A few holiday snaps

I had a rather varied holiday this summer and here are a few pics.

If anyone requires a family holiday hotel recommendation in Hunstanton ('the only East coast resort facing West' being a big selling point!) then drop me a line...

Or tips for a cheap hiking holiday in Norway, then I am your man...

And finally if you need a 1600 mile tour of Scotland planned, with beaches, remote islands, great sea food and distilleries, then just ask!

I must point out that the black VW in the pics isn't mine. A really generous Scottish guy overheard me being turned away from a Youth Hostel, as he was driving in. He offered me and my friend his old tent for the night and we gratefully accepted it. Then when his girlfriend had gone to bed, he asked me if I wanted a drink down at the local pub in the town of Flam. I thought it might be an opportunity to buy him a beer for the loan of the tent. He wouldn't accept a beer and bought me a pint and a whisky! Needless to say, he had the same and we ended up having a good old chat. To cut a long story short, he needed the tent back the next night as he was going up a fjord kayaking with his girlfriend. I wasn't too disappointed as we decided to move on to another town. However , then he said we could have his van for a couple of days while he was gone! My jaw hit the floor and thought maybe it was the whisky talking, but sure enough next day he drove up to the fjord, gave us the keys and asked to be picked up the next day at the same spot.

What amazing generosity and trust from someone I'd just met! He had a set of bagpipes in the back (which I didn't even touch, but he did say to play his guitar and drive wherever , but just top up the diesel when we collected them)

Amazing eh?

2 weeks later while driving through Scotland, I saw an old couple hitchhiking with huge suitcases on a deserted road, by a tiny railway station near the Isle of Skye. I had been desperately trying to redress all of the positive karma for quite a while since the tent/van loan in Norway. So, I pulled over, hauled their luggage in and found out that they were New Yorkers stranded due to communication breakdown with their hotel in a nearby castle. They had arrived by train but were unable to get in touch with the castle and were starting to get a bit concerned at what they should do.

I duly got them to their destination (which was a substantial stone castle/hotel in the hills) and they insisted that me and my wife go in for a cup of tea. While in there they insisted that we have sandwiches and cakes too. So much in fact that we had to have it bagged up for later, and were still eating the chocolate brownies 4 days later for pudding in our VW camper van.

So, all in all a great summer with lots of tails to tell.

If anyone is remotely interested in hiking in Norway then just ask for details.


Edit- by the way, if you like unusual trains then take a look at the rest of the pics on my Flickr stream.


Norway 2016 by Sooper 8, on Flickr
Norway 2016 by Sooper 8, on Flickr
Norway 2016 by Sooper 8, on Flickr
Norway 2016 by Sooper 8, on Flickr
Norway 2016 by Sooper 8, on Flickr
Norway 2016 by Sooper 8, on Flickr
Norway 2016 by Sooper 8, on Flickr

Scotland 2016 by Sooper 8, on Flickr
Scotland 2016 by Sooper 8, on Flickr
Scotland 2016 by Sooper 8, on Flickr
Scotland 2016 by Sooper 8, on Flickr
Scotland 2016 by Sooper 8, on Flickr
Scotland 2016 by Sooper 8, on Flickr