That’s the first time I’ve taken a photo of the day on a lunchtime run round Linlithgow Loch. And things have changed! The northern wall of the palace is covered in scaffolding – actually, I think that it might have been that way before – but what has changed is the St Michael’s spire – now a vibrant gold colour.

This was apparently the original vision for the work, but the elements attacked the coating and revealed the silver-coloured aluminium under the coating – the new coating is apparently much more resilient and so we should see the gold colour for many years to come.