Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Wednesday 23/8/17 Banchory.
There had been promises of foul weather from the west coast but it wasn't too bad in Banchory. Admittedly the sky was grey and the light drizzle in the morning got heavier and became real rain, but there was no thunder and lightning, no flash floods and no drop bears. So all in all it was a reasonable Scottish day.
Hett and I drove into Banchory in the morning, parked the car and explored the town on foot. We did use an umbrella as well as our parkas and found a craft shop where I bought needles and thread to repair my leather shoulder bag. With our spirits only slightly dampened by the rain, we set off alongside the river on the Deeside Way heading for Crathes Castle. It was a long wet walk. The hot coffee and soup lunch at the castle went down a treat. Crathes Castle was a fascinating old pile that grew like topsy. The tower stairs were very steep, climbing over five or six stories, but I was pleased they spiralled the correct way so that a right handed defending swordsman could back up the stairs fighting the invaders, whose swords would get caught on the central column. Excellent planning!
After a bit of an explore of the walled garden we trudged off into the rain, making about 5km/hr on the flat and covering about 13km for the day. I also discovered my waterproof jacket isn't! So at the moment I'm treating it to a wash cycle with a cleansing potion and then a re-waterproofing solution that will hopefully be impervious to water no matter how hard it falls! Unfotunately the rain has stirred up my cough so that is unfortunate but hopefully not fatal!
Tomorrow we may head to the coast at Stonehaven and maybe Dunnottar Castle which is perched high on a headland. From there we might head up the coast to Aberdeen or take it easy, although we're trying to have at least an hours walk every day so we're fit enough for the Cotswold Way coming up soon.
Simon the Parrot seems to have caught my cold too. He is either copying my cough just to annoy me or has a very serious cough indeed. He keeps ruffling his feathers as though he's trying to look bigger or maybe trap air under his feathers and get warmer. He's not saying very much. Occasionally we hear a half-hearted "Polly wants a cracker." However I think he just wants a bit of attention. Maybe we should encourage him to come for a drive and walk with us tomorrow. In fact I might be able to get him to sit on my shoulder and I could pretend to be a pirate and say pirate things like, " Arghh, fairly warned be thee, say I." It makes you wonder why pirates walk around with parrots on their shoulders doesn't it?" What would you rather have on your shoulder if you were a pirate??
- comments