8. Visit Loch Ness and hunt for Nessie

It has been over a year since my last post. I haven’t got any excuses I’ve just been lazy oh and I’ve taken on a mortgage and bought a house. Back in August 2014 after I conquered Ben Nevis and slept in a castle we took a detour on the way home to Loch Ness to hunt for Nessie.

We went in The Loch Ness Centre & Exhibition which opened over 30 years ago. Today a hi-tech multi-media presentation leads you through 7 themed areas and 500 million years of history, natural mystery and legend revealing the unique environment of Loch Ness and the famous Nessie legend ...Using a mix of lasers, digital projection and special effects the Exhibition charts the history of the monster by exploring Scotland's geological past, its folklore and the various research projects carried out on the loch. It also reveals the discoveries of some of that research including the environmental fingerprints left in the loch's sediment layers by both nature and mankind.

It was a beautiful day so after the visitor centre we went for a walk round part of the lake and I even packed my binoculars to stand a better chance of spotting the legendary creature. Here are some fun snaps from the adventure:

In the end we didn’t spot him however I did bring a wee souvenir home to remind me of the trip. If you haven’t been to this beautiful part of the world then I would definitely recommend it but we did have the weather on our side!

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28. Sleep in a castle

After the trauma of sleeping in a tent for two nights and climbing Ben Nevis my reward was to sleep in a castle, a much deserved belated birthday treat. The castle of choice was Tulloch Castle just outside a town called Dingwell in the Highlands. 

The view from the road.

Before becoming a hotel and conference centre the castle believed to date from the mid 16th century served as a (not too shabby) family home for members of the Bain family and Clan Davidson, as a hospital after the evacuation of Dunkirk, and as a hostel for the local education authority.

Can you spot me on our rooms balcony?

 

Putting my stamp on the castle

I would say the three main features for a castle are a turret, a dungeon and a moat. Now this castle didn't have a moat but it was placed on top of a massive hill as a strategic defence and you can see the turret in the above picture and after a wee bit of exploring we found the dungeon!

My favourite part about the castle was that the décor inside was in keeping with its heritage, very medieval esq, a lot of wood and rich colours and quite frankly somewhere that could be used as a set for Game of Thrones.

Could see this in King's Landing.

Me trying to fit in the surroundings.

I would not be cold here in the winter with that bad ass fire!

A dining area reserved for private functions.

A door in to the grounds.

Sooo much better than a tent!

And this is my ABSOLUTE favourite thing in the castle, who thought to put a crown on a deer trophy head pure genius!

Bambi rocking the bling

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23. Go on a camping holiday

I hate camping and the reasons are three fold;

1.       It’s cold, even in Kenya!

2.       It’s damp, probably even in the Kalahari

3.       Your sleeping is dictated by the sun

Why would anyone want to call this their home for the evening?

You could be camping anywhere is the world and in any kind of tent and the above would still apply.

I was lucky enough as a child to not be subjected to camping holidays (caravans all the way for the Wilson gang) and in my adult life I have tried to avoid it as much as possible apart from a few select occasions which include;

-          My Duke of Edinburgh bronze award

-          Archaeology fieldwork in Scotland and France

-          Our trip to Kenya

-          And going away with the scouts

On all occasions my three reasons to hate camping applied unless there was pre bedtime drinking involved. However I decided to give it another go on our ‘holiday’ to Fort William to climb Ben Nevis (in this instance I’m classing any leisurely trip away from home as a holiday). In hindsight I should have put climb a mountain on my list because it is something I have never done but would give me a sense of achievement. But this is what I LOVE about life it throws up all sorts of opportunities that you just need to grab with both hands. 

How bad ass in Ben!

This is where my blog entry will completely deviate from the camping because I have decided that I hate it and never want to subject my body to it ever again and concentrate on the positive that I CLIMBED THE HIGHEST MOUNTAIN IN THE UK! And I did it with zero preparation and on 4 hours sleep – a result of camping, and a slight injury to the lateral ligament in my right knee.

Here's my story in pictures of my journey up the mountain (unfortunately I did not mange to get a picture of the miniature dachshund that made it up or the Chav attempting it in a leopard print onesie and UGG boots).

Can you see the fear in my eyes at the prospect of going to sleep in a tent!

Everyone is all smiles before we set off.

Stunning views!

Banana breakdown point

Keep smiling!

Really stunning views

Everyone appreciated a wee nip at the top!

She made it and is still smiling!

We had to scramble through snow to get there

Woooooo!

I think it was here I realised what I had achieved

Post mountain pint!

Massive thanks to Sandra Bayly for organising the trip and Chris Wharton, Ciaran Mallon, Lucy Mo, Vicky and Nick Jary for getting me up there (Vicky you were on that mountain in spirit!)

7. 5 hours to climb 1,344 metres. I said afterwards I would never climb a mountain again...bring on Snowdon next year! I can say that now my legs and lungs have recovered :)

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26. Have a spray tan

On a summers Sunday evening online shopping session I impulsively bought a voucher for a spray tan with the intention to use it for this years’ Ladies Day in Newcastle on 26 July 2014. I thought Ladies Day was the perfect opportunity to have it for as I would be among Newcastle’s finest dressed (and many questionably dressed) so I wanted to look my best and not reflect the (hopefully) shining sun off my pasty white skin. 

 The spray took place in one of Gosforth’s newest hair and beauty salons, Luma’s.

Luma's on Gosforth High Street

I wasn’t sure what I was letting myself in for, though Vicky the museum’s Comms officer had told me a few months previous about her experience of standing there in her pants while the spray tan lady person instructed her into different positions to get an even coverage. I did get myself prepared beforehand after reading online to make sure you exfoliate properly, shower at least 6 hours before and don’t moisturise or wear make up/deodorant before the spray.

If you’ve never had a spray tan before then you stand in a small open booth in just your pants and the spray tan lady runs moisturiser into you dry bits (knees, elbows and places you attract eczema) before she turns of the machine which sounds like a jet engine taking off and blasts cold tan at you in what I presume is a methodical pattern. It didn’t take very long and she did ask me to do strange positions with my hands but nothing too out there. After you’ve been sprayed then you’re left standing there to dry for a few minutes before you can get dressed. At this point I was left along so I took a few snaps while I was waiting…

This is the booth you stand in.

The tools of the trade

Now this is where the hilarity starts, what I wasn’t planning for is that I would be advised not to wear my bra because I would get tan lines so I had to walk up Salters Road (which is a looong road) braless, not an enviable experience! I could have got the bus home but I felt too self conscious being on a bus without a bra on but I also didn’t realise that I would come out a darker colour than the final tan would be because you have to wait 8 hours to shower to then take off the top layer so I did feel like I looked like someone who had a very bad home tanning experience. But I got home locked myself away and waited until the morning when I could see the final results.

Me with the spray gun

That's a lot of tan coming off!

What I was most worried about was looking like I had done it myself and it looked like a crap tan but I was very happy with the results. The only patchy areas were where my eczema was so if I got another one it would depend on how my skin was behaving at the time. As you can see from the Ladies Day snaps it looks really good and would recommend anyone wanting a spray tan to try out Luma’s in Gosforth.

Ladies day 2014

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29. Sing in public

In my adult life I have done karaoke once before but I have no recollection of it and apart from singing in church I generally don’t do it hence why it’s on my list and knowing that I don’t have the sweet vocal chords like an angel this is a big deal for me.

If they say a picture speaks a 1000 words then how many does a video clip say? This is going to be a short post because I have two video clips of me “singing” my heart out for you to treat yourself too.

The first is from a netball social (4 July 2014) and this is the netball team GALS I play with. I think my experience of going Back to Netball 2 years ago has been made all the more special to me not just for my love of the sport but because of these ladies and the friendships that have been built along the way, I hope we have a good many more years playing and socialising together. This karaoke really was public because even though we were in a separate room in Poons Chinese restaurant I am fairly convinced that the walls weren’t soundproof and when we went in there the restaurant was full…when we came out it was empty, coincidence?

http://youtu.be/rphiCFqfIp8

Obviously it HAD to be Britney

This clip is from my good friends Lucy and Mark Fenwick’s 30^th birthday (12 July 2014). It was an evening filled with great food, drinks, ping pong, the not so great bowling and karaoke – my second helping in under two weeks!

http://youtu.be/XCB3OHzUq_I

I’m sure we’re all in agreement that I will not be appearing on X Factor any time soon but I should get points for trying. I did enjoy my helpings of karaoke and maybe from now on I’ll be quicker to the microphone if the opportunity presents itself again

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19. Have a pint of Guinness in Dublin

This is an overdue entry but better late than never!

 

The view of Dublin from the top of the Guinness Storehouse. You can see the Aviva Stadium on the right hand side.

 

On Friday 15 November myself and Laura Fenwick (who is becoming somewhat of a regular travel companion) flew from Newcastle to Dublin. The opportunity for the trip came about when we learnt that our friend and fellow archaeology graduate Mandi Henderson was being swept away by her husband Neil to Dublin to celebrate her 30th birthday. This came up in conversation and you express an interest that it's somewhere you'd always like to go so Mandi suggested we come along too (much to Neil's initial horror) so we did.

 

From left to right; Laura, me and Mandi

 

Everyone I've spoken to have said how friendly the Irish are but I actually think that it ius THE MOST FRIENDLY place I've been too. When you land at an airport you're prepared  for the miserable but at passport control who barely grunts at you...not it in Dublin. [Insert gorgeous southern Irish accent] "Well good morning Kathryn, welcome to Ireland. How are you today, did you enjoy your flight?"

 

We also had a very friendly cab driver who took us to our hotel (he gave us his mobile number in case we needed him over the weekend...) And then met up with Mandi and Neil for a few, which turned out to be a lot of drinks and one of their best burgers of my life. I had never considered putting smoked cheese on a burger before but I'd do it again. I resisted having as pint of the black stuff because I wanted I to 'save myself' for the Guinness Storehouse.

 

 

 

I think Saturday 16 November will definitely feature in the top 5 days of 2013 and here's why;

• Amazing all you can eat breakfast to start the day
• Visiting Trinity College and the Book of Kells
• Indulging in bog bodies and Ireland's prehistory at the Museum of Archaeology
• Eating nachos and drinking bulmers in the Hairy Lemon
• Visiting the Guinness Storehouse and experiencing a pint (and a half, because that's all I could manage) of the black stuff
• Watching Ireland v Australia in a pub packed full of Irish men

The library at Trinity College

So in one day I had culture, archeology, rugby, nachos and beer coupled with brilliant company and another thing ticked off my list. I think Dublin was a fantastic city, yes a little pricey but I will definitely go back. I wasn't to fussed with the Guinness Storehouse, far too many tourists for my liking, but the views from the top bar were incredible and the Guinness was smooooth.

 

 

 

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27. Go and watch a Premiership football match

It was a sunny autumnal day when I met my auntie and cousin, Emma and Philip Williams at the foot of the Sir Bobby Robson memorial at St James’ Park, Newcastle upon Tyne to watch Newcastle United v Hull City. As some of you may be aware I am more of a rugby follower than a football fan however I felt that my put downs towards the “beautiful” game would have more integrity if I could actually hold my hands up and say I’d been to a live match. Also living in a city for the past 9 years where the football team is integral to the cities culture and not having seen the team play just felt like a travesty! 

Me and Sir Bobby

 I’d been thinking about this fixture since I was (by coincidence) sat in a pub the day Hull City were promoted to the Premier League. Now the significance of Hull City aka The Tigers is that my granddad, Mr Larkman to many, was born and raised in Hull and has been a lifelong supporter of the team. This is the Tigers shrine in the downstairs loo at his and my grandma’s house in Richmond. Subsequently some of my uncles and cousins have developed a strong allegiance to the team so I had a choice of people that I could get on board to go with me. It seemed fitting that a match played between what I class as my ‘home’ team Newcastle and the family team Hull City seemed a perfect fixture to tick another experience off my list. 

The 'throne' room at Grandma and Grandad's

Considering that this wasn’t a derby match or Newcastle weren’t playing against one of the top 4 teams I couldn’t believe how busy it was. Me and Philip, my 16 year old cousin had 2 season tickets courtesy of our Uncle Philip’s friends. Gone are the days of a book of individual paper match tickets and in keeping with the age of modern technology you now get a plastic card with an electronic chip in to swipe you in to every match. Now the implication of having these tickets was that we were surrounded by Newcastle season ticket holders, which considering we were cheering on Hull City we had to be extremely restrained in showing our support, especially when Hull City scored. 

Me and my ticket

 As a sport I do find football quite dull however this match was pretty entertaining, 5 goals scored in all and we were even treated to Steve Bruce busting some moves on the side lines, however the most entertaining part was listening to the commentary from the Geordies sat behind me. I picked up some new choice phrases including some xenophobic remarks. I have this belief that football fans can be quite fickle at times which is what came across from the fans that were sat around us. When Newcastle were playing well they were like gods to these fans however one miss kick, some sloppy defending and then they were quickly pulled off their pedestal and called every name under the sun, my favourite quip was made at Ben Arfa who was labelled (in their words not mine) ‘an overpaid French arse hole’ – such a lovely image. The abuse continued to get more derogatory throughout the course of the match at Newcastle’s playing quality declined and the score went from 1 – 0 Newcastle, 1 – 1 all, 2 – 1 Newcastle, 2 – 2 all, 2 – 3 Hull City (final score). 

The Hull City fans celebrating in their pen

All in all it was a good experience made all the more pleasurable by the sunshine however I won’t be queuing up for my season ticket next year. Compared to rugby as a sport football just does not cut it. Rugby is more entertaining  the opposition don’t need to be penned up in the rafters of the stadium to segregate the fans AND at a rugby match I can enjoy a pint in the stands while watching the game. 

The sun shining on St James'

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