SPENDING Father's Day might be a little different this year as we find ourselves with limited outdoor options as we ease out of lockdown, but that doesn't mean it will be any less special.

A day trip, family get together, a meal at dad's favourite might have been on the cards to celebrate Father's Day, but with our choices restricted this year due to lockdown there are some great alternatives out there.

Your dad might be just as happy, or long for, playing a solitary round of golf at his local course or sitting by the riverbank waiting for his catch of the day, but might also want to come together with loved ones to celebrate his special day.

From small garden gatherings, to Zoom parties, or virtual museum tours or a local stroll, we bring you the best ideas to make it a Father's Day to remember.

Virtual Museum Tour

While all their museums remain closed due to coronavirus, the National Museum of Scotland have opened their virtual doors for people to enter a world of discovery.

Their website gives you the chance to explore their collections and discover more about amazing objects through stories, films, games and resources.

There is the chance to delve into our animated adventures and find out more about life in ancient Egypt, learn some Mandarin. Watch videos on a day in the life of an ancient Egyptian priest

Priests occupied a unique place in ancient Egyptian society. Find out what they did every day and why in this short animated film. Created for the Discovering Ancient Egypt gallery.

There is also the chance to The East Asian Calendar

The East Asian calendar uses a unique system to measure and mark the passing of time. Discover the twelve animals in the calendar and find out what your animal sign is. Created for the East Asia gallery.

For more information go to www.nms.ac.uk/national-museum-of-scotland/

If you fancy going a little further afield in your virtual discovery why not take a look at the Louvre in Paris.

Activities on offer at the online Louvre include:

- One minute in a museum

- YouTubers at the Louvre

- Mona Lisa VR experience

- 800 years of history

- A closer look at Louvre artworks

Or you can take a virtual tour of Founding Myths: From Hercules to Darth Vader.The Louvre’s Petite Galerie first exhibition tells how illustrators, sculptors, painters, puppeteers, filmmakers, and musicians around the world have drawn inspiration from myths, given them form, and brought them to life.

Local family walk

Now we are allowed to exercise more than once a day and can meet up with another household, a walk near your home could be the ideal gathering.

Check out the Ramblers Scotland website to find walks close to home of differing levels. A great way to enjoy daily local exercise is to try one of their 700 free mapped Medal Routes; short, circular walks in every local authority area in Scotland.

Medal Routes are downloadable maps for short, fun circular walks of 15, 30 or 60 minutes. They are available in every local authority area across Scotland and there are over 700 walking routes to choose from.

The organisation has been working hard to help inspire people to keep active during lockdown - including via through their #RoamSweetHome campaign.

If you are giving the Medal Routes a go in your local area during your daily exercise, they are looking for you to share photos or videos from your Medal Route walk by using the #RoamSweetHome hashtag or tagging us on social media.

For more information got to www.ramblers.org.uk/scotland.aspx

Go for a bike ride

Sales of bikes have soared during lockdown with many shops now having waiting lists after being completely sold out. Transport Secretary Michael Matheson recently confirmed cycling levels are 50% higher compared with the lockdown baseline, while Cycling Scotland’s automatic cycling counters at 60 spots around the country revealed remarkable results, with one in Dunfermline recording an increase of 215% since lockdown.

There are a number of family routes to explore without going too far from home. National Cycle Network routes in Scotland run through many areas of outstanding natural beauty, taking in vast forests, iconic castles, shimmering lochs, tranquil glens and spectacular coastlines. The routes provide a unique snapshot of the country’s rich history whilst also connecting all of Scotland's major cities.

There are approximately 2,371 miles (3,815 km) of National Cycle Network routes in Scotland, including 644 miles of traffic-free routes which use a mix of railway path, canal towpath, forest road, shared-use path, segregated cycle lanes and redetermined rural footways.

More information can be found at www.sustrans.org.uk

Virtual park discovery

While travelling too far afield might just be a distant dream at the moment, we will have to make do with exploring some parts of the great outdoors from our armchairs.

Prepare to feel slightly dizzy on the virtual tour for California's Yosemite National Park. Virtual Yosemite is a groundbreaking interactive tour of one of America’s most popular and spectacular natural environments. The project is unique in both the depth of its coverage and the quality of its imagery.

It was created and photographed by pioneering virtual reality (VR) photographer Scott Highton, who has specialized in VR photography since the early 1990s.

Virtual Yosemite allows online visitors to experience over 220 different locations within Yosemite and its surrounding areas, in all seasons. Over 95 percent of the locations covered are accessible to Yosemite visitors via roads or trails. The 360° interactive panoramas are all presented in high resolution, so viewers can zoom in and out to see details, and can pan fully around, including looking upward and downward. Dizzying views from the tops of Yosemite’s famous cliffs and waterfalls are available, along with peaceful locations along trails and in well-known parts of Yosemite Valley.

For more information go to www.virtualyosemite.org/

Closer to home enjoy an aerial view of Loch Lomond National Park under #Lochdown. See the beauty of nature during the coronavirus lochdown through a series of videos which have been posted on their website. Take in the enchanting Loch Achray, a small freshwater loch in the heart of the Trossachs.

For more information go to https://www.lochlomond-trossachs.org/park-authority/lochdown/aerial-tours-of-the-national-park/

Watch a dad's favourite movie

You can now watch some streaming services together even if you are not in the same household and it could be the answer to having a family movie night while social distancing or apart from dad this Father's Day.

Netflix is one example where you can watch the same film together. Netflix Party is a Google Chrome-exclusive extension that only requires one person to install it, making it easy to set up.

Once you install it, choose a movie or show, pause it, and then click the red “NP” button at the top right of your browser to get a link to a shared session. The extension allows you to chat with everyone in the viewing session, but doesn’t allow you to put in a name, so you’ll have to remember your friends’ random symbols.

Netflix Party allows for full-screen viewing and anybody in the session can hit pause, play or scrub through the timeline.