Driving – Page 105 – My Photo Blog

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting for Kizomba to begin – 10 October 2016

Posted on October 10, 2016October 10, 2016 by Zogman

Sitting in the STUC building after another slow run in to town. Not much fun, but at least I’m in a better mood than last week and more prepared for the slow drag.

Physio said there was a definite improvement again this week again, but he still made me in to the human pincushion. Three weeks until the next appointment.

Finally got yesterday’s Flickr uploaded this afternoon. To the eagle-eyed, congratulations if you noticed the swap of the Inktober drawing. Once I saw yesterday’s on the computer, so many things were wrong with it, too many things in fact, so I did another, more calculated version in pencil first and then with ink on top. After that I rubbed out the pencil guidelines. Today’s Inktober isn’t done yet, I’ll do it later and add it in to the blog when I get the chance

Today’s shots were just grabbed when I was making dinner. The coal tits must have been waiting for the feeder to be refilled because they were down as soon as the back door closed. The crow just looked so depressed sitting on the fence in the rain and I managed to capture the raindrops too.

[Later that same day}
Ok we’re home now and Kizomba tonight was equally good, although it was moves we’d done before ie. Forward Travel with Cha-Cha and Ladies Saida. Kizomba seems more like Ballroom dancing than Salsa or Bachata to me because you have hand movements and foot steps too and they must co-ordinate. I still find that difficult, but I’m sure it will get easier with practice.

It was a day of mixed fortunes weatherwise. There was sun, it was cold, there were cloudy spells and rain showers too. A wee bit of everything except (whisper it) _snow.

Pictures are up on Flickr, Blog is written, Mosaic is in place. Just a bit of sketching to do and we’re done! So, here it is. Hope it was worth the wait. Hands are fiddly to do, but they’re patient, they don’t move unless you ask them to. They’re always there and although they look like five limbed octopi or spiders, if they’re drawn badly ( I don’t think this one’s too bad ;-\ ), they’re always happy to sit for another sketch … or five. I even got the twisted knuckle in my pinky to look like it is in real life. Such a pity I couldn’t spell Inktober!

The Wee Red Car – 24 September 2016

Posted on September 24, 2016September 25, 2016 by Zogman

After a wild and windy night with rain battering on the bedroom window, we woke to face the journey home. It was still windy, it was still raining and there was no sign of either of them abating.

After breakfast I turned the car round so it was facing into the wind. That way the boot lid wouldn’t blow up when I was loading in the camera bags, rucsacks, luggage bags, flask, poly bags, books and even more bags. Finally we were loaded up and ready to say our goodbyes and hit the road.

The first stint was from Staffin down the east side of Skye through Portree and Broadford to the bridge. I thought we might have trouble crossing the bridge, but the wind had dropped a bit by the time we got there and the crossing was really very easy. On down to Dornie and a chance to grab a couple of shots of Eilean Donan Castle. The castle that has graced a thousand biscuit tins. Over the causeway and a stop for a coffee and a scone in the castle tea room. Despite its tartan and shortbread overload, the coffee is surprisingly good. It was there we saw the blue Fiat 500 on the flatbed being towed by the camper van. I liked the little touch of the hamper, clogs and tulips.

From there it was the most scenic part of the road normally, but today the weather took most of the scenery away. Another uneventful, but boring drive to Fort William to stock up on food and drink then get back on the road again. That’s where we picked up a Wee Red Car. Now look, I’ve got no problem with people staying within the speed limit and Fort Billy has a 40mph limit for most of its length, but when you see the white circle with the diagonal black line, that generally mean floor the pedal for a bit. No, the Wee Red Car was determined that 40 was a comfortable speed. Occasionally it would accelerate to 45, then drop back to 35 just so that it wouldn’t be caught out by any average-speed-cameras that tried to pop up in front of it. They didn’t, but better safe than sorry the Wee Red Car said. Of course, there were plenty straights when those following could have passed the WRC, but there were always cars coming the other way. To add to the holdup, just before the head of the glen at Glencoe, there were ‘mobile roadworks’. This turned out to be a Cooncil van acting as a convoy vehicle to slow folk down just in case the WRC didn’t do its job properly.

I’d intended stopping at Tyndrum, but I was so determined to pass the Wee Red Car, with Scamp’s consent we just continued on. At Crianlarich I hoped against hope that the Red Bastard would take the new road down Loch Lomond side, and when it disappeared, I gave a silent cheer. Then a couple of miles outside the village, there it was again, two cars in front of me. How did it get there? We reckon WRC was stuck at 45mph and drove at that speed through the village. I waited my chance, with unaccustomed patience, dropped a gear and hammered it past both the cars in front of me, waving a victorious ‘Vicky’ to the WRC at the front of the line. Life after that was just a bit boring. No more Wee Red Cars to vent my anger on.

Arrived home just after 5pm, which meant we’d spent about 7 hours on the road, about par for the course. Of course we’d have been home an hour or so earlier if it hadn’t been for the Wee Red Car, but then I wouldn’t have had much to write about, would I?

Lazy day planned for tomorrow with little or no driving. Thanks for a great few day Murd and Jac1. Also thanks to Jac2 for the tour round the Cow Shed.

A road less travelled – 21 September 2016

Posted on September 21, 2016September 21, 2016 by Zogman

We woke to a beautiful morning with good colour in the sky and a sprinkling of clouds. According to the weather forecast, rain was on the way in the afternoon, so we needed to get out fairly early. I must admit it was me who was tardy in rising and greeting the day, so there you go, blame me.

We drove up the road to Uig to visit our niece Jac who has just started work in a boutique hostel. I think we were both quite intrigued by the descriptions we’d heard from her mother, another Jac, and Murd. We met more than our usual lot of crazies going the other way. Mother Jac (I think Jac the mum, we’ll call Jac1 – seniority! Our niece will be Jac2. – There, that’s much simpler … I think). So Jac1 had warned us about the amount of crazies driving on the single track roads and the arrogance of them. Today we met them. They seem to think they own the road. They really have to understand that they are only visitors to this island. There are other road users, people who live on the island and then there’s me and I DO own the road. Yes, I did get it when I bought the motor! However, we reached Uig in one piece. The next warning we’d had from both Murd and Jac1 was about the road from Uig to the Cow Shed where Jac2 works. I’m glad she did. It reminded me of a road from Clydeside up to Craignethan Castle, except on that road there are warning signs. On this wee road there are no sign. Suddenly the road rises up right in front of you and continues to rise through three hairpin bends on a single track road. Thankfully there were no crazies coming the other way this time. Also, this achieved today’s goal to travel on a road we hadn’t been on in Skye.

The Cow Shed itself is very luxurious. Calling this a hostel is a real misnomer. This is a luxurious place. The only ‘hostel part of it is the bunk beds in the dormitories. And what a view! From the lounge there is an uninterrupted view right across Uig bay. Scamp was determined to get a look at the ‘pods’ and we did get a look in one. Clever design and environmentally sound. Good thinking too with mini pods for dogs on holiday with their owners. I think we may be paying for a night in one of the pods the next time we are in Skye, but not one with a dogpod!

From Uig we drove over to Waternish and down to Stein and parked next to the loch. That was when the rain came on. In Skye when the rain comes on, it sometimes forgets to go off. We headed back to Sligachan and from there to Portree. The rain thinned a bit, but always came back with a vengence. Got myself a shirt in Skye Batiks, another one, a purple one. We drove back to Staffin and had a cream tea in Columba and a natter with Jac1. After that we drove down to Staffin beach and the roads were in just as bad state as Murd and Jac1 had warned us about.

Headed back to Burnside and dinner which was boiled ham, cabbage and potatoes, my second old favourite. Best favourite being mince and tatties!

Don’t know what we’re doing or where we’re going tomorrow. It’s in the lap of the weather gods. Looks good, but you never know on Skye.

There Jac1 you got a mention! Don’t know if Jac2 reads this, but if you do, you got a mention too.

On the Isle – 20 September 2016

Posted on September 20, 2016 by Zogman

Here we are on Skye after a 240(ish) mile journey which took the nominal 7 hours which equates to around 34 mph average. Of course that doesn’t take into account stops to take on food and water or to ahem, remove the byproducts from the system. Real average speed was nearer 45 mph. That’s still slow by today’s standard, but given the traffic and the roads we were travelling on, was quite good going.

It was a beautiful morning when we left home and pointed the car roughly north, and the weather stayed that way all the way to Skye. We’d been warned that there were a lot of visitors on the island, but we weren’t really ready for the amount of tour buses and mobile homes we encountered on the journey. In Sligachan campsite alone, we counted 15 of these pantechnicons cluttering up the place. Really, people do you NEED to take absolutely everything with you when you go on hols? My brother-in-law was an HGV driver and was telling us tonight that he had to sit a second test to be able to drive heavy lorries, yes most of these ugly homes-on-wheels are driven by amateurs with the road sense of a chimpanzee. I’m sure most of the vehicles are capable of speeds in excess of 70mph, but the trained chimps seem to be determined to make the most of first and second gear to the exclusion of all others. “Fifteen miles an hour is good enough for anyone” seems to be their mantra. I hate them. They are almost as bad as caravans. Don’t get me started on caravans.

Despite the moving road blocks that are houses on wheels, we had a great run up. Weather was good. Company was good. Music was good. Chocolate Limes were in plentiful supply. What (apart from the obvious) was not to like? Stupid tourists, that’s the answer. We stopped at the Commando memorial at Spean Bridge for coffee and lunch. With what is usually a lovely view of the mountains to look at. Unfortunately, some refugees from a bus tour stood in a group eating icecream and watching us. Maybe they were jealous that we were eating real food and drinking coffee when all they had was rapidly melting icecream. I took their photo, just so they wouldn’t feel left out. It was like watching sad old zoo animals. I felt sorry for them when they were herded back into their bus to be taken somewhere else. I’ll post the picture tomorrow.

Once we got to Burnside, we felt refreshed, as we always do. Good food, banter and a wee dram or two helped as it always does.

Don’t know where we’re going tomorrow, but probably we’ll try to go on at least one new road. That’s the plan.

Mr & Mrs Cool – 12 September 2016

Posted on September 12, 2016 by Zogman

Mondays, like I said are fragmented days. If you don’t get things done in the morning, they’re not going to get done. It’s Gems after lunch and Salsa at night and only a few hours between. After salsa, I’m usually processing the photos I’ve been lucky enough to grab during the day, posting them and writing this blog. Thank goodness I don’t work any more. Today was a bit better, I did get some things done.

In the morning it was gardening. I was cutting down a tree that was growing over the path at the back of the garden. Don’t worry, it wasn’t the Rowan tree it was a wee Ash tree that has been growing out from the retaining wall. Last week I had pruned it with lopping shears and today I cut it down to the ground with a saw. Then I had to take the remains of it to the council tip. I also took some other odds and ends and dumped them too. While I was away, Scamp decided that more garden rubbish was needing removed, so after lunch I took the rest away. With a few hours free, I drove to Bonnybridge and got today’s photo, which is a tunnel under the Forth & Clyde Canal. You can read the story of ’The Radical Pend’ here.

This little bit of history has been on my doorstep for the thirty years I’ve lived just down the road from it and I never knew about it.

Salsa tonight was with Will as Jamie Gal was off on his travels again and it was fast & furious. With temperatures over 20ºc outside the hall, it was a hot night for all of us. However, when we got into the car and drove home the air-con kept us cool. That’s what the trip to Bonnybridge was for. Forty quid well spent.

Hoping for more warm weather tomorrow so we can sit in the car and shiver!

Groundhog Day – 3 September 2016

Posted on September 3, 2016September 4, 2016 by Zogman

Today we were planning to go to Dundee to the Flower Show. We’d been there long ago, maybe ten of fifteen years ago to be a bit more accurate, but when we looked out the back window this morning, the hills had gone. That’s an indication of low cloud and therefore a good chance of rain. The streets were wet although there was no rain falling at the time. So, it had been raining, and it would be raining again. This was the hiatus between showers (or longer periods of rain). The upshot was we decided not to go to Dundee. Instead, we went to Vecchia Bologna for lunch and afterwards wandered round Dobbies in Stirling and came away with an armful of plants to provide some autumn colour. The place was undergoing a bit of a tidy up with great areas of empty space. Surely they’re not getting ready to put out the (whisper it) Christmas stuff already. Could be!

From Dobbies we went on a mystery tour to find something decent for me to photograph and I thought I’d found it when I saw a sign for the Sauchie Tower. We never found it. The signs just sort of faded out. We did see the ruined tower of a windmill on top of a hill that might have been it, but some eejit had allowed the area around it to be built up with a new housing estate that had masses of traffic calming ‘street furniture‘ and nowhere to park. Who employs these pinheads? When we got to Alloa we saw a sign for the Alloa Tower, but weren’t taken in by the direction post. We knew it was another wild goose chase. It might as well have had a red fish of the herring persuasion nailed to it. Instead we headed for Kincardine and went for a walk along the Riverside Walk out to the old pier. Got some photos there and that was it for today’s outing.

It was only as we got near to Cumbersheugh that the first spots of rain splashed on the windscreen. Typical, we could have been to Dundee flower show. It just seemed like re-run of yesterday’s indecision that led to the failure to go to Ayr Airshow.

Tomorrow, we’re going in to Glasgow to see the start of the Tour of Britain. What will we do if it’s raining? We’ll go and get wet.

Any comments on the new galleries, anyone?

Autumn – 1 September 2016

Posted on September 1, 2016 by Zogman

This is the meteorological first day of autumn, so the weather fairies say. Just thought you deserved that information. It was a bit cooler today, but not inordinately so.

On Saturday we had intended going to Tea Jenny’s for lunch, but for a variety of reasons, we didn’t manage it. Today, I suggested we remedy that and off we went to play the 500metre traffic light game and have our lunch in TJ’s. Luckily the traffic was a lot better today and we managed to pass the traffic light test quite quickly. Tea Jenny’s is simply a tea room in Falkirk, an old fashioned tea room with odd (as in random) china cups and teapots with hand knitted tea cosies. Although you can get a full lunch there, the main attractions are the soups and sandwiches, oh yes, and the gigantic meringues. None of these really hit it off for me. For me it has to be Stovies. If you don’t know what stovies are, then you almost certainly aren’t Scottish and will need to Google the word, because I’m not going to describe stovies. Everyone has their own version. Today’s stovies had potatoes, onion and sausage in it. It’s not as good as my mum made, nothing would be, but it ‘filled a wee space’ today. One of the attractions for us is the variety of tea cosies. Today’s candidates are shown above. The photo was taken by the best camera in the world, the one you have with you. In this case, my iPhone.

With my fingers firmly crossed, I’m going to say that I think I’ve solved the gallery problem. It looks like the problem was caused by a rogue plugin messing things up. The plugin has now been severely spoken to and has been banished to the ‘Deactivated’ box. It has also been grounded for the rest of the week.

Non-Stop – 27 August 2016

Posted on August 27, 2016 by Zogman

That’s how it felt today. From the minute I got up until now 9.30pm, it feels like I’ve been on the go all day. Here’s how it happened:

Went shopping with Scamp in the morning through the dreadful traffic in Falkirk. In less than five hundred metres there are no less than five different sets of traffic and pedestrian lights. Come on, this isn’t central London or even Glasgow city centre, this is a small town in the central belt. What’s the story? Were too many traffic lights made that year and they had to put them somewhere? Away back in the dim mists of time not long after the UK joined what was then the Common Market, there were stories in the press about Butter Mountains and Wine Lakes. Is this the result of a Traffic LIght Forest? Rant over.

After fighting my way through this no-man’s land of tailbacks, not once, but twice, we drove home and dumped the hard won food we’d sourced at Morrison’s, had a very quick lunch then drove to Muirhead to Colin’s Flower Show. It’s not actually Colin’s. True, he is on the committee and enters an amazing amount of stuff in it, but other folk do to. Today’s show wasn’t quite as grand as some I’ve seen there, but most of the flowers were spectacular, and the vegetables were mammoth. I don’t know how these folk do it.

We left the flower show and went for coffee, then bought even more food in Asda. Still not satisfied, we stopped at Tesco to get the things we’d still to check off our list. Well, at least we spread our money around all the local supermarkets! Finally we headed home to try to find places to put all these consumables.

By the time everything was packed away and the fridge door closed on the groaning shelves, it was time to make dinner. After dinner, once we had done the washing up, I set to, to make the paste for tomorrow’s Thai Green Curry.

With that made, I grabbed a cup of Earl Grey and went to read for an hour before starting to tidy the painting room (back bedroom) for tomorrow’s guest.

Now I’m writing the blog and submitting the photos to Flickr, after which I may have a small libation. I think I deserve it.

Tomorrow will not be as frantic – please!

Did you remember to bring the coconuts? – 24 August 2016

Posted on August 24, 2016August 24, 2016 by Zogman

Last night we made plans to go down to Ayr, or Troon, or Largs, or Millport today. Definitely somewhere west or south west, because that’s where the best weather was to be. Today we went east, well, east (ish). Sort of north east. Not west.

We made sandwiches (pieces) and filled a flask and we left. We headed in the morning sunshine in the general direction of Stirling and thence to Callander which we hoped would be free from blue-rinsed drivers on this, our midweek journey. They usually only come out in their hordes on Sundays. Despite being in a long line of traffic behind an articulated lorry we had a fairly pleasant run through Callander and on to Lubnaig. It was Scamp’s idea to stop at the loch for a coffee. I wasn’t too sure about it to start with, but when I saw the reflections on the loch, I just knew I wanted to stop. When we stopped, we discovered that a Rabbies minibus had just arrived and there were tourists everywhere. We’re not tourists, we’re Scottish.

After coffee and fifty odd photos, we headed further up the loch and across on to the Loch Earn road. I’d half intended to drive to the end of the Loch Earn road and then drive back down the other side of the loch. I also wanted to find out where the ‘reflective man’ was. It’s a statue of a man covered in mirror tiles and it stands in the water. I knew it was on the north side of the loch, just off the road. I found it, but there were too many tourists near it. I’m not a tourist, I’m a photographer. I didn’t stop. I didn’t take the south road either, I just drove on. And on and on and on.

We passed through twee little Comrie but didn’t want to go all the way to Perth, so we turned right and pointed the car at the Braco road. We climbed up one side of a hill, across the top and down the other side, and eventually we found Braco. Braco has a main street and a shop called, conveniently, the Braco Shop. From there a signpost pointed to Stirling and we followed it and put Braco and the Braco Shop behind us. Instead of continuing to Stirling, we diverted to Doune to eat our ‘pieces’ and drink our coffee in Doune Castle, and that’s what we did.

Doune Castle is where bits of “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” was filmed. One of the great scenes in the film is where the knights pretend to ride horses while their pages click coconut shells together to simulate the sound of the horses hooves. Part of that scene was filmed around the castle. A few years ago when we were at Doune Castle an American boy pulled a couple of coconut shell halves from his bag and proceeded to clip-clop around the internal square of the castle while his mother filmed him. Like I say, he was American. When we were sitting in that same internal square today, Scamp asked me “Did you remember to bring the coconuts?” Had you worked out the cryptic clue Hazy?

While we were there, I got a sketch done of the castle tower. It’s only when you sit and study these old castles, you realise how different they are from todays buildings All the windows are different sizes and shapes, as are the doors. You can see where bits have been added, bits removed holes have been cut in the walls, only to find that they are in the wrong place, so the holes are bricked up and covered over. Just like Cumbersheugh Town Centre in fact. History repeats itself. However, the castle was much more fun to sketch than CTC.

When we got home, Scamp suggested we walk to the local pub for fish and chips and a pint. I thought it was a wonderful idea. A great end to a great day.

The Lodge – 13 August 2016

Posted on August 13, 2016August 13, 2016 by Zogman

Today was to be dry, and so it dawned. Dry with a little sprinkling of sun – even better. The weather fairies had been telling the truth for once. That said, we took ourselves off to the wild highlands or at least the Trossachs which is a sort of tame wild highlands. We were pointing the car at David Marshall Lodge or DML for short. Instead of our usual route through Thornhill to Aberfoyle and up the Duke’s Pass to DML, we rebels took the alternative way through blue-rinse Callander and over the other side of the Duke’s Pass to DML. Callander is usually a bottleneck on this drive and so it was today, but the bottleneck was caused by two of the boys in blue (with yellow hi-vis jackets and a speed gun) checking the speed of anyone wishing to venture in to the town from the general direction of Stirling. Not that we had much chance of raising our speed above jogging pace because some numpty at the front had forgotten to bring the red flag with him to indicate that a motor vehicle was approaching. That’s the way it seemed anyway. We passed the polis quietly, sedately and well under the speed limit. The drive up the Duke’s Pass was uneventful and terminally boring. It’s strange that when driving some roads, the scenery is much better in one direction than in the other. I hadn’t noticed how little of interest passed the car as we travelled along this road until today. We arrived at DML only to find that, Shock! Horror! they’ve changed the name to “The Lodge”. Now to someone born and brought up in Larkhall, The Lodge is synonymous with either Lambeg drums, Orange sashes and flute bands or groups of men congregating in a hall with a builder’s square and a pair of dividers over the door. I’d never been involved in any way with either group but that is what The Lodge means to me. Orange or Masonic, these are the only Lodges I’ve known about and this was neither. No sashes of any hue, no aprons and no rolled up trouser legs – do they really do that? What happened to David Marshall? Was he ex-communicated? Did he retire? Was he sacked? Maybe they found out that he didn’t belong to either Lodge, and he had to go. We’ll never know, I guess. However, like the Clyde Arc will always be the Squinty Bridge and the Tradeston Bridge will always be called the Squiggly Bridge, so The Lodge at Aberfoyle will alway be DML to us.

We paid our £3 for a day’s parking and headed off to get some foties and to walk the paths. Set up my tripod below the waterfall and waited until the lighting was right. Took a couple of test shots to get the shutter speed and the exposure right before starting the long exposure shots to get the water looking fluid. Then some prick, sorry if you’re offended by the description, but that’s what he was, walks right in front of me just as I’m taking the first exposure. Photobombed by a moron. Really, they walk among us. I wasn’t for moving, despite the midgies which were clouding round me. He proceeded to clamber up and over some rocks. Maybe he thought he was a rock climber. Nah, you need to have a brain for that. I was waiting for him to fall in, that would have made a good shot. I took a few shots with him in different positions to make sure I could easily edit him out later. When I was happy with what I’d got I walked back to Scamp who was standing near his keeper (who was quite apologetic) and said to her, “Don’t worry, the monkey won’t be in the final shot.” Some folk shouldn’t be allowed out, even with their keeper.

After that, we had to cut our walk short as I was getting eaten alive by midgies. We had a quick lunch at the cafe. Scones are good and coffee is brown(ish) water. Don’t risk it if you like your coffee to taste of coffee. If you normally have your caffeine hit in Starbucks, you probably won’t notice any difference. After that we drove down the other side of the Duke’s Pass and on to the Loch Ard road which is a dead end road after about 20 miles or so. We didn’t venture that far. We stopped in a parking place and Scamp opted to stay in the car while I went looking for more photo opportunities without idiot photobombers. Met a group of mallard ducks that seemed quite happy to pose for me until it became obvious that I had nothing worth eating with me, then they went off in search of better feeders. Photographed some wee sailing dinghies on the loch, passed an outdoor wedding reception in full swing (hope they had lots of DEET spray) and drove back home. Bypassed Callandar just in case the polis hadn’t filled their quota of speed merchants.

Dinner was yesterday’s curries reheated and served with rice and home made flatbreads. I think they tasted even better than yesterday. Maybe it was just that we’d been out in the fresh air. Looking for similar weather tomorrow. That would be nice.