A bit of sunshine

It was a very stormy night and the windows of the hostel seemed about to burst open in the high winds. Luckily I quite enjoy that and it made me feel all the more snug in my wee bed. We also lost an hour of sleep due to the clocks going forward into British Summer Time. However I woke well rested and refreshed to a bright morning. Again we all breakfasted and went our separate ways to various mountains and hikes. Today I headed into the village of Applecross (actually one of the information boards says that Applecross is not just one village but refers to a series of tiny hamlets along the peninsula) and up onto the hill behind it. I stopped on the way for a coffee in the pub; how very pleasant and relaxing to sit down for 15 minutes and do nothing at all, not even talk. From the hill I was treated to beautiful views of the bay in sunshine - until a heavy shower of rain swept in and sent me scrambling to get my waterproofs out of my rucksack. I took a track named Keppoch which curved round above the bay and descended through woodland to the Walled Garden restaurant where I treated myself to another coffee and dried off beside the cheerful wood burning stove. 

A few hours later, I was back there for a lovely dinner with the rest of the group. The weather has been very mixed but what a good weekend with great company.

A walk to Sand

It has been a very satisfactory and enjoyable day. The rest of the group were all planning huge walks in the hills around the peninsula, however I decided to pace myself and go on a more modest three hour round trip to an aptly named beach called Sand. It was drizzly all day but it was still really pleasant to be outdoors. There was more ascent than I had anticipated because the path climbed up the hill away from the road; apparently it was the only route to the villages in the north of the peninsula before the coast road was built. I was rewarded with beautiful views of Applecross across the bay. 

After my walk I popped into the Walled Garden Restaurant for a coffee then had a leisurely shower back at the hostel. I then drove the couple of miles to the shop at Millhouse to pick up some milk; I met a gorgeous wee red-haired boy called James who was helping his parents in the shop and they showed me their cute collie puppy who is called Mary.

On my way back to the hostel I saw a herd of deer right beside the road and I stopped to watch them for a while, they were a little nervous of me at first but I stayed quiet and still, and they resumed grazing. Lovely. Back in our wee room I had plenty of time to read my book (The Invisible Library - a very intriguing science fiction / Victorian adventure) before the others arrived back from their massive eight hour plus walks. We had a communal meal which was both tasty and hearty - special mention should be made of Alan's panettone bread and butter pudding - and we felt cosy in our hostel as the wind and rain rattled the windows.

Applecross Inn

My goodness it was a long journey to get here! At least six hours plus stops for lunch (Inverness, where we picked up some groceries) and coffee (a wee café and gallery in Kishorn). However we had a jolly time chatting and playing music in the car, while James pointed out the various mountains and landmarks as we passed them. The hostel is about 2km from the centre of Applecross, down a very track full of huge pot-holes which had James shouting frantically whenever I accidentally hit one of them - it was in fact impossible to avoid them! It's a large rambling building with simple but freshly painted and fairly clean bedrooms and friendly hosts. We had dinner with the rest of the gang in the cheerful and lively Applecross Inn, the food was excellent and we had a convivial evening, rounded off with some cut throat games of Jenga back at the hostel. I have probably blogged before about my visceral need to be in the north west of Scotland at least once a year. It's so good to be here.

On the way to Applecross

It's Easter weekend and we're on our way to Lochalsh with the hill walking club. The weather is lovely just now but the forecast is very dodgy. Ally and Cat are in the back seat of the car chatting away - Cat has come up from Wales to join us for Ally's birthday weekend. 

I am feeling a bit sick with excitement about a couple of things, one of which is a very important decision that I will need to make over the next few days, more of which when it is decided and official.

The other cause for my excitement is that I have obtained ELO tickets for 12th April! I missed the chance to buy them before they sold out but these ones were being sold by someone who can't go and I snapped them up! So we are listening to ELO in the car during our journey.

School Reunion

I was at my School Reunion today. The Park School was merged with Laurel Bank in 1996, and was finally bought over by Hutchie in 2001, so it is long gone. However memories linger on and a plucky former pupil called Jenny took on the gargantuan task of arranging this reunion. It was for the whole school rather than just our year group so the ages ranged from ladies in their eighties down to girls in their thirties. It was held at 29 Royal Exchange Square, a "private members club" which has nothing private about it at all as far as I can see - certainly I have visited it unchallenged on several occasions! 

I soon identified the other members of the "class of 79" and got chatting. I felt a bit strange about meeting people that I hadn't seen for nearly 37 years! I have my own wee group of five former school chums who meet up regularly, but only Libby and I had wanted to come to the reunion and Libby was in the "second wave" who were to arrive later (because the event ended up oversubscribed.) However I needn't have worried. They were a really nice group and we found lots to talk about - it was great fun and they have done really interesting things - there were doctors, advocates, a racehorse breeder, an opera singer, a book illustrator to name but a few. And our children range from their thirties to only ten years old! I also met a lady from the "class of 52" who had been my Aunt Hilary's best friend and my lovely cousin Kari was there with her classmates. It was great but I found the experience rather overwhelming!

I headed home at tea time while Jennifer went out on the town with her very social "class of 82!" Us 79ers enjoyed ourselves so much that we are planning to meet up again before too long.

However this evening I am socially exhausted!

Aye Write Again

It has become somewhat of a tradition for me to visit the Glasgow Aye Write Book Festival and I was glad to find myself there again this year. Catherine and I went to see two authors, very different from each other but both excellent speakers. Chris Brookmyre spoke about his book "Black Widow" which I have recently read and enjoyed. He also read out a really good short story which he had written for an event at the Commonwealth Games in 2014. It was about a group of school children who had been taken to see a performance of a Midsummer Nights Dream in the bandstand at Kelvingrove Park. Strange and surreal events, reflective of the play, take place. It was extremely entertaining but has not been published because Brookmyre feels that it is better to be performed rather than read. Which coincidentally, is how I feel about Shakespeare's plays. 

Joan Bakewell, who looks much younger than her 83 years, spoke about the changes that she has seen during her lifetime, which she has chronicled in her latest book "Stop the Clocks." She was both entertaining and informative, and fielded questions from the audience very well.

Jamie is home

Jamie has a week of annual leave and is spending a few days of it with us. It is, as ever, great to see him. His zest for life amazes me. Since he came home he has been going to the gym, baking (a delicious banana loaf), and taking Grandma to hospital for her eye treatment, as well as cooking our dinner this evening. 

After dinner Jamie suggested that we watch Les Miserables, which I had recorded at Christmas time. It was a great idea, I have seen it several times but had forgotten what a brilliant film it is, with fantastic music. Eddie Redmayne, Hugh Jackman, Samantha Barks, Russell Crowe, and Anne Hathaway - all brilliant actors. It's still better on the stage though; the first time I saw it was at the Edinburgh Playhouse when I was five months pregnant with Alasdair - must have been the autumn of 1993 - and I loved it.