Tunnocks!

This wasn't my best quality blip of the day but I had to use it as it shows the two women from the Swedish mixed relay team, which had just won the first sprint in a weekend of world ranking events, opening their first prize bag to discover Tunnocks teacakes.  They were very pleased!

Our day began with an enjoyable walk from the village of Stanford to the Spectacle Eye Waterfall.  The story has it that the local miller had a daughter who was beloved by a young man from the village.  The miller did not approve of the young man and so the downhearted lover placed his spectacles in the thatch of the mill causing it to catch light from the sun and burn down.  Unsurprisingly, no one knows whether true love blossomed or the young man spent a considerable number of years in jail.  It was quite an impressive waterfall and next to it were the ruins of the mill which originally ground corn, but when rebuilt produced cotton and lint.

From Stanford we drove to nearby Strathaven, a pretty place with lots of independent shops and a very find café called Roasted, where I enjoyed the best avo and bacon on sourdough toast I have ever eaten.  The owner is a larger than life figure who moved amongst his regulars, making faces at babies, joshing elders and yelling at the schoolkids who arrived for their slices of pizza and sausage rolls not long after we were seated.

From Strathaven, we drove to Dunblane and walked through the sleepy town to the school where today's events were held, passing by and blipping Andy Murray's gold postbox en route.  The first race was the mixed sprint relay, two women and two men, with thirty teams from all over Europe and beyond.  Following this was a mass start sprint race for us common or garden orienteers which we both enjoyed.  Back to the car and changed, we drove south to Stirling and enjoyed dinner at Gabe's, to be recommended.  My smoked haddock risotto was yummy and Tony's fish and chips were good too.

Tomorrow is the second day of racing, this time around Stirling University.  I imagine there are not many of those teacakes left this evening.