Fresh air and exercise

We drove up to Drumnadrochit on Friday, skirting the banks of Loch Ness (alas, no monster emerged, dripping, from the depths, shaking the water from its scaly humps) and met up with the others at the hostel. This was hugely more civilised than hostels were when we were young. Mr L and I had an ensuite double room - with a bath, o joy - rather than the single-sex dorms that I remember.

Then we walked most of Saturday in very pleasant weather, pausing at viewpoints (above),

walking through woods,

admiring sheep peacefully grazing, until we came to our destination -

- this waterfall. It amused me that, after plodding for six miles up and down hills, we all inspected the waterfall, said "Ah yes" or equivalent and sat down to eat our sandwiches. Because of course the destination wasn't really the point. The walking and the chats were the point.

Then we set off again

past more fields of sheep,

through this rather floral village, and back to the hostel.

The next day we walked along the canal and then the river at Inverness.

After that Mr L and I had a little detour to admire Inverness Botanic Gardens, which are tiny but pretty.

Then we drove home through the hills, which were purple with heather.

It was a lovely weekend in such good company. And when we get weather like this, with the sunlight making the colours glow in the clear air, it's hard to imagine a better place to live than Scotland. Though I may be biased.