Rainbows, originally uploaded by Lilac Lunacy.

Leaving Mo and Keith was hard, I got up early for breakfast with thefamily. We had a special pot of oatmeal so I could try it. In my strange way I loved it but I understand why some don’t. It was a morning of rainbows so intense you could clearly see the violet. Maureen left me at the green hut to wait for the bus. The sun was making sparkling diamonds in the tree ahead of me, the tree was bare except for these twinkling raindrops and I could see out to sea and to Scotland’s coast.
As the bus drove off I had a harsh wrenching in my chest and I realised my heart was breaking over all I was leaving behind. Not just a lovely family and a beautiful island but a magnificent summer and many attitudes and habits that I was choosing to part with here. So I spent the bus ride observing; the trees turning to autumn, the sea, the swans still sleeping on Whiting Bay and remembering all the things that have stirred my soul this summer; the pine trees and their scent, the mountains the sea and lochs. I realised that the sea surrounds all land and the rivers link all seas, so we are all joined together and I can reach out and feel this island or any other place at any time I want to by just following the energies in the land and water. I have stored up visions of what I have left behind and now I am ready to go forward.

The island view

Kildonan shore, originally uploaded by Lilac Lunacy.

I love holes, particularly big ones. Like a child I am always overcome with curiosity. If there is a big hole in the ground, I want to look down it, I will fidget with a hole in my clothes or an object. Arches or naturally formed rock holes are the most intriguing. I shudder in anticipation as there is always a chance I could pass through into another world.
This hole is on the shore of Kildonan on the south coast of Arran. From the kitchen window of the house I am visting you can see a small island with a lighthouse and in line with that the ‘volcano shaped mound’ and then the west coast of Scotland. A beautiful view.
I am staying in a little caravan again, but this one is better insulated, and I have a seat over a bucket in the little toilet en-suite and running water if I fill the jerry. It is practically 5 star.
It is not quite another reality, just one of which I have little experience. Keith and Mo are both herbalists, there is a small veg garden and quite a big herb garden on their rambling property. They are a vegan family with three boys aged, 11, 8 and 2. They have a permissive parenting style that takes up a lot of their time, and they are not seeing many patients but are focusing on administering the herb school and raising their boys and gardens.
Arran is quite easy to get to as far as Scottish islands go, it is about a two hour trip from Glasgow and nine hours from London if you time it right. It is small and has a collection of the natural features in the rest of the highland landscape. I haven’t been round to too much of it yet as the weather has been a bit miserable, but Arran is a favoured holiday destination for many. So much so that locals often have a cabin house to live in in the summer when they can rent out their houses; property prices are being driven up by the holiday makers. Despite the proximity to the city and the annual influx of tourists it is no less admirable that my hosts have a vegan organic lifestyle. Of all the people i have stayed with this family has really shown me that if you are really committed to your values there are no excuses. There are no harsh detergents or chemicals in the house, the most dangerous things the 2 year old found under the sink were some party bubbles. I hope I will learn some ways to avoid all the cleaning products we use on ourselves and in our homes and some good vegan recipes.
The sun has come out for my day off, so after getting my washing on the line, I have come down to the beach for a walk and to see the seals. They are also happy that the sun has come out and are basking on the rocks. I am re-centering myself and enjoying the quiet. Being inside with three cooped up energetic boys winds me up on a fundamental level, the toddler is at tantrum age and seems to have a great heat bubbling inside, poor thing – he is a sweetheart when I have taken him for a walk or a story but seems to get overexcited chasing his brothers.
I think I offered to babysit, I’m terrified. Maureen is so patient with them, seldom raises her voice or says no, just distracts them when really necessary. I can just imagine trying to reason with them when she isn’t there. I may have to resort to bribery.
PS.Babysitting wasn’t too bad, the baby was asleep and I got to watch Shrek III, the kids even offered to share their candy. I had a great two weeks helping to entertain the childen, helping with cooking and cleaning the kitchen, doing the accounts and processing some herbs into tinctures, oils and dried form.

I wanted to spend a few days in one place after my roadtrip I was a bit travel weary; tired of checking out by 10am everyday. I stopped at Fort Augustus which was very pretty. I walked a long way up the canal and saw boats going up the loch ladder. I did another long walk in the forest and then left as the hostel was cold and ill equiped for hanging around. I got to Fort William and got a cab to the backpackers as I didn’t feel like carrying my suitcase in the rain. The place has lots of character and characters. This is the view from the big bay window in the lounge the smoke is from the steam train used in Harry Potter. I knew it was all good, I said I would stay for a few days and in fact managed to exchange work for dorm fees. I spent a day relaxing and the next walking to Steall falls and in the forest. I coloured my hair and plucked my eyebrows and am feeling a bit closer to a real person. I have managed to avoid Ben Nevis fever and have absolutely no intention of climbing Britain’s highest peak – this trip anyway.

The last day I had the car, I walked in Corrieshalloch Gorge and the Lael forest. Both exceptionally stunning and I got to really smell my first pine forest. Like over ripe strawberries but not sickly sweet. I was gulping in big lung fulls of it, couldn’t get enough. I rubbed a branch and buried my face in the needles like an obsessed perfumer. I walked all the trails in the forest and then the tracks too. I was almost sick with the beauty of it. Pines green and high but dark if you looked into the wood. The floor was covered in mosses and mulberry coloured mushrooms,and the bracken and dropped pine needles were orange and yellow drying out at the end of the summer. A proper forest – I want one!

Gairloch is another beautiful peninsula, though I have decided the whole of the highlands is amazing and I am probably going to have to come back often, if not live here.
I spent most of the day at Inverewe gardens; a huge plot of forests and gardens maintained by the National trust.

IMG_3182, originally uploaded by Lilac Lunacy.

I was hoping to drive to the lighthouse hostel to in Gairloch and totally underestimated the distance, especially as I started on the wrong road and it was windey single track most of the way. But the scenery was stunning. Hills and heather, water gushing down the rocky hillsides and lochs and lakes everywhere. I should probably have stopped two villages before I did as when I finally got onto the 2mile private drive on the headland out to the lighthouse it was pitch dark. There were sheep all over the road and it was four hours later. I hadn’t managed to shop very well so I made tinned sardines with garlic and a fresh tomato mashed into some spaghetti someone had left in the cupboard. Interesting and tasty! It was a comfortable night and a lovely hostel – with a cat- but a bit too far from where I wanted to explore, so I packed up again in the morning.

Road trip
After Lewis I went back to Inverness to hire a car, I stayed in an hostel that smelled like Lush; my favourite soap shop. There was one downstairs.
I started my holiday with a long drive, it was hard to embrace the idea that I could do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. I felt obliged to pull over at every view point, shop and cafe. After about half an hour I did stop to have a coffee and look at Loch Ness. I hadn’t meant to drive so far South but that is the road I ended up leaving Inverness on. As I didn’t have a map or a definitive destination I figured it didn’t really matter.
My next stop was shortly after in Invermoriston. I fell in love, merely a crossroads with a grocer, craft shop, hotel and caravan park and a few houses. I decided it would be wonderful to spend a week shacked up in one of the holiday log cabins in the forest. I went on two marked walks through the forest, along a river and along the loch.