Today’s guest picture is another from our son Tony’s visit to the Fife Agricultural Show at the weekend. It is also the flying bird of the day.
A post of few words today as it was late after a busy day when I sat down to compile this post.
I hired a bike after breakfast and went for a 15 mile bike ride past historic towers…
…down long hills in wide open country…
…past a picturesque church at Smeaton…
…and a very woolly sheep..
…and then up even longer hills on the way back…
…to North Berwick.
It was most enjoyable.
It had rained overnight but in spite of some grey clouds my ride was warm enough for shorts and dry throughout.
The sun was shining on bright green seaweed when I got back to the cottage.
Matilda, her mother and grandmother had been been building a smart sandcastle decorated with shells while I was pedalling and I resisted any temptation to stamp on it when I went past it.
After lunch, Matilda, her mother, granny and I went off for a walk. We saw eider ducks…
…herring gulls…
…while we walked round the concrete barrier which contains some of the receding tide to act as a swimming pool when the tide is out. In spite of the sunshine, it was too cold for anyone to be enjoying a swim today…
…and a different form of paddling was popular.
We left the beach and walked up through the town…
…and through the ornamental gardens…
…until we got to the play park where Matilda hung about in a productive manner for a while.
…and then we went back through the gardens…
…with their beautifully maintained lawns and beds…
…and went into the Seabird Centre for a much needed cup of tea and a tea cake.
As we went back to the cottage, I enjoyed this gull swimming in an elaborate cross ripple near the harbour wall.
And we enjoyed an exciting game or two of Go Fish, a new game to me before tea.
After an excellent meal and while Matilda was being put to bed, Mrs Tootlepedal and I went for a drive in sunshine and rain and if I had had my good camera with me (and a place to park), I would have been able to show you a rainbow rising from the Bass Rock. It was a wonderful sight.
As it was, we found somewhere to leave the car at a country park near the sea a few miles along the coast. I took some pictures with my phone in spite of the fading light.
We walked down this very well maintained path with a row of maples along the side providing us with a good umbrella against some light rain.
Then we turned down through one of the most delightful woods I have ever walked through…
…until we came to the sea. The rain had stopped but there were still dark clouds surrounding the Bass Rock in the distance.
The beach looked so inviting that we hope that we might go there again for a picnic tomorrow.
We just had time for a game of Oh Hell with Matilda’s parents before it was time for bed.
I am so glad you resisted the urge to jump on the sandcastle! I love the photo of Bass Rock and rain clouds and also that very woolly sheep.
The Bass Rock is much like Skippers Bridge. It is very hard not to take another photo of it.
Full, and then some! Loved the sheep. I would almost like to poke my finger in all that wool to see if it’s real. That final beach shot is marvelous! Good to see you’re all having fun and keeping busy.
We are getting the most out of our week.
Is Balamory still shown on kids’ tv?
Matilda might recognise Fenton Tower as home to Archie the Inventor.
I have never seen Balamory so I didn’t know that.
Lovely pictures of your evening drive.
A fun packed day enlivened by excellent pictures, I have great memories of playing Oh Hell in Greece.
A very full day, indeed. I am proud of your sandcastle restraint, and pleased you managed a walk
The walking is very limited but the good going underfoot helped.
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! And how noble of you not to stomp on Matilda’s sand castle. 😉
I thought so.
Seems like a beautiful day! I bet Matilda loved seeing “duckies”.
She enjoys the whole North Berwick scene.
Especially beautiful photos today! I had forgotten Go Fish, but had played it decades ago–
We all enjoyed it.
Looks a perfect place to stay and walk around and an equally perfect place to cycle and see the views. Love the light shining through the clouds over Bass Rock.
The east coast is a wonderful place on a good day. It can be a bit unforgiving in the winter.
Very kind of you to spare Matilda’s castle. That view of Bass Rock had the perfect light.