Wednesday 22nd -- around Linlithgow

We're up and about by mid morning. Deb is ready earlier, I always take a while to get started. (In my defence: I keep going later. eg Tonight Deb went to bed, I had things to do, then started this blogging at midnight.)

Today (ie Wed 22nd) is for resting and relaxing round Linlithgow. We start with a stroll to the loch then a minor diversion to a coffee shop. One we haven't tried before, of course. We don't want familiar, we're here to test what's on offer... This cafe offers lemon cake with pumpkin seeds. Sweet & delicious.

Scotland, we have found, does Victoria sponge rather than the very lightweight plain sponge cake. I do prefer the Victoria-style sponge.

We walk around the loch (it's probably called Linlithgow Loch). Various sources say that it's a 2.3km walk. Our GPS measures just over 4km, still some way to go but the gps batteries go flat. No worries, it's a very pleasant walk.

The weather is fine, cool, sunny. I wear shorts and a heavy shirt and carry a light jacket. Deb dresses more warmly. I'm cool when we stop and otherwise very comfortable, Deb is hot when we walk.

Deb dresses for a pessimistic weather expectation. I prefer to risk being cold and miserable because when I get hot I am bad-tempered.

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There are white swans on the lake, various other birds, one small dinghy with a fisherman. A few buildings and roads at the start of our walk, mostly set back on the other side of parklands. Then it's rough woodland with trees, flowers, quite a bit of blackberry. It sounds like a major road, out of sight on the other side of the woodland.

Two thirds of the way round, the surroundings become more open, grass with trees. I think we are into the parklands which surround the palace. (Linlithgow Palace, we were there a couple of days ago.)

In the lake itself are two islands which are, according to signs, old crannog sites. Deb and I discuss the origins of the trees now on the islands. We, of course, are crannog experts, having been to the National Crannog Centre :-)

At the edge of the park -- at a gate between park and main road -- there should be a cache. We can't find it. It's gone missing, judging by recent logs. And now the gps battery goes flat. Not to worry, there are no more nearby caches.

We're on the busy High Street but not for long. Deb has a town map, she guides us down a lane and back to the path in the park. We soon recognise where we are: back of the Burgh Hall where we had coffee two days ago. Today, it's a good time and place for lunch.

There's a man mowing the lawn around a small garden area. We've seen this garden before, it's a bit rundown, the concrete area in the middle used to be a pond. The man with the mower tells us the current story:

A Councillor wants to tear out the garden and build a memorial. I'm not sure to what but it's something that will help the councillor to get an MBE or OBE, we're told. A group of local volunteers prefer the garden so they are improving the garden. Our lawnmowing informant is one of the volunteers. He is also a lawnmowing contractor, helping out by, as he tells us, having a busman's holiday.

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In the Burgh Hall cafe we have soup and bread. It's lentil soup, the waitress warns us. That's okay, I tell her, I'm sure it will be delicious. And it is. Though Deb is worried about all the mm-long white things that look like little maggots. Probably some part of the lentils, I guess. Or, at least, something that came with the lentils...

Then we walk back home. To relax. And think about packing.

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We have dinner at the Mason Belles. It's raining as we walk there but Deb has an umbrella and I just get wet. Just damp, really. Most Scottish rain has been no more than drizzle. The restaurant is all glass windows looking out into a garden, very pleasant. We have a good view of the rain. (Which has mostly stopped when we walk home.)

The food is good and a little bit fancy. I order hake. After we place our orders we watch a cook go into a garden shed and return with what looks like a packet of frozen fish. Well, nothing on the menu says "fresh caught" hake :-)

I pay (as usual) with a card. It's a two-part system, a credit card connection links to the restaurant till. On our side we see "approved" but nothing gets to the till. We try again and it all works... And sure enough -- now we're home and I look at bank records -- we paid twice.

I may contact the restaurant. I definitely would, if they had an email address. I'm not worried about the money but the restaurant needs to know that they are using a dodgy system. Ah well, one failed payment amongst many many successes. All up we have spent less than twenty pounds in cash.

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And then we are back in our room. I set aside clothes to wear tomorrow. Packing will wait till tomorrow. I set the alarm for 3am tomorrow.

Tomorrow, we fly home.

====    Dr Nick Lethbridge  /  Consulting Dexitroboper
             Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
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"I would like to think it's possible to construct a society where our orders don't involve slaughtering our own people." ...Gen. Khiruev via Yoon Ha Lee

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dying for you to read my blog: notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au :-)
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