Today was an absolutely fantastic day! I had stupidly left my purse at the Lodge in Guay last Tuesday, and Jo very kindly contacted me about it before I even realised that it was missing. So I decided to collect it today, and James said that he would come with me and we could go for a walk in the area. I was delighted about this idea because I have been to the beautiful hills and lochs behind Guay many times over the years and I have always wanted to take James and the boys there and share it with them. So I invited Ally and Davie, who were both interested in coming along, and I invited Jamie, who cancelled an arrangement in order to join us. Jamie especially wanted to spend some time with Ally, who will be going off to South East Asia on Thursday. I was really pleased that he came. Add to all this the perfect, beautiful, sunny weather, and we had the makings of a great day.
We met up with Jamie just before 11, and after retrieving my purse we set off on our walk. It was such fun. The boys are all fast walkers so I think it's the quickest I have ever walked up to Loch Ordie! Usually the pupils go quite slowly, which is understandable since they are carrying huge back packs, and the teachers meet them at check points so it's all a bit stop and start. But today we flew up the hill and round to the Loch. It looked gorgeous with the blue sky and tiny clouds reflected in it. It was just the way I wanted the boys to see it. We had our picnic on the shores of the loch and the boys took photos of the little finches and robins that were hopping about near us. They also climbed up the trees - there is something about my boys that makes them want to climb everything they see - I think that they get this from James. Unfortunately as David jumped out of a tree he landed awkwardly on a root and twisted his ankle. Luckily "nearly a doctor" Jamie was on hand to examine the ankle and declare it to be ligament damage and not a broken bone. David gamely soldiered on for a while but he was clearly in quite a lot of pain, so when we got to Raor Lodge he took a convenient shortcut back to the car and happily relaxed there while we finished our circuit. The rest of us paddled at picturesque Rotmell Loch, although I quickly took my feet back out of the water when the boys spotted that there were lots of leeches in there! The weather continued to be beautiful and we really enjoyed our walk and the lovely views. I had spliced two of the routes that I use for Duke of Edinburgh Bronze expeditions together and in total we walked 14.4 km. The terrain was not particularly challenging for my fit boys because it didn't involve any big hills (although it was plenty challenging enough for me!) but they all said that they had really enjoyed it. I was so glad that I had brought them there to show them a place that means so much to me and has so many great memories. Today has now been added to those memories.
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