Spring?

I met a new friend yesterday and went for a run which I have done many times, many many times and get it never fails to lift the spirits and fill the heart full of awe. There is not much in this view that has changed over many years, apart from the trees. The last two days have definitely had a whiff of spring ( twelve sneezes in a row yesterday morning is also a sign that the winter is ending). The garden is starting to wake up with the winter heather finally getting some more colourful company. Daffodil time is here again..soon be Easterr!

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Chatting and running

Two of my favourite things to do rolled into one on a jogscotland night out. We ran from Furnace to Inveraray in two waves more or less getting there together....ish. the run is really nice almost totally along the shores of the Loch, we then had a lovely if a little tardy meal with lots of chat and banter...




Weekly runs 10.62

Big Day for Rosie (and her Mum!)

Rosie started "big school" yesterday and survived with a smile. The last minute decision to allow Garret to accompany her down to the bus was tempered with a request that he stay out of sight...the same was applied to Freya and me at the tail end of the day.We duly complied and all was well. Lack of photo is due to operator error (forgot to put the battery on charge) and the stress of trying to say goodbye on this big day and make sure that the correct guests got the correct breakfast. I may be able to sneak one later when she has forgotten about me and my camera...and when I have charged up the battery again. Off to rescue banana bread out of the oven now and watch the Olympics....as I write I have cringed over the mens 4 by 100m relay DQ. Oh that reminds me. Obviously now the children are back at school I will attempt to right the ravages of making beds and no exercise in a couple of days...no pressure as we officially entered the triathlon yesterday (caught by Steven, the organiser who has kindly saved us a couple of places so no getting out of it now). So Garret and I cycled a soggy 3.5miles to the pool, attempted to time our swim whilst frankly terrifying the legitimately holidaying folk of Loch Fyne Hotel. We did manage to leave about 3" water actually in the pool and damply cycled home. Jogscotland has recommenced and so a 4 miles along the canal in 32 mins (dragged along in Garret's long legged wake). We are half crippled today. Ooops, forgot the banana bread.....

A lovely run...and back

Spring seems to have effortlessly melted into summer here in Argyll. The meadow flowers and woodland fauna have changed and the colours are pinker and paler. A lovely 8 mile run today along the back roads to Inveraray past the water well and back. I stopped briefly several times:- To take photos, let the dogs have a drink or two, call of nature (sorry, but it happens to us all...) and to remove a fly from my eye. There was no chance of negative splits (time 90 mins total) as the way is steeper on the way back, of course the wind was against me (I am really scraping the bottom of the barrel now) and also my legs were knackered.......

Running Total 9.8 miles

Another day ,another run and lots of butterflies

Tentatively tried out my wonky knee which is not so wonky any more, I cannot keep using it as an excuse. Not too bad at all. I just did a small run as there is a brief flurry of forestry work along my usual track so up the big hill it was. Brief though this run it is steep up, up, up and then equally as steep down. I took this photo just as the down starts and the dogs had raced off leaving me far behind. This is about 1/2 hr walk from our house and you can just see Loch Fyne in the background. Our house is well hidden at this time of year but there is a small white smudge visible near the bottom left, a couple of cm in. The track that I descended by is to the right of that (bottom)and then disappears into the greenery. The knee did okay and I only stopped once entranced by this pretty little butterfly (not this exact one, that would be an extraordinary coincidence), oh, actually twice as I took the photo but it obviously does not count as a stop if you have a really good reason for it.
Big day for Rosie today as she gets to go to the High School for her first induction day. She did mention at breakfast time that she thought she would far rather stay at home and that she had more than a few butterflies....how very surprising.

LATER She's home...and she is smiling!

Saturday

Another gorgeous day dawned, and a busy one too. Lots of lovely guests, and they were lovely too to breakfast and see on their way before setting to to do those rooms and get them ready for more lovely guests. We scurried away in order to be able to get to the Seafood Fair at Loch Fyne Oysters where the Inveraray Parent Council had a tea and coffee stall (Posters courtesy of Rosie), strictly in the interest of making money NOT being healthy at all. We did a 2hr stint and I spent more money on all the lovely food surrounding us than had I made a donation to the school and kept my two hours! No matter, we had fun and ate well. We all worked away with Garret on urn duty…a very important position. After sorting guests and children Garret and I left Rosie and Toby watching “The Great Escape” in the tender care of Grandad and made our own “Escape” (spot the seamless link there!) down to The George where we downed a couple of chilled white wines/tequilas and shared a couple of starters. Peter had driven us down there but for the return journey I ditched the high heeled boots into a back pack and we ran the 3.5 miles home (we did not start to run until at Inveraray outskirts for decency sakes). Ohhh that ice water in a bowl felt good when ½ hr later we reached home…..and here is the real rub…The Great Escape had not even finished!! I dreamt of sore feet all night!!