Ouch !

Duller today with a thin layer of cloud, but mild and still very nice to be out and about. Unfortunately I had awakened to find that my left ankle was very sore and the joint stiff. I think my walking shoes had been pressing on soft tissue just in front of the joint on the outside of my ankle and when I took Maeve the Deerhound out for her morning walk along the canal bank I could do little more than limp alongside her. I wasn't sure how much I would be able to walk throughout the day. I have to be careful with my left ankle due to a problem I had as an infant which involved a surgical repair. Thankfully after a hot shower, breakfast, some Ibuprofen and wearing a favourite pair of boots I was much more able to move around.

To enable me to rest my ankle somewhat we went into Lochgilphead and visited the office where the old Parish records are held by the county archivist. Apothecary7 had contacted the archivist by phone a week or so ago and had found out there were some Parish records of interest to her family history research available to look at. We left Maeve happily snoozing in the car and had an interesting hour or so pottering through the records concerning the relevant Parish on the Cowal peninsula and found some information to add to the details of the lives of some of Apothecary7's ancestors on of whom had been a long term patient in the county hospital at Lochgilphead in the late 19th and early 20th century.

After we finished at the records office we drove up to the local hospital which has modern facilities which serve Mid Argyll and were able to take Maeve for a walk through the woodland at the edge of the hospital grounds and see the old buildings which are still there and some still in use ... hopefully modernised internally. Then lunch at the Smiddy Bistro again :-)

After lunch we drove up to Kilmartin Glen and parked at the car park at the South end of the glen. I put on my old favourite walking boots and we took Maeve for a walk across to the first set of standing stones. Thanks to my old boots and lunchtime Ibuprofen I was feeling more comfortable so we decided to follow the 2.6km path up the side of the glen and have a look at all of the stones, stone circles, and burial cairns that are laid out in a linear pattern along one side of the glen. At the top of the glen the path comes out near the Kilmartin House museum and shop/cafe. The museum is in the basement of Kilmartin house which is an archaeological centre specialising in the ancient sites and artefacts of the area. We sat outside with Maeve and had a coffee before making the return walk back down the glen to the car. Back at our holiday house the ankle is feeling no worse for wear and I am hopeful that if I stick to the old boots I will be able to go on the walks we hope to do in the coming days :-)