My second summer holiday happened at the height of the heatwave, a couple of weeks ago. Lucky for me, everyone came to Helensburgh so I didn’t have to pack or travel, just spend a lot of time sitting in a bakingly hot car, eating ice cream and talking about hot it was (it was hotter than Miami and Rio one day!). Here’s a few photos of what we got up to.
Finlaystone Country Estate
I spend a lot of time looking across the Clyde at Port Glasgow and Greenock so it was fun to look back from the other side! Helensburgh is just out of view on the left behind the peninsula. There are lots of walks on the estate but we mostly checked out the walled garden, which had lots of flowering trees, perfect roses and a vegetable garden. It also had a ton of Pokestops and gyms, so I had a great time.
Loch Lomond
It was so hot later that we came back by Loch Lomond and had a bit of a paddle at Balmaha. I bashed my arm really hard on a rock and was black and blue and green and yellow for ages. It’s still a bit sore and bruised in spots. Totally worth it though, as the water was nice and cool and the views were perfect. It has made me realise I should really get out and about Loch Lomond more often – it isn’t as easy with public transport but it’s all so close.
Red Sky Bar
We wisely spent much of the hottest day indoors in nice air-conditioned shopping centres – I got some fun stuff at IKEA that I will share soon. We did venture out to check out the Sky Bar at the new Radisson Red hotel, which has really cool views – and the drinks and food were good too. Getting there was horrific though – we walked across from the Science Centre (the curved building on the top left) and back in blazing 32C sunshine. Not fun.
We also just hung around in Helensburgh a lot and were treated to this perfect 10pm sunset with a huge moon. My dad helped me with some home improvements and brought down some prototypes for a product we’re working on together. It’s all looking so cute! I can’t wait to show you – hopefully later this month.
And of course, we indulged in the very British pastime of waving at trains. I love this photo so much. The heatwave is just about over but I hope we get some more sunny spells so I can fit in another little holiday before Japan.