Saturday

• 6.30am – up to go to Ruaridh’s swimming lesson (at 7.30am)
• Bakery, then home by 8.30am
• Breakfast, then back to toy shop to get a present
• Leave house at 9.45am to get to party for Ruaridh’s friend at 10am
• Midday, leave party and head home
• Walk back down to bakery (we eat a lot, and I didn’t mange to make bread in time)
• Lunch
• 2.30pm – family visit to see my brother and his wife
• 6pm – tea
• 8pm – kids asleep in bed, I collapse on the sofa, Hazel wakes me at 10.15pm, and I finally go to bed after feeding Milie at about 1am…

Sunday

• 6.30am – up with Millie, soon followed by Ruaridh.  Breakfast, tidy kitchen.
• 9am – go running with Edinburgh AC, 20 miles.
• midday – home for a big, post-run, lunch
• 2.30pm – drop Hazel off, to meet a friend.  Take kids to North Berwick, and spend hours running around the beach, and eating ice cream.
• 6pm – home, fish and chips for tea
• 8pm – kids in bed, I sneak 45 mins of shut-eye
• Realise that both Saturday and Sunday papers remain unopened.  Leave them as they were.

Pete, Nathan, Amelie, Ruaridh and I went camping close to Aberfoyle, at the Cobleland campsite. This was Ruaridh’s second adventure in a tent, and first with other kids. Excitement ran high for a few days beforehand, and hit fever pitch when Pete arrived at the house!

The site itself was really nice – a small but well-stocked shop, very friendly staff, and some cool paid-for & free activities. We had booked in advance, and the site was getting very busy when we arrived, with lots of families in huge tents. We got ourselves sorted out, and got some lunch on the go. After that, we got the tents pitched, and took a walk along the river, in the glorious sunshine.

After a quick shower to wash the river water off the small people, we took a drive into Aberfoyle for supplies. There is a bike path, but we had travlled without wheels this time. Dinner was a tasty barbecue rustled up by Pete. Ruaridh was asleep around 8.30pm, surrounded by the sounds of other kids still having fun. Amelie and Nathan managed to keep their eyes open for a little bit longer, whilst Pete and I enjoyed a few refreshing beers.

In the morning, we had a full spread of cereal, coffee, fruit juice, water, fruit, bacon rolls, brioche, hot cross buns and malt loaf; at no point did anyone on this trip go hungry, that’s for sure … and probably not much of a surprise to those that know us.

Once we were packed up, we headed on to the Three Lochs Drive, and then we stopped for lunch and a walk at the far end of Loch Achray. Our final stop was a scenic sail on SS Sir Walter Scott, on Loch Katrine, followed by ice creams. Happy days!

Overall, it was an excellent trip. The kids all got on really well together, which was brilliant to watch. The site had lots of things to do for kids, the facilities were very clean, and the site looked lovely. There were only a few things we’d have done differently, that can easily be sorted out for next time. Time to plan the next adventure.

Allan (my brother) and I took Ruaridh for his first time camping last weekend. We selected a campsite in Dunbar, about 45 minutes ago, just in case we had to make a dash home.

As it happened, the wind was wild, the tent shook, and Ruaridh snored through it all. We all had great fun, so future adventures are on the cards.