Running in Scotland

 Went on my first run here this morning. Considering it was the first one since my Covid I did okay. The run was along the loch, through the Forest, next to a golf course into the next town and back. The weather was breezy enough to swirl leaves in my path and the whole mood was very autumnal. Now that I am back the weather is acting upset with brooding gray clouds threatening to cry rain tears.

As most of you know (thank you for all the messages). I turned 73 a coupe of days ago. To help celebrate that, Susi and I joined the local Park Run club on Saturday and we both did the 5K run. I have to say that the course here is a bit challenging as it is mostly up hill even though it is three loops. Well, technically, it really can’t be all uphill if it is a loop. The start goes up a bit and then there is a respectable down hill section. So, after the downhill there is a required uphill to do the return to the top. Now, I am not talking Mt. Everest here, but the steady (okay some of it was level) but it is a challenge. On the positive side, it will be great for training for other races. Still, Susi and I did okay and expect to do better next time which I thought would be this weekend, but the call for volunteers to manage the run was bordering on it not be able to happen, so we are both volunteers to do the timing of it. So we didn’t do the run.

We did however make up for not doing the run tomorrow by doing two walks this last week. For my birthday we planned to do one out and around part of the Loch Leven with the destination to the visitor center cafe. The journey was about 4.5 miles each way, but the almost 9 miles was well worth it. We did lots of bird watching and the cafe food was great. I had a vegan haggis and Susi had a toasted humus and veggie sandwich. Both items were just delicious. 

On the day of my birthday, we rested up and did a short walk to a pub (slowly and limping a bit) and enjoyed the atmosphere with a pint and a half of local brews. The following morning we were up at dawn and caught the early bus to Perth where we shopped, drank coffee and had a nice lunch at a restaurant that had a floor with a window that showed an old well under the building. We arrived home again late and so today is another rest, reading and laundry day. The washing machine and dryers do one load in the lighting speed of five hours so getting just one small load done takes the day. The reason for that is we have to use the machines in the B&B and share that with the owners. 

The weather here is mostly mild with periods of rain and sunshine. Sunday starts daylight savings time, so we can expect very short days for the next few months. I know that is what you mostly expect if you are in the states but we seem to be a bit further north here (latitude 56.395 and longitude -3.729711). It will be interesting to see how short the days will be. I will definitely have to get one of those mood changing lights for Susi,

The most exciting news of the day is that our request for approval to rent a house in Milnathort has been approved. They had to do a credit check on us and a proof that we are already living here. Even though we have a decent credit rating in the states, that doesn’t count here. Apparently, they accepted the last 3 months of our bank statements as good enough proof as well as the statement from our B&B host that we were his tenants and pay on time. The small bug in the ointment is that now the house won’t be ready until the end of month if we are lucky.