Liz had been invited to the first ever tai chi class in the village hall by Heather, with a huge turn out of about 30 people (probably half the community of Glendaruel!) but with mixed results. The instructor worked us hard, and it was tiring doing the aerobic warm up, but the tai chi element was beginner level and I need much more. Meanwhile John went to discuss power tools with Dave and look round their gorgeous garden whilst taking about plans for future development.
On our last day, we were going to head back to the West Midlands just after midday. We'd finished off and cleaned up our DIY for this trip and the sun was out so John nipped out - he just can't sit still. Across the road and down into the glen he wanted to check out the walk literally from our front door. Liz was pretty tired and her back was painful, so another walk like St Modan's wasn't her cup of tea, but John soon discovered that the walk was only a 1/2 mile there and 1/2 back and pretty flat, so came to report back and off we both trotted.
A farm gate, or tumbled down stone wall, leads down to the flat glen, past what is marked on the map as a 'Motte' (a mound which would have been the site of a camp, probably a couple of 1000 years ago....) and the river. Although not a footpath, our understanding is that there is a right to roam - but we're obviously sensitive to intruding!
From half way across the field we turned back to enjoy the view of our house on the hillside. Placed against the huge hill the scale and beauty just hits you, together with the insignificance of our house in the enormous canvass - you can see it on the photo above, just - a white spec in the middle.
Continuing on, a boardwalk leads across a stream (not quite sure who has put that in or for what purpose!) and then a cute little random cottage by the river. It looks beautifully done up but sits empty, which is a shame. A steel bridge then leads over the river and up to the main road. Lovely and peaceful.
And so with some great memories of a holiday in Shetland and some more days in Glendaruel we headed off back to the Midlands to pick up our lives there - until next time!
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