Dunkeld and others

We've returned, apparently unscathed from our first venture out together since lockdown - one night in Dunkeld. It was all good - the protocols were well observed at our hotel and we felt safe. We left Banchory on Tuesday morning for the relatively short drive to Perthshire and got there before noon - a little too early for our room to be ready, but we parked the car and walked back a mile in to the village along the Tay river trail, taking a short wander round Dunkeld and across the bridge to Birnham, where we climbed up to the war memorial and took a photo looking back over the Tay bridge to Dunkeld:

We looked in to a couple of the hotels to get a bite of lunch, but they were either too busy or we didn't fancy them - until we came across the Royal Dunkeld, which was amazingly quiet. Noticing they had some real ale on, we took the opportunity of having a pint with our lunch, which of course meant we had to have it outside in a shelter in their beer garden. Walking back past the Cathedral to our hotel we spotted this:

It seemed to ring a bell with us, but we weren't quite sure why. When we walked past it again the following day, we were both finally convinced that we had, contrary to our initial thoughts, indeed been here before. (Subsequent research revealed it was on one of our Pitlochry trips back in 2014). The hotel is in a beautiful setting on the banks of the river, with an impressive approach:

From our room we had a good view of the river:

We had got back to the hotel just in time as, by now, the rain had started. Not to worry, we had booked a swim in the large leisure centre at the hotel. It wasn't hugely busy - numbers are restricted during these Covid times - but although Jo was wearing her swimsuit, she wasn't quite ready to share the pool with any strangers. That didn't stop me, however. Our dinner table was booked for 6:45 pm but we decided to have an aperitif first of all and wandered out to the marquee (which is deemed to be an "outdoor" venue and thus compliant with current coronavirus regulations) but there were no seats available, so we headed back to our room for our free glass of fizz, following it up with G & T's. Dinner was nice - wood pigeon for starters - and afterwards we headed back to the marquee where thankfully there were seats available this time. By Wednesday morning, the previous afternoon's rain had passed, so, after breakfast, we took a walk along the river trail - this time westwards. Reaching the A9 bridge we crossed under the road and walked back to Dunkeld on the opposite side of the river. It was a fair trek - over 16,000 steps, about 3,000 more than the day before - but it was a fine morning and we lapped up the Vitamin D. Here's a few photos from the walk:

Grabbing a quick coffee in the riverside beer garden of the Atholl Arms Hotel we then marched back to the hotel and jumped in the car to start our homeward journey, wandering up the A9, through Pitlochry and then over Spittal of Glenshee and down in to Braemar, by which time we were ready for something to eat. We chose the new Farquharson's Bar & Kitchen for our main meal of the day. A short break - but very nice. In other news, Cade's operation to remove his troublesome rib, (eventually) was successful and he's back home now recovering, thank goodness - with tattoos intact apparently! By the power of Facebook, we finally had our flu jabs last week, but we never did get our letters inviting us. Dentist check-ups are on the horizon now as well - it seems they are starting to catch up with the backlog of missed appointments. I've heard nothing, however, from ARI re my appointment to get a small former mole cut out. It was due to happen on our return from Australia, but events overtook us then. To close, a couple of photos from Dawn - first one of Avery, followed by a view of Jordon's newly decorated room:

and here's Miller, looking proud as punch with his award from school: