couple of pit stops already planned for the necessary toilet breaks, stretches of our legs and escape from the relatively small confines of the car.

We crossed the Scottish border around lunch-time and I just about managed to snap a quick photo of the 3 Scottish flags that were flying to mark our departure. It then took us another 2 hours to travel down to Gateshead, home to the impressive Angel of the North. For those of you who don’t know, this is another Antony Gormley sculpture and one that dominates the landscape albeit in a surprisingly unintrusive way. As always there was a small competition in the car to see which family member could spot the Angel first and as it so often is, M managed to beat G and spotted it first. We parked easily and wandered across the grass to stand beneath its incredible wingspan and just stare up at the clouds. There was a somewhat heated debate between M and Mike as to whether the wings were moving in the wind, whilst G and I left the boys to it and simply stretched our legs out before climbing back in the car for the next part of the journey.

It would be fair to say that most of us slept – except Mike as designated driver thank goodness – over the next few hours, until we finally arrived in Scarborough far too late to do much more than drive rather aimlessly through the town and look at what we could have explored if only we’d arrived a little earlier. It’s still something of a mystery as to why exactly G was so determined to visit Scarborough, but I rather suspect that it has a lot to do with the infamous song, “Scarborough Fair” and not really anything else. She didn’t have a plan for anything she wanted to visit whilst there and M’s rather fed-up quizzing of her motives resulted in nothing more than a cursory shoulder shrug and typical teenage smile.

We were all a little tired, a lot travel-weary and in desperate need of food. Thanks to a speedy bit of googling on my trusty i-phone, I managed to find a well-recommended fish and chips shop that specialised in gluten-free batter and we decided to push the boat out for one last time on our holiday and spoil us all with that little treat. The gluten-free menu at Fish and Chips at 149 in Bridlington was incredible and I would highly recommend to anyone looking for a great allergy-friendly meal. We each chose our fish and accompaniment of choice and then headed to the seafront to sit and enjoy our meal. The portions were huge, but much enjoyed and we finished the evening off with a much-needed and refreshing walk along the seafront. It was a wonderful end to a fantastic holiday, though we were all looking forward to being homeward-bound once again.

Visiting Edinburgh in every weather

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There’s been so much going on in the last few weeks and I have a lot to catch you up on, including some fantastic new recipes that have been a great addition to my kitchen, but I wanted to make sure I also took the time to tell you about the last few days of our Scottish adventures back in March. Having started in Liverpool before travelling on to Glasgow and Inverness, via Falkirk and Loch Ness, it was finally time to start our long journey home and we simply couldn’t miss out the Scottish capital city itself, Edinburgh.

Mike and I have some amazing memories of Edinburgh as it was our honeymoon destination back in 1999 and we were keen to retrace some of our steps and share some of the wonderful sights with the children for them to experience too. We had chosen to spend an extra night there and given the weather we had, it was a good thing we had made that decision. On our first full day, we caught the tram from our hotel into the city centre, before jumping on to the City Sightseeing tour bus and heading towards the castle. Edinburgh is an undoubtedly beautiful city, but we struggled to convince G and M of that as we tramped our way up Castle Rock in the cold, sleety rain and rapidly darkening grey skies.

Despite our warm winter coats, hats, gloves and scarves, M got progressively colder and more miserable as we made our way between the different exhibits you can find within the Castle grounds. One of M’s godmothers is married to a lovely military man and both children were keen to learn more about the various Scottish regiments in the regimental museum. First exhibit done, we acknowledged the need for a temporary break from the wintery weather and headed into the cafe, where we enjoyed hot drinks, some safe lunchtime food and were in place to hear the 1 o’clock gun salute.

Having warmed up enough to bring a smile back to M’s face, we convinced them to traipse around a few more exhibits before we headed back down to the bus, stopping on the way for some dry wool socks and a brand new woollen hat for M. We had originally planned to stop at the Scottish Parliament, but the weather had quite literally put a damper on our travels and instead we completed a full loop and a half, before getting off and heading to the Hard Rock Cafe for an early supper.

However, the next day was almost a complete opposite to the day before and much to our surprise, M’s yearning for a day at Edinburgh zoo was an absolute success, despite the lengthy queue to get in, as we enjoyed a beautiful, sunny and surprisingly warm spring day. G and M were particularly keen to see the pandas, but we also had great fun spotting the lions and tigers and watching the penguin parade. We didn’t perhaps do all that we had wanted whilst we were in Edinburgh, but the children enjoyed the time we had there, even the snow, and would love to go back for another visit and the chance to see a bit more when it’s not so cold.

The Hunt for Nessie…and other adventures

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Inverness was the location for yet another flying visit on our whistle-stop tour of Scotland, but was one we all enjoyed hugely and it even saw both children expressing a surprising yearning to move North as they gazed at properties in the estate agents’ windows. Inverness itself was not the primary focus of our visit, but rather nearby Loch Ness, which M insisted was a place we absolutely couldn’t even consider missing out when we were practically passing right by the proverbial doorstep. Our time spent there was tight, but we managed to squeeze in everything we wanted to do and even found an unexpected bonus before we left again to travel on to our next destination.

It was whilst we were in Inverness that the snow that had been dogging our every step finally caught up with us, but it didn’t spoil our morning’s trip to Culloden, the site of the final battle of the Jacobite rising in 1745. Despite M’s reluctant traipse around the visitor centre itself, the rest of us enjoyed the interactive displays which carefully talked the visitor through both sides of the story and depicted the events that led to the final battle. It is not a part of British history that either Mike or the children really knew at all and I enjoyed brushing up on my rather scant knowledge too. Mike and G took their time reading the displays, whilst M and I moved at his usual faster pace as I desperately tried to cut through all the facts to capture his interest in the story itself.

Being the Easter holidays, there were some great children-friendly activities available for younger visitors and they appealed to both M and G, who were fascinated to learn more about the weapons used during the battle as well as glimpsing a small insight into the household essentials of the time. We even participated in the family orientated quiz that was held in the last exhibition space and M proved once again that although he moves fast, he’s able to pick up a surprising amount of information in a short space of time and was able to answer with ease questions that left the rest of our side scratching our heads. Once we had finished exploring all that the museum had to offer on the inside, it was time to wrap up warm and venture out onto the snowy battlefield itself. Despite the grey skies and intermittent snowfall, we managed to make our way all around the site, although the return journey back to the warmth was at speed. Neither child had been particularly interested in visiting Culloden in the first place, so to make a full morning of it counted as a real success in our book!

We enjoyed a picnic lunch in the car as we travelled from Culloden to Loch Ness itself and stopped en route to take a few snaps of the beautiful scenery we were passing. Our destination for the afternoon was the Loch Ness Centre and Exhibition, which talked us through the history of Nessie and all of the scientific (and otherwise) investigations into whether she really exists. The children had the chance to investigate the photographs and evidence themselves and drew their own conclusions about whether the Loch Ness monster really exists. It was a fun and interesting exhibition and I particularly enjoyed the last room, which talked about other incidents and discoveries in the Loch Ness area, rather than focus on Nessie herself. A quick jaunt through the gift shop heralded the end of our day out and we headed back to the hotel for some much-needed sleep before moving on once again for the final destination on our tour of Scotland.

Scottish Engineering

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Looking back now, 2 months on since our Scottish adventures, I can’t believe just how much we did in what really was so short a time. Having “done” Glasgow, our next major destination was through the beautiful, snow-tipped Cairngorms to Inverness, but not before we had stopped off to experience 2 unmissable sights – the Falkirk Wheel and the Kelpies. When we first started planning our trip to Scotland, so many family members and friends told us that we absolutely had to visit the Falkirk Wheel and warned us to pre-book our tickets to make sure that we didn’t miss out that we both took heed and booked our Easter Sunday day out.

The engineering wizardry of the wheel, which was the world’s first rotating boat lift when it was opened in 2002 to link the Forth & Clyde and Union canals, had M absolutely hooked from the moment we showed him the website and he couldn’t wait to actually experience it in person. The transition from the lower canal to the higher one (and back again) is unbelievably smooth and you hardly realise you are moving 35 metres into the air on a remarkable man-made structure, planned in Lego and powered by the energy required to boil just 8 kettles for tea. Without a doubt, it is an impressive sight to observe and having done our “turn” on it, we settled in at the cafe for a light allergy-friendly lunch accompanied by a side order of a great view of the wheel doing its thing as we ate. 

The tour guide on our boat gave us so many facts and figures about the Wheel that it seemed almost impossible for the children to absorb many of them and yet, even now, they still remember the ones that particularly fascinated them whilst we were there. As we looked out from the top canal towards the Firth of Forth, we heard about the Kelpies just a short drive away and knew without a shadow of a doubt that we absolutely couldn’t head further north until we had taken our horse-mad girlie to see these amazing structures.

Built in a phenomenally short space of time in 2013 to form a gateway to the eastern entrance to the Forth & Clyde canal, this monument encapsulates the mythical beauty of the water spirits of Scottish folklore whilst forming a fitting tribute to the horse-powered heritage of Scottish industry. These 30-metres high horse heads are simply breathtaking to see and although we didn’t have time to enjoy the Easter sunshine with a walk through the Helix parkland project, we all relished the opportunity to stretch our legs and even perfect some dance steps on the way to the structures. All in all, it was a perfect way to spend a peaceful Easter Sunday with family and one that perfectly combined so many varied aspects of the Scotland we were slowly discovering each day.

Eating Out with Allergies in Glasgow

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Whilst I wouldn’t recommend spending an hour or so wandering the streets of Glasgow looking for somewhere to buy the right kind of cereal with a stroppy 12 year-old and his big sister in tow, I have to be grateful that we stumbled a great little cafe which provided us with the allergy-friendly packed lunch we hadn’t actually realised we were looking for.

iCafe, Sauchiehall Street – As we trudged our way down the street, Mike spotted this unassuming cafe and suggested we stopped to take a look at the menu before we went on too much further. Our eagle-eyes spotted both the gluten-free bread option to accompany the soup and the vegan offerings, so it didn’t seem like too big a leap to hope that they might be willing to make us some gluten- and dairy-free sandwiches to take with us for our lunch later that day. We made a quick decision to allow M to have a “treat” and agreed that he could have a chicken and bacon gluten-free sandwich (no spread) as his lunch choice. He has long been hankering for some bread and we all agreed that this was a fantastic opportunity for him to do so. I was also impressed by the selection of allergy-friendly snacks they had on display and G was also thrilled to have a soya-milk hot chocolate to take away with her and enjoy as we headed towards the bus stop. These toasted sandwiches went down a storm whilst we were at the Riverside museum and I was delighted by this unexpected find.

Hard Rock Cafe Glasgow – This isn’t the first time we’ve successfully eaten at a Hard Rock Cafe, having tested the allergy-friendly mettle of those in both Lisbon and Athens over the last couple of years. I think that now is an opportune moment to confess that I am something of a die-hard Hard Rock fan and love nothing more than visiting the Hard Rock Cafes of the world, picking up a City Tee in each location to add to my collection. G and M have become mini fans too and every time we travel anywhere, once of M’s first questions is whether there’s a HRC for us to go to whilst we’re there. It was therefore inevitable that our dinner would be at the Glaswegian Hard Rock Cafe and G decided to try something a little bit different by ordering the GF pulled pork sandwich with chips for her main course. M agreed to compromise on what he really wanted and played it safer as he had already had the GF bread earlier in the day, finally opting for a plain GF burger accompanied by a chicken breast, bacon and cucumber sticks.

Despite the initial run-in we had with our waitress, who wasn’t prepared to accept my first answer that it was easier to tell her what M could eat, rather than list his allergies in full, we eventually convinced her to work with us and with the restaurant manager to place our order. Once they had grasped what we were trying to explain when it came to feeding M, things turned round quite quickly and I absolutely cannot criticise the care that was taken with the children’s meals for the rest of our dinner. Once again we enjoyed a superb meal at yet another restaurant from my all-time favourite chain and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend a visit there to anyone with allergies.

Glorious Glasgow

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When we first started planning our holiday in Scotland, I had a quick internet search to try to uncover what there would be to do and see for the few days we were in Glasgow. Disappointed by my search results, I turned to my Mum who has visited there in the past to see if she had any recommendations to make, but her comments were equally sparse, though perhaps more understandably given she had been there for the Commonwealth Games in 2014. Having now spent less than 48 hours in this city, I can honestly say that it’s somewhere that I would like to visit again and take the time to go to some of the hidden gems that we didn’t discover until this trip. There were, however, 2 things that we all agreed were a “must-do” whilst we were there – the hop-on, hop-off bus tour and the Hard Rock Café!

Our day started out a little less successfully than we’d have liked. M had munched his way through the cereal I had brought and was in desperate need of a new box to supplement his banana and milk. It was cold and wet, though we had planned for the likelihood of wintery weather conditions in Scotland in late March/early April so were well equipped with hats, gloves and coats; and even worse, as far as the children were concerned, we had to do some walking before we could join the bus tour around the city! Our hotel was conveniently located opposite the SSE Hydro and SEC Centre, both of which look incredibly impressive when seen all lit up from across the river at night. Unfortunately, we didn’t have much luck in finding the Nestle GoFree rice pops that are M’s current favourite breakfast cereal, though we did stumble across a great little cafe where we were able to pick up some freshly made gluten-free sandwiches for lunch.

With Mike fully laden down with sandwiches, soft drinks and other suitable snacks, we finally made it to a bus stop, bought our tickets and settled down on the next bus for the City Sightseeing tour of Glasgow. M absolutely loves taking these bus tours whenever we’re visiting somewhere new and it really is a great way to learn a little more about where we are as well as being a helpful way of planning the rest of our time in the city. Our plan for Glasgow was to complete around half of the bus tour before we reached our next destination and our stop for lunch, and for the afternoon. Despite our pitiful attempts to find something to do in Glasgow before we arrived, the success story of our time there was the Riverside Museum – and that discovery was thanks to the tenacity and determination of our youngest.

M had taken very seriously the responsibility for finding things to do or visit or see in every place we visited and on the night of our arrival, spent some time before bed scouring Google to find somewhere to go. He had stumbled across the Riverside Museum and instantly announced that he was keen to go there, confident that we would all enjoy what it had to offer. I’ll be honest to say that a transport museum didn’t initially sit at the top of my list of things to do, not least because I’ve been involved in setting up a similar museum over the last 18 months, but I will absolutely take my hat off to him as it was an absolute success. We spent a fantastic afternoon in this gem of a museum, that had more cars, cycles, boats, planes, trains and motorbikes squeezed into the space than you can even begin to imagine. We have visited very many museums over the years, but this exhibition is truly incredible and all 4 of us would highly recommend it to anyone planning a visit to Glasgow in the future.

Our time at Riverside drew to an end and we caught the penultimate bus back into the centre of Glasgow, finishing the tour we had started a few hours earlier. The final destination for our day was the Hard Rock Cafe and it was just a short walk from the final bus stop to the restaurant for our last dinner in Glasgow. We didn’t spend a lot of time in this glorious city and there are definitely things I wish we had done whilst we were there. Of course, the answer to that dilemma is an easy one – it just requires another visit to Glasgow to be planned!

From Gormley to Glasgow via Gretna

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With our brief stint in Liverpool having come to an end, we set off to more Northern climes, planning to cross the border at where else but the infamous Gretna. Before setting off from our Liverpool base, we nipped into the local M&S to pick up a selection from their incredible GF/DF range as well as some other bits and pieces for us to enjoy as a packed lunch whilst we were en route. There was just one more place for us to visit before our journey could properly begin as I insisted on a detour to Crosby Beach, home to Antony Gormley’s incredible art installation, Another Place. Mike and I had visited it during our previous trip, on a grey, wet and fairly miserable December afternoon and the weather wasn’t really all that difference on our second visit this March. The children found the statues themselves quite disconcerting and M wasn’t keen to get too up close and personal with any of them after he’d examined the first one. Whilst Mike and G wandered towards the shoreline to see the furthest one that was still accessible on foot, M and I instead stood back on the boardwalk to see how many we could spot out in the depths of the River Mersey. It is an impressive sight and was a detour I was glad we had taken.

 

Unfortunately, the delays from both the shopping trip and our visit to the beach plus a late morning start meant that we hit traffic as we joined the M6 Northbound and we quickly found ourselves in the hell of bank holiday traffic and lengthy queues. Thankfully M slept his way through the worst of them and by the time he woke up, we had headed off-piste and were relying on my map-reading skills and the GPS on Mike’s phone to find short-cuts along A roads and through small towns to try to circumvent the M6 nightmare. We eventually found ourselves heading towards the Scottish border with a fast-approaching teatime and decided to stop in Gretna to have some food before continuing our journey to the next planned stop on our travels, Glasgow.

 

We spotted the ever allergy-friendly Pizza Express at the Gretna outlet village and instantly decided it was the easiest place to stop as we know they can cater well for both children. The one thing that made me chuckle when choosing my dinner was spotting the Irn-bru – often described as Scotland’s second national drink – available on the drinks menu. As I said to Mike, “You know you’re in Scotland when…!” After an enjoyable and much-needed meal, during which I had explained the historical relevance of Gretna Green for young English couples looking to elope, we set off once again to complete the 90 miles or so remaining to reach our final destination. We arrived at our hotel on the banks of the River Clyde in the dark and were just about able to make our weary way to our room before bedding down for the night. It seems that endless queues of traffic can really take it out of you!