Rosie's Ride Back

After an amazing lunch we continued our journey around the Scottish countryside. A picture I'm sorry I missed was the great yellow expanses of yellow rape fields (used to make rape oil). They looked like gold painted sunlight on the rolling hills.
     As a reminder, this was the path Rosie followed:We went a different way for the return ride, past Loch Earn. What was especially lovely about the ride was the stories Rosie shared from her childhood growing up around the very roads we traveled. What a gift. We drove through Comrie, Quoig, and Crieff (I'm not sure I have these in the right order).
One of the stunning things about the drive was the rhododendrons and azaleas. The rhodos in Scotland grow as big as oak trees and the blooms are the most amazing colors - colors I've never seen in the US. Of course, with all that driving, we eventually had to stop for a bathroom break - which we did at the Creif Hydro. It was a lovely old hotel that had been updated during the Victorian era, and again more recently to handle large numbers of guests and conferences. The sunny day eventually turned cloudy, but the timing was good - we were reaching the end of our journey. We drove in on the north side of Edinburgh where I finally saw the amazing bridges that cross the Firth of Fourth. There was the Forth Bridge.And the new one under construction.And the one we were on - the Forth Road Bridge.Since Stan and I don't own a car anymore, the day was a wonderful gift. we are so grateful to have such amazing new friends here in Edinburgh, who love their country and us enough to bring them together in such a gracious and generous way. We are lucky indeed.