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Adventures with Ensuite Adventure travel blog - information and ideas for travel to off the beaten path destinations in sty

We are spending two nights on Rum in the One of the most fascinating sights in Rum is Kinloch Castle which was built b...
25/06/2023

We are spending two nights on Rum in the One of the most fascinating sights in Rum is Kinloch Castle which was built by the Bulloughs in 1900. You wouldn’t imagine such a magnificent building on such a small island. Unfortunately Kinloch Castle’s doors were locked in 2015 due to lack of funding and we understand a recent potential sale has just fallen though. Peering through the windows you could be forgiving for thinking the Gallery of the Castle Hall had been frozen in time from its hay day in the early 1900s but sadly if you look closer you can see that many of the furnishings are moth ridden and starting to decay. It’s a great pity to see such a magnificent building literally rotting away in plain sight.

We visited Vallay today, an uninhabited island which is only accessible across a tidal beach a couple of hours either si...
22/06/2023

We visited Vallay today, an uninhabited island which is only accessible across a tidal beach a couple of hours either side of low tide. On the island there is a house which has been derelict since 1940 and it reminded us of the film The Woman in Black. The walk takes about 30 minutes each way and it’s worth wearing some good, waterproof boots since what looks dry sand from the shoreline is actually potted with small pools a couple of inches deep

We’re back in the staying on and decided to visit with In true Hebrides spirit the day started off pouring with ...
20/06/2023

We’re back in the staying on and decided to visit with In true Hebrides spirit the day started off pouring with rain but during the trip from to Mingulay the sun came out and it was blue skies for the rest of the trip. Of course the highlight of any trip to Mingulay is being able to spend a couple of hours at the puffin colonies. It was fascinating watching these beautiful birds (crash) landing outside their burrows with mouths full of sand eels. Other wildlife spotted was a pod of bottlenose dolphins, white tailed eagle and grey seals. As you can see from the photos each side of the island is completely different in terms of landscape.

We made it to the summit of but the weather didn’t play ball. There were close to gale force winds during the 2.30 am ...
16/05/2023

We made it to the summit of but the weather didn’t play ball. There were close to gale force winds during the 2.30 am climb which made the final ascent very challenging. We managed to see a faint sunrise before the clouds parted on the way down to reveal some nice vistas of the volcanic lake below. My thighs certainly felt the 1,200 metre ascent and 2,700 metre decent in a single day!

We just had to try in since there are not many other places in the world (if any) where you can have dinner inside a...
16/05/2023

We just had to try in since there are not many other places in the world (if any) where you can have dinner inside a 260 million year old limestone cavern. The experience was just as magical as we had hoped it would be and the tasting menu was pretty decent as well. Otherwise the main attraction of Ipoh were the cave temples. We found the old town very touristy and a little disappointing.

The releasing of one special green sea turtle on after visiting the It’s amazing how they instinctively know in what...
07/05/2023

The releasing of one special green sea turtle on after visiting the It’s amazing how they instinctively know in what direction to swim once released. After being quite calm on being removed from the nursery pool it started to get excited as soon as it sensed the sea. Hopefully this one makes it to adulthood but unfortunately the odds are against it with only around 0.1% of eggs making it to adult turtle 🤞🐢

No filters needed for where we spent 5 days on a diving and snorkelling live-aboard trip. We saw a variety of interest...
03/05/2023

No filters needed for where we spent 5 days on a diving and snorkelling live-aboard trip. We saw a variety of interesting sea life including lots of inquisitive manta rays (one female with a 5 metre wing span), a shark ray, black and white tip reef sharks and even a dugong (sea cow)! And of course what trip to Komodo National Park would be complete without visiting the famous which can be found on five of the islands. This one showed a little too much interest in the photographer - they may seem docile but are very intelligent and like crocodiles they can move extremely fast to grab their prey 🦎🐉 🦈

Norway can be at its most beautiful during the winter. The cold weather brings out amazing colours. It got to -23.5 toda...
28/12/2022

Norway can be at its most beautiful during the winter. The cold weather brings out amazing colours. It got to -23.5 today but people were still out cross country skiing. Better to keep moving in these temperatures - or be inside in front of a fire ⛷ 🔥

The view from Grootberg Lodge is pretty spectacular, worth a night’s stay or a stop for lunch just to appreciate it. The...
22/11/2022

The view from Grootberg Lodge is pretty spectacular, worth a night’s stay or a stop for lunch just to appreciate it. There is a local leopard which hunts close to the lodge but we were not lucky enough to see it in the flesh but saw plenty of its dropping on the trails around the lodge. I suppose the saying ‘I didn’t see a leopard but a leopard saw me’ might well have been true in this case

We just received the photos that our guide took during our trip with Pelican Point Kayaking. It was an incredible experi...
21/11/2022

We just received the photos that our guide took during our trip with Pelican Point Kayaking. It was an incredible experience to have the cape fur seals approach us and clearly enjoy the interaction. Lots of nibbling of our paddles, splashing us with flippers, but best of all was when a few hopped onto the back of the kayak for a ride - maybe they knew a great white shark was in the area and wanted to make sure we were all fair game 😆

Today we were at Sossusvlei where the most famous photos of Namibia are taken. We were looking forward to seeing the see...
20/11/2022

Today we were at Sossusvlei where the most famous photos of Namibia are taken. We were looking forward to seeing the seemingly petrified trees of Deadvlei and climbing the 325m high sand dune called Big Daddy. We set out from our hotel in Sesriem at 6 am for the 60 km, one hour drive in order to beat the heat (it got to nearly 40 degrees today) and most of the tour groups. You need a decent 4x4 to make the last couple of km through the sand to the main car park at Soussusvlei. Sand driving can be a lot of fun! Big Daddy is a tiring climb but the views from the top are worth it. The trees at Deadvlei also make for a haunting photo. However as we descended from Big Daddy we ran into the hoards of tourists which we had so far managed to completely avoid in Namibia. Coach parties of American and German tour groups and gap year kids who just wanted to run down sand dunes. For us, this was enough to detract from the experience and today won’t be one of our favourite memories from Namibia. In fact sitting having dinner at our hotel, Dead Valley Lodge, with a wild oryx feeding right outside the restaurant will be the main memories we take away from here. For us, the beauty of Namibia has been the vast emptiness and constantly changing scenery (and lack of tour groups). There are not many countries where you can drive for 5 hours and only pass a couple of cars. Sossusvlei - you can take it or leave it, but you should probably take it if you have come all the way to Namibia and just try to Photoshop the tour groups out of your mind

We really enjoyed kayaking with the Cape Fur Seals near Walvis Bay, with a few young ones joining us onboard the kayak f...
19/11/2022

We really enjoyed kayaking with the Cape Fur Seals near Walvis Bay, with a few young ones joining us onboard the kayak for a ride! We only found out afterwards that great white sharks were active in the area, best to find that out after we finished the trip (Southern Africa and seals, it shouldn’t have been a surprise) 🦈 We have now just finished a 2 night desert trek which was magical. I don’t think we have been anywhere before with so little light pollution and only noise pollution the evening gecko song 🦎

We have spent a day in Swakopmund, Namibia’s adventure capital and, as can be seen from the photo, German colonial remna...
15/11/2022

We have spent a day in Swakopmund, Namibia’s adventure capital and, as can be seen from the photo, German colonial remnant. We decided not to do the typical quad biking over the dunes, helicopter ride or skydiving. We spent the day wandering around the town centre which we can only describe as partly Germanic-partly Californian coastal town (think Carmel-by-the-Sea). However we really enjoyed it. It had a lovely feel with lots of nice shops, cafes and restaurants with wild pearl Guinea fowl grazing in most of the green spaces. Tomorrow we are going kayaking with the Cape Fur Seals - hopefully they will be less cantankerous in the water than they are on land! 🦭

Today we drove through the Skeleton Coast National Park. The first photo is only the skeleton of a ship, one of many whi...
14/11/2022

Today we drove through the Skeleton Coast National Park. The first photo is only the skeleton of a ship, one of many which have foundered along the coast over the years. We also visited a huge colony of Cape Fur Seals which seemed to be the only animals which could survive on land in such a desolate environment

Continuing our holiday in Namibia and the last two nights at Camp Kipwe certainly lived up to expectations. On the way f...
13/11/2022

Continuing our holiday in Namibia and the last two nights at Camp Kipwe certainly lived up to expectations. On the way from Grootberg Lodge we saw 6 giraffes and an elephant along the road which in a way was more special than seeing them inside a National park. At Camp Kipwe we did a tour to see some 6000 year old sandstone carvings - maybe the only place in the world where you can see a sandstone carving of a seal and penguin!

It gets hot in the early afternoon in Etosha National Park so we thought we’d find a nice shady tree to park under. Howe...
10/11/2022

It gets hot in the early afternoon in Etosha National Park so we thought we’d find a nice shady tree to park under. However we were a bit surprised to find 7 lions had had the same idea! It was a little surreal (and a bit nerve wracking) being 3 metres away with the windows down and only the two of us in our 4x4 🦁

Rather than our usual afternoons tea at Browns Hotel in London we thought we’d treat ourselves to something a bit differ...
06/11/2022

Rather than our usual afternoons tea at Browns Hotel in London we thought we’d treat ourselves to something a bit different this year 🦒 It’s our first day in and we’ve already had quite an unforgettable experience with some of the local wildlife. Tomorrow we’re off to and hope to see some more interesting animals 🐆 🦁 🦓 🐘

After the 5 hour ferry trip from Castlebay to Oban we decided to explore the small Isle of Kerrera. You can pretty much ...
05/06/2022

After the 5 hour ferry trip from Castlebay to Oban we decided to explore the small Isle of Kerrera. You can pretty much explore the whole island in 3 hours and there is a lovely circular walk which allows you to experience the two top tourist sites on the island - the cafe and the castle! A CalMac ferry runs every 30 minutes and takes less than 5 minutes to get there but only takes a maximum of 10 passengers at a time - not quite the Wonder of the Seas 😆

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