Aberfeldy
(with a bit of Haddington)
June 2013
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At a more decent hour of the Monday morning we drove over to Loch Tay, a long and thin freshwater loch west of Aberfeldy. This probably isn't the weather they chose for the tourist shots but (a) it still looked stunning, (b) it wasn't raininruddyg and (c) it wasn't too cold, so we probably win.
And there were ducks! Daisy duly perfected her bread-lobbing technique, totally rocking the blue cardie and pink boots combo.
At the centre of every strong family unit is an even stronger bag lady. Someone's gotta. I had the camera. And Daisy hand-holding/carrying duties. And I got the jaffa cakes.
Not entirely sure what Daisy thought she would achieve here, but it's a cracking photo nevertheless. It very much looks like she's been caught in the act of trying to thrash the living daylights out of the loch.
A close-up of a mallard, for the dabbling duck fans amongst you. They like to dabble.
Ladies and gentlemen, may I present the Kenmore Hotel. According to its website, it is famous for its warmth, charm and Highland hospitality. It also states that it is Scotland's oldest inn, which must be pretty freakin' old, eh. (It doesn't give a year.)
Taymouth Castle appears to be all front and no substance. We wandered through and found a primary school, if I remember correctly. Not quite what we were expecting.
Looping back to Aberfeldy along the B846 (I thought you might want to know), we drove past Dull and stopped for luncheon at the Highland Safari. There's plenty to do here.
This is what it looks like.
We got some excellent homemade quiche and, um, chicken pie (I think) while Daisy had a fun kids' selection, which she unfortunately only picked at. Her comedy pose here was possibly a reaction to me telling her to keep her eyes open while I took a picture, although it ends up looking like she's seen something actually quite surprising indeed (surprising enough to delay her taking a bite out of her semi-oval of cucumber, anyway).
We decided to get involved in feeding the red deer their lunch - well, Daisy and I did. Someone had to mind the bags (and avoid the not-quite-so-warm-as-we-thought weather). Here one comes now! This one has twigged what's going on pretty quickly - the rest seem to be a bit far behind.
Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn. I'm not called Frank Lee and I'm not your deer. No idea if this is the same one as above. If so, sorry.
The feeding frenzy was at its peak roughly around now. We were given the food to lob through the fence, which Daisy struggled with, leaving it tantalising placed. All the while, the guy letting us forage in his bucket gave us some good information on red deer. The food we gave them kinda reminded of the frozen mince you can get (if you're a bit stupid, or a student, or both).
Aw, a little baby one. (Fawn! Thanks Google.)
A close-up of those crazy antlers which grow back every year or something. They look a bit like foam. Perhaps they are entering into a ITV's Gladiators-style contest. I suspect not, though.
Back at the ranch, Daisy took full control of the toy box. To be fair, she was there first. Useless bit of information related to the photo: the red-headed boy was probably German.
Daisy never misses the chance to get involved with some play area action, and this was most certainly no exception. (The difficulty is always in prising her away from the damn things.) She's nothing if not game for a few photo opportunities, though...
...as these prove. Or perhaps it's just that she likes windows that she can pop her head through. Or perhaps both. Will we ever know?
She can do 'goofy', she can do 'shock', but her little known talent is for doing 'being lonely and pretending to eat at a picnic table under a small hut on legs'. Niche market, though. Don't get many call-outs.
If we chart Daisy's obsession with sandpits against the arrow of time, it makes exponential look linear. (Ooh, maths joke. I say 'joke'; one could argue it is simply a reference.) There are slim pickings, though. I mean, who puts in three buckets but no ruddy spades. That wasn't in Alanis Morissette's song, was it? (That's right, the one called "Ironic" for which a more appropriate title is now commonly accepted as "Unfortunate", since there's barely a bleeding ironic thing in the whole damn song.)
Take note. This is not an average play area backdrop. Stop writing now, please.
Back at the lodge and it's time to hunt for dandelions again (or "danny-yannies"). But I soon realise that Daisy's a bit worse for wear.
And on that bombshell...
We had been invited round for tea at Nicky's later on the Monday. Daisy perched herself on the arm of the sofa whilst munching on some crusty bread.
After a delightful meal of lasagne and salad, it was time to burn off the energy outside. Alas, Daisy was not yet able to jump so couldn't take full advantage of this industrial-sized trampoline. Cousin Matty was on call should any bouncing mishap occur.
All bounced out, Daisy headed back to the resplendent farmhouse. Blue sky, green grass, dog watching on - what's not to like?
Daisy couldn't resist a go on the winding staircase, although she discovered the main problem fairly soon after - that is, she could not make her way down very easily (and didn't want to go up any further).
With the evening so pleasant, we headed out to the fields.
Daisy managed to persuade Calum to let her have a go on the quad bike.
Daisy's curls refused to be controlled by the riding helmet.
At this stage, it was a question of who was most keen to ride a horse...
...but Matt fought his way past Daisy to win the prize. I don't know the name of the horse.
Now, I don't *think* that Matt is going hunting with his spear and hunting dogs, but let's see...
Wait, who is this? It's farmer Calum!
Ah, it was hunting, it was flag placing. Matt showed off his riding skills...
...as Calum, Lynne and Daisy looked on (I say that, but Daisy has clearly been distracted by something).
The girls went over to check out another horse. I'm utilising some good zoom here as they were actually quite a way away.
Inevitably, Daisy started to tire and we headed back to the lodge, but not before I agreed to meet up with Calum a little later for some ovine quad bike action. This is me in the passenger seat.
We headed up and up the hillside, over some rocky terrain, as Calum filled up the feed tubs in various fields as the sheep looked on patiently. They would quite often run off at first, which you might well do at the sight of the two of us on a quad bike, but curiosity and hunger soon got the better of them and they came back.
This shot shows how far and high we had come - that is the farmhouse and nearby sheds/warehouses in the distance.
But enough of all that - this is where the real action is. I was offered the chance to have a go on the quad bike, which I eagerly accepted.
I entertained myself by what could be best described as pootling around, partly because I didn't want to fall off the thing by over-revving the accelerator lever with my thumb.
Meanwhile, Calum took my camera for some moody, atmospheric shots. The glorious blue skies of an hour and a half earlier (it was approaching 9pm now) had disappeared, to be replaced by a swathe of clouds.
Calum decided, in his infinite wisdom, to give me something more of a challenge, and so I drove through this bumpy, puddly section with moderate competence.
A grim reminder of one of the objectives of our trip up to the fields - picking up a dead sheep.
I arrived back at the lodge just after 9pm, the noisy engine of the quad bike thankfully not waking the now-fast-asleep Daisy.
There was still time for some cat and mouse action with three adventurous sheep, who had escaped from the field through the wire fence somewhere along the line. Calum is behind the white car trying to persuade the trio to make their way through the gate he had opened. We failed in our mission.
And that is all from our first full day in Aberfeldy on this trip.
And that's a good place to end this page, I think, so you need to go to the next one.