I’m sitting by the gas heater in my portable home/cabin in Appin Scotland watching ’27 Dresses’ on cable tv whilst typing this blog and painting my toenails.  How on earth did I get here?  Read on.

When we arrived in Dover on 1^st August we had no itinerary and no bookings apart from our first night in Newhaven.  I quickly got online and researched where we would go and what...

Have you been wondering what the Baigrie Family’s plans were for the next 5 months?  Me too!  Only in the last 3 days have we finally worked out what our plans would be after we return from Spain in October. Hold onto your hats because I have actually put it online for everyone to read. Here is our much awaited itinerary update for www.fourdotsonthemap.com

• 3^rdSeptember –...

4.30 am the alarm went off.  After a fitful sleep, no thanks to the wedding music until 1 am; we had to get ourselves up and organised for an early ferry from Larne, Ireland to Troon, Scotland.  I wanted to get the early ferry so we would arrive early for a full day in Scotland.  We were told that the ferry check-in would start at 5.15 am and stop at 6.30 am so we didn’t...

Thank you to all our avid readers, some we know and some we will never know.  I have received a number of enquiries over the last six months from advertising agencies and others seeking to be guest writers for our site.  For the record, www.fourdotsonthemap.com is not accepting any advertising at this time, unless Crocs, Lonely Planet or some other cool company I really...

We woke in one of the most beautiful locations in the world.  I even managed to get away whilst the boys were all still sleeping for a run on the beach.  To get to the beach you have to walk through a large grassy area and past the local herd of cows.  The last couple of times we’d gone to the beach they weren’t on the paths but this morning they were blocking both of the...

Our next hostel on the Irish YHA path was White Park Bay; I’m glad I got in and booked this place early.  It was only about 2 hours drive north of Donegal and we had to drive through Derry/Londonderry on the way.  As we came to Derry we decided to find a place to park and have a walk around.  We ate a quick sandwich in the carpark before setting out on foot to walk around...

It was lovely to have a sleep in and leisurely pack up our gear as we didn’t have to be out of the hostel in Cong until 10.30 am.  We had to search for a lost pot that accidently got left in the hostel kitchen and joined the ranks of the other 50 pots and pans and miscellaneous lids.  Steve found the pot and I returned to the kitchen to turn everything over to find the lid;...

We enjoyed breakfast in the Dublin YHA which is served in a renovated church which is linked to the hostel.  Inside it is like a super mini Hogwarts food hall! Maybe they offer a free breakfast to make up for the horrible showers and the fact that the place is a rabbit warren with stairs and corridors everywhere!  We had our glass of juice, teas/coffee, bowl of cereal and 2...

We woke after a rough night’s sleep to learn the French group had left – hooray!  The Spanish cyclists learnt that the French ate their oranges and we think they must have enjoyed our drinking yogurt; but the group was gone and that was the main thing. After a quiet breakfast we set off to find some fun in Cong.

As the weather was as good as it could possibly be, we headed...

Note:  I am not being paid by Crocs for this review. This is an independent thumbs up!

When I first came across Crocs I really wasn’t a fan.  I couldn’t understand what all the excitement was about and didn’t have any thought of buying any of those weird plastic shoes with holes.  But last year in good old Strongsville Ohio, the local Crocs shop had a buy 2 pairs get one...