Today we went clay pigeon shooting at Rothiemurchus. I have no talent for this but I do enjoy it, and I found that when I listened carefully to Hugh's expert instructions I had some small success. We then went for a circular walk from Coylumbridge south through the forest; we had great views of the Cairngorms.
In the afternoon we visited the Osprey RSPB centre at Loch Garten. We have visited it many times over the years and it's always nice to be back. This year there are three chicks to EJ and Odin, and we could see them in their nest via binoculars and the camera above the nest. We could also see two woodpeckers and some chaffinches at the bird feeders outside the hide. As we walked along the shore of Loch Garten Alison spotted a sandpiper sitting on a branch beside the water.
Later we went out for a meal to another favourite place; Andersons Restaurant in Boat of Garten. The meal was absolutely delicious; Alison, Hugh and James told me that their steaks were wonderful but I felt that I won the jackpot with my fish tagine, which was really special. We finished off sampling the homemade ice creams, of which we all felt that the black treacle ice cream was the winner! We said our goodbyes to Alison and Hugh after dinner and set off for home just before nine; it was still light for most of the journey and we made very good time because the roads were quiet - two and a quarter hours. On the way we could see beacons on some hills above Perth and Dumyat in the Ochils; these were some of the thousand beacons that have been lit the length of the country to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. When we got home we watched a few highlights of this evening's concert outside Buckingham Palace; it looked amazing, especially Madness singing "Our House" from the roof of Buckingham Palace as pictures of houses with people celebrating were projected onto the facade. Paul McCartney was also good, singing a medley of songs. Prince Charles actually made a decent job of his speech at the end, paying tribute to his mother and also his father who has been taken to hospital unwell with a bladder infection - probably he caught a chill when he was standing on the Royal Barge yesterday, because we saw some of the footage and it had been was lashing with rain! We have recorded the concert to watch later this week, so headed off to bed, pleasantly tired by a weekend of fresh air, exercise, and great food.
