Clocking up the Miles

I've been whizzing round the countryside with the arty types of late - visiting friends, running errands and just generally working hard. Because it IS work, you know. I have to stay alert in the back of the car AT ALL TIMES lest a pheasant stray cross the road, or one of those grey ratty squirrels, or, if we are in a town, a hound dog or two.
Hugh and his pal Joe spent two days walking a part of the Southern Upland Way. It is Scotland's longest walk. It stretches west to east from Portpatrick's romantic seascapes over the Mull of Galloway to the dramatic North Sea cliffs at Cocksburnspath. Tracking through some of Scotland's most beautiful and varied scenery, it offers an unforgettable holiday experience for serious walkers and weekend visitors alike. By the way I lifted that last bit from here
Anyway, L and I dropped them off near Moffat and they walked back to Traquair so they clocked up about 31 miles, staying overnight at St Mary's Loch.
Since then, we have been in Newcastle (my first experience of being in a flat - no pheasants there), down to Washington where I met new friends who have a fine garden full of interesting sniffs AND a big sponge football for me to sink my teeth into AND they let me have some banana - pretty sound all round, that place. Then H and L needed to do some work near Edinburgh so we all went off in the Land Rover for that jaunt. I notice I did not get included in the coffee shop stop on the way back, however.















The brambles (blackberries) in the garden are ripening well now (they are always later than the wild ones) and the first few were added to some apple jelly that L made the other day - glorious colour, methinks. Not content with that, she then felt the need to make a batch of boozy mincemeat for Christmas selling. First, though, there's the Harvest Supper at the Village Hall to contend with, then a Halloween Wool Gathering - more of that on Lindsay's blog