Better than working

It's Mr L's birthday so we went for a morning walk at Flotterstone, just outside the city.

The gorse is such a splash of colour, though very prickly.

Broom, behind this red campion, is much kinder to the hands.

The birthday boy was trying out his fancy new camera. He does like a gadget. I'm sure he took much better photos than I did.

 But everything looked pretty - till - shock, horror -

we reached the reservoir. It looked like this (above) - while it usually looks... like that (below). Coincidentally, I seem to have taken a picture of much the same view, the last time that we walked there.

And the view above (today) is from much the same position as this one to the right (not today). They seem to be working on the dam and have allowed much of the water to drain away. Since this reservoir is where Edinburgh gets its supplies, I trust that they'll get it fixed soon!

This part was prettier - you could almost convince yourself that it was a beach. But it's usually covered in water.

There were drifts of Spanish bluebells. It's a pity that they're a pernicious weed, since they do look lovely.

 Then we had lunch at the Flotterstone Inn. Happy Birthday, Mr L!