Went hillwalking on Saturday. Planned this walk about 3 weeks ago. And the weather recently has been horrendous. I spent the days leading up to the hillwalk sitting in the office looking out at the pouring rain, wishing I hadn’t agreed to go walking at this time of year.

And then the day came, and it was beautiful. The mountain (An Caisteal) was covered in snow, various different sorts of snow – by turns powdery, fluffy, icy and sparkly. The sky was blue, the sun was bright and there was barely any wind at all.

Couldn’t have asked for better!

My cousin V came to visit last weekend with 2 of her 4 kids.

On Friday we just chilled out. On Saturday we spent over 4 hours at the Science Centre. The Science Centre is amazing. There is loads to do, and you don’t even need to have kids with you to enjoy it. It really is fun for all the family. My only regret is that I didn’t bring my camera.

I tried to book a taxi to take us home again, but for some reason they weren’t taking bookings. So I phoned when we were ready to go.

And we stood.

And stood.

And waited.

And watched as the rain turned into the first snow of the winter.

And got bored of waiting.

And phoned the taxi company who couldn’t tell us how long it would be, because they hadn’t found a taxi for us yet.

So we decided to walk.

In the snow and the icy cold wind.

The wind was whipping my face, it was really miserable weather for walking.

WHAT was I thinking of taking a 6-year-old and a 10-year-old out in weather like this?

WHY didn’t I own a car like any sensible grown-up?

I thought I’d made a really bad decision and that in a few minutes the 2 girls would be crying that their feet were sore and they hated being wet. But they didn’t. They chatted and walked and danced around the lamp posts, and were generally a delight to be with.

And we got home and went out for a meal, and Day One of Entertaining-The-Cousins was a resounding success. Total respect to V and her husband for bringing up such excellent children!

Went to Durham with J to visit F. And it was glorious autumn weather. Bright sunshine, clear skies. On Friday night we just chilled out and chatted. On Saturday (after a leisurely start) we went for a walk through a forest of beech trees. We stopped for a delicious lunch, then did some shopping. Its always fun to shop with friends, makes you consider buying things you’d normally walk straight past!

That evening we watched the rubgy (England against South Africa, world cup final). I don’t think I’ve ever watched a full game of rugby from start to finish before, and I have to admit, I haven’t been converted (ee is there a wordplay in there somewhere?!). But apparently it was a dull game, they were playing it safe, so maybe one day I will discover the true beauty of watching sport. In the meantime, I think playing sports is better than watching sports.

And on Sunday we went to F’s new church and it was lovely. Friendly people, simple and practical sermon, and lots of life about the place.

Durham itself is gorgeous – it has a river (always a good start) – which when we passed was populated with teams of rowers, it has deciduous woods, it has a castle and a cathedral on a hill. It has a manageable number of shops (i.e. not too many) and some great coffee shops. And based on a sample of 2 days, it is the land of constant sunshine.

Saturday was the day of the Mighty Deerstalker, a 10k race around the grounds of Traquair House in the borders. The weather was glorious, to the point that we almost wished we’d gone ahead with our initial plan to camp out overnight.

All around were people of varying degrees of fitness, enthusiasm and wacky clothing. Fitting with the idea of a deerstalker theme, many people had deerstalker hats, bits and pieces of tweed or were even wearing antlers. Several of the men were also dressed as women (ANY excuse!)

There was a great buzz about the place and an opportunity to buy deerstalker hats, whisky, outdoorsy clothing and energy bars. And the weather was absolutely perfect. Bright sunshine, and not even a hint of rain.

Its snowing in Glasgow! First snow of the year. Big lovely fluffy snowflakes.

There is something magical about snow, even if it will all have turned to slush by the morning!