Perth

 Feeling a little exhausted we moved on to Perth after the festival. This was our first visit and after hunting down the campsite ( driving through a council housing estate to get to it ) we found the bus stop into town.

Our first walk round town was more a get our bearings and find coffee sort of walk, we raided the charity shops although didn't really find anything and relaxed with coffee.

The next day I returned on my own with my camera which is now beginning to show its age and I may have to replace it soon but I've not yet found a small camera that does all that this one does.

First up was a quick scout round the bus stop as it was on Mill Street, following the road I found the evidence that I was looking for.

This mosaic was set neatly into the cobbles on the footpath. Anyone want to buy a mill ? there is a sale board on it but this web page gives some of the history. It seems that the plan to reopen as a tourist destination were scrapped in 2023 but the inside photos are interesting. There is a for sale board on the building but I've been unable so far to find the listing on line, ( I'm being nosy) so I'm not sure is it relates to the whole building or maybe an apartment conversion.

Several bears put in an appearance as I wondered around. Around Bridlington we see puffins, around Nottingham it is Robins and I think Sheffield had elephants at one time.

A quick visit to the museum as unfortunately I didn't have enough time to explore thoroughly so its on my 'go back to' list. I did, however find it interesting and well set out.

I finished the day with a walk down by the river, a quick glance inside the theatre entrance and caught my bus back to the site opposite the old cinema.

Travel day

Monday saw us packing up and heading further north, the roads were quite until we hit the central belt (lots of traffic round Edinburgh as usual)

We had to cross the new Forth road bridge, much to my delight as I love going over a good bridge !

The days destination was Perth, somewhere new to explore once we had decompressed from the Festival. 

Back to BAAfest at Bellingham

 Once again we find ourselves in Northumberland setting up camp ready for a music festival, excellent Thursday night concert by Brook Williams and Aaron Catlow, enjoyed by humans and canines alike.

This dog was so well behaved, spent most of the gig lying down only pricking his ears up when one of the artists whistled and hit a particular pitch.

We had a wonderful weekend, plenty of good music, wandered down to the village for coffee and a tour of the local craft brewery.

I had coffee and scone at Tea on the Train 

Hunted down sheep at the heritage centre

Saw plenty of the real thing.

I worked on my scarf to go with my fisherman's smock

We bought raffle tickets, I won a tote bag last year and kept my fingers crossed for the basket of fruit this year :-) although this was the top prize which interested many people there,

And enjoyed the sunset.

All in, it was a wonderful weekend and we have booked the campsite for next year.

NB

We will pick up the guitar in a few weeks time !! Yep Ian had the winning ticket.

Soed Idee Jubileum week thirty six

 One week into our trip and week thirty six is complete. Its a little more awkward stitching from the pattern on my phone than having a printout but I did make a point of charting the destinations before we set off from home.

The alphabet has been faithfully reproduced from a schoolgirl sampler, the error is not mine !!

Started with a bang !!

 We have had this trip planned for a week or so, a mix of festival, countryside and seaside. we did not expect it to start like this.

It wasn't an old tyre, no cracks etc but the rear looks like it has bulged out and was rubbing on part of the suspension unit. Our theory at the moment is that the heat/sun got to it during the summer heatwaves and it finally gave up. A good reminder to invest in wheel covers ready for next year.

We made it to the festival just two hours later than planned after replacing with a spare and then finding a garage to fit replacement tyres.

Soed Idee Jubileum week thirty five

 WOW, week 35 so only 15 more to go ! I'm impressed that I got this far as usually on the annual stitch a long I throw in the towel quite early.

This may be the last photo of the whole thing for a while as its now as long as the bed.

Saxon Merino, a small sample update

 Any sort of  Merino is generally quite greasy so I was quite generous with the washing liquid and the very hot water when washing this small sample.

I didn't agitate it, blotted out the excess water and separated the locks to dry.

It is gorgeous and I will pop it on a spindle in the next few days. I won't get round to washing any quantity for a month or so but I think that it will be worth the effort.

Later....

A quick spindle spin, looking at around 24WPI with this, not super even as its a while since I've spindle spun and I was unsure how much it would fluff up.

it is so, so soft !!!

last Saturday of the month? It must be Guild day !!

 I don't get to that many guild days so when it beeped on my phone calendar I decided to head over and show my face.

It was a miserable day with the sun trying to get through but not really succeeding, I jumped on the bus to town to grab a coffee and char with the early birds before heading out to Guild.

town was really quiet,

just a pigeon or two enjoying the beach in the old market square

Then it was on to Guild, I'm always amazed at the wealth of knowledge and talent gathered under one roof.

Needless to say, I didn't come home empty handed .

A Zwartble fleece and a good chunk of Saxon Merion to play with.