The missives are being sent out!

Which means that we are about to make a formal offer for the plot and the croft at 5 Fernilea. 
Discussions and negotiations have gone back and forth over the last 10 days and have finally concluded with a draft missive that we have now agreed.
So we have had an offer accepted for the house plot and made a separate offer for the croftland. Both have been discussed informally so now it just the "proper Scottish legal terms" bit.
A proposed completion date of late September for the house site depending on the planning permission being renewed by the seller. The assignation of the croft will take longer as we (or at least our solicitor) will need to involve the Crofters Commission. We will only purchase the croft if the sale of the house site is agreed - just to be sure that we don't end up owning six acres of land with nowhere to live! 
The sellers have 14 days to respond to a 7 page letter setting out our conditions of purchase. I'm sure it's not this simple in England. Everything is done through the solicitor and dates are clearly set out so you know very quickly if there is going to be a problem.
Mary is sending us a draft contract for the house design, build project and project management. Assuming we are happy with that, then we may proceed.


Meanwhile we have been continuing the get fit theme with an average weekly mileage of between 25 and 30 miles walking, most of that with full packs.
As part of the on-going theme of achieving the "to do" list we are considering whether we might be sufficiently fit to tackle the coast to coast walk which is 190 miles and takes in the Lake District and parts of Yorkshire, along with a boring bit in the middle. Logistics including washing (clothing) and lunches are taking up a fair bit of thinking at the moment. How do you wear clean, fresh clothes for each day's walking without taking a very large and heavy case of clothes as back up?  The research continues. Even more important is the matter of eating lunch each day - who does the sandwiches? Will they be of a suitable quality? What if the pie shop is closed or sold out? 
This week we walked on three consecutive days just to see if we could. Answer - yes and we slept well into the bargain.  Will need to increase the distance but won't be driving for a couple of hours each day so seems viable.

Highlights of this week's walks included a satisfyingly quick time for the canal walk to Tiverton; a hot and sunny climb through Willsworthy range to Hare Tor on Dartmoor then back along Tavy Cleave where we battled with the "path" that was obliterated by a selection of rocks, heather, bog and hidden holes that trapped you just when you thought it was safe to move! Also saw a collection of lizards, small unidentified snakes and a baby adder basking in the sun - all of the above enjoying the sun amongst the aforementioned heather and rocks. Finally the coast walk from Exmouth to  Budleigh and back taking in the delights of Devon Cliffs Holiday Park (heaving with visitors), marines firing on the range adjacent to Devon Cliffs Holiday Park and the glorious view back along the coast to Budleigh which looked like somewhere in the Med. All of this with only a few spots of rain and plenty of sun.


Back to the chores and house tidying / packing for a couple of days then we will be off out again.
Planning to visit Jacqueline and Ian in Wales next week for a few days. Will be visiting the plot they are buying as we have only seen photos so far. Hope we might get in a walk or two while we are there - we have only done a little walking in Snowdonia this year and it would be good to reacquaint ourselves with the Welsh hills.

There will be little to report for a couple of weeks so will sign off for now although I may update from Wales as we get out and about.