Door

On Friday I met one of my friends in Alloa, our plan being to do a recce for a Ramblers walk that I am due to lead on Wednesday. In the end, it turned out to be a good idea (which is why we do these things on the first place, of course) as part of our route led us towards a footbridge upon which "bridge closed" signs were placed.

It was a relatively small iron bridge over a burn and the sign mentioned that the bridge was unsafe and would be repaired at some point. While we both would have been quite happy to cross the bridge ourselves, it would not be something I'd be prepared to do as a Ramblers walk leader and so a detour was called for. After retracing our steps to the previous junction and following an alternative route we reached the other side of the bridge about 45 minutes later. Ho hum.

The rest of our walk continued without incident and we reached our final destination, Alloa Tower, about an hour later than anticipated. Thankfully the coffee shop we'd planned to visit in Alloa was still open and we enjoyed a most delicious coffee and scone before going our separate ways and travelling home.

Today's Blip is a doorway at Alloa Tower. The tower is a National Trust for Scotland property, a 14th century town-house, with elegant restored rooms and opulent fittings dating from the 18th century.

We had a good walk and it was great to catch up in person. Nevertheless, it only gets joint billing as the highlight of the day. A brilliant performance by the Scotland men's football team earned a well-deserved draw away to England made this particular viewer so proud. My pre-match expectations were quite low, but these guys gave everything and lightened the mood of a nation.