Today was a wonderful day. I don't think in all my years coming to Scotland I've ever seen a more beautiful day. Did we even leave California? The weather was that perfect......except the sky wasn't quite so blue as California, but I'm not complaining.
Knowing that Maureen and Hunter were coming for dinner I decided to do as much prep in the morning as possible. So........I baked a lemon meringue pie and set the table.....
And then we began our latest walking adventure. Wildflowers and magic! Off we headed for Merlin's Cave along the Old Edinburgh Road into the Beef Tub. Rumor has it that after King Arther was killed, Merlin headed north into Scotland's hills and ended up in the area of the Beef Tub wandering the hills and hiding out until his death. The little cave in the great crevasse was supposedly his hide-out for years.
We have to drive quite a distance into the Beef Tub to come upon a little corrugated tin shed where we park our car and walk through a kissing gate and up a small rise through a sheep pasture.
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| Behind Gordon's shoulder you can see the green shed with the little white windows. That's where we parked. |
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| Over Charli's shoulder is an indentation which is the crevasse we are headed to. |
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| It's a long walk and a steep climb. |
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| Marked fields far across the valley for grazing sheep. |
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| And we keep the burn on the right as we head up and up and up...... |
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| through the ferns |
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| past the wildflowers |
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| Into the blue sky! |
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| A big, gnarly, black slug! My finger is there for reference. It has already pulled itself in by about 2 inches at this point! NASTY! |
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| Waist high ferns |
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| Entering the crevasse |
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| The approach to Merlin's cave |
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| Here it is! |
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| Och! A good bone to chew on! |
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| Charli wants to share! |
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| Discovery in 1748, hmmmmmmmm, that's several hundred years old...... |
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| A California man in a small cave |
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| This panel is on the ceiling evidently revealing some code written backwards and upside down. Pity we didn't bring a mirror! But there's a heart on it. |
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| Let's get outta here. |
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| The heather is in bloom and it is a beautiful pinky purple. The hills are lovely! |
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| A teeny-tiny fern with soft sedum-like foliage around it. |
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| Purple wildflowers. |
All sorts of wildflowers!
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| Gordon heading back through the ferns |
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| As far as your eye can see through the hills is the way we have to walk back to our car. |
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| Almost there! |
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| Views in to the Beef Tub. |
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| A gentle lamby! |
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| The end of the trail through the kissing gate and over the wee bridge. |
It's a fabulous long walk and the day was perfect. It's now 1:30 and time to head home and prepare for our guests.
I start preparation and Gordon and Charli walked down town for the essentials. Chicken breasts from the butcher; fresh basil and tomatoes from the hydroponic grower and cheese from the specialty deli.
We all shower and change and relax prior to our friends arrival; and we have a wonderful, delicious dinner if I do say so myself! Cocktails and nuts; Charli made a yummy salad and homemade dressing; a dish of zucchini and chicken and homemade tomato sauce over mashed potatoes with Parmesan on top; lemon meringue pie and coffee, both of which I didn't screw up!; and a cheese course of cambazola(?), Gruyere, and Shropshire cheeses and crackers and grapes. Started with my favorite cucumber martinis; a rose with the salad course; and SuperTuscan with the main.
Overall a wonderful, sunny, beautiful day and a delightful evening with good friends.
Thank you Lord for my wonderful life.
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