Category: Cycling

A day of two halves – 8 September 2015

Posted on by Zogman

comboA very different day from yesterday. This morning it is much cooler,cloudier and breezier. I’m standing by the pond at St Mo’s and there’s no sign of yesterday’s mist. Managed to startle two deer about 200 yards (metres) from home. Camera was still switched off in the bag. One day I’ll learn. Dull morning walk with nothing to recommend it. Stood watching a dragonfly checking me out, doing flypasts. It never landed once in the time I watched it. Got one shot of a snail and a spider on a dry cow parsley stem, but had to reduce it to mono as the ISO was 25600! An incredible number, unthinkable a few years ago. I liked the colours combinations (red/green) in a shot of rowan berries and leaves. The colour contrasts seemed to brighten the scene.

In the afternoon I got another chance to cycle a known route and was impressed that I was using much higher gears than normal into a headwind on the way home. Maybe the gym is increasing my cycling stamina. It will take a few more tests before I’m sure if I’m becoming fitter or not. It can’t be doing me any harm. Couldn’t see anything that inspired me to get the camera out of the bag. The light just wasn’t good and it’s all about the light of course. I did want to capture the corn bales before they were carted off to the farm. They look so much better before they are wrapped up in black poly, no matter how useful it is to the farmers.

A little surprise for someone – 21 August 2015

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Just for a change I decided to go for a swim this morning. No gym, just a swim. Up and out early, just after 8.00. Got a few lengths in before the inevitible Waterbabies™ and their mummys (yummy or otherwise) and a token daddy or two arrived.
<oh, oh, I feel a rant coming on> After that the pool was cordoned off to allow the ‘little ones’ (how I hate that expression. We are Scottish. They are ‘weans’) to go through their swimming antics while we, the older and wiser ones have to put up with half the pool to actually swim in. Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve not got a gripe with weans learning to swim. My concern is that the leisure complex is being paid by Waterbabies™ for the use of their pool to run these classes. The leisure company and Q Hotels lose nothing by it, but we, the paying customers are the ones that lose out. </oh, oh, I feel a rant coming on>

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In the afternoon, I took the bike to Auchinstarry and did a round trip of OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERADumbreck Marshes, Queenzieburn (pronounced Queenieburn for some reason), Twechar, Smithston (pronounced Smeeston according to my dad), back to Dumbreck and then back to Auchinstarry. Got some lovely shots of a couple of dragonflies that were sitting on opposite sides of a bridge, just across from one another like a grumpy old couple who weren’t speaking. Next to them was a really nasty looking fly. To the casual observer it just looked like a black fly, but up close, the red eyes and that face looked quite evil. Evil OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAor not, it got its photo took too. Previously I’d found the red flowers shown here. The Oly doesn’t handle reds very well. It seems to over saturate them OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAand over expose them too, so some judicious downgrading had to be done in Lightroom.

When I got back to Auchinstarry, the old blokes were fishing again at the quarry. If you’ve been reading this, you’ll remember that I took some shots of them the last time I was there. I’d printed off one of the photos and recognised the angler in it, sitting on a bench watching one of the other old blokes casting. I walked over and asked him what they were fishing for. He gave a guarded reply that they “were only practising with different lines and techniques” I’m not sure I believed him. I asked him if he had been fishing there last week. He replied “No, not me, not last week.” “So this wouldn’t be you then?” I asked giving him the photo. “No, that’s no’ me.” Then “Fuck’s sake it is me. Fuck’s sake. Look at that, for fuck’s sake it IS me right enough. Who took that?” I told him that it was me and I hoped he didn’t mind. He certainly didn’t seem to and I left him to show off my work to his pals.

One small act of kindness.

One year ago – 13 August 2015

Posted on by Zogman

A year ago today this was published. The first post in my embryonic blog, and I have my daughter to thank for that. Without her help and knowledge it wouldn’t have happened. The 13th of August may seem a strange date to begin a blog. Surely better on your birthday or on New Year’s Day. August 13th 2014 was the date I should have been going back to work if I hadn’t retired on the previous June. So you see, this blog has been a record of my first year as a free man! Hopefully I’ll manage to keep blogging my tales for a few more years, still as a free man.

Today dawned bright and sunny with a blue sky and white fluffy clouds. I couldn’t believe at first that the weather fairies had got it right again, but it was true. Blue skies and sun. Temperature only just making it into double figures though, but set to rise we were told and they were right again. Spent the morning clearing up my extremely untidy painting room and stretching some old, but excellent paper for painting.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAAfter lunch Scamp and I went shopping and I bumped into my cousin who IOLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA had been meaning to phone for ages. The chance meeting replaced the phone call, but made both of us later than we should have been.  When we go home, Scamp wanted to do some gardening and I wanted to cycle. Since Scamp doesn’t cycle and I don’t garden, we had reached an agreeable compromise. Again, I used the quite excellent one bike carrier to take my Kona to Auchinstarry where I parked and set off for a run to Twechar by the old railway then OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAback along the canal past Auchinstarry to Dullatur and then turn back along the path to the car. Managed a few shots of old guys fishing inOLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA the quarry before I set off. Don’t know what they are fishing for – must ask the next time I’m there. Got some flower and insect shots along the way. On the way back, I passed a group of weans with the usual Bucky bottles under the road bridge.

Him “How ye doin’ mate?’
Me “I’m alright how are you?”
Him “Aye, we’re no bad mate. Jist huvin’ a wee spliff know?”
Me “Yeah, you look all set up there.” – He’s got a home made bong made from a lemonade bottle.
Him “Ye want a go at the bucket?” <laughs at his excellent joke> (BTW Bucket = Bong)
Me “Not me. I’m a bit old for that”
Him”Ye sure ye don’t want a go on the bucket? <laughs again and repeats ad nauseum>
You will lose the humour in this conversation if don’t hear it delivered in the Ned patois which is a nasal monotone.

What made the conversation even funnier was the fact that there they were with their hash, hiding under a bridge, when across the canal, the Dullatur elite were drinking their vastly overpriced craft beers at the Auchinstarry Marina. Who are the real dafties? Anyway, passed the happy crowd on both sides of the canal and finished the run. Got home and made a rather unsuccessful Chicken Jambalaya for dinner.

The magic weather fairies say it will rain tomorrow. 🙁

Still Raining – 28 July 2015

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Another rainy day. Went to the gym and found that Windows was trying to shut down the computer at the gym. It looked remarkably like the shut down screen on Windows 95! Only 20 years out of date. Anyway, when Scamp went to the gym later in the morning, someone was trying to breathe some life into the old system and was hoping to get outside help to do so. Maybe the system will be running by the end of the year.

I felt like I was getting cabin fever today, so hitched the bike on to the carrier and drove to Auchinstarry for a wet, but warm run along the railway line past Dumbreck Marshes and on to the canal tow path. While I was there I watched some bees buzzing around the flowers. I thought it would be a good test of the high speed ‘motor drive’ on the E-PL5. I remember a few years ago I was in a group of photogs where there was a challenge among us to see who who would be the first to catch an insect on the wing. Lots of heavy duty technology was being used, but nobody got that shot. Today with a second hand Oly E-PL5 and a second hand Panasonic lens, I got the shot. I don’t suppose the wager still stands.

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Cycling away from home – 20 July 2015

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAWell, today was the big test day for the bike carrier and it passed with flying colours.  More below. Not a long drive today, but enough to make sure the carrier carried! Drove to Auchinstarry and parked there and cycled along the Forth and Clyde canal to Kirkintilloch then back again via Dumbreck Marshes. On the way there, for the first time ever, I think, I saw the bascule bridge at Twechar working. It was raised to allow a longboat to pass through heading east.  Three or four motorists were standing looking a bit bemused as I was.  However, it was a good morning and a pleasant way to pass some time.  The canal towpath was quite quietOLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA this morning, with only a few dog walkers and the occasional cyclist to block my way.  On the way back, I took the detour through Dumbreck Marshes and managed a shot of a soldier beetle.  I know it’s not really sharp, but it’s the expression on it’s face I like.  It’s like “Are you looking at me?”, but it’s hard to second guess a beetle as Christopher Robin will tell you.

Back to the carrier.  It’s a Saris Solo and as you can imagine from the name, it’s for only one bike.  Suits me fine as Scamp doesn’t cycle.  The other novel feature of the Solo is that it’s made from plastic. Surprisingly, it’s really quite strong with lots of reinforcing fins inside the structure.  Another innovation is that there are only four nylon bands that hold the rack on the car – two at the top and two at the bottom.  They seem to hold it securely to the boot but it will need a little more testing to give it a longer test on a longer drive.  So far, I’m impressed and willing to take it on that longer drive.  I’ll keep you posted.

The Hottest Day of the year – 30 June 2015

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Today was hot.  Not pleasantly hot, but sticky, clammy, close hot with the threat of rain in the air.  Not a  day for doing the washing, but needs must etc.  So, I although I was up late this morning, I did get the washing OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAinto the washing machine and out on the line.  When Scamp came in she stated her intention to attack the field of grass in the front garden.  Being a non-gardener myself, I took the easier option and went out for a run on my bike.  As I’ve said, today was hot, so it was cycling top and cycling shorts for today’s run.  I went to the usual places and found very few damselflies and no dragonflies, so I started to look for the easier options of spiders.  It was while looking for the spiders I came upon a lacewing dangling from a leaf.  It took a bit of messing around before OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI found the right extension tube configuration for the image, but the result looked interesting.  Too many flies and midges to allow for any more photography here, so I headed home.  Just at the Barrs pond, I found lots of mating damselflies, but unfortunately they were all too far away.  Tried for a few, but without much luck.  The lacewing was the star performer of the day.

Today was hot.  I think I’ve said that before, but it’s worth repeating.  I am in Scotland after all.  Tomorrow is to be hotter.  Is that even possible?  There is the caveat that there will probably be thundershowers, but we’ve survived that in Venice, so it should be a dawdle in Scotland.