Though a straight line appears to be the shortest distance between 2 points, life has a way of confounding geography. Often it is the dalliances and the detours that define us. There are no maps to guide our most important searches; we must rely on hope, chance, intuition and a willingness to be surprised.

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Back on the Road Again

Had a great weekend camping at Loch Lomond. Swimming in the loch was an absolute joy – I’ve never known water in Scotland to be that warm. The picture to the right shows John in the foreground and me in the water. (I have to admit I’ve seen pictures of the loch ness monster that would stand up better in court.) Found a really great place to camp, which was good as there were 10 off us and we had 9 tents between us – we are very clean living people.

I walked 9.5 miles (I’m counting the half mile for once as I’m well behind schedule!) on Tuesday night up in the Pentlands. This is one of my favourite places to walk – it is so close to Edinburgh but with fantastic views.

The paths were deserted - I walked for more than an hour without seeing a single soul. And on probably the warmest, best evening of the year for being out-and-about.














Edinburgh castle is visible in dead centre of this picture. Great views, and just a 15 minute drive from Princes Street.



Another rural scene for nature lovers. (Staying at home lovers may be interested to note that IKEA Edinburgh is visible as a thin blue line in the top right of this picture…)

Including the 5 miles I did by yon bonnie bonnie banks, that’s another 14.5 miles, which puts me in touching distance of the ton.

98.5 miles done

BTW Thanks again for all your donations. So far I've reached the satanic total off £666 online, which is creeping me out a bit! Graeme/Jill – I hope that wasn’t deliberate.

I've also got just over £200 off-line. Plenty of incentive to keep walking!