Four Go Mad In Stayfat Woods
Oh the joys of the 'great outdoors'! Who cares if the weather is wet and miserable...it is November after all. What were you expecting? A heat-wave? You know, you can take this global warming stuff too far.
Anyway I managed to drag the Zed clan away from their various goggle-boxes and we climbed the steep road through Slackbuie to , high on the southern slopes outside Inverness. So steep a climb that the car barely made it out of second gear.
Ah but then we parked, donned our waterproofs and set off through the mud and into the trees. I carried a small rucksack filled with 'emergency rations'. We were walking for five minutes when Zed-son asked if it was time to eat yet. Clearly he was having difficulty with the concept of an emergency and seemed to think this involved being two miles away from the biscuit tin.
We walked for another ten minutes. I led the way, pointing out some of the natural features along the route, such as mushy leaves and fallen pine cones. I then asked for silence so that we could eavesdrop on nature's own
soundtrack. Hush.
"I can hear the A9," said Zed-son, with no thought for the magic of the moment. He then led a small - but successful - mutiny which forced me to disgorge the contents of my rucksack and distribute the 'rations'.
Fizzy cola, crisps. chocolate eggs and oatcakes. Yes, exactly the stuff they take up Everest in case the don't make it past base-camp.
And then we turned around, retraced our steps to the car park, and went home feeling good about ourselves.
Plus...we still had some oatcakes left over.
