It's Only Four Months To Our Holidays!

It's got round to that time of year when thoughts turn towards holidays. I do promise you that they had turned to holidays before the warm sunny weather appeared on the horizon, in fact I have left our holiday booking a little bit late this year, but fortunately the weeks we wanted and the places we wanted were still available.

It is always a bit of a problem sorting out when we go away on holiday due to the fact that from now until the end of September I seem to always have dozens of weddings to play for.

So the first job is a careful look in the diary to try and find two consecutive weeks when I don't have any weddings to play for. This is easier said than done. During the month of July I have at least two weddings to play for each week, and sometimes three. August and September are no better! However with one wedding booked for Saturday 29th September, the next wedding I have booked is not until Saturday 20th October, so by asking my deputy to play for the September wedding I can get a clear fortnight.

Next problem is, are the two self self catering establishments available for the consecutive weeks we require? A quick look on their websites confirms that they are, so telephone calls to each reserves the weeks we require at the appropriate establishments! An e mail booking with Caledonian MacBrayne, running their car ferry on the Ardrossan - Brodick route completes the necessary arrangements!

Caledonian MacBrayne is an important element of the Scottish scene. It runs a ferry service to many of the West Coast islands.

This is the current CalMac Network of ferries.

We have visited the Isle of Arran for nigh on twenty years now, and the first CalMac ferry we sailed on was called the Isle of Arran.

The MV Isle of Arran

As passenger numbers grew, and particularly during the Summer Months a second smaller ferry was introduced to run between the Isle of Arran sailings, but eventually a newer larger boat was introduced to the Ardrossan - Brodick run. This is the Caledonian Isles.