A Walk in the Woods

Sally spent at least an hour on the phone first thing trying to determine if/when her luggage might arrive.  Short story: Who knows?  The luggage has been in the hands of a courier service since Saturday.  Their intentions are to deliver her luggage tomorrow, late afternoon – only we leave here tomorrow morning.  Sweet.

We had few plans for today other than visiting a friend of Sally’s in Perth.  Sally met Halina nearly two decades ago and had visited with her both in Poland and in Scotland where she lives now with her husband and children.  Perth was the half-way point for both of us.  Helena had identified Kinnoul Woodland Park as a place where we could take a nice little hike together. 

We arrived around 10:45 a.m. while a gentle mist was visiting.  After some discussion about walking up a large hill to “dangerous cliffs” we made the decision to go for it!  It was a nice upward walk to where the cliffs looked out over Perth on one side and the  River Tay more predominant on the other.   The clouds had lifted a little once we arrived but on a clear day it must be a spectacular view!  

We headed down on a different path to visit a small tower along the way.  Unfortunately, one could not climb to the top of the tower.  We thought we were taking an intentional cut-off trail back to our main trail but, well – no we were not!  Instead we roamed a bit in the woods until we eventually found our first trail back to the carpark. 

Our plan was to hop into town for a bite to eat.  When in Scotland, why not eat Thai food at a Japanese restaurant?  We enjoyed our time together and the food was great.

After we said good-by to Halina, we headed back to Aberfeldy to try to find some additional clothes for Sally.  Just south of town I thought I spotted deer over a slight rise along the road.  “Want to turn around?”  You betcha.  I turned around.  Went past where I thought I saw the deer and turned around again for another approach.  Believe me when I say I was hoping they weren’t just skinny deer.  Sure enough, I slowed way down and there to our right was a group of stags!  There were at least 3 large sets of antlers and perhaps 6 to 8 animals.  We felt so lucky to see them, even if the road afforded no place to pull over. 

We hit the thrift store and several others in Aberfeldy without a great deal of luck.  Sally’s paper money (leftover from a previous trip to Scotland) was rejected as “no longer in circulation”.  A quick trip to the combo Post Office/grocery/liquor store and her money was exchanged for current currency.  Sally at least came back with extra socks, a turtleneck, and a pair of tights that might fit.  

By the time we got back to our condo, Bill had done laundry and straightened the place all up.  We grabbed some grub at the small store across the street.  There were no reservations available anywhere around and many of the places to eat were closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Tomorrow we head to the Isle of Skye.