Housesitting in Scotland

A stroll through Letham Grange with Angus dog. The extensive manor house is now boarded up and the grounds used to be a 36 hole golf course but are now fields through which we can wander straight from the back gate of the house. You can read a little about the Grange by following this link

Monday was a quick trip to the GP to get some blood taken after my doctors visit on Saturday and the dentist on Tuesday. Really exciting! We didn’t get to Denise and Paul as she messaged to say they were both feeling lousy. Not surprising really as they had both come down with Covid. We had lots of packing to do, and Brian started on scanning the photos.

Here's cutie Angus. Very laid back and easy going, he just likes to be with people

Planning on leaving at 09.00 for Arbroath on Wednesday was slightly delayed as I got a text from the GP saying my bloods showed low vitamin D, same as when I last had this dizziness 3 years ago. Not meant to happen in the summer, but the pills do seem to be helping so it was worth waiting half an hour for my prescription. Can’t fault the NHS either, except for the pharmacist who told me I should have ordered my prescription to be delivered to Arbroath, so I didn’t have to wait. He wouldn’t believe me when I told him it doesn’t work to Scotland as I tried during lockdown when we were at Tony and Nicky’s.

And here's Hector, doing what he does most of the time - chilling out!

A pretty good journey got us to the house about 17.00 for a quick cup of tea and to say hi to Angus. Then off to Kescoweth B&B, our home for two nights, we feel very spoiled. The family were nervous that Angus hadn’t been without them for four years so would he be OK? The answer is yes, he seemed to remember us and is quite happy. We spent a lovely day on Thursday spending the day in the house, being taken to some new walking spots, and finally out to dinner. As I said, very spoiled.

Our lovely room at the Kescoweth B&B

We arrived at the house after breakfast on Friday where we were greeted by a wagging tail and not a woof. How very gratifying, and here we are.

Our first morning at the B&B and the wind must have been just right for many, many insects to congregate round our windows. This sent the swift/swallows into a feeding frenzy, there were probably 100 of them swirling round outside the windows trying to catch them. I have many photos but I liked this one of an in-air manoeuvre at high speed to both catch an insect and to avoid crashing into our window

The big change, to us, since last time is that Oscar, the Maine Coone died so we only have Angus and Hector to care for. It is very sad about Oscar, but has allowed Hector to be a totally different cat. He is definitely an outdoor cat, but only in the middle of the night, and if it’s not raining! He is on the bed with us from the early hours, don’t know when, he’s just there when we wake up, till we get up. He might then lie about in the sunshine for a bit before vanishing into Narnia, or Louise’s wardrobe! It’s a big wardrobe, goes a long way back into the eaves of the building, but there is no sign of him at all. He’ll reappear to ask for an early tea before sleeping in the lounge with us for the evening. Bit of fuss in bed before going out to do cat things! It’s a hard life!

This photo's a bit aside the blog, but there is a globe in the lounge and, studying it, as is my want, I was interested to see the real size of Greenland in relation to other countries such as the UK and Europe. It's a lot smaller than the size shown on normal flat maps using the Mercator projection

Angus is as soft as they come, if we are downstairs, he’ll be downstairs and if we are upstairs he’ll be upstairs. He doesn’t like it if one of us is up and one down (the lounge is upstairs so this isn’t as weird as it sounds). He is quite happy with walks from the house of which there are many (have a look at these videos of a couple we've done, they have extra photos: 3.2km, 4km). The golf course is no more, so the residents are paying someone to drive about on a mower to keep the paths open, but we can walk for miles. Despite this we have taken him out for some new sniffs (that’s what it’s all about, not walking) to the coastal path west of Arbroath and today to the lime kilns. This is one of the new walks we were shown and although not long was a lovely walk, including the church yard where there is a gravestone to someone who died before they were born!

Very soft Angus will just lie there while Jackie brushes him. That is until it pulls, when he gets up, walks away for a while, then comes back for more

Brian did a park run on Saturday which he thoroughly enjoyed, less people than Redditch, though they did seem to have logging problems, he was happy with his result when he got it. Yesterday Angus was in doggy day care, as he is every Monday, Wednesday and Friday so we went for a walk along the cliff path. Got a bit carried away and found ourselves in Auchmithie, home of the But n Ben, a restaurant recommended by both Louise, and a couple staying in the B&B. We were very happy to find it open, so decided we had to try the smokie pancakes, as recommended, and very pleased we did too. Delicious. Just in time for the bus to take us back to Arbroath, perfect.

Walking along the coastal path at Elliot

I can’t believe it’s a week since we left home, time is flying, but we are having a lovely time.

About to cross the railway level crossing to get back to the car. I ran past this on my Parkrun on Saturday last

Walking along the very scenic Arbroath coastal path. We're going on a kayak trip tomorrow and, I believe, we will kayak into this bay and stand on that beach down there. There will be photos in the next blog!

In fact, there's Monday's kayak group doing the same trip. That'll be us on Wednesday!

Further along the path. We have done this before and been right down there scrambling on the rocks, even considering whether it would be possible to climb that stack

We're not far from Auchmithie now

On the other side, fields of wild flowers

There were two options when we got to Auchmithie, the first was to turn around and walk back to Arbroath along the coastal path, another 6.5km or, have lunch in this restaurant that has been highly recommended by several people and gets a score of 5 out of 5 on Google, then get the bus back. Guess which option we chose?

I hope you guessed before looking at this photo of what we had. This is flakes of Arbroath Smokie in a rich double cream sauce in a pancake. It was recommended, described as 'famous' in their menu, confirmed by the lady owner who was confident we wouldn't leave hungry and, also confirmed by us, absolutely delicious!

Today's walk to the lime kilns (there they are in the distance, not far off overbalancing into the sea) and this was my attempt at art!

Angus had to do his inspection

And this is on top of them. Despite the signs saying 'Danger, unsafe building, do not enter' it seems perfectly OK to follow the path that takes you onto the top of them

Here's one of the old chimneys and beyond is a wall half gone into the sea. We do get the feeling that during the next big storm, half of this will be down there on the beach

A little walk round the coast and here's Elephant Rock

And just by the elephants tail is a little cemetery perched on the edge of cliffs in the middle of nowhere

Colin and Louise had told us about this cemetery, the Dunninald, and how one of the headstones indicated a person who had died before he was born, so naturally, we had to find it. It's actually that one on the left...

Zooming in it shows the birth year as 1859 and the death year as 1840

For the avoidance of doubt, here it is in very close. It's definitely 1859 and 1840. Who was this legendary person? It looks like his name was George James Ramsay. Let me Google it.....Couldn't find much, it's mentioned on many sites but none I can find gives any information (unless you can find one!) Here's one site I looked at: click here

I'm just trying out my new camera with a 40:1 zoom lens. This was a fishing boat way out that I zoomed in on. Not bad I think

And this is an oil rig with wind turbine and a ship anchored by it almost over the horizon

Colin and Louise took us for a meal on the night before they left for their three week holiday in the USA. We had a lovely day with them on Thursday and got to know them quite well. Here we all are at the restaurant LtoR: Brian, Jackie, Anneka, Louise, Anders and Colin. I had some great conversations with Colin and Anders at the meal, we must continue them sometime!

Colin took us on a really good gorge river walk and we came upon this folly in the woods. It's a long river walk, of which we did only a part. Another section starts by a blue door in the woods. It sounded improbable but we passed the door in the car and I marked it on my map, must try it out sometime!

A tired Hector with a paw over his eyes

Angus with his raincoat on

It's nice here, we're going to have a good few weeks!

Yet more Midlands madness

Spanish day at Fiona and James' with Jackies paella. LtoR: Brian, Jackie, Becky, Fiona, Jenny and James

Last weekend was the paella for Fiona and James and Jenny and Becky. For the first time, with 6 people eating, it all went. No danger of being hungry though, not with the nibbles James provided and the tiramisu Brian had made. There was also much alcohol. James had made sangria which certainly hit a spot, then there was the half dozen bottles of Cava we’d taken, and then the red wine.... I probably stopped drinking first, but still felt pretty rubbish on Sunday. Going to bed at 03.45 was largely responsible for that though. Brian had more sleep than me but wasn’t with it till after lunch! We did have fun though, this is a great annual tradition! We thought that was it for Sunday, certainly no beer with Sunday club, but a message from Ian wanting his drill back as more storage was required after onion (and everything else) harvest from the allotment after they had been away a week. It was probably good not to have just sat and slobbed, though that would have been very easy!

And there it is, filled with lots of yummy seafood

Monday we were back at Denise and Paul’s. Their outside lights and water feature had stopped working. Between rain showers Brian ascertained that it was the box, as Denise had predicted. Nothing to do except sit and chat and order a new one. We’ll enjoy the sitting and chatting then before heading off to the Fieldhouse, their local Ember Inn where Monday Club had already decided to meet. Seemed silly to go home, so we went for a meal first with D&P.

Oscar cat joined in too

Tuesday another mad bout of gardening before the new flat pack shed was delivered on Wednesday, then shed construction, between downpours. It’s a plastic shed, so no maintenance required, and actually went up remarkably easily though it did take both of us and two half days as once we’d got the roof on on Wednesday that was enough in the rain! Just to fill it. Well that took longer to fit in than expected. Ted went for his MOT, which was fine, but it had seemed to make sense to get the car done too, otherwise it would be due in January which won’t be convenient. It’s bound to pass, it’s only six months since it’s last one. Sadly not! I knew it wasn’t good news when Brian appeared on the drive in Ted! He had done well though, the garage wanted to book the car in on the 18th. Sadly we leave for three weeks in Arbroath on Wednesday. So he’d persuaded them to keep it and try to squeeze it in. Once Ted was on the drive it only seemed fair to give him a clean and polish!

Then it all became a bit too much for him

Friday we went in to Bournville on the train. Met up with H&I at the Attic brewery for a couple of pints before a delicious curry. Sunday Abi came over to look at the garden so she can see if she can supply us with any plants. We went to try Ritual, the new coffee shop in the village which was as good as the reports we’d heard. They’ve also taken ownership of the phone box outside and installed a book exchange. I’m very happy!

The night went on very late but breakfast the next day was also late - and delicious 

All this along with ordering and returning a second hand scanner for scanning lots of old photos. It didn’t work, but fortunately John has one that does, so we’ve borrowed his. Wednesday club and Sunday club up at the Weighbridge.

Oscar didn't see why he couldn't have some too (he had some bacon!)

I’ve been to the doctors and had blood taken. I feel dizzy, even while lying in bed. Brian has had his last visit to the prostate cancer impact study that he has been part of for the last few years. I’ve signed us up with the Cinammon Trust to foster dogs or cats whose owners are incapacitated for whatever reason. I’ve also received my first call from ’Be my eyes’ an APP that allows partially sighted or blind people to ring for help with “which cardigan is the blue one?” Or in my case “are there any milk products in this ready meal?” It only took moments but it’s great to be able to help someone with things we just take for granted.

The concrete slab ready for the shed...

Tonight is Monday Club, Bill and Martina are coming over to look at the house/shed before a visit to the Weighbridge. Tomorrow is dentist and Denise to fit the new controller that got rained off on Saturday and Wednesday we head to Arbroath for a Housesit. It’ll be lovely to stop and get a furry fix

And there it is (it's already full now!

With Abi in the new Ritual cafe in the village

I've finally bought a new camera after the old one finally broke, so here's a couple of shots in the garden just trying it out