OK, It’s not day 1 anymore, but it feels that way.
Saturday we took a train to London’s Victoria station. Then we took a tube from there to King’s Cross station. From there, we took a train to Edinburgh. From there, we took another train to Pitlochry. On the long-haul train from London to Edinburgh, we were fortunate in that we had reserved seats at a table and the reserved seats across from us were unoccupied, as we only needed 2 tickets, because Sam is an “under 5” but that meant we only got 2 seats. We arrived without event except that I’m pretty sure I left my hat on the London to Edinburgh train which is terribly disappointing. I guess another trip to Goorin Brothers is in order next time I’m back in SF. It was always a bit too small, but I’m still disappointed to have left it behind.
Once here in Pitlochry, we made our way to Craigroyston House (&lodge!) where we’re staying in the “self-catering cottage.” It’s a cute little place. The downstairs is a kitchen/dining room on one side and a living room on the other side. The stairs in the center t-off into two small bedrooms, each with its own tiny shower-room. A powder-room is tucked into one of the crevices of the T.
After being shown around the cottage, we went out to the co-op to pick up stuff for Sunday’s breakfast. Unfortunately, that made us late enough we missed entry to the restaurant we’d intended to go to. So we went to the next open one we found. It was fine. I had a “Mega-Burger”, Sam a Kid’s cheeseburger and Ca got Fish-n-Chips. Finally, we came home and all collapsed pretty readily.
Today (Sunday), I got up at 7 for a “run” – I’m still in the fairly early stages of a “couch to 10k” program. The run was inspiring. Running in the Scottish highlands was great. It was cool and overcast, but not cold enough to be unpleasant. My 5-ish mile run took me by a golf course, out of the little town and past some farmland, and even past 2 distilleries!
When I got back, Carolyn was up and writing, and it wasn’t long before Sam was up. We breakfasted and headed out to the town. We got Sam her first pair of actual hiking boots (which saw a real workout later in the day) and back to the co-op for some lunch food for the day. Back to the cottage for lunch, we then went for a walk. It was nice. I took lots pictures of the waterfall “Black Spout” and we traipsed past both of the distilleries that I’d run past earlier in the day. On the way back, we found a playground that Sam played in, a cat that Carolyn and Sam pet, and came back through the parking lot of a curling rink that doesn’t look exceptionally open any more.