Category: Colzium

Walking – 29 July 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Today, we went for a walk around Colzium estate, but before that I had to face the ladies who like my blood.

It was time for my annual review at the health centre and the first stage of that is to give a sample of my blood for testing. Not something I look forward to, but I guess it is better getting it over with as soon as possible. So I was up fairly early to get it done.

After that the day was our own. After lunch we discussed what to do and where to go. I voted for a walk round Colzium estate in Kilsyth. It’s a fairly short circular walk with offshoots you can take if you’re feeling fit or if you feel the real need for exercise. We stuck to the easiest route we knew we could manage and had a pleasant walk up almost as far as the Tak Ma Doon road, a narrow, twisty road that’s not bad to drive in the spring, summer and autumn, but not in the winter especially if there is lying snow or ice.

We crossed the Colzium burn near the top of the estate and then walked back down the other side. There is usually a quite photogenic waterfall under the wee, old, bow backed bridge near the top, but there was very little water going over the ‘Falls’ today. We thought we’d stop in at the cafe for a cup of coffee on the way back to the car park, but found out that it closed at 3pm. It was now 3.15pm. Never mind, we went for a walk round the Walled Garden instead. It’s a bit overgrown now and really need a bit of TLC, but the flowers and trees are interesting. It also gave us a chance to have a seat. It’s easier coming down from the top of the estate, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy.

Lots of butterflies again today in the walled garden, gorging on the Buddleia flowers.

When we walked down to the car we crossed another bridge over the same burn and I spotted two little saplings growing out of a crack in the bridge parapet. That made a decent PoD with plenty of out of focus ‘Bokeh’ to create a backdrop.

Not far along from that we chanced to meet one of Scamp’s ‘Witchy’ friends. Not real witches, you understand, just a nickname. Stood talking the family and then drove home.

Dinner was pasta with thin slices of bacon, a tin of tomatoes and a couple of frozen spinach balls thrown in for good measure. It seemed to go down well.

Watched this year’s final of Masterchef – The Professionals. We are always amazed at the lengths these couples go to to create their sugar and chocolate presentations.

Tomorrow I’m intending staying at home while Scamp is hoping to go out with the ‘Witches’.

Where will we go? – 19 April 2025

Posted on by Zogman

It was Scamp who said: “It’s a nice day, we should go out somewhere.” Where do you fancy? The answer came from both of us. Kilsyth. We can go for a walk round Colzium Estate. My contribution the to he discussion was that we could do a detour to Lidl because my bottle of Hortus Gin is getting low!

So that’s what we did. We drove to one of the parking areas in the estate and walked along through the flowering Azaleas and Rhododendrons, then around the back of the “Big House”. I spotted a Woodpecker flying from a nearby tree. I’d heard it’s ‘Rat – a – tat – tat’ as we were walking through the woods, but this was the first time I’d seen one on the wing for ages.

We walked upstream following the waterfalls of the Colzium Burn and crossed the bridge at the top, where the burn flows in under the Tak Ma Doon road then took the path. From there we took the far easier path down beside the other side of the burn and on to the car park. Not a long walk, but fairly strenuous in places.

We drove home via Lidl and restricted ourselves to three items each. It’s so easy to trail a trolley around as you walk round stores and not taking a trolley in the first place is a great way to resist temptation. I did get my Hortas, though!

Dinner tonight came from Golden Bowl. The only worthwhile Chinese restaurant in Cumbersheugh. Just for a change I had Sweet & Sour Chicken with Fried Rice. Scamp had Chicken Chop Suey also with fried rice and we watched a Buzz Lightyear film just for fun, then an episode of Doctor Who, because there wasn’t much else worth watching.

Later we watched the Qualifying for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix which was ( Yawn ) really exciting. Hmm.

PoD went to a Fern Crozier growing happily in the wet conditions in Colzium.

Tomorrow we’re intending to go shopping for more plants!

A walk in the park – 6 March 2025

Posted on by Zogman

We woke to a misty, almost foggy day.

Jackie was travelling up to Skye on the morning bus. We waved her off as she got in the taxi that would take her to Glasgow on the first leg of the journey. The second leg was a six or seven hour journey on the bus from Glasgow to Portree on Skye where Murdo would be waiting to take her on the last leg to Staffin. A few days later she was intending to do the whole thing again in reverse to return to Cumbersheugh.

With a morning and part of an afternoon to fill, I was pleasantly surprised when Scamp suggested we go over to Kilsyth for a walk in the sunshine that had appeared just as Jackie was getting in the taxi. We drove over to Colzium estate and that’s where I saw a single white crocus flower among the miniature daffodils. Just one, though, but it was shining brightly in the sun. That became PoD. We walked our usual path round what had been the driveway to the “Big House”, and then onward into the trees. This was the first time we’d walked in Colzium and there were a lot of torn up trees courtesy of the storms last month, or was it two? Anyway, a shorter than normal circuit took us to the coffee shop that, conveniently, was just opening. After coffee we walked back to the car and drove home.

Just enough time for a quick spot of lunch and then we had to get a bit better dressed for a meeting with the Co-op funeral office where we had a meeting with a funeral director. Paul, Margaret, Shona, Scamp and I were present at a rather disjointed meeting where it appeared the lady who was dealing with us had to also speak to a constant stream of other customers. Not the most professional way to treat people who are already stressed and upset. However, I was not running this show and had little to do, but on two separate occasions we had a thirty minute hiatus while someone somewhere talked to someone else.

The upshot was that a firm date for the funeral was agreed and all the papers were duly signed by Paul who was the senior member of the family today. We left after about two hours and went for a quick coffee and a discussion with tasks being allocated to willing parties.

Drove home and dropped people off as we went. Finally got home and parked. Dinner was Paella and it was a good one this time. It isn’t always so good.

Tomorrow we’re hoping for a more restful day.

A lovely clear morning – 8 December 2024

Posted on by Zogman

So good to wake to a bright, clear winter’s morning. Makes such a difference from the dull, milky skies of late and the gale force winds too.

It was Scamp’s suggestion that we drive over to Colzium, just outside Kilsyth and go for a walk in the woodland. I agreed, and off we went. Instead of our usual clockwise walk, we ignored tradition and walked it anti-clockwise. I hadn’t realised just how tiring the climb up the side of the Colzium Burn was until we were about half way up. Then we both realised that it was going to get even tougher when we crossed over the burn by the bridge and covered the last stint. A stop at the top gave us both a chance to rest for a while and take in the view down the waterfalls that tumble down to cross through the park many metres below.

After taking some photos of the waterfall and the rapids, we walked along the far gentler path that would take us through the trees to the once private road that led to Colzium House, now a wedding venue. On the way we were passed by a girl leading, or trying to lead her Setter along the path and through the trees. They made it Flickr, but didn’t get PoD. That went to a photo of the waterfalls at the top of the climb.

We took our time and followed the road past the house and back along a different burn on a higher channel. The burns cross at one point, but one is carried through a pipe below the higher one. It’s a strange sight to see. One sailing sedately along while the other drops through a manmade waterfall, through a pipe on off on a totally different direction. You probably have to see it to understand what’s going on.

We drove home via Lidl where we stocked up on sweets, beer and a loaf. The loaf was to be lunch, toasted and covered in baked beans. Beans on Toast, in other words!

Once lunch was past, we brought the tree out of the loft and unrolled the Snowman table cover in the living room to allow it to warm up and stretch a bit after being in cold storage for eleven months.

Dinner tonight was ‘Rats’ for Scamp and a steak for me. Steak was overdone but the baked potatoes we had with our protein were great.

Watched yesterday’s ‘Strictly’ and the F1 GP. Strictly was instantly forgettable but the GP was full of thrills and spills.

Spoke to Jamie later in the evening and heard about his plans for Christmas. We also heard of the problems of pleasing all of the people all of the time when it came to Christmas food. I don’t believe it can be done. Please yourself, that would be my suggestion. Then at least one person will be happy!

No definite plans for tomorrow, but a trip to the skips wouldn’t be a bad idea!

Out for a walk – 6 July 2024

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp suggested we drive to Colzium, just outside Kilsyth and go for a walk in the park.

That sounded like a good idea. The weather looked fairly settled with blue skies and white clouds, so off we went. We parked in a small carpark in the trees and started a ‘figure of eight’ walk by passing Colzium House which was once the seat of the Edmonstone family but became the property of the Burgh of Kilsyth after the Second World War. Built in 1783, it was substantially enlarged in 1861. Beyond the house, the path climbs a long tiring hill with excellent views over to Bar Hill and the intervening fields with their different shades of green. From there we walked through the woodland, still climbing until we reached the top and took a wee rest on a rough hewn bench.

Once we had caught our breath we crossed the bridge over the Colzium Burn and started the descent, because “what goes up must come down” on the other side of the burn. I was taking some photos of moss fruiting bodies ( a long time favourite of mine) when a man stopped and asked what camera I was using. Obviously a photog, he said that he had a ‘crop sensor’ Nikon, but just used it for family and holidays. He stood and talked for a while and then we went our separate ways. It’s uncommon for folk to ask what camera I’m using. Only serious photographers do that, so I think he was more serious than he seemed.

Down to the old curling pond, the first one in Scotland it’s said, and finished our circuit back at the carpark. Drove home and had a quick cup of tea and toast, intending to go over to The Cotton House later in the afternoon for a late lunch … except, both of us were too busy reading and by the time we realised, the restaurant would have been near to closing.

Instead, Scamp put some washing in, then worked in the garden for a while and I helped out for a while. The parking area was full when we got back from our walk and I had to park quite a distance away, but I noticed when we were in the front garden that a parking space had appeared, so I went to retrieve the car while Scamp hung out the washing. Just as I was parking the an ice cream van stopped and as I had some ‘real’ money in my pocket, I got two ’99’ cones and watched Scamp’s face light up. Her second surprise this week.

We spent more time discussing plants and what could be cut back and what couldn’t. Scamp was also making plans for another planter to go into the front garden. Always thinking about next year. We were standing in the living room discussing whether to water the plant tonight because many of them in the tubs were very dry when I noticed it was raining. We brought in the washing which was nearly dry and realised that we wouldn’t need to water after all.

Dinner was a Spice Tailor curry made with Chicken Thighs. Just a wee bit hotter than we were expecting.

Watched The Duke. A 2020 British comedy we’d seen before, but neither of us could remember the whole thing. A harmless bit of fluff, allegedly based on a true story.

Pod was a photo of Colzium House.

No plans for tomorrow, but the weather looks not as good as today.

 

Colzium and Brodens – 26 January 2024

Posted on by Zogman

It was a lovely morning, too good to waste. To make the most of it we went for a walk.

We drove to Colzium Estate just outside Kilsyth. Lots of snowdrops just coming in to flower and lots more to look forward to in a couple of weeks. We walked up the road through the trees and crossed the bridge over the Colzium burn. When we stopped in the middle a robin flew down to see what we were up to. I thought it would fly away immediately, but I took my camera out of its bag anyway and there was this wee robin looking like it was posing for the camera. Scamp said it was asking which was its best side! I took a few shots then realised two things. Firstly it had a damaged claw on on foot and secondly we were in its way, because it was heading for a pile of birdseed that someone had left on the parapet of the bridge. I apologised to it and we left it to have its lunch. One of those shots made PoD.

We walked on, along the steep road that circles the Big House and its gardens. It used to be the entrance drive when the house was in its heyday. At the top we turned right and then took the even steeper path to the left that led us through the woods to the wee bridge over the Colzium Burn just downstream from the Tak ma Doon road. We crossed the bridge and headed down the quite slippery path on the other side of the burn. Scamp started searching through the fallen branches for a suitable stick to give her some support for walking down the path.

Halfway down we found a big fallen tree that turned out to be half a tree, It looked as if the tree had split in two in the past and this one half had been torn from the other one during last week’s storms. You don’t realise just how big trees are until you see one lying down. We get so used to see trees standing above us. We met a woman who said she didn’t know if it was safe to walk in the trees when it was windy. I hadn’t thought of that. You wouldn’t stand much of a chance if a tree fell on you. Scamp was a bit saddened to see the broken tree lying there and I could see how she’d feel that. We walked on down to the bridge again, having done a complete circuit of this part of the estate. The robin that we’d seen the last time we’d passed was still there eating the seeds. It must have been the same one. There can’t be two robins with a damaged claw in the same place, could there? To end the walk we walked past the old curling pond, now a duck pond and from there back to the car.

So, should we drive to The Fort to have lunch at Wagamama or should we dine locally at Brodens? We settled on Brodens. Scamp had breaded fish ’n’ chips with a glass of Malbec and I had steak pie with mash washed down with a pint of Guinness. After that we walked home.

We watched a strange pair of girls selling manufactured diamonds on Dragons Den. If you watch it, you’ll understand what I mean by strange. It’s not really the people who are strange, but their devious dealing.

Scamp has now packed her sandwiches and fruit into separate boxes and is ready to meet June tomorrow and get a taxi to Glasgow to sing the Verdi Requiem with about 600 other singers in the Royal Concert Hall. I’m not going, because she says I wouldn’t like it. Probably right.

A walk in the woods – 15 October 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Another bright day that really deserved to be appreciated from outside the window.
A bright day, but a cold start. When I was making the breakfast it was 2.1ºc. That’s kind of cool, too cool for my liking. However the heating had kicked in and the house was warm. Thank goodness for the Hive.

We decided on a walk in Colzium estate in Kilsyth. My reason for wanting to go there was to see the colours of the Acers, but I was a bit disappointed by how few of the trees were showing off their colourful leaves that usually brighten this month. However, all was not lost because one tree at the top of the main avenue was a burst of colour. I grabber a couple of photos, one of which was vastly over exposed, but back home one touch of the computer keyboard and it became PoD. The washed out colours came back as did the detail in the leaves. Technology can be amazing when it works.

We walked on round the Big House and up the drive to the Tak Ma Doon road, then down through the trees to the main path that follows the Colzium burn up to the wee narrow bridge at the top. On the way I got another interesting shot of one of the many waterfalls the burn splashes down on its way to the more gentle stream through Kilsyth itself. I got one good shot of the waterfall and three that the camera thought were more interesting, Shots of branches and leaves. The first shot, the one I took, not the camera is available to peruse on Flickr.

We crossed the bridge and walked down the other side of the burn to the road at the bottom. There’s a cafe on the other side of the burn and we went there for a coffee each and a cake to share. There were two big family groups who had nabbed all the seats, but we weren’t bothered. We walked further down and found a whole line of unused seat on the rise above the bandstand. A perfect place to look out over the estate and enjoy the coffee and the cake and a chance for a selfie!

When we were walking back to the car we met a bloke who asked if I’d taken any good shots. Then he told me he’d spotted a kingfisher beside the Colzium Burn where it runs through a park in the town. He admitted that he hadn’t brought his camera, but I will make sure I take mine the next time I’m in Lidl!

Back home, lunch was tea and toast for Scamp and Brie, Apple and Honey on brown bread. Our own apple too! Lovely and probably much better for us than the usual Sunday fry-up.

Scamp was desperate to cut the back grass, so I kindly let her, then John next door knocked on the door and asked if he could borrow our strimmer. His had broken down halfway through strimming his front grass. I didn’t mind, because I’d volunteered to strim our back grass and that would put off the inevitable.

Unfortunately, John brought the strimmer back and I gave in and strimmed the edges at the back garden. Then I cleaned both the mower and the strimmer and gave them a liberal spray with WD40 and put them away for the winter. It’s unlikely we’ll get another chance to cut the grass this year.

Dinner tonight was Sea Bream with Potatoes, Peas and Sweet Corn. Perfectly cooked by Scamp, of course.

Spoke to Jamie later and discussed plans for next week. All seems to be in order down south and the pair are still keen to get some serious walking done. We’ll just watch!

PoD was indeed the first shot of the day, the beautiful colours of the Acers. The prompt for today was “Dagger”. I drew a Dirk, a Thrusting dagger, Wikipedia calls it. It’s Scots name is Sgian Dubh, meaning Black Knife. This sketch is loosely based on my own Sgian Dubh which I only wear with highland dress at weddings.

No plans for tomorrow, although clearing a bedroom will be on the cards I fear!

Colzium – 21 March 2023

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It was much better day than yesterday, a day to go for a walk.

Scamp suggested we walk around Colzium. I thought that was a good choice. It’s a circular path or to be more correct it’s a collection of intersecting circular paths that allow you to take as long or as short a walk as you see fit, or that you feel fit enough to walk!

The first problem was that the road we usually take was closed today so we had to weave our way through the traffic calming single lanes through Croy, but it did us to Colzium Estate.

Just for a change we didn’t aim for the big car park with the pot holes that are ‘going to be repaired’. The question is “When?”. Instead we parked in among the trees in a much smaller car park, but one without pot holes.

We set off up the hill and met a couple coming the other way. They warned us that if we were heading for the cafe, we were out of luck. A waitress had spilled hot soup down her leg, so they had closed the cafe for the day while the ambulance people dealt with the casualty. We had both been intending going to the cafe on our way back, but we were going to be disappointed. Instead we plodded on and up the long curving driveway that used to bring the posh folk to the Big House. We followed the road round the back of the estate and on to the path through the woodland and out at the bridge over the Colzium burn which was on the way to being a raging torrent today. A few photos later we started down the other side and I saw an opportunity in a view over a mossy dry-stane dyke to the farmlands over to the east. Nice framing from an old beech tree and I had the makings of a PoD. We followed the route of the burn down to the road then back to the car. A decent 2.5mile walk on a warm spring day. Not to be sniffed at.

We drove home by the old road that climbs through a narrow gorge in woodland then follows a burn to Dullatur. From there it’s a boring drive through half a dozen roundabouts to Tesco and the makings of lunch. Scrambled egg for Scamp and Cheese for me, served on a well fired roll.

I did think of taking a walk round St Mo’s, but instead inspected my photos and decided I had enough for a PoD which turned out to be that mossy dry-stane dyke. Besides, I knew that a parcel had been winging its way from Darn Sarf and would arrive between 3 and 4pm. Scamp was settled to do some ironing, so I got to the door when the DPD bloke knocked and the parcel was disappeared, as if by magic.

Jackie sent us a link to an MP4 file with all the photos of Wee Jaki’s wedding. Some lovely photos there. Thank you Jackie. Scamp has the file now too.

Dinner tonight was Pasta Amatriciana (bacon, tomatoes, shallot, spring onion and a pinch of chilli flakes). Afterwards we watched a quite entertaining Celebrity Bake Off. Don’t know what they will do when Matt Lucas leaves.

That was about it for today. Scamp is intending going to Glasgow tomorrow for a Witches Day. I’m intending painting, if I can get my backside in gear.

A late start and a lovely day – 25 January 2023

Posted on by Zogman

I must have been tired, because it was well past 9am when I woke today.

Scamp was already awake and reading her Kindle. She too must have had a good night’s sleep. It’s good to see her beginning to improve.

I though we might go for a walk today because it was a bright winter’s day. Scamp said we needed some shopping, so I suggested we drive to Lidl in Kilsyth to get the shopping then go for a walk along the canal. Just a short walk along the canal cross over the Plantation and back along the old mineral line. That would cover both options. So that’s what we did, kind of!

We drove to Lidl and got the messages as usual and also as usual we bought more than was absolutely necessary. We even found they had Neapolitan ice cream wafers! Sharp eyed Scamp spotted them in a freezer. When we came out Scamp asked if we could go to Colzium instead of the canal. The suited me too, so we drove in to the parking area that has more craters than the moon (I’ve never been to the moon, but I’ve seen pictures and Colzium wins on crater count). Parking was easy, it was just the driving that was dangerous!

We walked a slightly shortened version of our usual exhausting climb along the banks of the Colzium Burn and Scamp managed it easily. I got lots of photos, from little pockets of snowdrops to rushing waterfalls the burn was tumbling through. PoD was a 15 frame panorama that was eventually cropped down to a 12 frame. I felt the sky was a bit bland, although it was a beautiful blue, so I slipped in another one, one of my own from a few months ago. It seemed to suit the picture. It’s a view across the farmland of the Colzium Estate.

Back home it was Haggis, Neeps and Tatties, because it was Burns Night tonight and Haggis, mashed Turnip (Neeps) and mashed Potatoes (Tatties) is traditional. It was absolutely lovely and as Scamp herself remarked perfectly portioned. Not too much of any of the constituent parts.

I forgot to mention that my new driving license dropped through the letterbox this morning. Once you reach 70 you have to update your driving license every three years. My update is now almost complete. I still have to post off my previous license which I have cut in half as required by the DVLA. Scamp got her first one a week ago.

Tomorrow we may be driving to the Fort to visit M&S and Waterstones. I’ll let you guess who goes where!

 

A walk in the park – 21 September 2022

Posted on by Zogman

It was a lovely morning. It would be a shame to waste it.

Too often on a lovely sunny morning, like today, we have a coffee and open our tablets or laptops and cast an occasional glance at the world outside. Scamp has said many times that we should just go out and enjoy it, rather than sitting looking at it. That’s what we did today.

We drove over to Colzium and were one of three cars in the car park that can easily hold twenty. We walked up to the big house, then followed the steep road round the house and up the hill to the Tak Ma Doon Road, but rather than walk on to the road, we turned right and stayed on a path that took us down to the Colzium Burn. At the burn we turned left and followed it up and up and up until we reached the second bridge over the water. The light was really good on the first of the three waterfalls that tumble under the bridge and through a ravine, into a deep pool downstream. So good that I just had to take some photos.

We walked over the bridge and down the path on the other side of the burn and then we went for a coffee and some shortbread biscuits in a wee cafe that we visited a month or so ago. The sun was warm enough for us to sit outside although we kept getting buzzed by wasps.

Suitably refreshed and with a couple of shortbread biscuits squirrelled away to have when we got home, we walked round the lower part of the park and back to the car. The clouds were rolling in by then and it looked like the weather fairies warning about rain might come true.

Back home it was filled rolls for lunch and after some discussion, an old favourite, Fish Fingers, Egg, Spaghetti and Chips for dinner. I’d already downloaded the photos to the computer and knew there was enough there to get a PoD, so a visit to St Mo’s wasn’t necessary.

I got a phone call from the Nissan garage late in the afternoon, to check that I was still available for the service tomorrow and did a I have “any concerns I wished to speak about this evening?” I said “Oh yes!”, but agreed that I’d list them and hand it in tomorrow. That gave me the incentive to get my ‘concerns’ down on paper. It’s now written with one copy for the Service centre, one copy for the manager who I’m hoping to speak to, and one copy to go to Nissan UK.

PoD was a view of the first waterfall at the top of the walk today.

Tomorrow the Blue car goes in for a service. I’ve booked a courtesy car. I wonder what I’ll get! If the manager reads my list of ‘concerns’ first, it might be a pedal car!!