27th
October 2016 (Thursday)
.... 09.30 After a brilliant red sunrise I suppose we
should look forward to some rough weather;
“red sky in the morning
 |
| A 'cosy' Eastern sky. |
etc”..... however the weather forecast isn’t
that bad for the East of Fife; stronger
wind, but mostly dry... and warmer.
Anyway, forget the bad omen stuff .... anyone being down on the beach at
sunrise this morning was well rewarded by a bonnie, albeit fiery, sky as the
sun appeared above the Eastern horizon.
21.00 The bonniest time of day was undoubtedly
sunrise time; most of the remainder of ‘today’
was ‘drab’, certainly when compared to the sunrise we had. But, though the weather was what we could
expect at this time of year, the temperature was not; it was ‘warm, even though the wind was F5
most of the time. I even saw a Red
Admiral butterfly fluttering around the garden.... searching for somewhere to
hibernate I imagine.
I
decided to take a turn up to Balcarres before lunch; I’d take the car up to Robin Gray’s Cottage
(see the Auld Robin Gray by
Lady Anne Lindsay, oldest daughter of the fifth Earl of Balcarres) and go for a
walk up Balcarres Den. It turned out,
and I should have thought f this, that the road, (more of a path now than a
road), was wet
 |
| The Colinsburgh road. |
and muddy. I persevered
for nigh on quarter of a mile then decided to climb out of the den, up onto the
Largoward road. This feat was easier
thought of, than done; but I floundered
onwards and upwards, through bracken, at times up to my neck, and over lopped
tree branches.... and eventually had the satisfaction of being able to spot the
vehicles on the road; I’d only been able to hear them for the
previous five minutes. I meandered down the verge until I reached ‘Robin
Gray’s’ cottage. Although this cottage is called “Robin Gray’s”
it isn’t the cottage that ‘Auld Robin Gray’ lived in.... it was 400 yards or so
up the den, and no recognizable sign of it can be seen. I might have blundered my way over the top
of it when climbing up to the road. I
think Jim found what might have been some signs of it a couple of years ago.
In
the afternoon I went to the ‘Drop in Cafe’ for our weekly chat, cuppa and
biscuits.... there was much happy chattering going on, with plenty
laughter. The ‘cafe’ is a great
 |
| Balcarres Den. |
place to unwind.....
but, from information received from my Top Secret roving reporter, there’s
nothing happening anywhere.
The
wind is going to moderate overnight, and it’s going to be colder tomorrow; it might turn out to be a good drying
day! Of course it might rain, but that
isn’t in the weather forecast.
Photographs
: Top – Sunrise, Middle – the Colinsburgh road from Robin Gray’s cottage, and Bottom
– Balcarres Den.
