Menombling; Then It Was Wednesday

When I awoke on Wednesday morning on that Moffat week, I was aware of a dry, gruff throat. Nothing more than that, then. I put it down to exhaustion from the previous day's fantastic adventure and just upped my fluid intake. We were off on another drive, this time to Sanquhar, where Aitch could gather more caches and I would spend time with fellow blogger "GZ" of the blog "Ook?" - our first 'in flesh' meet up. (That link takes you to her post/report about the day.)

The oldest operational Post Office in the world. Operational since 1712.

The drive was pleasant, going once again through Leadhills and Wanlockhead and collecting a few caches as we went. I parked Grey by the charger and left him to guzzle power, while we went down to A' The Airts to meet Gwynneth and have lunch. Proper home-cooked yumminess. After this, Aitch went off on her searches and G and I wandered the main street enjoying all the door furniture and info plaques as we walked, learning a little more about each other. We went to the Tollbooth, which houses the museum, small but delightfully formed - and manned by a most personable young fellow called David, whose accent intrigued me. I narrowed it down pretty closely, but not exactly - he hailed from Transylvania! 

Sanquhar, apart from it's amazing PO, is perhaps most famous for a very particular knitting style. There was a lovely quilt hanging in the museum that showed much of what Sanquhar is about, but the edging reflected all the different patterns of this style...

Down below...

We then returned to A' The Airts for an afternoon cuppa and to reconnect with Aitch, who'd been having her own fun. I admit that at this point, a headache had begun to make itself felt, but again, I upped fluids and put it down to the sudden onset of heat we'd experienced, as well as all the extra activity.

We said our farewell to Gwynneth, did a quick grocery shop, then back to Grey and around to the cemetery, this time in search of some headstones that might fit into Aitch's genealogical research... a couple of interesting stones, though not immediately obvious as being directly in her line. But a peaceful and beautiful place to visit, so we had a cuppa in Grey and watched a sheep in the paddock beside us go into lamb, (didn't see the result!), before heading off back to the caravan. 

By the time we were back, I could feel the full headache, and what I feared may be the onset of fever. During the night that proved to be the case - there were some wild half-dreams/delusions! - and I slept right through to Thursday lunchtime. I had not heard Aitch moving about or going out on her own to continue her cacheing. I tried to bring myself together, and with Ibuprofen and hot lime drinks, it did feel like I might improve quickly, but overnight I worsened again. Friday, we had to depart the caravan by 10 am, so despite being really quite groggy, I bid farewell and made my way on to Carnwath, where I knew I could easily hook up for another power charge. Whilst letting Grey do his thing, I could feel myself sliding down into a proper dwalm, and made the decision just to stay there the night... 

TBC on Thursday...