To and fro

Unusually, we've been up north three days running. On Wednesday we drove up to 

visit Son and the Unbloggables near Dundee, which was lovely. The Unb. grandchildren are very sweet. I just wish they lived nearer. 

Then yesterday was my birthday. (Happy Independence Day, Americans. Are you doing ok? - not sure we are on this side of the pond, but we've had an election so let's see if the new lot can improve things. As for your election, hmm). 

The family are a) visiting in-laws down south or b) in their usual places of residence, so we took ourselves up on the train to look at the new museum in Perth. It was very impressive. We saw the Stone of Destiny (very important for Scottish people, though admittedly just a lump of sandstone) and various other interesting and astonishingly old things. They had an exhibition on unicorns in folklore and art, with exhibits such as this - a bestiary made in the 1100s. It's amazing how well it's survived, don't you think? What of our age will survive that long, I wonder?  

And look at this ceramic cooking pot from 1000ish. 1000! William the Conqueror could have had his soup out of that. I mean, it might have been 66 by then, but it's 1024 now. So at a mere 66 it would probably have been in working order.  

Today we again got on the train and this time went to Dunblane, childhood home of Andy Murray. The purpose was to recce a walk for the walking gang. We're not leading it till September (well, Mr L leads it really; I have very little sense of direction) but we were trying to get ahead of ourselves. This walk featured in a newspaper some time ago and it looked promising. 

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However, it wasn't. A lot of it was up this narrow path, with grasses sometimes above my head, and a rocky, muddy, slippery surface which made it hard to keep one's feet. There were many parts at which breaking an ankle seemed all too feasible, and it would have been very tedious for the ambulance men to have to struggle along this path with a stretcher, particularly if I'd been on it. And as well as that, single file isn't really good for walking in a group, when the whole point is to chat the miles away. 

There were nice open bits to the walk as well -

but on the whole - no. The plan had been to walk to Bridge of Allan and then, with minor variations, back along the path again to Dunblane, but by the time we got to Bridge of Allan we'd had enough and just got the train home from there. So though it wasn't an unenjoyable day, we're going to have to find a different walk for the group - which is a bit tedious, but hey ho, it was exercise and fresh air and a workout for the thighs, so it's all good. 

And tomorrow we're staying in Edinburgh.