Sunshine in the Forest

 Today, we figured we deserved a break after lots of exercise yesterday.  We decided to stay close to home and explore a bit more of the Galloway Forest but this time by van and foot.  

First stop was Clatteringshaw Visitor Centre which is famous for being close to the Robert the Bruce Stone.  It was on a reservoir, so Tom immediately made sure he had his swimming bag with him.  We walked to the visitor centre, Tom saw some wild water swimmers and immediately wanted to go in.  So he got changed in the toilets and came out and waded straight in - how does he do it?  It didn't take long for him to be up to his neck.  Once he was done, he got changed and we went to see this famous stone.  It was literally a stone, we were expecting something engraved or shaped or something, but it was literally a stone that Robert the Bruce 'may' have leant against after winning a battle against the English.  All very spurious and not really worth it.  Oh hum, never mind.

We got some sandwiches to take away from the cafe and headed back into the van to do a 10 mile trip along the Raiders Road from which we could see Red Kites, Buzzards etc.  We didn't see any big birds, but we stopped off at the Otter Pools for lunch, a beautiful place, the river Dee was flowing gently down over some rocks - all very shallow and very picturesque.  

After devouring our sarnies, Tom went back to the van to change into his wetsuit and went straight in again.  Didn't take long for him to be fully immersed and enjoying 'a bath' in the water.  I managed to get my ankles under - but did a little scream, I still don't know how people do it without screaming?!

In the end we had to tear ourselves away from the place to do some more exploring.  

First stop was a place to see some red deer - they were right by the fence, so close that it was hard to take photos - the 2 stags had some wonderful antlers and the second place was to see some wild goats - once again a bit too close to the fence to photograph, but very cute and nice to watch.

We then came home to have a quiet afternoon, we went for a little walk down by the river by our cottage - mainly to see if we could get to the peninsula across from us - but we couldn't - too much tangled wire to negotiate.  

Anyway a quiet day, much needed after the exertions of yesterday.