Just Visiting – Page 17

A Warm Place – 3 November 2016

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

So here I am sitting on the verandah at the Riu Paraiso hotel in Lanzarote.

The day started just before 5am and we didn’t arrive at the hotel until 3.30pm, it’s been a long day. It’s now 6.35pm and we’ve wandered around the grounds of the hotel and ventured down almost to the beach. We’ve also drunk our fair share of beer, wine and sangria, well, you have to keep yourself well lubricated after a long flight they say. Now we are relaxing and getting ready for dinner. I’ve only taken a few photos today, just enough to register our presence. Hoping to take some more tomorrow when there’s more time to explore. Hoping also to get some sketching done. For just now, food is the main requirement to offset the excess of alcohol! So far we are pleasantly surprised with the Riu Paraiso. Weather wise, it’s just a wee bit disappointing. It was cloudy when we landed and would you believe it’s actually raining. Light rain, but the wet stuff none the less.

Later we went to the shows. The first one was a duo with the guy singing (sort of) and playing keyboards with a girl singing. They weren’t awful, they never quite reached those heights. Only the guy was awful. After that was the ‘Crazy Show’ This was truly awful. Apparently aimed at the German market, who, having no taste, thought a man with a couple of balloons up his jumper, pretending he was a girl was hilarious. Scamp with her senseofhumour-ectomy was not amused , neither was I. We left them to it.

I was dead on my feet and we called it an early night.

Tomorrow is another day.

A day of two halves – 22 October 2016

Posted on October 22, 2016October 22, 2016 by Zogman

Left home on a bright sunny morning heading for Perth to get essential supplies of tea and coffee. Scamp was going to a Christmas musical with her aunt. A Christmas musical in October? Really, that’s just a wee bit ridiculous. Yesterday at the Art Galleries I saw my first Christmas tree this year. Too early, people!

Most of the journey to Perth was fine with great visibility but about ten minutes out of the city the mist came down. After that the heavens opened up to dump gallons of rain on me. Well, it felt like it was all just on me, but I suppose others were getting wet too. It stayed like that for the two hours I stayed in the Fair City. I’d had enough. I had my coffee beans, my tea leaves and a piece of cheese as a bonus. Home was calling. When I drove back down the road, at exactly the same place where the rain had started, the rain almost stopped. The rest of the drive was in the dry and when I got home, I got out of the car into sunshine. I presume the gardens in Perth need the rain.

A roll ’n’ sausage improved my state of mind as it always does. Went for a walk to St Mo’s with the Nikon to get some photos. There wasn’t much to see, but lots of little fungi and those big ones too. The flowers in the wildflower garden are a joy to behold. Thankfully the gardeners haven’t cut them down with their usual unthinking efficiency. At least, not yet.

Dinner tonight, once Scamp arrived back was courtesy of Golden Bowl. Chicken Chop Suey and Fried Rice times two. Delicious as usual.

I couldn’t settle on a subject for tonight’s Inktober drawing and then I found it, sitting right in front of me. What better subject on a Saturday night than a bottle of beer? Difficult because of the symmetry of the bottle and also because glass is difficult to render in pen, I find. I did use a bit of brushwork to even out the glaze, but other than that it was just pen work. Quite happy with it.

Tomorrow? Who knows. Possibly a walk if the rain stays away in Perth and doesn’t travel down south, but other than that I’m open to suggestions. Hoping to get some sketching done outside.

Embra – 8 October 2016

Posted on October 8, 2016 by Zogman

Embra was the choice today. Now I won’t go in to the semantic arguments, the place is called ‘Embra’ and that’s it.

The train was fairly busy, but not excessively so – there’s a reason for this sentence. As usual we got off at Haymarket and walked up towards the tea shop. It was shut! I should have checked his website, it was there in black and white, or red and white actually. Go there, you’ll understand. At the top of the road was the Exhibition Centre and also an enormous queue of middle aged and older folk. Behind us too was a long train of people of that same demographic, most of whom had filled the seats on the train. When we got to the Exhibition Centre the explanation was plain. It was a Tesco wine tasting. The early arrivals were already getting pissed oops, sampling and this lot seemed to be waiting for the first lot to be poured out the door. We moved on. Coffee in Cafe Nero then a walk through the farmers’ market. I got some hogget for dinner tomorrow. I suppose this is where farmers’ markets win. Hogget is a lamb between a year and two years old. I’ll taste it tomorrow.

On the subject of food, we went to a wee French place on the Grassmarket for lunch. We’d been there a few months ago, well February actually, I hadn’t realised it was that long ago. French Onion Soup again for me – creature of habit and Toulouse Sausage with mustard sauce and mash. Scamp had Crayfish in a Garlic butter, a very garlic butter followed by Chicken Supreme with six thrice cooked chips. Foodies? Us? Surely not! Both meals were voted excellent and I’ll say it again, we’ll be back.

Walked round to John Lewis and went back to 1984. Not the date, the book! Apparently the St James Centre is being … refurbished … reimagined. Perhaps demolished is a better description. All the shops are now closed and shuttered, except John Lewis. They didn’t get that memo, it seems. It appears that it will remain like that until 2020 when, overnight, a new great new ‘retail opportunity’ will rise phoenix-like from the ashes. Whether it will include John Lewis we’ll have to wait four years to find out. For now, it feels as hopeless as the novel 1984 did.

Got the train home and, if you remember back to the second paragraph, first sentence of this epistle, it was a fairly busy train in the morning. The afternoon train to Glasgow was mobbed, by a much younger contingent, mainly young men dressed in tartan and with lion rampant flags tied round their necks. Yes, Scotland were playing football in Glasgow. It turned out they were playing Lithuania (I think it was a Lithuanian school team – a primary school team). The fans all seemed excited and were guzzling Becks like there was no tomorrow. It might have been to induce a coma that would prevent them from seeing the game which was due to start at about 7.30pm. This was the 3.30pm train. The game ended in a 1-1 draw. It’s easy to become cynical about football fans, especially Scottish football fans. Too easy.

One sketch done for Inktober. I’m happy with it. Done in public in Princes Street Gardens. Another step forward.

From the sublime to the ridiculous – 1 October 2016

Posted on October 1, 2016October 2, 2016 by Zogman

Yesterday we had a lovely day. Today we set out to go to Perth for tea and coffee. Yes, I know it’s pretentious to go halfway across the country to get something as simple and everyday as tea or coffee – heavens, you can get them in Tesco. Yes, you can, but I like the taste of loose tea and fresh ground coffee and am quite happy to be called pretentious, after all it’s my money that buys the coffee beans and the leaf tea. My choice, my money, my caffeine fix.

When we got to Cumbersheugh bus station, I suggested that we take the bus to Dundee instead. That turned out to be my undoing. The trip was good on a comfortable bus, but Dundee should have a big sign saying “Under Construction”. The entire waterfront area is a building site and a sight too. I really hope the V&A gallery, museum, atrocity looks good when it’s finished, because it really is an eyesore that this city does not deserve. The result was that we visited Braithwaites for the aforementioned tea and coffee and got the next bus south. We’d intended going back to Perth, then Scamp suggested Stirling as there were a few more buses we could get from there to Castle Greyskull. Mistake 2. A mother and daughter got on at Perth and talked incessantly for the hour it took to get to Stirling. When I say talked, I really mean shouted at each other. If I hear one more time that they had a tape of Pete’s Dragon with Ewoks Adventure immediately afterwards, I’ll go insane. That tape must have been talked about for about half the journey. If people must hold a conversation, then let them keep it between themselves.

Unfortunately for the driver, they were going all the way to Glasgow. Luckily for us we got off at Stirling. We went for a coffee then parted company to spend some money. Scamp wanted a new pair of shoes and I wanted a new pair of trainers. We both achieved our stated goals and headed for the bus again the fourth of the day. Scamp suggested we get the X39. Mistake 3. When I drive from Stirling to home, it usually takes less than 20 min. This journey on a rattletrap rustbucket bus took over an hour and a quarter. We visited every possible village and town between Stirling and Cumbersheugh.

You see the the worst things about public transport are the public and the transport. If you get less moronic public and real transport that was built this century then the journey will be much more pleasant and more normal folk will use it.

I’m driving tomorrow.

Weather was beautiful today and I’ll remember the Lego men made from hay bales, even if I couldn’t stop to photograph them.

Almost forgot this is day one of Inktober 2016. Must get more organised and spend a bit more time on the sketches. Luckily the first official topic was “Fast” and this was a fast sketch. Inktober is a great way to force yourself to put pen to paper in a graphical way. Click on the image to view the full monsterpiece! I wouldn’t have remembered if it wasn’t for reading the ‘A Year Ago Today’ link. You have read it, haven’t you? It’s at the bottom of the right hand column and is quite the little eye opener for me.

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.

Rainy, Windy Friday – 23 September 2016

Posted on September 23, 2016 by Zogman

I was tardy this morning, very tardy. I woke just before 8am and the next thing I knew was when Scamp gave me a prod and asked if I was GETTING UP!

After breakfast we drove to Portree to post a postcard to one of our friends. After that we went to Jans Vans for lunch. It was Scamp who noticed that it was predominately locals who were sitting in the cafe. If it wasn’t for Jac1 telling us about it we wouldn’t have considered it and after yesterday’s upset stomach, which I must lay at Café Arriba’s door, it was brilliant by comparison. Just a simple sausage, egg and bacon with toast and tea for a decent price. The best thing is the decoration. It’s bike porn. Not like the last definition of Bike Porn, just unusual cafe decoration.

Left Jans Vans and headed up to the north of the island again and this time we were looking to follow in Jac2’s footsteps and go to Camas Mòr. Scamp told me we’d been there before and I remembered the ruined church when we came off the main road. It looked a bit creepy the last time I went there, probably around 15 years ago and it didn’t look any more welcoming today. I remembered that Murd didn’t say much about it and if he hasn’t got a funny story to tell you about something, then there’s a reason for that.

Further on we reached the shore and sat there beside one other car in the car park watching the waves crashing on the far shore. I did eventually decide to face the elements and take some photos. That’s what contributes to most of today’s mosaic. It wasn’t very comfortable with rain being driven over the bay on a gusty wind, but that’s what makes a 365 (or a 366 this year) so interesting. You just have to go out there and get the photos taken. After that one of the locals wanted access to the slip and we were in the way, so that was as good an excuse as any to head back to Staffin.

I’d half intended going back out to the slip to see if I could get any more photos, but the wind and the rain made me think twice. I eventually decided that I’d forego the pleasure of taking photos on that great place for the comfort of a coal fire in the sitting room. I think it’s the sight and sound of coal fires as much as the heat that attracts me. Yes, I know that they are a nuisance to clean out and prepare, but they are so welcoming. So much more welcoming than central heating with all the benefits of the modern equivalent. I’d love a coal fire again. I haven’t lived in a house with one for over 30 years and still I hanker for one. I’ll just have to be satisfied with borrowing one for a few days in Skye.

Until the next time, goodbye to this island. Homeward bound tomorrow.

Windy & Bright – 22 September 2016

Posted on September 22, 2016September 25, 2016 by Zogman

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Sitting in the Coffin House in Skye. Having coffee, eating a brownie and gazing at a wide, wide landscape. Scamp is eating something unpronounceable (Pear and Almond Streusel I’m reliably informed!) with coffee. What a place to build your house! Just imagine waking to this view every morning!

At least, that’s where we were. Now we’re in Cafe Arriba in Portree. Globetrotters that’s us.

Or at least we were. Now the big hand’s almost at 6 and the little hand is heading rapidly towards 12, that’s 12pm! It’s been a lovely day and I’m trying to catalog it before it becomes tomorrow.

After we left the Coffin House or Turf House to give it its proper name and to be absolutely perjinct, the house is called the Turf House, but we were in the adjoining coffee shop and its proper name is Single Track. It’s in Kilmaluig on Skye. It was Murd who christened it the Coffin House because of the elongated hexagonal plan view of the house itself, although the coffee shop is actually in what is the studio of the house, not the house itself. They tried to name it Turf House, but to the locals it will always be the Coffin House. Inside the cafe it’s warm and quite spacious with that wonderful view out to the sea. I went there hoping to see some of Wil Freeborn’s watercolour paintings, but they were almost all sold. Only one left and priced at £90 was outwith my pocket money. I wasn’t all that impressed with it either. The two ladies who run the cafe were very forthcoming about Wil and told me that the paintings had almost sold out within a week of opening. His stuff is good, well, I like it.

After Coffin Coffee we went on a run to Aird. We’d been there in March? The last time we’d been on the island anyway and found a fairly sheltered parking place out of the worst of the wind and sat there watching the world go by. Scamp wanted to go there again today and we spent another hour and a big bit watching the world go by again. I got a fairly decent watercolour done of the wee white house in the mosaic above. I’d painted it the last time we were there too and I don’t think today’s effort was better. Only had one interruption by a bloke wanting to get directions to Flodigarry. We sent him in roughly the right direction, hoping he’d bump into someone who would give him a more accurate road.

When we left Aird, we headed south to Portree for more high jinx trying to second guess what the stupid motorists would do before they did it. You can never tell when some people want to drive at 10mph through the town, signal left then go right while others are trying to perform a 93 point turn in the middle of the main street with a camper van. I really do despair of the intelligence of these drivers. I’m sure they’re the ones who voted Out at the EU referendum.

Lunch was at Café Arriba in Portree and I’m suffering for it tonight. I don’t want to tell you how many times I’ve been to the toilet. Maybe the last time for this lunch venue.

After lunch we went to Braes which is out on a headland just south of Portree. We managed to go on another new road! Got some photos and came back by a really dodgy under maintained road. Not very funny at all. However, we didn’t meet any of the stupids this time … thankfully.

Coming back north we stopped at Storr Lochs and grabbed a few more shots before dropping Scamp off at Burnside and heading down to the shore to get the last few shots of the day. Saw a strange looking lorry down at the slip with a wide door in the side and what looked like a stage or a catwalk extending from it. A mobile theatre perhaps? On Skye?? Got a few shots of Staffin Island and then the rain came on, right on the forecast time.

Tomorrow looks like rain all day.

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.

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.