Well, the plan was to leave Uruguay, go to Ireland for a month, then spend the second half of August in Belgium looking for a place to live before getting on with Real Life from 1 September. So what on earth am I doing in Iona?

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Touring Scotland seemed a way more attractive alternative to Belgian house-hunting...so we headed to Edinburgh, a place I know well - but I'd never been there at Fringe Festival time, so I thoroughly enjoyed catching a few shows ('Vincent' and 'Reasonable Doubt' being two superb performances) - and of course meeting Writelink Stephanie was a highlight.

Then, having dumped excess luggage with our son, we went off to Galloway, where friends from Edinburgh University days have a holiday cottage. The highlight there was climbing Cairnsmore of Carsphairn - at 797 metres almost as tall as Slieve Donard which we didn't get to climb in the Mournes. It was a misty, damp day, and I was definitely the least fit of the four of us, but what a great time we had.

After that it was a couple of days on Skye, and what an amazing place that is. Lots of long walks, rain, sun, beaches, and extremely early dinners (some places close at 7.30 p.m.!) and gorgeous views.

On to a couple of days on Mull, more walks, hidden villages from highland clearance times, plenty more rain and a little sun, and soon we were dumping the car with most of the luggage at Fionnphort and on the ferry to Iona, which must be the most peaceful and energy-filled place in the world. Yesterday we toured the Abbey and thought about St Columba and how nasty the Vikings were, and had a fantastic sun-embraced walk on the beach.

Next stop? Well, in fierce, wild rain, with a teeny backpack, we piled onto a boat today and headed to the rocky island of Staffa, which is the other end of the North Antrim coast's Giant's Causeway - same hexagonal basalt columns. We didn't see puffins as it's the wrong season (How puffins can tell the difference between summer and winter out here i can't imagine) but we saw all sorts of seabirds - guillemots and skui and all sorts of things I can't spell or remember, and seals and dolphins. I am still rocking with the motion of the boat...perhaps it was fortunate that it was too rough for us to dock on Staffa...or we might have just been tempted to stay there - or move even further west - and never got on with Real Life!

And this evening I had a yoga session in the village hall...dressed in a pink T-shirt and my purple pyjama bottoms because I'd left my yoga kit in the car on Mull...yoga on Iona - how Yogic/Ionic can you get?