Dodging the storm

I woke to rain battering on the window and it was looking stormy and unpleasant outside, but LE and I had planned a trip out so we set off anyway. We were going to the Arts and Antiques warehouse in Doune and enjoyed wandering around for about an hour or so getting lost amongst the many stalls and piles of stuff….although we weren’t tempted to buy anything there was a rather sweet arts&crafts period writing bureau that we both liked. We had some coffee and I had mushrooms on toast having not eaten since lunch yesterday, then we drove round to Doune village and parked up then set off for a walk to the castle. By now the rain had stopped and the sun had come out…we felt very lucky.
We were surprised to find a stunning village cricket pitch on the site of a Roman Fort, and then found the castle which we decided to go inside of. We really enjoyed our visit…a good audio guide and lots of rooms to explore, and some great views out of the very old glass towards the stunning autumn woods.
After our visit we headed down to the river bank and walked both ways alongside the (very full and fast flowing) river through the trees and back to the village, still in sunshine. A red squirrel sat in front of us on the pavement at one point, but it dashed back into the woods just as we were realising it was a red one, so we didn't get to fully admire it. We had a brief look in the clothes shop and then went to the cafe. Still can’t face tea but we had cold drinks and we shared a slice of Bakewell tart before heading home. The wind was picking up again and the rain started as we arrived back in Edinburgh, but we’d had a lovely day, chatting non stop about all sorts all the way and discovering some new places and being surprised by much better weather than we expected.
I watched the Strictly results (right choice) then the Young Musician of the Year final….as always stunning young players.