The Birks of Aberfeldy

After my art class this morning I drove into Aberfeldy for a blipmeet with purpleone. She was to be wearing purple and I was the one with the dogs - suffice to say that we found each other with no difficulty! The venue for our blipmeet was the Birks which is a popular circular walk through wonderful mixed woodland on the outskirts of Aberfeldy. The Falls of Moness tumble through the gorge and provide a dramatic centrepiece, especially impressive after rain but today they were fairly tame as there hasn't been much rain for a while now. The wild garlic still populated the river banks and there was one delightful patch of mixed ferns and bluebells. Robert Burns visited in 1787 and was so inspired that he wrote the poem `The Birks of Aberfeldie` and a quote from one of the verses sums up the walk perfectly.

"The braes ascend like lofty wa's,
The foaming stream deep-roarin' fa's
O'erhung wi' fragrant spreading shaws
The birks of Aberfeldy"

Cara was in her element and kept disappearing into the many deep pools which punctuated the river's descent ,while unfortunately I had to keep Bruce on the long lead as the minute we arrived his head was up and he was off - he knows full well when my attention is elsewhere and is not slow in taking advantage. He had plenty of exercise though, just not the freedom he wanted.

After a good walk with plenty of chat purpleone invited us back for a cuppa to the timeshare cottage where she is staying for the week. While we were enjoying our cuppa and discussing blip, quilting and other crafts she noticed a largish bird outside and was able to take several photos of it. We immediately looked it up on Google and confirmed that it was a young female grouse.

The drive home between sun kissed hills and finally through the Sma' Glen was perfect and not for the first time I felt very privileged to be living amongst such magnificent countryside.