437.
Today was a day of travelling in the great Scottish Highlands. The weather was far too nice for staying at home after our breakfast in the garden. The decision to go out was an easy one to make; much more of a challenge was deciding where to go. 'Let's go to Glasgow', said I. I haven't been to Glasgow for over a year, and I thought that it would be nice to head over to my old flat just off Byres Road and take a stroll through the Botanic Gardens and Kelvingrove Park to Sauchiehall Street, then down Buchanan Street to the Clyde, where we could stroll along to the Barras market and buy a few DVDs before catching the underground back to Byres Road and a meal in the UB Chip on Ashton Lane. Sounds nice, doesn't it? The suggestion went down like a lead balloon. 'Arbroath', said Linda. Silence prevailed. 'How about Lunan Bay?', said I thinking of a lovely afternoon paddling in the North Sea. No takers again, so I gave up. Eventually we decided that the Highlands would be a nice place to spend the afternoon. I was quite keen on heading over to Oban or Glencoe, but I was afraid that mentioning these west coast locations might put the others off (too far away), so instead I suggested going in the direction of Killin which, because it stands on the shore of Loch Tay (albeit the western shore - and only about 20 miles from Crianlarich - which is clearly on the west of the country) was acceptable to the others. Finally we had a green light, and off we went. Anxious to avoid the main roads, for fear of my deception being rumbled, I instead headed off to Perth and then on through Crieff (Ewan MacGregor's hometown) and then up towards Loch Earn and on to Killin and the west. About three miles north of Crieff the road was closed by the police, so we were forced to double back. The diversion wasn't signposted, and I missed my turning - although we passed about seven or eight signposts for Auchterarder. We eventually emerged in Dunblane, passing a row of about 40 parked riot police vans from the G8 summit. After a leisurely stroll around the Cathedral, we headed back up towards Comrie and Loch Earn. We stopped at St. Fillans, and enjoyed the beautiful weather from the hotel at the side of the loch. A couple of hours later and we were on the road again, this time up the east shore of Loch Earn, through Lochearnhead and on to Killin where we had a stroll. I wanted to continue to Crianlarich, but no-one else was having it. Our journey home took us along the north shore of Loch Tay, past Ben Lawers, Kenmore (and I missed two castles - Taymouth and Comrie), Aberfeldy, Dunkeld, Coupar Angus and Dundee. We stopped off for something to eat, and were home by 10pm, with the sun still in the sky. This is a great country to live in - at least in the summer that is!

Last year I was contacted by an old friend