Halloween anyone?

I managed to be awake, eat breakfast and be on the road by 7.30am today.

I took the A9 from Inverness south, then went west towards Glasgow and the M74. It turned out to be an easy route with relatively little traffic.

I stopped first at 9.45am at Dalwhinnie because there was a Tourist Information Centre signposted. It did not open until 10.00am nor did the loos. Oh dear!

Onwards to a service area.

I had one or two stops and did well. By the time I reached the A69 I was tired, so I drove to Gilsland and had a walk in the woods below the old spa. It was the right thing to do.'

I was interested to see that autumn is much further advanced here and there were few leaves still on the trees. It was also much wetter underfoot than the woods we visited in Scotland.

I found quite a lot of candle snuff fungus. This little clump made me think of Halloween!

(We are the people who switch off the lights on the front of the house to discourage guisers. I had no sweets in the house apart from a tube of cough sweets and no loose change, so better to keep quiet here!!)

I was home by 3 pm. Mum was pleased to see me.