Spring is Here!

After what appeared to be some initial reluctance (mainly involving sticking his head under the duvet), I persuaded BondBloke out and about today, into Fife (birthplace of Ian Rankin). This involves crossing the Forth Road Bridge, and on such a fabulous day, weather-wise, as today, that was a pleasure in itself with fabulous views.

We parked in the Craigmead car park (GR NO227062 for the cognoscenti) up above Falkland (famous for its palace and its royal hunting grounds), on the small country road between Falkland and Leslie (at last...something not on Wikipedia!) and followed Walk 27 in Jarrold's Pafthinder Guide to walks in Perthshire, Angus and Fife. It was an easy-to-follow route over East Lomond (hill), down into Falkland and then back through the grounds of the Falkland estate through a gorge with waterfalls and many hidden corners known as Maspie Den. You can see some sample pictures on the left - the first by me, and the second by BB.

Along with these physical features we also saw lots of wild flowers, numerous larks (well, mainly we heard them), and even some birds which I more or less recognised like the Gray Wagtail. I was given a bird book recently which I am supposed to take out on walks with me, but I am always so much better at relying on BB's considerable nature study knowledge. Sign of a country childhood and a more engaged period of primary school study than I can recall for myself.

In the end, BB was so enthused that he decided to set up an entire new blog to cover his outdoor activities. At least, those outdoor activities which are fit for public consumption. So, in a fit of keyboard activity when we got home whilst yours truly read the newspaper to see if there was anything to blog about (other than TB's utterly ridiculous views about civil liberties - Nosemonkey summarises these brilliantly) and then cooked dinner, BB set up yet another Bondbloke blog, this time "Bondbloke Al Fresco". This one doesn't have anything on it yet, but I suspect it will soon have a report of our walk on East Lomond...

I'll link it from the sidebar when it does have content. Anyway, with the breaking of spring, I am looking forward to exploring more of Scotland on foot and on bike.