Holiday Excitement!

Considering that I have already bought and wrapped my Christmas presents, it will come as no surprise that I am the kind of person who likes to plan some stuff on her holidays! 🙂

Yes, I have an itinerary! I am being ‘Ms Organised’ and I have planned some days – more down to the fact that it is pretty remote where we are staying, so I am planning the days to drive past Morrisons in Fort William to stock up on supplies and petrol…so there is method in my geeky, organised madness.

I used to pack the day before I went anywhere and would just go with the flow – travelling in the Caribbean is a little different to Scotland though…the Caribbean clock is always slow and so the ferries don’t leave on time as they do in the islands on the West Coast…so I need to bring my organisational skills to the forefront to ensure that we don’t get stranded! 😉

Here is my plan so far…

Sunday – Oban – boat trip
Monday – Mallaig – canoeing
Tuesday – Tomintoul, Carrbridge, Aviemore – meeting Michelle
Wednesday – Ardnamurchan Point
Thursday – Spean Bridge and Fort Augustus
Friday – Mull
Saturday – Oban
Sunday – Polloch
Monday – Kinlochlevan and Fort William – Aonach Mor cable cars
Tuesday –
Wednesday – Aviemore – trekking and quad biking, Cairngorms, Loch Insch
Thursday –
Friday –

I have a few spare days…these spare days are stressing me out…I must fill the time! 😉

My main plan is to get to Oban as soon as possible. Why? Well it’s all related to food of course…why else?! On the side of the harbour in Oban is what looks like a green shed – it is a green shed – and that green shed hides a secret…the absolute best seafood I have ever tasted. Seriously – it is amazing. They smoke their own salmon, caught that morning. They shuck oysters for you. They cook scallops and serve them with sweet chilli sauce. And they make the most immense crab and hot smoked salmon sandwiches ever. Last year we spent about £80 and ate the most delicious seafood for a week. You can get seafood there for less than half of the price you would pay in top restaurant…and it tastes better too. I managed to indulge a little last year and still came back with a 12lb loss…after all, salmon and scallops are a free food! 🙂

So both of my trips to Oban will see me stocking up on some lovely seafood for the week ahead. It is probably quite sad that I am more excited about the fish than I am the prospect of heading up Aonach Mor on a cable car.

This is one of my holiday challenges…dangling from a bit of wire high up in the hills. I am not good with heights. Add this to the fact that I think I will break the wire (even though I know that I won’t!) and it isn’t a good combination. It certainly isn’t a combination that I would usually pay for – I would rather spend the money on a fish! – but as I am trying to challenge myself, I am going for it. I suppose a greater challenge would be to climb up Aonach Mor…but I doubt that the mountain rescue team are ready for me yet and so I will save that until I am fitter. Although I am not sure that the cable care will be ready for me either! I have told my other half that I am going in one on my own, as if he even moves and rocks the thing I would probably send devil eyes his way and threaten him unduly.

My other plan relates to a place called Inchree Falls. It is a 3 mile walk, the first part is okay, the mid part is uphill, and the rest is kind of downhill. You basically walk through the woods and then up alongside a gorgeous waterfall, with amazing views across the loch and hills. It is such a peaceful place…even with my heavy breathing! I managed to get halfway one year, all the way the next year – after I had lost 8st. I then piled the 8st back on, plus another 10st…but I am nearing the weight that I was when I tackled it before, so I am going to give it a go. It is not far at all from the ferry we need to catch to get back to our cottage, so I am going to try and walk it daily if I can.

I am also planning on a lovely beach walk along Silver Sands up near Mallaig, and then am planning on walking up the hill near the Glenfinnan monument. This gives you a view of the Glenfinnan viaduct which is in the Harry Potter films…gorgeous scenery and it gives me a bit of exercise too.

This description of my holiday is my friends idea of hell…I am giggling as I am writing this as I know she will probably see it and vow never to go on holiday with me.

I am not a city chick. I can do the city, and did for many years. I am just far more comfortable with a bit of nature and a cold wind – far more Go Outdoors than Gucci, as I have said before! I get excited about 3-in-1 coats and wellies…someone will glam me up one day, I am sure! 😉

The most exciting part of the holiday for me is going to be meeting a lovely lady with a wicked sense of humour and who has supported me since day one of my social media launch! I am really quite excited about meeting her – and I know she is nervous, but I can talk for Britain and don’t bite, so we should be okay. Plus, we are meeting in an Italian restaurant which has gorgeous looking Italian guys with lovely Scottish accents…oh, and great pasta – what could go wrong?!

So that’s the plan for my holiday. I didn’t really have a weight-loss moral for the blog today, but actually when I thought about it, my weight loss has benefitted from planning and organising too. As I am planning my holiday, I am considering food choices and trying to ensure that I can get food to support my Slimming World campaign whilst I am away. I guess I could just think ‘sod it’ – but I had such a good time last year, and came back 12lbs lighter…so why not just put a bit of thought in this year too?

I remember hearing one lady say that when she went to Scotland, there were no healthy choices…she even mentioned deep-fried Mars Bars. Now I know they do the Mars Bars, but my first thought when she said this was, ‘bollocks’…I know that there are always better options. They might not be perfect, but it is down to you to make the best of any situation that you are in. So don’t make excuses – if you want to blow it on your holiday then do it, but own it. Don’t talk shite about deep-fried Mars Bars – as it just makes you look like a whiny plonker. 😉

So there we have it, the outlines of my holiday plan. As for the rest of the day, it has been good – I went to the horses and the shops, ordered my uni books, began packing, and had a catch up with my coach…all good stuff!

Breakfast: Magic muffins with berries (5 syns).

Lunch: Bacon and cheese veggie melts (2 x HEA and 2 x HEB).

Dinner: Chicken salad with pickles.

Snacks: Nakd bar (5 syns).

A good food day. I tried to make the magic muffins – which are the same as magic pancakes but in muffin form – so your HEB of oats, mixed with a yogurt (muller banana) and two eggs and left overnight. They can then be made into pancakes or cooked however you fancy. They were nice – I used a sachet of the Oatso Simple which are 5 syns – but the banana yogurt was just too sweet for me. Lunch was a superfree veggie combo – spinach, mushrooms and tomatoes – with some bacon cubes, on top of toasted rolls and cheese. Dinner was a herb salad, with chopped yellow pepper, cherry tomatoes, pickled onion and gherkins with tandoori chicken.

Exercise: Not much exercised apart from my mind today!

Thank you for reading,

Weight Loss Bitch xxx