Hi, Celeste was off work last Monday and the weather was nice, so I decided to take her to Newtonmore I have been wanting to visit the Highland Folk Museum for some time and that is where we headed.
On arrival we were told that we were better to start by walking down the road to the right, this would be a ten minute walk to the oldest part, the 17th century village. I was keen to see this, but knew, what they called a ten minute walk, I would take at least half an hour, this of course is because of my COPD, Asthma and Chronic Osteoarthritis. The track was undulating, this didn’t help, Celeste kept asking if I wanted to go back, that was the last thing I wanted, I was determined to see the Black Houses.
A good while later we arrived at the pig pen and could see the roofs of the village up above us, this meant the last bit was a pretty steep climb, I was breathless and my back was aching, but I wasn’t going to give up so close to the target, on I struggled and was so happy when we reached the village. There was benches all round the area, I was so happy to sit down.
After going round the village we set of down the hill again. We got down to the pig pen again and I was thinking I made a big mistake coming out this far, I really couldn’t face the walk back, but wait what is that noise coming from just over the first hill? We stopped where we were and awaited the cause of the noise, the next thing we saw was a tractor, pulling a trailer with seating, heading towards us, what a relief!
We didn’t know about this transport, but it took us to the very far end of the site, my only complaint would be that the wooden seats could have done with cushioning, saved my chest, but made my back worse, still it gave us the chance to see a bit more than we expected.
The bright weather enabled me to keep the camera on iso 100, interiors were shot using my cheap flash, it is good, I just need more practice to get the best out of it. The flash is a Neewer, a fraction of the cost of a Canon.
Thanks for dropping in, take care.
My Blog hopespringseternal 
Nice photos. Did you take one of the tractor? I am rather curious.
Sorry, no photo of the tractor, just grateful it came along
My goodness! What a feat of endurance that must have been! I hope you didn’t suffer too much the next day.
I love these living museums! They give such a clear idea of what life was like in the past. We have a similar village near us in Suffolk at West Stow and that is set up as a Saxon village.
I love the house with its reed-thatched roof.
I was fine the next day, although sore at the time, the exercise frees up my back and sitting having a coffee before the drive home settles my chest. We will have to visit Suffolk at some point, we are going to Bristol in November, bit far across the country though.
Yes I agree, it is a long journey. I visited a friend in Devon last week – I went by train and was travelling for nearly seven hours. It might not have taken quite so long by car but it would have been very tiring. It used to take us six hours to drive here from Somerset.
The journey to Bristol would have been 8 to 10 hours, but we won’t be going now, Celeste’s mother died last night and she now has to go to the Philippines for the funeral. I will be staying at home as the heat and pollution would not suit my condition. I won’t be mentioning it in my blog until Celeste returns, she doesn’t want her friends to know she is there as she wants to concentrate on her family.