The 2016 Challenge, day 6: Picking up the Pieces (7)

As soon as I was out of Aberfeldy I put my thumb out for a lift, and the second car to come along stopped and took me part of the way. A further lift soon materialized (I think it was the third car this time) to take me the rest of the way. In between the two lifts, I spotted some rather fascinating sheep in an adjoining field. They are obviously a rare breed of some kind, and doubtless one of my readers will be able to identify them for me. There were about 8 ewes in the field, and a dozen lambs.

My injured knee had been fine when I was walking - both to and from Aberfeldy - but once I got back to the hotel it started complaining about the stairs again. I thought of Alan Sloman and his "hurty knee" a year or two previously. I hadn't been too sympathetic back then (although goodness knows I ought to have been, when it was knee injuries that had spelled the end of my aspirations to win a junior international athletics vest as a 400 metre hurdler in the 1980s); but he certainly had my sympathy now!

I had a very nice dinner in the hotel once again, and for dessert I had a poached pear with mandarin and lime sorbet. Now this was a real revelation, for two reasons. First, mandarin and lime is an EXQUISITE flavor combination in a sorbet (perhaps this should not surprise all that much, given that mandarin is the sweetest of the citrus fruits, and lime the sharpest); but also because that particular flavor combination then compliments the poached pear to a T. I should add that this dessert was not a regular menu item - we had cobbled it together with components from different desserts, omitting elements I couldn't eat to create something that I could. But I was sufficiently wowed by it that I suggested they needed to add it to their menu in future.

After dinner I turned in quite early. During the night I had three really weird dreams; and waking after one of them, I realized that I hadn't replaced my matches while I was in Aberfeldy! Curses!!!