Walking it off …

After a sedentary sort of day yesterday it was only to be expected that we’d feel the need of a walk; after the quantity of delicious food (dinner and breakfast) which we’d consumed - and that bottle of champagne - said walk became a necessity. Equipped with a description of a riverside walk and my GPS/OS app on the phone, we left the car in the centre of Peebles and set off as instructed along the bank of the Tweed.

I’m not going in for a blow-by-blow here; I’ll just note that people seem unexpectedly friendly, that dogs seem generally much better controlled than at home, that it didn’t rain, despite the forecast. We did get lost - a description supplied by the hotel of a path through a wood seemed to lack a vital step and we were heading in quite the wrong direction when we were rescued by a dog-walker and 5 dogs and - as it were - told where to go.

It is now teatime, snd I have just eaten an excellent shortbread biscuit- my first food since breakfast. I am drinking a small whisky and feeling considerably more relaxed than I was.

One last thought: for the first time in 47 years I have been made aware of a church community - my church community - really acting out what has always - to me - seemed an unachievable ideal. The death of our friend has also shown how social media can work for good.

Blipping the River Tweed not far upstream from Peebles, near Neidpath Castle.