A long train journey means great knitting time!..............

Steve and I caught the train out of Somerset at just after 9am and arrived in Bridge of Allan at 7pm. A long ride? Yes, but great for getting a good amount of knitting done! A bit more of Steve's hiking waistcoat mark2. One of the highlights of our journey was seeing a hare running across the fiedls shortly after leaving Edinburgh, the last time I saw one was when we first visited Mid Wales almost 30 years ago. What a privilage!

Last night we went for a walk round Stirling Uni campus. It really is as beautiful as the photos I have already seen! There was the added sound of the pipes, as there was a piping championship taking place somewhere. We also heard an owl which I think I have correctly identified as a Little Owl and saw many well fed rabbits. I'm not sure what the rabbits are fed with in Stirling, but I am sure it's more than just grass!

Today we did the Darn Walk, which starts at Allan Water and ends in Dunblaine. It was so peaceful! We heard several birds of prey, probably buzzards, and the tops of the trees were alive with long-tailed tits!
We walked to the end of the town of Bridge of Allan, towards the station and this is what we found:

Then we walked along by the river until we found the official beginning of the walk.

Any Craftlit podcast listeners might be interested. A little later we did indeed find the cave!

We continued to walk alongside the river until, suddenly, there was the cave.........

We couldn't help thinking of Ben Gunn! This was the view in the opposite direction..........

This sign was at the beginning of the walk, but later...........

All rather confusing really!

Along the waty, we smelt  the various scents of the pines, all beautiful. Breathed the almost neat oxygen thrown up by the riverand saw several birds we didn't recognise, heard what we thought were buzzards, but couldn't see them for the trees and caught this butterfly on camera:

We also felt the bounce of this bridge.

                                                  The sign tells horse riders to dismount!

The river was just beautiful!