The magnificent Ben Lawers...

Backblipped 06.12.21

Ben Lawers is the highest mountain in the southern part of the Scottish Highlands. It lies to the north of Loch Tay, and is the highest point of a long ridge that includes seven Munros.  It is the highest peak in Perthshire, and is the tenth highest Munro in Scotland.       Wiki

Woke up to beautiful morning, blue skies and sunshine.  

Started the day off wishing Agnes a very happy birthday.  Lola was happy to give her lots of birthday cuddles (Lola is really enjoying having Agnes and Adrian around and they are loving her.  They really miss having a dog.)

We set off back to Kenmore and had a lovely lunch in the Courtyard Brasserie and Bar.  The food and the staff were lovely.  

Afterwards we went for a walk in the grounds of Taymouth Castle Estate.  David had the bright idea of leaving our car in the carpark at the restaurant instead of driving round to the entrance of the castle estate.  This meant I had to navigate my wheels across the VERY narrow pavement (not sure it could even be called a pavement, more of a ledge!) that's on the bridge over the river Tay.  There were a few scary moments I can tell you (I may have uttered a bad word many times) and two ladies who patiently waited at the opposite side gave me a round of applause!  But at least it let me get my blip.

Having navigated the bridge there were still a few obstacles to deal with, mainly dropped kerbs that weren't particularly dropped.  I had to get out of my chair at one point as I was afraid the bump up the lowered pavement would damage the front wheels. 

All that dealt with we finally found ourselves at the entrance to the estate and our actual walk commenced.  It was so lovely to be out and about and be part of the group, especially with Lola.  Without my wheels there's no way I could have joined any part of the walk.  I have to say I was VERY glad I bought my cosy hat and mitts yesterday as it was absolutely freezing.  The kind of cold that freezes your face makes it difficult to speak!  We met a man walking two other Goldies and of course Lola had to stop and say hello.  The man had treats and asked if Lola could have one, so he became her new best friend :-))

We walked on another wee bit but the cold beat us back.  David and Lola walked on to get the car from the car park and bring it round to the Estate entrance.  There was no way I was tackling that ledge again.

Back to the lodge to thaw out with coffee and cookies and a wee snooze before getting our glad rags on and heading out for dinner to The Three Lemons in Aberfeldy.  That's become a bit of a tradition too.  What a great evening.  Delicious food and great service, and more birthday celebrations for Agnes in the form of cocktails.  A Kir Royale for me and a Corpse Reviver for Agnes.  Adrian caused great mirth later when re-ordering the cocktail for Agnes because he'd misheard it the first time (he is hard of hearing) and asked for a cock reviver!  I couldn't breathe for laughing!  Thankfully she got the right thing!

Once back at the lodge we played a game of Would you Rather?  Who knew the question Would you rather be invisible or be able to read people's minds could be so controversial?!   LOL!