Mystery Saturday

When we were discussing what we were going to do on the first weekend of November, I suggested to James that I would plan a “mystery Saturday” for him. Apart from visiting Grandma in hospital at 7 pm, the day was completely free. I decided that for James to enjoy a day of leisure it would have to include a walk, so when he was out with friends on Friday evening I perused a book of walks in the West of Scotland. I finally decided on a walk in the Clyde Valley, starting at the village of Crossford. We have been visiting the fruit farms and garden centres of the Clyde Valley all of our lives, but rarely go for a proper walk there (apart from at New Lanark and the Falls of Clyde, or Lanark Loch). This is because nearly all of the places to visit are right beside the road that goes up the middle of the valley, so we usually just drive there. However I found a three hour walk in the book which looked promising. The route started just north of Crossford, climbed gently on a track through fields to the village of Netherburn, and then descended along a disused railway track to Craignethan Castle, and onwards through the Nethan Gorge back down to Crossford. What could possibly go wrong?
Well I will tell you - MUD! The first part turned out to be possibly the muddiest walk we have ever had the misfortune to embark on! The path was very faint as it followed the edge of several fields, and it was so muddy! We had to pick our way from clump to clump of grass, which were dotted through the sea of mud. Our boots and trousers were soon completely trashed and sometimes it looked so deep that I was quite worried that if I fell in it could go up to my waist. It took ages to get to the top of the hill with the mud sucking at our boots every step of the way, and although he didn’t complain much, I could tell that James was not impressed with my choice of walk! When we turned along the disused railway track at Netherburn it was very pleasant at first, but mid way it turned into series of huge puddles; we had keep right to the edge to get past and my arms were raked by hawthorn bushes. Then I tripped over a fence wire which cut into my shin, leaving a purple welt across the front of my leg. Happily our walking conditions improved as we approached Craignethan Castle. It is a very impressive 16th century ruin which was built by a member of the Hamilton family. From there we walked through the attractive wooded Nethan Gorge, along delightfully dry paths scattered with Autumn leaves.
The next part of my plan involved scones at one of the nearby garden centres, however we were so dirty - even my face was splashed with mud - that we decided to head home instead where we had a coffee and then warm baths.
Undaunted by our ordeal, we went on to the next part of my plan, an outing to the cinema after visiting Grandma at Hairmyres in the evening. We visited the new "Odeon Luxe" in East Kilbride, which has reclining chairs. There was no food ordering and delivery during the film, like the time we went to a luxury cinema in London, however the seats were very comfy. The film was Murder on the Orient Express. We enjoyed it although it's such a well known book and film that we knew the ending already, in common with about 99% of people I should think, so that did detract a bit from the point of going to see a murder mystery film. It was very much a Kenneth Branagh production, with him playing Hercule Point complete with lavish moustaches, and it was entertaining enough. 
I felt that my "mystery Saturday" had been moderately successful, and next time it would be James' turn to plan a day out for us.