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Sunny Scotland

Last week, the Unicorn had a birthday, which was celebrated in the usual style by disappearing off in the van to find somewhere beautiful and off the beaten track to hide for a while. 

This little adventure took us up to the borders of Scotland, to a wonderful little village called Auldgirth, and to a beautiful old farm.

The farm was literally bursting with original features, and hidden oddments that hinted to the farms former uses.

And as we looked around the old barns we found one of the resident barn owls. We quickly snapped a few shots before leaving him to roost in peace. Hopefully he wasn't too traumatised by the disturbance.

 

It was a lovely get away, and despite the definite Autumnal chill in the air in the mornings, the September sun shone on us all weekend.

Day dreaming . . .

We woke up this morning to beautiful sunshine warming the world around us, and ventured off into the local woods with camera's to take advantage of the last of the summer sun. It seems all the flora and fauna had the same idea as us, and we passed many an hour sat in the flowers watching the bees and the butterflies all around us.

Every morning in the van . . .

The recent cold turn in the weather makes it very clear that summer once more is drawing to a close. It's time to dig out the thermal underwear, stoke up the bonfire and grab a cup of something hot and chocolatey!!!

Out and about . . .

Out and about . . . from The Muffin and The Unicorn on Vimeo.

The sun is shining, the bikes are loaded, our favourite Van-Venture playlist is on, and there's miles of clear road ahead of us. Where shall we go, and what shall we do . . .

Cat Bells

It was a quick get away in-between christmas and new years that led us up to the lake district with the family. It was an over indulgent time where much eating and drinking were done. However with the weather as glorious as this it'd be rude not to walk up something.

So Cat Bells it was, nothing too strenuous, but high enough to get great views over Derwent Water, and for the mountainous breeze to blow away a few cobwebs.

Disappointingly there isn't a kern on the top for the Muffin to stand on, so he had to satisfy himself with taking panoramic photo's, and snap shots of all the other walkers who had the same idea as us this day.

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Crib y Ddysgl

Once more we found ourselves a trig point, shrouded in cloud, battered by the wind and generally damp from the relentless drizzle, but it didn't deter the Muffin at all. This time we are on the top of Crib y Ddysgl, a mid point in our days scrambling adventure.  We'd started out up Snowdon in the morning and were making our way across to Crib Goch in a nice little loop back to the pub for a few drinks. Accompanied and generally encouraged by our friends Pete and Stu (the sensible* ones with their feet on the ground)*I use this word in the loosest of terms.

The jaunty angle here isn't a pose, but an indication of wind strength as the Muffin tried to stand up straight. I've heard a rumour that the views on this route are great, but they weren't anywhere to be seen this day. Maybe next time? 10th March 2012.

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Campfire cheese toasties

 Cheese toasties, they're warm, quick to make, filling, and don't leave much in the way of washing up, making them perfect camping food. Either cooked up for breakfast when heading out early, on the smouldering embers of last nights fire - or as a afternoon snack after an adventurous morning whilst waiting for the campfire to heat back up. The toastie is perfect. But this doesn't mean it has to be boring! With so many delicious cheeses in the world it'd be rude to keep things too simple.

 My personal favourite is a blend of blue stilton, mozzarella, double gloucestershire and red leicestershire. If there are any tomatoes, beans or mushrooms leftover anywhere then these are great to add too. Baisically you can't really go wrong - the molten cheese cooks everything pretty proficiently.

Heated in the good old traditional camping way, and eaten whilst still too hot to be safe - perfect.

Valentines day 2014

Our first date consisted of venturing off footpaths sliding down sheer scree slopes to secluded beaches, climbing over sea defences, and watching the sun go down over our own part of the world. Needless to say it was the best date ever. This little stowaway from my boot was the perfect keepsake of the perfect day, and makes a very fitting adornment to this years Valentines card. HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!