A week in the Black Forest, testing both my fitness and my exceptionally rusty German over 70-odd miles of the Mittelweg. Endless sunshine, wildlife, beautiful towns, made up songs, schnitzel and spätzle, terrible coffee, and a vast array of baked goods.
Now back home, a little footsore but very happy.
“Everywhere along the roadside,
the chrome-yellow straight-out-of-the-tube-and-
laid-on-with-a-palette-knife brashness, the
amazing coconut smell of the gorse.”
- Liz Lochhead
Another instalment in my regular series of: god I love this city.
Today I walked through the sunny city centre, past all the tourists photographing the Ross Fountain, and up to the Lochrin Basin - the start of the Union Canal. It turns out that you can follow the canal on foot almost the whole 9 or so miles out to Jupiter Artland, a haven of bluebells, silver birches, bird song and exceptional modern art - including Joana Vasconcelos’ Gateway, an artwork contained within an outdoor pool, in which you can (and we very much did) swim. Nature, picnic, art, swimming: a perfect day.
Lambs! So many lambs, some so tiny they still had their umbilical cords and a slightly pinkish hue. Plus a new (human) baby and endless blossom and waterfalls and fence-clambering and wild garlic galore - the latter ideal with cod and new potatoes later that evening. A perfect Spring walk.
A long weekend in Paris with too many highlights to name - but at the centre of it all was, as it always should be, @shakespeareandcoparis . Already planning my next visit.
A perfect, sunny, touristy London weekend, of the kind I am pretty much never able to have - packed with theatre, restaurants, galleries, bookshops, history, coffee, secret gardens, markets, an unexpected church choir, and lots and lots of walking. Feeling very lucky for the good people in my life right now.
(Also now wondering, prompted by the poster at @piquenique32 , whether I can find a braided jacket somewhere…)
Another year, another trip to the big yellow house - with the usual walks and ridiculous games to fill the brief moments between meals and snacks. Plus, this time with added Six Nations pub trip. It may have been one of the best yet.
I don’t often do food posts, but this was one of the more extraordinary meals of my life: my first visit to @duthchas.edinburgh , and I very much hope not my last.
Six perfectly pitched courses - not counting the four canapés (one of which was such a flawless distillation of French onion soup I can’t quite get over it) - and every element was clearly carefully and lovingly thought through. We spent 3.5 hours over dinner, entirely by accident, and could easily have stayed far longer. Do visit if you get the chance.
The forecast for today was for cloud, sun, snow and rain in Peebles. In the end, we got cloud, sun, rain, hail, sleet, snow, more sun, and plenty of wind. Just an average January day in the Borders, I guess?!
(The photos don’t reflect the rainy/sleety/snowy parts, but in my defence that’s because my hands were so cold they’d stopped working.)
