Going for a run

Lovely day in Stirling, Stirling Castle

No, not a run as in a run around the park, or a run on a treadmill (however I did actually run on a treadmill for the first time in about two years his week)... Sideswerve! No, this is a run in the car.

Lately I've been feeling that my Saturday's have been waste days. Wasted in the sense that i haven't really done much on a Saturday for a while.

My Saturday's tend to go something like, wake, breakfast, drop the sister and nephews at football training, Insanity class at the gym, brunch at home, then... nothing much. There's the usual housework, food shopping etc but nothing of note. Then before you know it it's 6pm, time for dinner, Strictly and (let's be honest here) XFactor. Saturday? More like Saturdaze.

So, I thought to myself. I'll go for a run. So I did the first part of my Saturday routine, then shortly after lunch time, and a detour to my aunt's to find out he latest family mini crisis, I set off in the car in fairly decent weather and headed North.

First through Stirling and past the back end of Stirling Castle. What a great view. Then out towards Doune and Callendar then up through Crianlarich and I gave up at Tyndrum. The plan was to head to Glencoe with my camera and take a few wonderful shots to show you all here. The weather wasn't playing ball though and yes, at 3pm when I pulled into the Real Food Cafe at Tyndrum I knew I wasn't going any further.

It was windy and wet and pretty much no views to be had through some very low cloud so i grabbed a cup of tea and a slice of millionaire's shortbread, which by the way you'd need to be a millionaire to eat at £2.45 a slice! Kidding, but still a bit steap for a pretty underwhelming bit of chocolate shortbread. I sat there and ate half the cake and then set off back down the road. Which was a slow ass journey because lo and behold, just five miles into that journey, just past Crianlarich, I was stuck behind a police jeep escorting a huge ass aid load lorry with a crane on the back of it. ALL. THE. WAY. TO STIRLING. An hour and a half along wet winding roads behind this lorry. And because there were hills surrounding me the radio kept cutting out.

But the scenery was magnificent. Russet would be the colour I'd describe Scotland just now. Rusty coloured blankets covering the hillsides. Faded green trees lining the roads. And to set it all off a grey mist hanging in the air. Pretty perfect.

Don't you just love going for long drives? Where do you go?

Angela x

Seasons - they're a changing

It fell to the ground slowly. A leave that still had a bit of colour. But it was looking decidedly tired. I think Autumn's on it's way. And you know what that means? Winter will be here soon too. And I wonder what will that bring?...

I think the seasons are changing. From Summer to Autumn, it's happening pretty quickly this year. The nights are getting darker earlier. The mornings are still a bit light except when it's raining and then I need to put the light on when the curtains are drawn. It's these little things that let us know that times they are a changing. Then there's mum's age old way of scientifically measuring the flow from one season to another. It's the Street-ligh timing method - "that was twenty past nine they lights went on the night Ange" she'll say, to which i'll reply "Was it?", then she'll say "Aye, the dark nights are fairly drawin in". And so it goes on.

Summer. Was it a good one? For me it was a mixed bag. I never did as much as I'd planned to. But plans are made and can also be broken. It just means you can make more plans that are perhaps better than the ones you had in the first place - cool! I did partake in a lot of good things though like my first ever trip to London which by the way was ace! I climbed Ben Lomond - twice! and one of them was at night. Which was also great! This has now become a good hill to do as it's not too far from home but is more of a test than Dumyat is at 430m high.

Photo credit: PTC

I also climbed Ben Starav which was a beast of a day but good all the same. We had a few different weather systems going on that day but ended with blue skies and sunshine and a good wee stop by a fine flowing river then magnificent views of Glencoe area on the journey home. I love that area. I like being a passenger in a car in that area. Can't get enough of those views that change with every cloud shadow. I also had the house to myself for a whole 2 weeks. Which on the face of it may sound good but there were a few days in there that I hadn't spoken to anyone for about 3 days so had to phone Linda for a wee chat! ha ha. Summers end will bring something from nature. I'm not sure about it yet but we'll see...

Autumn... what shall it bring? Well, work is really starting to heat up and the students are back on 15th September so it'll be busy busy busy. Quite stressful but good all the same. You should see some of their scared wee faces when they turn up for first year. Wee shame but we soon help them find their feet. There will be my 5th time seeing Coldplay (with Jay-Z no less). I cannot wait, they are one of my favourites. Excited? Aye! There's my ongoing training regime for my Spring 2010 plan. This will hopefully be a successful regime that will bring a decent amount fitness as well as a release of the pain in the knees. Fingers crossed.

Winter... oooh goodness knows what will happen then? But I'm looking forward to it. Cold winds blowing in your face as you walk along admiring the wonderful scenery that unfolds with every step and with every corner turned. Rain battering off your face and you not caring except you can't see cos your glasses are covered. Walking up a hill and the wind either hindering you or helping you along the way. Nature's helping hand in whatever form it takes. Winter usually goes from October to March and March is meant to be spring time but in recent years there's still been snow on the ground when it's my birthday. I doubt if it'll change next year. And my birthday falls on a Saturday next year - don't you just love it when that happens! Great stuff!

After Winter comes Spring but we won't jump away ahead of ourselves just yet. Let's get this 2009 show rolling to it's next destination first.

Ange xx