Scolty Hill Conquered!...Twice

After a nice, big breakfast, Steve and I packed and drove to Banchory. We walked up Scolty Hill! It was fun. We took Angel with us as well. It was steep at some areas, but we saw people walking with kids who were about 5 years old, so we couldn't act bothered. :o) There is a tower at the top where you can climb stairs for a pretty great view of the surrounding area.

On the way back we took a trail on the opposite side where we climbed up the hill. It was pretty steep and muddy. Steve and I were both slipping on the wet rock and mud. We approached an old stone wall that had been torn down where the path crossed. We hopped over and inched our way down to find... nothing. Where did the path go? Steve walked down into the forest only to come back and report that there was nothing. We concluded that this was the bike trail used to go down, but then push the bikes back up the hill. (Sighs) We had to climb back up Scolty Hill. This side involved lots of climbing with hands as well. Angel just hopped right up the rocks like they were no challenge for her.

As we neared the top, we saw a path to our right. I carried Angel through the bush because she was too small to make it through. The path took us straight into the woods. We let Angel off her leash because we didn't see anybody around, which was strange because there were lots of people at the top wondering around the tower. We walked further and further into the woods with no sign of anybody. The sun was going down. Great. We wondered if we were on another stray path. Eventually, we found a road and a sign where the trail crossed. We started up the road feeling relieved. As we were passing a house I said, "Steve, I don't remember that house."

"I don't either," he replied.

"Maybe we should go back to the path were there were signs and continue down that way," I suggested.

So we did. After about 5 minutes, we started passing people again. Yes! Life! We are going the right way. It was a beautiful walk, and we enjoyed it, but the setting sun was concerning. Steve said, "Well, you wanted exercise, and we managed to turn a 45 minute hike down the hill into an hour and a half of walking back up and down again, so you got your exercise."  Ha. I told him, "Yeah, Scolty Hill conquered!... twice."

"Is that what you are going to title your blog?" Steve laughed.

"Yep," I said.

We also conquered Angel. The dog with seemingly boundless amounts of energy, has boundaries.

5 minutes in the car, and she had gone to sleep.

Before going home we decided to reward ourselves with some ice cream. I recommend this place if you visit Banchory. Their ice cream is so good. I had the "Traditional" flavor which is basically frozen double (heavy) cream. YUM.

For dinner I made smoked haddock flan. It was basically a quiche filled with poached salmon and diced potatoes. I made the dough too! I was proud of myself. It was really good. I had a picture, but for some reason my phone is refusing to e-mail them right now. You can just trust me as I write that it looked and tasted great.