Today we went up to Calander, at the edge of the Trossachs, for a wander round by the Bracklinn Falls. The walk from the car park is a really easy three quarters of a mile saunter.
On the way I could hear a quad bike way off in the distance. Fortunately the girls are a bit more clever than me. They got to the same point and called me back to listen to the frog in the ditch. Turned out to be a beauty too. Just across the path, the ditch on the other side had two BIG dollops of frog spawn. Came to think of it, that’s something I’ve not seen for years.
The falls are really pretty, and the new bridge is attractive and natural. We had a picnic just upstream. Herself managed a few bites, on the occasions she could pull herself from the magnetic attraction of throwing stones into the water.
Given the choice she elected to do the Big Girl’s Walk – continuing upstream to a bridge then back down the road.
She’d got new shoes on after all. A shiny pair of Gore-Tex hiking boots. One chuffed “big girl”. Bargain too, £20. Bonus.
Return of the witchy finger
We saw a red kite over the woods. It seems this is one of the areas where they’ve been re-introduced. By all accounts they’re thriving. So nice to see lots of raptors. Such a change from my childhood when the effects of PCBs were at their height.
Also saw a couple of other birds that I could swear had blue wing flashes (amongst other things) making them jays. Sense suggests they probably didn’t and were fieldfares.
Great day out. Circuit was four miles all told. Only had to carry Munchkin for a few short stretches in the back half. The promise of an ice cream reward helped!