Glencoe with Gems! (Part 1 - finding our Hobbit House!)

In the spirit of finishing off old draft posts (sometimes life just gets busy and they are forgotten about when I have more and more things to write about until I remember and can edit the images and finish the posts!) this one is about the weekend I had away with Gemma and R when her sister came to visit from Australia way back in October last year!  We had SUCH a fun time and I had a ball taking photos.  I went prepared with freshly baked oaties so if I was taking a little too long (it has been known) taking pictures in one spot, I just whipped out the biccies and everyone was happy!  This is clearly your warning that this is a picture heavy post!  If you'd like to come and read it here, I'm happy to hand out Oaties!  ;)

We travelled up on the Saturday and had a lovely time catching up in the car.  Basically Gemma and I talked everyone's ears off!  The trip up had varied weather but we'd all come prepared with plenty of layers.  We stopped off at the lovely Black Rock Cottage (scene of my most popular photo) and Buachaille Etive Mor for a few pics and to stretch our legs.

(All photos taken with my trusty Canon G11 unless otherwise stated)

Very annoyingly parked distracting bright cars and so much cloud/rain we couldn't even see the Buachaille!

Taken with my Nikon D300s

En route through Glencoe we also took a detour down Glen Etive and walked along the road for a bit enjoying the amazing views and fresh Highland air.

Margie went off-road exploring along by the river which led me to a waterfall so we stopped for Oaties!

Taken with my Nikon D300s

Taken with my Nikon D300s

We then carried on driving through Glencoe, past the three sisters, to get to Glencoe village and our caravan park.  The following set of photos were all taken from the moving car so apologies if they're not perfect, i.e. blurred and have reflections!

When we arrived at our destination, the sun was starting to shine and the landscape was just gorgeous with all of the amazing Autumn colours...

I really loved this tree with the colours fading down from red to green and lit up perfectly by the sunlight!

Gemma had arranged for us to stay in a Hobbit House in the caravan park, so cute!

It was equipped with a fridge, kettle and microwave and slept four.  As there were five of us, we also rented a spare caravan which the boys ended up sharing and us three girls shared the hobbit house!  We'd all come prepared with our sleeping bags but I actually got quite hot in the night!  The bathrooms were on the other side of the caravan park and very clean with nice hot water.

By the time we unpacked the wine it was super sunny on our terrace!

Gemma's brother and his girlfriend came down from Skye to meet up with us and after a few drinks, I gave Gemma her birthday present - a blue and yellow (her favourite colours) dress which sadly we haven't had suitable weather for her to wear it since!  Stupid Britain, I can't wait to see her in it!

Me delighted that she likes it, phew!

Not my usual foreground subject but the light was beautiful on the trees!

Fun and games building the caravan beds!

After getting settled in, we walked a couple of miles to the Claichaig Inn for some dinner and more drinks!  Come back later for part 2 - our evening and what we got up to the next (sunny) day!!