You can almost see Arbroath ...

18C today with blue skies and a lovely cool breeze coming off the sea, perfect for walking.

Since it was such a lovely day I decided to take Maeve the Deerhound for her walk before lunch and take a different route. I popped the iPod earbuds in with a shuffle of all my Runrig albums selected for the soundtrack, and we headed off inland for once going straight up the country road that runs alongside our house and then turned towards Arbroath on the cycle path when we reached the A92 which is known as the "top road" (as opposed to the road that runs along close to the shore). We enjoyed the views across the Angus countryside in the sun and clear air, with the fields of cereal crops beginning to turn golden and lots of purple potato flowers out too.

On the cycle path two cyclists passed us, one with a small child in a seat behind the saddle and the other a more traditional racing style cyclist. Once we reached the old road (now closed off to the dual carriageway) at Scryne we turned right, into the cooling breeze and towards the sea. One side of the old road has mature trees and when the road was closed off the other side was planted too and the trees are coming along very well. Many of them have bird boxes. In a few years there should be a nice avenue of shade to walk along as there is further along at East Scryne farm. Today's blip is the view from this old road towards Arbroath, still some 4 or 5 miles in the distance. Probably best viewed large or it might look very flat !

Once we reached West Scryne farm we met some Eastern European farm workers plodding and trudging their way along the road towards us. A few nods and smiles, but most looked tired and I assume heading towards their lunch. Not much further and we could begin to see the sea again and it remained in view for most of the rest of the walk, either ahead or on our left as we headed back on the homeward part of the loop. At this point we could have taken the road down to Easthaven to make a longer walk, the first of the extra distance options that appear in the next stretch which we have often done in cooler weather. Maeve manages longer walks much better in cooler weather!

The next mile or so was along a quiet road which runs through fields that are used for soft fruit on one side of the road and for various things including cattle and horses on the side nearest the sea. I took a few shots around the buildings nearest the road at Craigmill Farm. Flaky paint and thick paint and some lichen and moss on a shady wall.

At this point there is a short steep downhill section to reach the level of the Craigmill burn and there is a walk along the burn to the shore road available if we had turned left. We kept straight on and kept going on a short uphill which brought us past the entrance to the top of the bridle path that forms part of our more usual route (we normally approach in the other direction). Not far to home from this point as we passed Panbride Church and Maeve often appears from her habitual trundling along behind and begins to walk out in front as we get into the last quarter mile or so. Never sure whether she wants a drink or a lie down, but she certainly knows when she is nearing home :-)

Not so much family history today. I may have hit a classic 'brick wall' !