We packed up and left the house.
We had thought we might go for a walk at Glenshee, but when we got to the ski area the weather was pretty dreich so we decided to leave it for another day.
We drove home, stopping in Perth for some shopping on the way.
We first drove to the village of Kirkmichael, about half an hour away. From there we planned to do a circular walk, partly on the Cateran Trail, a long distance path, and taking in the summit of Kindrogan Hill.
Just after the start we were diverted off the path because of timber working, so had to walk through the woods for a bit then a stretch on a muddy forestry track.
Eventually we got off the diversion, and headed up to the top of Kindrogan Hill.
We went down the other side through the woods. We'd hoped to go to Loch Curran but unfortunately that path was closed because of the forestry working.
Further down we came upon the bit where they were actually doing the felling.
As we got further down we passed a large log cabin village.
We got back to Kirkmichael and had a look round the village before driving back to the house.
Later for dinner we made rack of ribs with fried potatoes and salads.
We walked from the house today, a circular walk mainly along the River Ericht.
First we walked into town and across the bridge.
We then passed a lot of polytunnels filled with fruit bushes.
Further on we were closer to the river bank, and came upon loads of trees chewed by beavers. We didn't see any beavers though.
The river had obviously been much higher recently, as there were bits where it had burst its banks.
We crossed the river at Kitty Swanson's Bridge, then headed back up the other side. A lot of the time we were walking on top of the flood defences.
There were more polytunnels, this time with strawberry plants.
Once we got back to the house we decided to drive into town for a walk round the shops.
Later we got a Chinese takeaway from Taste of China. We had a mixed starter then the main courses were duck with orange sauce and chicken and ham fried rice, it was pretty good.
It rained more or less all morning, so we stayed and pottered around the house.
After lunch we went into town in the car, and parked at the car park at the riverside.
We walked up the path beside the River Ericht to Cargill's Leap, a narrow bit of the river where Cargill is reputed to have jumped across.
Further upriver there are a few old watermills.
There's a footbridge and a big weir with a waterfall.
We then left the river and walked uphill to the top of The Knockie, and completed the circle by walking down into Blairgowrie. We then drove back to the house.
Later in the evening we walked in to the dog-friendly pub the Ericht Alehouse for a couple of pints, then walked home again.
For dinner we had pizza and garlic bread.
We'd booked a cottage in Blairgowrie for 4 nights. We left late morning and first stopped in Perth for a walk.
We parked in the car park at Bellwood Riverside Park, and walked down towards the river.
We crossed onto Moncrieffe Island using a footbridge next to the railway.
At the northern tip of the island is a causeway, but the river would need to be much lower for this to be usable.
We walked down the island, it consists mainly of some allotments and a golf course.
We couldn't walk round the golf course, so we went back to the river bank and walked north for a bit.
We drove on to our cottage in Blairgowrie, the Gregorton Coachhouse. It's a lovely 2 bedroom cottage in the grounds of a bigger house.
After unpacking we decided to go for a walk into town, about 1.5 miles away. We had a wander round, and would have gone for a pint except the only decent pub is closed on Mondays.
After walking home again we had lasagne and garlic bread which we'd brought with us.
Today was our last day, so after breakfast we packed our stuff and left the hotel. We'd noticed there was an ostrich mural on the building opposite.
We went to the Enfants Rouges market, but it was already pretty quiet.
Further on we went into the Arts and Crafts museum, which was very interesting and full of intricate historic machines. We spent a good couple of hours there.
We then headed to the shops, taking the Metro to Boulevard Haussmann. We went into two of the main department stores, starting with Printemps Haussmann. On the 7th floor you can get out onto a roof terrace.
Almost next door is Galeries Lafayette. They're getting ready for Christmas, but not all the decorations were finished yet.
They have restaurants on the 8th floor and a terrace on the 9th.
We decided to go and see the Arc de Triomphe, so caught the metro there and had a walk around.
With time to spare before our flight, we went back for a beer at the Frog & Rosbif. Unfortunately we got a bit lost between the Metro station and the pub, and got a bit soaked in a heavy rain shower. We also found it wasn't happy hour and beer was 9 euros a pint. Still tasted good though...
Since we were near the start of Rue St Denis, we decided to go for a walk down it. At one point we decided to go for a drink, and coincidentally found ourselves outside Le Sully, which happened to be a pub Scott had researched before the trip. It was good value and quite quirky.
We still had time for dinner before our flight, so headed towards the Gare du Nord looking for somewhere on the way. We ended up going into a very informal Bangladeshi restaurant. We had a selection of beef and lamb curries, with side dishes, rice and naan bread, it was all very good.
We went for a final drink at a bar near the station, then headed towards the airport.
The journey home went very smoothly until we started our drive from Edinburgh airport home. The M9 motorway was closed so we had to take back roads most of the way home. We still got home well before midnight though.
