I’m off a wee day trip to Bridge of Allan today to meet up with Auntie Jac.

I was going to drive but Craig’s car is in the garage and it wasn’t ready yesterday so he’s poured all 6ft 3 of himself, into Bertie Beetle for the day!

This is my trip.

I’m currently sitting in Glasgow Queen Street station where the blue dot is.

I have my lovely jumper on which was a Christmas present from mum.

Lots of clothing decisions this morning…. Well I’ll rewind first.

Fabulous sleep, woke at 5.30 and got up and out with the dogs in the dark this morning.

I had my head torch and they had their wee lights attached to their colours. They were so good, didn’t pull once, didn’t irritate me at all… good girls. As I say this I realise that maybe I was the good girl this morning 😆

There are no photos as a) it was dark and b) I left my phone at home!! You do know there are no photos because of b) and not a) 😆

I really enjoyed the walk. No fear in the dark, just wonder at what my head torch was picking up. When we run, we fly past everything. When you stop with dogs, to allow them to sniff every blade of grass, you shine your torch in places you wouldn’t normally be shining a torch 😆 we have some lovely old dry stane dykes around here (old stone walls). They are covered in moss and I stared into a few this morning.

When you spend your life in comfies, in your favourite jammies to keep your clothes free of dog hair, it turns out you forget what clothes you have and you have no idea what to warm to be warm, but not too warm…. I finally settled on the super cosy jumper, with leather jacket. I maybe should have worn thinner layers with a warmer coat but hey, there are kids in Glasgow with shorts on today!

A reminder to my Italian friends, how hardy us Scots are 🤦🏻‍♀️😆

Glasgow was looking lovely this morning!

This is Glasgow Central Station.

It was opened in 1879 and it still looks very in keeping, like a grand old railway station.

The city is very quiet.

Love the old police box.

Nelson Mandela Square.

Heading to Queen Street.

It’s recently been knocked down and fully refurbished. It’s very modern.

George Square at the heart of Glasgow looking all mean and moody I. The morning sunlight.

Into the train station.

My train to Stirling is at 10.18 and I have to change for a 3rd train to Bridge of Allan…. OR…. I could just get on the 10.10 to Dundee which stops at Bridge of Allan.

No brainer!!

I get in 15 minutes earlier.

The Trainline booking service didn’t realise I could walk across Glasgow, take photos, pop into New Look for a wander round, nip to the loo… to spend 50p instead of a penny as Gran used to say…. And still be in Queen Street before the 10.10 train!

And here I am.

I’m going to spend the rest of the trip looking out the window, watching the Scottish countryside go by.

Except for a quick snap of Stirling Station on the way through!

I’ve arrived!!

Auntie Jac met me on the platform and I told her I was desperate for a coffee so we headed into Timorous Beastie Coffee Shop.

It was a lovely wee place with lots of fab cakes but were good and just had a coffee.

It was heaving when we first went in and we had to wait for a table. By the time we left it was empty!

We had a wander round all the charity shops in Bridge of Allan. It’s a nice area so the charity shops are full of designer clothes, everything is great quality. I never got anything.

My New Year’s resolution is that I will only have to clear it out at some

Point, so no point in buying anything that I don’t really need.

Bought this arch way was very pretty.

We then went for lunch to a lovely little place called Friend of Mine. It’s was a really lovely, funky style place, a bit like Gro Coffee in Irvine.

Wee selfie before we went in!

We both had breakfast tacos. Mine with tofu.

Jac’s with scrambled egg and Jac had all those chips to herself….. 😆😆 you so know she didn’t. 😆

We had a brownie to share and a coffee afterward.

It’s beeen really lovely to have a wander round somewhere new while talking the hind legs off a donkey! We had so much to catch up on.

The river looks really pretty. The sun had come out and it was a really pleasant warmth in a cold day.

The trees in the river obviously came down in the storm last weekend.

Hard to believe this time last week we were in the midst of a raging storm!

We called back up to the train station and my Uncle Ewen was there to meet her so I sat in the car and chatted to him for a while too.

Then all too soon it’s time for the 15.14 to Glasgow Central!

I’m back on the train!! It’s been a lovely day, lovely catch up with lovely coffees and food. What more can you ask!

I used to drive this road to and from work every day for 12 years!

It was nice to fly over the top of it on the train. I’m so glad I got the train instead of driving.

Managed to get on an early train from Glasgow Central home so that’s great! Craig’s picking me up.

I hope you all had a good day and have a lovely weekend!

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️