More scenery

This morning when we woke up it was raining.  And I don't just mean raining, I mean bucketing down.  However our spirits were lifted by a morning greeting from the owner's dog, who was even more exuberant than the staff at the Milton Inn, and immediately fell in love with Sean.  Since check out wasn't until 11am today, I spent some time in the room after Sean had left doing a qi gong set and 20 minutes meditation.  This felt like a real luxury and together with a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs and smoked salmon, set me up for the day.

I found the drive a little easier today - either the roads were a bit better or I've got more used to that type of driving.  I stopped at an unpronounceable place to stretch my legs and was pleasantly surprised to find the cafe sold Illy coffee.  There was more beautiful scenery all along the route.  Like, whatever.

The weather was very mixed between sunshine and torrential downpours, and sometimes both at once, but by the time I reached Dingwall it seemed to have decided to be sunny.  The B&B here is absolutely exquisite with beautiful gardens

and the owners have taken great care to make everything just so.  It's indicative of the place that the tea/coffee making facilities in the room look like this.

I had e-mailed ahead with my dietary requirements and on arrival Denise, the owner, asked me if salmon was ok.  Of course it's ok.  Would we like some wine with dinner?  Sean would, but not for me.  Red or white?  Well if it's salmon, I said, he'll want white.  "Oh no!" she exclaimed, "he's not having salmon, that's for you!  He needs something more substantial than that!  I've got him a lasagne."  What a star.

On asking if there was anything of interest to look at in Dingwall, I received an emphatic "no" so I relished the opportunity to find a shady spot in the beautiful gardens to practise my long form.  The experience of doing tai chi surrounded by the smell of wild flowers, with swifts swooping around you and the soundtrack a gentle buzzing of bumble bees, I can tell you is quite a special one.  However I was somewhat embarrassed to find how much of it I had forgotten just since the clifftop at Land's End.  Anyone would think I'd had other things to occupy my mind since then.

I can't quite believe that tomorrow is the penultimate day.  I'm full of admiration for what Sean has achieved although I still can't imagine how either of us will feel when he crosses the finish line.