Rowan

A drive over to Callendar Park in Falkirk this afternoon, only to discover that many other people had had the same idea. First car park was full and I was glad to get one of three remaining spaces in the smaller one nearer Callendar House, albeit with a bit of forwarding and reversing required given the limited room for manoeuvre.  Never done that in an automatic car before, so that was fun!

Glad also to note that, once away from the area around the House (the House itself was closed to the public), the playparks and the pond, the paths themselves were quite quiet. It was great just to meander among the trees and relatively alone with my thoughts.

Had a good walk on the 'outer' path around Callendar Wood - from which one can get a good view north-east over the Kelpies, the River Forth and towards the Ochil Hills (see extra) and north-west towards Ben Vorlich, Stuc a Chroin and Ben Lomond (a bit hazy today, so the photos I took of them didn't turn out too great) - and it was quite pleasantly warm without being very sunny. Despite this being one of the main paths around the Estate, it was quite muddy underfoot in places, hardly surprising given the amount of recent rain.

Approaching Callendar House once more, it was just as busy as it had been about 90 minutes earlier. Lots of families taking advantage of the dry, warm weather and lots of children enjoying the last few days of the school holidays. Everyone seemed to be having fun. They've waited a long time to let off some steam and deserved every moment.