Grocery shopping.............

I did a "little" bit of grocery shopping on Friday.  I had read on a group I am part of on Facebook, about how some couples only spend $50 a week on their grocery shopping.  Now granted these guys were in the States, but there isn't a "cat in hell's chance," of that happening here in Canada.

So I thought I would show you what I got and how much it cost here in Canada.  I popped into two stores and I picked up extra snack foods, as I had the girls sleep over on the weekend and they need to eat hourly otherwise they may starve 🙄

The first store was Zehrs, which is a President's Choice/Loblaws brand store and quite pricy.

This is what I picked up.  I took advantage of an Oikos/Danone yogurt promotion as I had coupons and there were bonus points which added up to $6 in coupons used, and 13,000 bonus points, which I will use at a later date for $13 worth of free groceries.  Again the Knorr products worked out at half price with the bonus points.  The large boxes of Oats n' Honey granola bars were $4.44 a box, super deal.  That bag of milk (4 litres) was $6.25 haven't seen it cheaper recently.

This is what it cost.  1000 PC points = $1 off your groceries when you redeem them.  I have over 87,000 saved up.  I'll wait for a bonus redemption to cash them in.

This is what I got at the second store, which is Metro and again quite a pricy store.  Again they have a points system, so managed to get some bonus points.  I have just started collecting points there.  I am thinking 100 points = $1 off your groceries when you redeem them.  

This is what it cost:

Overall the total for both stores came to nearly $126 and as I said that isn't a full shop.  I could make it last a week for us using nothing else in the house I guess, as we are well stocked up on yogurts, so that would be good for breakfast.  We could have crackers and or bagels for lunch and fruit.  There is salad, eggs, deli meat, pasta and sauce for supper, and granola bars for snacks.  It would have to be water to drink.  

However, realistically that ain't happening...LOL  We have plenty of other foods in the house.

Are you finding grocery prices shooting up where you live?

I am turning into an old person....LOL

 Do you remember when you were a teen and your parents and grandparents were always giving you "advise," and you secretly or not so secretly just rolled your eyes and thought to yourself, "they don't understand because they are old?"

Well I went back to school shopping with daughter and two grand daughters, during the week.  One grand daughter will be 12 in November and is your typical "Tween."  The other is 9, and thankfully not into the brand of clothing, it just has to look a certain way.

I basically just tagged along and gave my "old woman opinions every now and then."  Which were met with a look of pure astonishment on the girls' faces as to why would I even think that piece of clothing would work, or a roll of the eyes.....LOL  Sometimes I just said I liked something to get a reaction out of them............yes, I have a naughty streak in me.

A good time was had by all.  However my poor feet were really feeling worse for the wear.

I keep thinking to myself I want to take advantage of these shopping trips because in another few years they will be at university and super busy with their lives and will barely have time for their parents never mind their grandparents. These memories will be with me for the rest of my life, when I'm too old and crippled to go shopping with them.

Sounds good to me.........

 

How about you?  Thank you to Carla for this one.

What's going on with the price of coffee?

I am beginning to feel like with the price of coffee rising so fast, it's going to become another luxury item only a few can afford.  As per Statistics Canada in this article the price of coffee in Canada has risen 19% since the beginning of 2025.  Now of course part of the reason are the tariffs as we don't grow coffee in Canada so it all has to be imported.  Then climate/weather change has a bit to do with it as well.  However all the big coffee shop chain are still posting major earnings!!!!

I, like many other people enjoy specific brands.  My go to brand is this one:

I remember buying this for $6.99 to $9.99 at the most.  Now if I can get it for $15 to $17 I count that as a win.  Canada is a big coffee drinking country, with Tim Horton's coffee shops everywhere.  

When out I drink either Tim Hortons or McDonald's coffee as both are okay...........well they were until the last few months, then I have found them to be getting weaker and weaker in strength?  Is anyone else finding that?  We have been switching more and more to Tim Horton's as the points plan at McDonalds where you get loyalty points is switching and everything is costing more loyalty points for the same items.

I just don't like Starbucks coffee in Canada, and I hate their prices.  I will drink Starbucks in the States, as I dislike Dunkin Donuts.  

We have a Keurig at home and always drink drip coffee.  Never had instant coffee in years other when we go to the UK to my mam's and brother's.  Then most of the time we drink tea.

I have tried other brands of coffee.  Maxwell House I loathed 😂, Folgers wasn't bad.  There is a deal on for Nabob at Sobeys, but on the fence with trying that.  

I drink 3 cups of coffee a day.  Now they are the 12oz cups, so big mugs.  I take a little milk with it.  I try not to drink coffee after lunch, but will occasionally.  I have a cup of tea in an afternoon, then the rest of the time is water.

Our go too brand of Tea is Tetley which we buy at Costco when it comes on sale.  I am guessing tea is also going up in price as well?

Are you a coffee or tea drinker?

Sandwiches.............

Last week I talked about egg and cress sandwiches and it got me thinking about other sandwiches that members of our family used to eat way back in the day.

I mentioned in a comment to another blogger, my aunt always used to make tinned/canned salmon sandwiches mixed with vinegar as her go to sandwich when we visited.

I remember my dad having cheese and jam in his "bait."  That was what we called a packed lunch.  I am guessing that combination was because it was cheap.  Along with cheese and branston pickle , which again is not a sandwich I enjoy as I don't like the pickle.

I am more of a cheese and tomato or cheese and onion kind of gal.

We introduced our grandson to chip/crisp sandwiches the other month and he loved them.  My mother was talking about having them when I was on the phone to her and reminded me of them.  So decided to make them while we were babysitting one day.  We made them with white bread, butter and "cheap chips/crisps" as grandson likes to say and they were lovely.  

Jam sandwiches were a staple, raspberry jam, and lemon curd were favourites of mine.  My nana made all her own jams.

However chip/fries sandwiches are also lovely, haven't had that for a long while.  Again white bread with lashing's of butter on the bread with salted fries.

Hubby was very unusual in that he loved cheap deli meat, like "mock chicken, " and bologna in his sandwiches.  I always classed that as "mystery meat," as goodness knows what's in it.  Though as per the link above it says that the following is in "mock chicken:

Mechanically separated turkey, Water, Modified corn starch, Modified milk ingredients, Soy protein isolate, Salt, Pork and/or beef, Monosodium glutamate, Potassium lactate, Sodium phosphate, Onion powder, Sodium erythorbate, Sodium diacetate, Spices (mustard), Sodium nitrite, Enriched wheat flour.

Every effort is taken to ensure that the ingredients and nutritional information listed here is accurate, however, data may change from time to time. Please always check the package for the most current information.

I have never been a fan of the peanut butter and jelly/jam sandwiches that are popular over here.  In Ontario, not sure about the rest of Canada, peanut products are banned in schools.  Some school boards are also banning nut butter alternatives, as it's so hard to tell if they are peanut butter or the alternative.

Every now and then we'll have a sandwich with some deli meat, with tomato, onion and lettuce on it with butter and mayo on the bread.  We always butter our bread; otherwise it's too dry.  When we buy bread it's always a brown multi grain bread.  Love bread but it's too many carbs for me nowadays.

What sort of sandwiches do you enjoy?

New Car

We bought a new car in May of this year so have had it now for three months.  We bought a Hyundai Tuscon Hybrid. 

When hubby retired he had a pick up truck and he had driven a pick up truck for the past 20 years.  It was very comfortable, but it used a lot of gas/petrol and was huge.  I felt there was no need for us to have two vehicles.  I was driving a Ford Escape.  Hubby hated that vehicle and found it uncomfortable to drive any distance in.  I found his truck too big, so we had to find something we both liked and agreed upon.

We sold the truck no problem to the Ford garage despite it being a GMC truck as all garages were wanting used pick up's at the time.  In fact we got a better deal at the Ford garage then GMC was willing to give us.

We then started to look around for a vehicle bigger and roomier than the Escape.  I liked the idea of a Hybrid as we do a lot of city driving, so were using a lot of gas/petrol just scooting around town.  We looked at a number of vehicles and found the Hyundai gave a lot of bang for the buck.  We looked at a Hyundai Santa Fe as well but thought that was way too big for us.

Now that we've driven the Tuscon for three months I feel I can give an honest review.  Thankfully for me, hubby reads all the manuals and enjoys all the gadgets, so he set everything up.  This one is the fanciest car we have ever had.  It's roomer; the middle console is comfy and there is room for both of us to rest our arms on.  The screen with all the gadgets on is huge, though not as big as a Tesla; not that we looked at an all electric car.

It easily does 6.5 litres  (1.7 gallon) of gas per 100 kms (62 miles).  The furthest we drove was to Corning in New York State and it was a super drive.  Very comfortable and it switches over to electric no bother even on highway driving.  We didn't want to hassle of an electric car and having to find somewhere to charge it on longer trips.  It's all in the acceleration as to whether it's on gas or electric.  It did take a bit of getting used to at first, now I never think about it.

It has more bells and whistles that even we won't use.  Overall though, we are 100% happy with it.  If I had one gripe, it's the fact I chose black and it never stays clean on the outside.

Daughter and family went to Paris and London this summer and they bought me back these two for the car.  They are solar activated and they bop along in the sunshine all the time.  They are great to have in the car as that way I can find it easier in the car parks!!

*****I FORGOT TO ADD, WE DID TAKE EXTRA WARRANTY OUT ON ALL THE BATTERY/HYBRID COMPONENTS AS THEY ARE EXPENSIVE TO FIX******

Day Trip.........

The kids rented a cottage for a week, this one to be precise, if you would like to buy it.  Mind you don't pay the asking price as although the photos make it look lovely in real life, it does need a bit of work.  You can tell it's rented out a lot on AIR BNB.  What makes it that price is the location from Toronto and the width of the lot on the waterfront.  It was a nice yard they have and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves as we went over for the day.  

It was just under a 2 hour drive from where we lived.  We met daughter, daughter-in-law and eldest grand daughter in Lindsay at the farmer's market.  Will say that was super small as it was a Thursday, so maybe Saturday's one is busier.

They bought some donuts from here:

If you go to the local fairs, you will see them making something similar to these there.

The girls bought a dozen cinnamon sugar ones fresh from the fryer.  I will say I took a small bite of one and they were really nice.

Son with the kids on Lake Sturgeon.  It was a lovely day, but the water was cold.

The slide was the neighbours, but they allowed to kids to play on it.  The dock belonged to the cottage they rented.

There were a lot of cottages on the other side of the lake also.

There were a family of ducks hanging about.  The lake was pretty shallow by the dock only around 3 feet deep.  It was also full of "sea" weed, as we all called it, despite it being a fresh water lake.

The neighbour had been feeding the duck family so they were quite tame.  She thought the babies were around 5 weeks old.

A good day was had by all and despite me being in the shade all day,  I did get some sun on my face!

A look back on the week........

Sunday started out great, as we finally had rain overnight and a couple of showers through the day.  We can now see the odd green blade of grass.  We are desperately in need of rain around here.  It was overcast for most of the day, and humid.  I spent most of the day doing some sewing and hubby spent the day in the basement building/framing a wall.  A good time was had by both of us.  We are easily pleased!!

Monday was cooler....YEAH!!  Also started to rain and carried on into Tuesday......more green grass!!  Had to go to the hairdressers on Tuesday and for once walked out happy.  I have a love/hate relationship with hairdressers and my hair.  I have a simple haircut, that takes very little skill to cut.  Therefore I cannot justify paying a lot for a haircut...........but as with many things in life, you get what you pay for.......cheaper is not always better!!

Wednesday another overcast and cooler day...........bonus as far as I am concerned.  So more green grass!!

Thursday we had a mini road trip.  The kids had rented a cottage for a week, so took the two hour drive to meet them for the day.  It was a lovely day.  I sat in the shade all day but managed to catch the sun on my face.  We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves watching the grand kids on the lake.  Also watching the boats go by.  We were home by 5:30 pm, tired but satisfied.

Friday was a day at home.  The weather was gorgeous again.  A bit hot for me, but not too bad.

Saturday was another day spent around the house.

Overall a good week as I know the temperatures are finally starting to cool down a little........roll on Fall!!

I was losing the will to live...........

Don't worry it's nothing that dire and it's a tale you probably have all experienced.  I had to make the dreaded phone call to re-negotiate our internet and tv billing with Rogers, who is our provider the other day.

I had tried to sort it out the prior week, as our current promotion was running out on September 8th.  After much talking to that guy he said he would get the promotions department to get in touch with me within 72 hours.

5 days later still hadn't heard anything, so decided to give them a call.  I called twice and both times got the same message, "we are receiving higher than average calls at the moment, please call back later."  The line then was disconnected.

Okay, so I figured I would go online and talk to "Anna" the robot.  She couldn't help me.....no surprise there and put me in a queue to talk to the person who could help me.  Unfortunately I was number 80 in the queue.  Yes you read that right number 80.  Even I did a double take when I read that number to make sure I was reading it correctly.

Again disconnected and decided to try later in the afternoon.  Called them just after 4pm and after waiting a while go through to a nice young man who went through everything.  He however ran into technical issues and had to wait in a queue to talk to the technical department; and no he didn't have priority, he had to wait in line like the rest of us...........no wonder everything was backed.

Long boring and soul destroying story later, where I think I would have given them my first born child just to get off the phone, we finally sorted it out just before 6pm.  Then just as I was saying goodbye, the guy says:

"I see you have mobile phones with Rogers; would you like to hear the deals we have that you could take advantage of??

Both hubby and I shout, "NO!" at the same time.........and I said, "Sorry I am done with talking for today!!"

Also I was dying for a pee!!!

So we are stuck with them for another two years!!!  Before you say, well move to a different company; have you heard the expression,

"Jumping out of the frying pan into the fire"

Well that's what it would be like, as one company is as bad as another!!!!

I know you all have tales to tell, dealing with utility companies, car insurance etc, etc.  So let's hear them........

Egg and Cress Sandwiches

Egg and Cress sandwiches are a throw back to my childhood days.  Cress is a popular item in the UK, both in sandwiches and as a garnish, and is used as a microgreen, not as a full grown plant.  Think how we use parsley as a garnish, they use cress.  It's tastes a cross between watercress and mustard.

I had a hankering for egg and cress sandwiches the other day, so decided to make them with what I had on hand.  I rarely eat bread anymore, so this was a treat for us.

All you need for the filling is hard boiled eggs, cress or microgreens and mayo, plus any seasonings you want to add in, like salt and pepper.

These are the micro greens I use, as they are grown in Canada.  It was handy I got one with 30% off.  They are usually between $4 to $5 a package.  I used 3/4 of a package probably, as I had taken some out of this package for something else.

Thought it was funny when it said "IT MAY CONTAIN MUSTARD," when it says Kick'n Mustard on the front of the package??  Notice how everything is in both English and French here in Canada?

Not sure which exactly micro green plants these are but they taste good.

So all I do is mash up the eggs, add the mayo and micro greens and spoon some in between a roll or a couple slices of bread.  It's so good and the micro green bulk out the filling so it goes further.

Do you like egg and cress sandwiches?  Have you heard of them before?  What's your go too sandwich?

I grabbed my phone

this is so true.............

we are all guilty of this............and you're welcome!!!

Save your money.........

Bought these containers on Amazon a couple of years ago to catch fruit flies; as "tis the season for them!!  Useless.

So added some apple cider vinegar to a regular glass, put cling film/plastic wrap on the top.  Secured it with an elastic band and poked some holes in it.

Voila.........fruit flies swimming in the apple cider vinegar.................

 No fancy equipment needed!!

Corning Museum of Glass

Back in June we decided to make a quick trip to Corning, New York, as I have always wanted to go to the Corning Museum of Glass.  Following are some photos from the trip.  Please read the last bit of the post as well if you can.

This display was the lobby of the museum.

Now one of the things I did was make my own vase.  Below is what I made.  I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and it was well worth the price.  I did this one but there are many more you can do.

It has the shape of a heart in the bottom.

I also bought this vase from the store.  I could have spent a small fortune in that store.

I also picked this pen holder up at Vitrix Hot Glass Studio in Corning.

We stayed at the Econo Lodge in Painted Post, which is just a few minutes from the museum and it was an okay hotel, stayed in better, but have also stayed in worse.  Good value for money.

We thoroughly enjoyed the museum.  We arrived at the opening time and stayed until later in the afternoon.  There was something of interest for everyone.  Even hubby was interested in some of the technical things about what glass is used for.  Everyone was super nice.  They have a cafe with typical cafe food at slightly higher than average prices, but typical for a place like this.  I would recommend everyone visiting this museum, well worth the money.

Now I don't talk politics or religion generally on this blog, BUT my fellow Canadian's are probably not overly happy with us for spending a few days in the States.

However, not that I need to make excuses, but we were ready for a break, not a long break just a few days away, as we had a lot going on at the time.  I had always wanted to go to this museum and I don't want a certain person (D.T.) making me wait for four years until he is out of office (we pray and hope!!)

Crossing the border, both ways, was a breeze.  All the horror stories we had heard online and in the news didn't apply.  Everyone we met in the States couldn't have been any nicer if they tried.  They were as fed up with D.T. as we Canadians are. We left on a Tuesday and were back in Canada by late Friday morning. 

We are going away for a few days next month and are spending those days in Northern Ontario.

There is another museum I would love to visit and that is the Tiffany Museum, but that's in Florida.  Has anyone ever been to that?  Also does anyone know of any glass museums in Canada?
 

New to me craft.......

I got a diamond art kit for Christmas.  It's something I had never done before and I fell in love with it.  The kit made this picture:

A close up of the cardinal.

Hubby bought me this house one for Mother's Day.

I have just finished it and finally glued it to a canvas.  It's a cheaper way of doing it, than having them professionally framed.

The cardinal canvas was from the dollar store.  I mixed up paint leftover and made up the green colour for the cardinal one.  I had to buy the canvas from Michael's for the house one and just painted it black.

Have you done any diamond art?

A look back on the week............

Stinking hot and humid start to the week...... and didn't get much better as the week progressed.

Felt like a very busy week.  Monday we were back and forward to the Optician's as where hubby got his eye's tested and where he got his glasses are two different locations and something was wrong with either his eyes or glasses.  Long story short his prescription was wrong 😡  He has been fighting on with this for four months!

We had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday at our family GP.  That always turns into an all day job as it's over and hour away from where we live.  Plus we try and kill two birds with one stone and visit one of two family members each time we go down.  This time it was a birthday so had lunch there.

Back to the doctors visit.  More tests and follow ups to be done.  The older you get the more specialists, tests and meds you see to have to do or be on!

Wednesday we had to be up just after 2am as I had an MRI appointment for 4am on my back.  Another specialist feels I have a trapped nerve in my back????  I had a herniated disc operated on back in 1998, and the pain I suffered then, does not feel the same as what little pain I am suffering in my back, but what do I know...LOL

Suffice to say we were both tired on Thursday.  Missing sleep seems to hit us both the second day after; rather than that day?  

Friday was a quiet day.  Hubby golfed in the afternoon; I just puttered around.  

Saturday the heat came back and the British football season started on tv, so that kept hubby occupied!

Doctor suggested we take bisglycinate magnesium so we started that on Wednesday.  It may help with our aches and pains, along with helping us sleep better.  Too soon to see any results; worth a try I guess?  Do any of you take that?

I have managed 5 out of 7 days of walking this week, not the best but at least I am averaging over 5 thousand steps per day which is better than nothing considering how painful my foot is.  The doctor is thinking arthritis in one of the joints on the top of my foot, but until I have the MRI in October we won't know for sure.

Then finally, I have been sewing this week.  Actually, I was doing more of the prep work before I do all the sewing.  I am making lanyards and soup bowl cozies.  The lanyards involve a lot of ironing!!  I will explain when all is sewn what I am up too.

This is how my sewing table is looking.........a mess, but an organized mess!!

This week went by fast, that's for sure.

Wow it been over 16 years........

 since I wrote my first blog post..........and here is what I wrote and here is a link to it.  Still have no idea about the technical stuff....LOL  And now down the rabbit hole of reading past blog posts.

Also read this, it's a post I wrote for Phancy Pages back in the day and if you have time read this.  Oh my goodness, not another link, but yes!!!

By the way, never did get into scrapbooking..........just not my thing!

My first ever post........

It's funny, I have been thinking about creating my very own blog for ages now, but have been putting it off, and putting it off. I am not sure why, maybe it has something to do with that reserved British side of me, do I want everyone knowing everything about me. Well the solution to that I suppose, is only post what I am comfortable with everyone in the world knowing about. Pretty simple solution when you think about it, don't know why I took so long to figure that one out.

Then there is the technical side of things, how do I post photos, how do I set a blog up, and how do I set it out so that people can read it. Then of course, do I actually have anything interesting to say to people? What may interest one person, may bore the living daylights out of another?

Anyhow I have decided what the heck, I am going to give it a go. I don't think I will stick to one subject, I will post about all sorts. I have a number of interests. One thing I have a great interest in is saving money. I have read so many blogs and visited so many sites and gained so much information that I would love to spread the word on saving money.

Another of my loves is cooking, I have a lot of great recipes that I have collected and modified over the years that would be a great for other people to try.

Gardening is something I really enjoy, and hope to share photos with you all of my garden, the success's, which I hope there are a lot, and my failures, which I would love to think will be none, but that is wishful thinking.

I started to quilt just over a year ago and that has been fun, I'll never be a master quilter, but I do love what I have done so far. I am also starting to scrapbook, but honestly the whole thing is scaring me to death, as I have tons and tons of photos with no dates on them in a big pile. I can see there will be plenty of posts on my progress, or even lack of progress in that department.

So there you go, my first ever post, fingers crossed I'll figure all the technical stuff out!!!

Facebook Marketplace............

I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook Marketplace.  Sometimes transactions go very smoothly; other times it feels like a never ending chore dealing with some people.  Why do people message you to ask if something is available and you respond yes and you never hear from them again?

When hubby retired he had a pile of work tools in his truck (he was an electrician), add to those all his tools in the garage and we are overstocked with tools and have duplicates.  So we have been going through stuff and putting a few things on Facebook Marketplace to sell.

Some of the things we have sold so far:

This seating set from out the back.  Our patio area is stinking hot in the sun despite the shade.  I hate the heat and the older I am getting the less I can tolerate it.  Add into the mix pre-cancerous spots on both hubby and I; that makes me more reluctant to sit outside.  Happened to post this also on our neighbourhood page and ended up selling it to a lovely neighbour.

This laser level; we have another one up for sale and I think hubby still has another one (???):

This biscuit joiner/cutter thingie (???):

As you can see I know diddly squat about tools!!!

This fabric was popular; so much so I have hunted some more out to list.  The lady that bought it was lovely and we spent an hour talking about sewing.

I used that veggie fabric to make my produce bags with.  Found a stack of boy themed fabric, and sold that also to another lovely lady;

This was all leftover from youngest grandson's quilt.

Have you had much luck selling things on Facebook Marketplace?

Things to Ponder

Made me think..........also when I sing along to to song below, I sound Scottish despite the fact I am English......yes there is a big difference in accents...LOL

Sewing..........

I was looking at where hubby sits and decided the flannel chair cover I made for him a couple of years ago was looking shabby.  We have a fabric sofa, so wanted to protect it where his head goes.

I hunted out this fabric from my stash.  It's a light weight cotton duck fabric that I got from Hobby Lobby a couple of years ago in Tennessee.  By the way for the American's out there, is Hobby Lobby still in business?

I even "cobbled" together some bit's of batting I had, rather than use a full piece.

I could have finished it all in one day, but I sewed it all together one day, then hand stitched the binding the next day.  I just love the look of this fabric.  It's the same front and back.  

Super simple project and fit's perfectly with our decor.

I was over at Magpie's Mumbling's and she had a link to Diary of a Quilter, and she had a tutorial on how to make a Manx quilt.  I have never heard of that before, so popped over to have a look.  I loved the look of it and may give it a try in the Winter months.  I have popped the link below in case you are interested.  I have to say Magpie always has the most interesting links to check out.

How to Make a Manx Quilt Block - Tutorials | Diary of a Quilter

I also subscribe to Sew4Home, which is a neat site.

Bucket list item........

One thing on my bucket list is to go on a cruise.   However I know diddly squat about cruising.  I would love to do the Alaska one leaving from Vancouver I think.  I am open to a Northern European one as well.  I will say it's not on hubby's list at all to cruise; but he'll go just to keep me happy!!!

So I am open for any suggestions about this.  I would prefer to pay in Canadian Dollars if we could.  Which cruise line is the best?  What time of year is best to go; as I don't want to be eaten to death with bugs (on the Alaskan cruise).  We are looking at 2026 for this.  Is a balcony room better than a window room?  I don't drink alcohol, but I am sure hubby would enjoy a glass of wine with his meal.  Are excursions worth the price?

So any and all suggestions and tips very welcome with this.

Climbing Ben Nevis

 Yes I have climbed Ben Nevis in Scotland...........well sort of.  Let me explain.

We had to go to Scotland last November (2024) for a funeral.  The last couple of days we were in Scotland we went to Fort William to have a short break.  Neither of us had ever been before.  Despite it being the end of November we were quite lucky with the weather.  The scenery was gorgeous driving up there from the border area.  

The next day we drove to Ben Nevis (only a few minutes away) and as we were standing on that bridge a couple of young guys were coming back across the bridge.  It was before lunch time and they had climbed up Ben Nevis and come back down at that point.  They'd obviously started early.  

They showed us video's of the summit and it was covered in snow; so yes they had climbed it.  They were on the way to the Lake District and hoped to climb Skiddaw in the Lake District later that day.  They were also saying they had talked to a guy when they were coming down and he was going to camp up on the top of Ben Nevis that night.  Rather him than me; as it was forecast for rain and snow for the rest of the day.  Rain on the lower ground, snow on the higher.

After talking to those young guys I felt as though I had experienced the whole climbing the Ben Nevis thing without having to actually do it.  Mind you there was never, ever going to be a chance of us climbing up that!!!

Now on the way back down to Glasgow we stopped off at Oban and that was even lovelier than Fort William in my opinion.  Next time we are over, I think we'll do another road trip round Scotland, but not in November we were frozen the whole time we were there!!

If anyone is heading to Fort William we stayed in the Cruachen Hotel and it was super.  Walking distance to everything.  The rooms were comfy.  The breakfast was good and the price wasn't bad either.  We also ate in the bar onsite both nights.   Staff were really nice also.