Blue skies......white puffy clouds.....sun shining......get out and walk!
It just so happens that today was already a scheduled walking day (rain or shine) with my friend, Isobel, whom I met last year on a trip with Marty. We stayed at her B&B for a few days, and we've kept in touch since.
When I visited in June with Marty, (and I was relaying my stories of getting very lost along the Coastal Trail), Isobel suggested that I let her know when I would be in the area and she'd be happy to take a day and go walking with me.
Well, I took her up on that suggestion, and she invited me to come along with a "Strollers" group that she is part of. They would be walking from Peebles to Innerleithen, did I want to come along?
You betcha!
I had anticipated the strollers being a bit more relaxed on their walk, but such was not the case. They started off at a pretty quick pace and I had to work at keeping up with them because I kept stopping to take photos.
The day was SO picture-perfect.....how could I resist?
We were following a macadam path that had once been the site of the rails of a steam engine in days past. This is in the part of Scotland called the Borders, because it "borders" along England.
The trail took us through spectacular countryside offering breathtaking views.
At one point, we were walking alongside a golf course.
Notice those men in the distance? It just after this point around the corner and a bit down the trail, when I heard a WHISH right by my ear, then a KERPLUNK right next to my left foot.
Can you guess what that was? An extremely errant golf ball, which narrowly missed my head! Don't know if you'd be reading a blog right now had it landed there!
We crossed a bridge over the River Tweed.
where we saw some beautiful horses along the side of the trail.
Further along, I couldn't resist capturing this photo with the horses in the field along the river, and a mama duck with her ducklings in tow, in the background, hurriedly swimming up the river.
Just a bit further, I spotted this man fly fishing, but didn't see him actually catch any fish.
Actually, he'd have to be on speed catching, because there was no stopping that group of strollers!
We ended up in the quaint town of Innerleithen.
A very nice fella on the walk with us offered to take us back to the car park in Peebles. We could have ridden the bus, but we decided to take advantage of the free ride. By then, my tootsies were burning!
Here is the view of Peebles from the car park.
Quite lovely, don't you think?
Isobel then drove us back to Inverkeithing, where I hopped the train back to this quiet little town of Aberdour. I took this photo from the sitting room in our B&B.
When Marty arrived back from work, we walked up to the Aberdour Hotel for dinner, which was a bit complicated for my order since peppers seemed to be in nearly everything that I found interesting.
I settled on the Fish & Chips simply because we are on the coast, and I was told that the fish was fresh caught. It was quite tasty.
After the 7 mile walk, I thought I'd go ahead and try some dessert. The description was a Turkish Pana Cotta with some sort of embellishments involving pistachios and chocolate.
Here's what I got
If you're drooling....don't bother. Marty appropriately described the flavor as tasting like soap. The little pink squares were like gelatin and tasted like rose hip perfume. And I find it hard to believe that those shortbread cookies were "home made". If they were, they weren't baked in the last few days, that's for certain!
Lesson learned: No more Turkish Pana Cota.
After dinner, we walked down to the harbor. It was once again a beautiful clear night. There is a set of benches along the beach, and we sat and enjoyed the stillness and beauty. I wish that I could capture the moment and share it with you.
Darkness, but the city of Edinburgh reflecting off the water. Bright stars glimmering above.
The quiet whish of the waves lapping up over the rocks.
Not a sound to be heard around us.
And then, we heard the echoing wail of a seal, obviously quite close to shore, with a response from the other side of the forth. It certainly was entertaining, waiting to hear them having a conversation from afar.
Marty commented that if he wasn't working....he'd have thought that he was on Holiday!
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