Christmas with John's Family

Christmas 2009 was spent in Barnsley with John's Family. The cast includes - John, Pippa, Anne (John's Mum), Bryan (John's Dad), Jane (John's Sister), Andrew (brother-in-law), Muriel (brother-in-law's mother), Sophie (niece), Thomas (nephew) and Barney (the dog).

Pre-dinner drinks, looking out at the snow.

John and Bryan struggle to get a word in!

Mashed potatoes, an art form in the Jackson house. It takes years of training!

Jane presides over the beautiful table.

Tom wondering if he should have another roast potato or wait for the chocolate log!

John and Sophie

And finally Barney waiting to lick the plates clean.

Snow in Spott

Like most in Britain this year we had some of the worst snow in decades. Being so close to the sea, Spott hardly ever sees lying snow. This year we were snowed in on several days.

The Square.

Our back garden. Icicles formed down the wall and even the most enthusiastic recycler would struggle to fill these boxes.

Leaving by the back door posed some new risks!

Christmas Lights in Edinburgh

Every year there is a fair in Edinburgh's Princes Street Gardens, including a German Market and fair. We decided to ride the big wheel and sample the Fire Punch. Although that turned out to be the wrong order!

A View of the Castle.

We naively assumed the big wheel would be something like the London eye. How wrong we were. John's smile isn't enjoyment - it's sheer terror! It took all my courage to let go with one hand and take this shot. We needed the Fire Punch after this.

The Scott Monument.

Rome

Last weekend we went to Rome. It was John's first trip to Italy and a long awaited one. We rented an apartment just round the corner from the Vatican and squeezed in as much sightseeing as we possibly could. These are just a few of the many photos we took.

To make the most use of our time we did some of our sightseeing in the evenings.

Here is the Trevi Fountain which was constantly surrounded by tourists. We ate at a lovely bistro just round the corner.

And here we are doing our touristy bit, getting photographed in front of the fountain.

St Peter's

Castel Sant'Angelo


St Peter's with the Tiber in the foreground

The Pantheon

Inside the Pantheon

The Pantheon's diameter is exactly equal to its height - 43m and the hole in the dome is 9m wide. All quite impressive when you consider it was built in 27BC!

This picture of Piazza Venezia was taken from the top of the Vittorio Emanuele Monument. They have added a glass lift which takes you right to the top. Not for the faint hearted.

The Forum, once the heart of ancient Rome.

The Colosseum

A view of the Arch of Constantine, taken from the Colosseum

Inside the Colosseum

After walking miles we were in need of some lunch. By chance we headed up a slope after leaving the Colosseum and stumbled upon a temporary Jazz cafe. In one direction we could see the Colosseum, in the other the Vittoria Emanuele Monument and to the side the Forum. A little wine and pasta and we were ready for more sightseeing.

Our apartment was just off this square and behind me was the Vatican walls.

While at St Peter's we climbed up to the Dome. You can just see in this picture where the people are standing.

Climbing that high meant actually going between the walls of the dome. This is a shot of the staircase we climbed which was narrow and sloped with the dome.

The view of St Peter's square from the Dome

Inside St Peter's

St Peter's from the outside

The Swiss Guard

Unfortunately the Sistine Chapel was closed but we were able to explore the rest of the Vatican museum

One of the Courtyards within the Vatican

The staircase which rose from the original entrance to the Vatican museum which apparently inspired Frank Lloyd Wright when he designed the Guggenheim

Skye

In September we visit Skye and stay in Larch Cottage. It was a bit of an experiment as the cottage was a Hebridean Kit Home which we are quite interested in. When we sell our Leeds houses and when we find a plot this is the kind of place we would like to build.

We had great views from our cosy living room. A real vantage point to watch the rain move horizontally down the valley!

Our first walk was to visit the Old Man of Stor. Unfortunately the weather didn't allow us a clear view.

And we were a little damp when we got to the top.

From there we headed North and drove round the top of the Island past the Kilted Falls.

We had better weather when we visited Kinloch Forest.

Probably the best walk we did was when we visited the Fairy Pools..... a string of clear pools where the water cascades from one to the other. Its close to the Cullins but without getting too adventurous.

The ominous Cullins make a dramatic back drop and the cloud swept across them throughout our walk.

John giving me a "hurry up" look as I took just one too many pictures of the pools. They were beautiful though.

The view from our picnic spot. Chilli tomato soup, a popular Milne family recipe, went down pretty well just here.

For all those malt whisky lovers here is the Talisker distillery. Needless to say we didn't leave empty handed!

Lorraine, Angus, Stuart and Ian may recognise this shot - its the campsite at Sligachan where we stayed on our Duke of Edinburgh hike. Twenty three years ago (yes scarily it is that long ago) we stayed at this site before starting our walk along the Trotternish Ridge.

The day we headed down the Sleat Peninsula was probably the best weather wise. The sun was still low in the east on our journey down.

On our walk to the Point of Sleat we came across the most glorious beach. It had white sand and was completely deserted. We really had to tear ourselves away to continue our walk.

One of the locals we met along the way.

What was once a lighthouse at the most southerly point of Skye is now an RF transmitter. There were still fantastic views though.






After all that exertion we stopped to have fish and chips at a cafe. This was the view we had as we sat outside eating our meal - yes the weather got that good!




And this shot of the stag was taken from our kitchen window!