Escaped

Highland Games

This weekend was the world famous Highland games in Halkirk.  I must not have been around last year because I did not make it, but this year we had a tent and I was 'working' from 1 to 3.

The weather was glorious and hot by Highland standards.  The games are a bit like a fair with track and field events...in a kilt.  

Everything is set up in a big circle and then there are multiple activities going on inside that circle.  Depending on what you are interested in, you park yourself in that general direction.

There were pipe bands about every 30 minutes that made the circle and when they were finished they came out a bit red faced.

I suspect Thurso Pipe band rarely gets to wear their short sleeved shirts

There is a strong man competition going on the entire games, and they do a variety of activities.  Guys from all over the world come for this.  I was really hoping to see them toss the giant wooden posts, but they were doing the ball and chain the whole time I was there.  One guy even went for the world record - he didn't get it.

There are also gorgeous young girls dancing away to a single piper.  They do these dances as singles, doubles and in groups.  It is very energetic, but not cheerful dancing.

When the pipe bands aren't going around the circle, they are having bike races.  These guys are on street bikes with street tires, and the goal is speed.  I was told the locals prefer this part of the games to be done in the wet, as that makes it more exciting.  Everyone stayed on their bikes when I was watching.

After several hours, I gathered my things and bought some Highland raspberries and strawberries and went home to walk the dogs.  I know most have you have eaten raspberries and you may think you know what they are supposed to taste like, but I tell you - and I'm a bit sad for you - you have no idea because Halkirk raspberries are amazing!

Lifeboat Fair

This weekend was the lifeboat fund raiser.  Bo and Leslie had everything organized and added a few more games this year, including a cake walk - this required lots of explanation as there is apparently not UK equivalent.

As we were packing up, someone came over and told me they had just called my name, so up to the stage I went.  It seems I have won the drawing.  

Being that the prize was perishable, I had to leave immediately and miss packing everything up - boohoo.

Almost felt bad hacking up such a gorgeous fish

The 3 of us ate very well that night - Thatcher did a chase his tail in anticipation.

Week 1+

I received a lot of non-blog communications this week about my new 'diet.'  There seems to be a lot of concern that I am not getting enough to eat.  In the interest of those concerned about my stomach, let me say, I am probably getting far more nutrition.

Prior to the retreat, the vast majority of my daily calories came from wine, cheese, yogurt, and Haribo tangtastics - extra sour gummies.  All of these are now off limits because of yeast, yeast, yeast, and sugar/citric acid.  When you see it written like this, I imagine you might think - this is not the diet of a grown woman and you would not be wrong.

Now, I have to plan my meals and go to the grocery store regularly because the food I 'can' eat doesn't last forever.  The new meals I eat, I generally like and I don't feel deprived.

Weekday breakfast: Organic Scottish oats made with almond milk, topped with pomegranate seeds, nectarines, and toasted pecans

For lunches at work, I having been having a frittata with a side salad of arugula and tomatoes.  Snacks involve apples, cashews and coconut.  Doesn't sound too bad, right?

Dinner has mostly been salads with fish and vegetables.  No dressing is not as big of a deal as I thought it would be.  I have been using herbs and good olive oil.

Salmon with tarragon, arugula and tomatoes and sweet potato hash

I don't eat much bread so I really haven't missed it, but I have tried some new recipes for the fun of it including banana cookies with oatmeal and oatmeal bars.  Oatmeal bars didn't even make it into a storage bag and took the fast track to the bin.  

Banana cookies lasted for a few days, but then I decided they were gross - its the sugar substitute that always gets me - yuck!  So I branched out and made up my own recipe for biscuits this morning, and I'd have to say they were better than 'normal' biscuits - so crispy on the outside and tender inside with a nutty flavor from the spelt.

Weekend breakfast: Scottish smoked salmon, scrambled eggs with dill, spelt biscuits made with ghee and oatmeal 'cream'

So, you might wonder how I must be feeling.  I cannot tell a lie, I feel awful.  I am so tired.  When I do any sort of physical activity - like walking up the stairs at work, I get that my-muscles-have-no-oxygen feeling.  I have lost an 1 inch around my waist and a half inch around my thighs, which I assume is water because let's face it - that is the only thing you can lose in 2 weeks.

I checked with Gill and she is feeling amazing and completely full of energy. I am puzzled by this as I am clearly getting far more true nutrients then before, but I will continue.

Why some of you might ask - well I say, why not.  It's only 4 weeks, and the worst thing that can happen is I feel no different and then I go back to my naughty ways.

out into the world

Off to breakfast and it was 'what is left' morning.  We had been paying attention when this was explained to us the previous night and were there a bit early to ensure we got the last of the porridge - we did.

Finished up packing and then the first batch was off the the airport - this included Gill and I.  The drive was easy, and Gill was wonderfully chatty, which was good because I am petty much covered on arms and back with a really nasty painful rash.  This started on my back after the Quorn incident and has just gotten worse.  I finally have to take my watch off because my skin is so swollen and painful; it was like all of Snow Whites dwarves were snapping me with rubber bands. 

Through security, we do our duty free shopping - reading labels on everything food related.  I know I can't wait until London to eat so we start browsing our food choices.  Gill has just decided what she wants and realises her gate is called.  Once she get settled, I go back and look at the salads - all of them have tuna so I say what the heck and grab a crusty baguette with Serrano ham.  It was delicious, but I would have a headache by the time I land in London.

We say our final goodbyes, remind each other we are going to be together in 9 weeks and we are off.  My flight is easy as I'd gone ahead and purchased an exit row and had a seat between me and a really nice quiet guy.  I had done some research on how to get from Luton to London; I could go bus or train.  If I chose train, then I'd need to take the shuttle bus to the station. 

Though immigration, which took a really long time because I had a trainee, I grab my bag and go into the terminal.  It is pretty much a mad house and there are long lines in front of the bus and train desks and the automatic machines are broken.  I make a half-hearted attempt to wait in line and then get bored and go outside.

I see a bus that says Luton Rail station so I go over and ask if I can buy a ticket on the bus and the nice lady say you can buy it at the next stop, so on I go - feeling a bit clever.  We drive through Luton and about 10 minutes later, we stop in an alley that is not a rail station and get dumped off.  She says the bus to London is behind me - there is no rail station to be seen.

I buy a ticket on the next bus, which causes the driver to curse and reboot his machine.  Calling his supervisor over to ball him out and say why don't you ever take care of us - I have reported these bleeping machines....  Soonish, we are on our way to London.

About an hour later, I start to recognise things.  I had planned to go to Victoria Station and then tube to Euston so I could check my bag, but I figured that would take at least another hour, so I got off at Marble Arch and walked to Selfridges.  I tried to get my eyebrows done, but they were booked and called a store down the street for me.  After visiting the pharmacist for Benadryl and B complex without yeast, I headed down there and got my eyebrows threaded.

I then keep moving down Oxford Street hitting Boots and then Liberty to pick up supplies. I am dragging my wheelie bag and have my backpack on.  It is a wonderful summer day in London, and it's very busy. I take a few people out and run over an old guy's foot with my wheelie bag.

Around 7, I hit a favourite Thai place and have some of my favourites.  The food was good, but there was a bit too much of it and my lungs immediately filled with mucus.  I ate it anyway because I was hungry, and I am realising that eating out with these restrictions may not be possible, particularly with a sauce involved.

After dinner, I continue heading west, I had to decided whether I was going to take the tube.  When I got the the station, I decided to just keep walking.  I wasn't uncomfortable, and it was a beautiful evening.  All the parks where filled with people on blankets having their dinner and talking.

Arriving at the station, grabbed some fruit and water and got on the train, found my berth and settled into bed.  I woke up just before Aviemore and had some green tea, cleaned up and watched the beautiful country go by - we pulled into Inverness at 0830.  

I had smoked salmon and eggs - no toast, dreaded white flour; did some shopping at the health food store - citric acid is in everything - and then I drove back to 

Thurso.  After I unpacked, I went through the kitchen and removed everything with citrus, yeast or fermentation, which basically is anything prepared and in a jar.  My kitchen was quite bare.

through the looking glass

This is it; our last full day.  After more puffy rice, we headed to the mountains for a 5 mile hike.  The scenery was amazing and even though it was hot, there was a breeze and halfway through a sea mist started in, which cooled things off quite a bit.  

The mountain we went to is the same one where Calpe Rock came from in the landslide.  The geography is quite spectacular.  Wild herbs grow everywhere - lavender, thyme, rosemary, bay trees, which makes everything smell amazing.  Our 'guides' are the husbands of the two organizers, who have their own holiday businesses - yoga/pilates and bootcamp.  They only work together 4 times per year when they do this holiday.

Most of the people that work the holiday are expats that left a whole other life behind to start again in Spain.  I found this all very interesting.

Up the hill we went, stopping at a small church that was locked up tight. Don't worry though, I took a picture through the keyhole so you could see what it's like.

The guys knew a lot about the area and pointed out all the different neighbourhoods - like the area that was given to Hitler and is now almost exclusively inhabited by Germans.  There were also the little lookouts scattered along the hills that were used to spot pirates.

It was a fantastic hike and I wouldn't have missed it.  Back at the hotel, we picked at a salad they had clearly packed for us at least 2 days before - with dressing - indelible.  Since there was cloud cover, I spent an hour by the pool and then I went to my food intolerance session.

Almost everyone had done this and the conversation at dinner was always along the lines of how were you going to go on without wheat/wine/yogurt .  I was fairly proud of myself that I offered up my finger and let her test away because we all know I was probably not going to like the answer.

Food intolerance doesn't mean you are allergic to it.  It means your body doesn't like it and generally thinks you shouldn't eat it.  Headaches, snottiness, gut ache, bloating and water retention are all consequence of food intolerance.   So she had this little box of things you reacted negatively to and my box was full before she was halfway.  

Brace yourself Teddybear, but list is: all citrus (lemons, limes, oranges, and grapefruit); cocoa (knew that); MSG; mould (knew that); yeast (including the yeast my body produces); mushrooms (suspected this); yogurt; all cheese; vinegar; and all alcohol (except for rubbing alcohol).  

So when you think about that - its pretty horrifying.  Because yeast is in everything.  Also tested for very low B vitamins; which come from yeast!  Without lemons and vinegar, the lovely salads I eat every night will cease to exist.  Major sigh...

So what they recommend is you eliminate everything for 4 weeks and then reintroduce one thing at a time.  You eat a bunch of it on day 1 and if you are okay, you eat it again on day 2. Because you haven't eat it in 4 weeks, your 'reaction' should be more noticeable.  It might be okay for a couple of reasons - your body was just feeling unhappy about the food at the time and it's actually okay or other intolerances were so great that it was making you intolerant of things that are okay - so if you eliminate those then you can have it.

Once you know if it is a real intolerance, you have 3 choices: don't eat it; eat it in moderation every 4 or 5 days; just eat it and except that your body doesn't like it.

I went back to my room and showered and packed.  Then I headed off to my last treatment - a Chavuti massage, which is done with the therapists foot will she hangs on a tripod over you.  It was absolutely amazing - best massage ever.  Unfortunately, this meant I missed the last Pilates session - boohoo.

Dinner was chicken shish kabob with butternut squash and cabbage; our soup was curry vegetable (most likely left over from the other night).  It was good.  The 2 Amercians left right after dinner to fly to London and then on to the US in order to get back to celebrate the 4th.  Most of the others went down to the beach for a glass of Sangria.  

Gill and I stayed up and chatted with the sisters we liked, and then headed off to bed.  Tomorrow, we head home and have to decide whether we are going to make any lifestyle changes.

they fed us quorn!

Fruit salad and puffed rice for breakfast - it was okay.  Circuit training again this morning - it was hard and hot this morning.  Gill legs feel like lead, but we got through it and climbed the hill for lunch, which was disgusting. 

They fed us Quorn! If you don't know what that is, it is a processed chicken substitute.  It's nasty, even vegetations think it's nasty.   It made with something they call mycoprotein, which is actually mold - not quite fungi.  Our starter was a fruit salad, and it was lovely.  

After lunch I had reflexology, which is a therapy, not a massage.  It's basically acupuncture for people that are afraid of needles.  The premise is your feet have a map of the human body on it, and if there is a place where it hurts, then that means you are out of balance, and they need to press harder to make it hurt more.  Apparently, my kidneys, spleen, pancreas, and adrenal gland need some detoxification.  It is also possible I may be suffering for some sort of deep rooted trauma. This is where she lost me I must admit.  She was very nice.  It was unpleasant at times, but not horribly so.  

A small break after reflexology where I realised I am not flying back to Gatwick, but instead am flying into Luton airport.  I don't even know where that is and there seems to be no direct connection to the center of London. Argh!

After my small set back, I went for my sport massage.  It was very good and as I have spent so much time with Clair, we had a good chat. She worked on my leg and after all of this exercise I was in need.  

We had our last yoga session before dinner, and it was much harder than the other two and caused a lot of complaining.  I loved it!  I learned a whole new balance pose.

Dinner was a complete fiasco.  We had a strange green soup that was highly acidic.  I ate it and everyone else did as well, but we agreed it was not our favourite, considering we have had some amazing soups.  As dinners came out, someone said what is it and I said sort flippantly, if its Quorn I'll scream, and the server looked stricken and said, it is.  

This kicked off a rebellion at the other table, as we had even promised fresh - not processed - food.  They made me an omelet and most of the other table an omelet.  My table ate it and said it was very good.  They even tried to talk the servers into handing out the uneaten peppers, but they would not.  We found out the next day it was in fact not Quorn and instead was soy mince - which lets face it is only slightly better.

After dinner, Gill and I skipped the doctor that was talking about hormones and went and had our chat.  Gill came over to mine and I thought that was weird until I remembered that she had run out of toilet paper.

eggs for breakfast!

We had eggs for breakfast!  There was some raw spinach and a roasted tomato, and it was very good.  We headed down to the beach for another circuit training session.  She set up different stations then yesterday, and the intervals were a bit longer.  It was hotter than yesterday but there was a good breeze.  It was still hot and sweaty work.  The personal trainer is on to the fact that I am lazy and she tried to 'encourage' me.  Unfortunately, I know this is not our only activity today, and I am pacing myself.  

After circuits, one of the organisers and her husband drove us into town to a tea shop.  She'd told us about this tea shop and when several expressed interest, she organized it and I thought that was very nice.  Gill wasn't all that interested, but then she realised that if she went, she wouldn't have to spend 15 minutes walking up hill to our resort.

The tea shop was amazing.  The guy was incredibly patient and pulled canister after canister down from the shelf for us to smell.  There were lots of purchases made by all of us.  

We headed back for lunch, and it was the most amazing, and garlicky, gazpacho and a salad with tuna on it - disgusting.  I managed to stay at the table, but the smell was horrible.  Gill and Suzy split my tuna, and the salad that had been contaminated by it.  Suzy is a very funny Amercian from Washington DC that seems to have a phobia of hitting hands during yoga, which causes her to constantly adjust her yoga mat.

After lunch, I had an anti-ageing facial with Spanish all natural products.  Facial was good, but she basically told me I had bad skin, oh excuse me, bad, saggy skin.  It was still a good facial.  I had just settle in on my balcony when I noticed everyone heading over to the chill out room.  When I checked the schedule, I realised that it was time for our style coach.

She was lovely, and I was so proud of Gill when she raised he hand to volunteer to have her colours done.  The night before, I had told our table this story of Gill having her colours done in Edinburgh where she was informed that she had NO colors.  I have told this story MANY times, and I always react in the same way as when it originally happened in that I laughed until my sides hurt and I have tears running down my face.  Even though this story is a bit at Gill's expense, she always has the same reaction, which amazed our fellow retreatees, particularly when they heard it had happened over 6 year ago.

FYI: Gill's an Autumn. This was a huge success and resulted in many people signing up for a one-to-one session.  One gal was totally traumatised when she was told she couldn't and shouldn't wear black, apparently she doesn't own anything else.  When she protested that this should be a positive uplifting experience, the coach said well you have nice hair.

We had Pilates before dinner, and I managed to do it without hyperventilating, but this is because I did my yoga breathing - not Pilates breathing. I got quite a bit of attention from the instructor.  I hate Pilates.

Dinner was pea, mint, and courgette soup and vegetable curry.  This totally made up for the tuna fiasco.  There was supposed to be meditating after dinner, but Gill and I read magazines and talked, which is a good thing because everyone that went didn't sleep well and when they were sleeping, they had horrible nightmares.  So lesson learned, always choose meditation by Marie Clare.

  Our apartments with a tiny sliver of sea in the far background.

breathing and the sea and cheese

Day 2 and no issues with breakfast.  We had porridge today with some wicked sour berries on the top.  Maybe slightly less food discussion this morning, perhaps the nutritionist had scared us staight.  

Gill and I head down to the beach and stop at the grocery store on the way for laundry detergent.  We each got a peach that we could eat whenever we wanted.  Even though we were told everything would be closed on Sunday, the grocery store was open and everyone seemed to be buying baguettes - like 4 or 5 each.

This morning we had circuit training with a personal trainer - turns out she would also be doing my sport massage this afternoon.  There were 14 stations and we had to do a minute each.  Some were very hard and some were not so hard, but I was tired, hot and sweaty by the time we were done with two rounds.

Gill and I had been smart and wore our swim suits under our gear and we hopped into the ocean when we were done.  It was very cold and full of seaweed and grasses with strong waves.  We got tossed around and squealed with laughter; it was a good time.  

As we were heading back to the hotel, I explained that I was chafing on the bottom and Gill said she was chafing on the top.  She pulled down her top and it was full of seaweed and grass - we thought this was very funny.  But it was not as funny as getting in the shower and removing our suits to discover we had perfect seaweed/grass suits under our real suits.  

Shower and changed, we headed off to Pilates.  I have never really done Pilates, but I was up for it, lots to do with breathing and core strength - even more than yoga.  I got sort of concerned when half way through I realised my hands were numb and my face was tingly; I assume this meant I was taking the breathing a bit too seriously.  I kept on going all the while trying to figure out why this would happen.  Needless to say, I am not looking forward to my next two sessions...

Lunchtime and I thanked the baby Jesus when I saw that we were getting salads with a great big wheel of goats cheese with figs and beets.  This was after we had cold cucumber mint soup for starts.  I shouted Its Cheese! and everyone clapped.

The afternoon was the same as before with me staying out of the sun and Gill - and all the others - staying out of the sun. I had a sports massage, and it was very good. We had a good chat about the group, and she admitted that this holiday does tend to attract a different kind of group.  

Gill had a body composition test and food intolerance test with the nutritionist from the night before.  She had all kinds of gadgets to tell Gill how much water she was carrying from this toxic food she eats - evil flour.  She also told Gill she was intolerant to red wine, wheat, pork, black tea, and egg yolks.  Gill challenged her on the wheat and said you probably tell everyone that and she swore she didn't.  The good news is that Gill had NO intolerance to vegetables.

We did yoga before dinner, and it was good for me, but not good for Gill when the instructor tried to 'help' and ended up tweaking her back.  We all got an apology for her being so dismissive of our hunger the day before as she hadn't realised we hadn't eaten for 8 hours - she acknowledged the hunger was not in our mind, and we must have just been hungry.

Dinner was salmon, quinoa, asparagus and cabbage.  My salmon was slightly overdone, but it was still good and I believe that I have seen our portions not quite double in size.  After dinner was the mind coach and I had every intention of going, but after I changed out of my Pilates gear, it had been going for 15 minutes so I decided to skip it.  Unfortunately, Gill decided to go, and it was not good and one of our fellow campers had a meltdown.  I found this funny (not the the camper had a meltdown, as that's not funny) and was very pleased Gill came a regaled me with the good fortunate of my choice not to go while I drank my nightly glass of wine.