Category: Just Visiting

Walking in the Sunshine – 22 May 2016

Posted on by Zogman

22may bIt’s a sunny Sunday and after breakfast we headed off over the fields and far away.  Luckily Sim is friendly with the farmer and we got permission to walk through the horses’ fields to the right-of-way.  I’m not that happy walking in fields with actual horses in them.  Sim calls them ‘ponies’, but these aren’t anything like the ‘My Little Pony’ my daughter had when she was wee.  These are big brown monsters, much bigger than me, but I treated them like I treat anyone bigger than me – don’t make eye contact, pretend they’re not there and everything will be fine.  I did, and it was.  we reached the relative safety of the road.  Relative safety because this is a narrow single track road, but the drivers seem to think it’s their own personal autobahn.  In other words, they think there is no speed limit.  That said, we survived the killer ponies and the madskull drivers and started on our walk proper.  Like yesterday it was mainly between fields of wheat and also yellow rapeseed.  I synched the camera with my iPhone to allow me to geotag the photos.  I knew it would only work with the ’10 and not the ‘5, but that wouldn’t matter because at least I’d have a record of the walk that I could plot on a map when I got back home.  Checked the first one and all seemed to be well.  We walked for an hour or so.  Probably more than an hour because although JIC and Scamp were charging on ahead, Sim and I were constantly stopping to get some photos.

When we got to the top of one of the hills, gentle hills. This is Engerland, not mountainous Scottishland remember.  They don’t do real hills here.  Anyway, when we got to the main road at the top of one of the hills, there was a debate as to whether we should return by the same route or do a round trip.  The round trip would mean walking on the grass verge at the side of the road and, since we’d already seen the stock car racing that was being done on the narrow road, we didn’t fancy our chances on the main road, so it was back the way we’d come.

On the way back we got a really good view of the ‘Chicken Prison’ or battery hen farm.  If you’ve seen one of these travesties you will know why Scamp won’t but the cheapest chicken, but rather the free range ones.  At least they had a slightly better life.  We also got to see how a lovely vista across the green fields is destroyed by a solar panel farm.  Just to complete the trilogy, there was a wind farm behind us.  I’m all for being ‘green’, but just how efficient are these blots on the landscape?  Wind farm windmills are white (white = pure) and generally now they are painted green at the bottom (green = natural).  It’s all colour psychology, or kidology might be a more accurate description.  During the first two weeks in April in Scotland almost no wind energy was generated as the wind wasn’t strong enough.  It is not a viable alternative to traditional methods of generating electricity.  Enough of the rant.

Back home after passing the demon ponies again, we had ice lollies and Pimms for lunch, then watched JIC starting the barbecue that would provide our supper.  What a supper.  Chicken kebabs for Scamp. Pork burger and sausages for the carnivores.

Dumped my photos and oh, oh, it looked like only one photo had been geotagged!  Bummer.  Then when I got them all in there were 40 tagged photos.  Only one session, but forty photos in the session.  All was good.  Just as a finale, a woodpecker arrived at the bird table.  I’ve never managed to get a photo of one.  This one was a bit twitchy.  Every time I went near the window, it went and hid in the big tree at the side of the garden.  However, I managed about four good shots from a sitting position on the couch!

Back home tomorrow.  I’d love to have stayed longer, but all good things must come to an end.  We had an excellent day and an excellent break.  Three days with Hazy and N D’Ag and three days with Sim and JIC.

Sunny Saturday – 21 May 2016

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21May bSo today is Saturday it’s a bit cloudy today with the threat of rain later.  We went into Baldock with Jamie to the butchers, where else? Got the usual suspects, viz:

  • A couple of dinosaur bones (AKA short ribs)
  • Four sausages
  • Four slices of black pudding
  • Two pork and apple burgers
  • Just for something new, Chicken and Chickpea curry

JIC was buying in for a siege (his expression) and for a barbecue in the garden tomorrow.  When we went back to the house, JIC took us for a walk through the wheat fields and up to the road.  One of his walks with Vixen.  While we were walking, Sim was riding Valioso.  Having a dog is quite tying we always feel, but having a horse must be so much more restricting.

After lunch we went to meet Vixen.  She was much more friendly than I had anticipated and her agility is something to be admired.  Who would have thought that a solid looking dog could jump so high.  We walked her round a dog walking field with JIC throwing tennis balls for her and Sim getting them back from her.  An hour passed really too quickly.  When it was time to leave, I felt really sorry for her.  It was almost like we were abandoning this beautifully coloured bundle of energy – Vixen that is 😉 .  Looking forward to seeing how she accepts us when we are in HER house, not kennels.  No matter how luxurious they are, they are still kennels.

For dinner, JIC drove us to a Thai restaurant in a gastro-pub called the Navigator.  Food was absolutely brilliant.  JIC and I had Duck Green Curry with sticky rice.  Hot, but not unbearably so.  Scamp had Sweet and Sour Chicken and Sim had the biggest seabass I’ve ever seen – a whole one complete with head!  We all had a sort of combo starter to share.  Quite the best meal I’ve had for a long time.  Sorry, Jimmy Spice’s, this was better.

Changeover Day – 20 May 2016

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EM100080- flickr--144--141Today was the day for leaving Hazy and N D’Ag and heading for JIC and Sim. To achieve this we had to walk to the station, get the overground train to Vauxhall (which must be my favourite architectural area of London) and then the underground to Kings Cross. From there we had to get tickets and travel to Baldock where JIC would pick us up after work. Work? Oh yes, I can vaguely remember that word! As it happened, we arrived far too early and had to wait in the pub. Such an inconvenience 😉 JIC arrived on time and off we went to Astwick.

Spent an hour or so wandering around his garden. His and Sim’s, but the veg plot is definitely JIC’s territory and not Sim’s. She takes care of the trees and flowers and that side of the garden is looking good too. The scenery around Astwick is a breath of fresh air. Not dramatic – no hills or mountains, but just lots of greenery and birds. Saw a woodpecker, but it was too fast for me.

Going to meet Vixen tomorrow because she is in kennels for our visit. I feel a bit bad about that, but I suppose it makes sense. A bit apprehensive about meeting her, but I’m sure it will go well.

Today’s PoD is from the verge of Hazy’s drive.

Birds of a Feather in Kingston – 18 May 2016

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birdsTook the bus into Kingston from Chessington railway station, it was almost taking time to rain. Absolutely pelting down. Still marvelling at a joined up travel system. Obviously designed with joined up thinking. Spoke to an old guy, like me in Marks. He was buying a hat to protect his new hearing aids from the torrential rain. Hope they did the trick. Coffee in Nero, then a walk round the shops. By the time we came out the rain had stopped so we wandered down to the river. There was a swan sitting on eggs and a heron fishing. We also saw a cormorant fishing and it looked like it had successfully captured a large eel, but was having a problem swallowing the catch. It struggled with the fish for a full ten minutes before it swam off gulping the fish tail down its throat. We watched this battle with an old man who showed us his photos of the swan’s eggs. He seemed quite interested in the birds on the river. For some reason I felt quite sorry for him. Is this me in the future?

Scamp and I walked along the riverside walk, inspecting the unusual boats that were moored along the towpath. Most had ‘notice to quit’ letters attached to them. It seemed a shame, but I suppose it’s necessary to free up moorings.

Lunch for me was a chicken wrap from a Dominican Republic stall in the market and for Scamp it was a chicken wrap. Birds of a feather!

Went to Canute and Deliah’s for dinner and for the boys to watch football while we oldies sat talking. It was also the first time for Scamp and I to see Marcie. Scamp even got a chance to hold her.

Heading in to Lundinium tomorrow.

Heading South – 17 May 2016

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combo bAfter an early (well, early for us now) rise and a taxi ride, we were on the train to Embra and thence on the train to London.

The carriage was a bit old and clunky but still very comfortable.  For once, we seemed to pass from light to dull as we travelled south.  It never actually rained, but at times it seemed like it wanted to.  There were lots of photographers out taking photos of us on our journey, or so it seemed until we realised that they were actually waiting to get a shot of the Flying Scotsman which allegedly we had passed just outside Newcastle.  What a disappointment.  I hope they got their shots and, if they got one or two of me peering out of the train window, that they got my ‘good side’.

Further down the line we had to brake to a stop because of a ‘trespass incident’.  I’m guessing that some photogs were getting a bit too enthusiastic in their attempts to get a nice good close-up of the steam engine.  As a result, we were 10 minutes late getting to London, and missed our connection at Vauxhall by 5 minutes.  I used the time to grab the couple of shots you see here.  Vauxhall seems to constantly re-invent itself.  Every time we stand on the platform of Vauxhall station, more new buildings are rising around us.

When we got to Chessington, N D’Ag had just arrived to give us a lift in the car.  Now if some braindead photog hadn’t trespassed at Thirsk, we wouldn’t have  been 10 minutes late into London and we wouldn’t have missed our connection at Vauxhall and we would have had a fairly long walk to the house.  Some things just work out.

Maybe the food on the train wasn’t as good as we thought.  Scamp was feeling sick tonight.  Hopefully she’ll be right as rain tomorrow, but we don’t want the actual rain, thank you very much.

Perf

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comboToday, unaccompanied, I rode with the grey hairs on the bus to Perf. It took longer than I would have taken in the car, but I didn’t mind, because for the second day in a row, I wasn’t driving. I had freedom to do what I wanted, get sloshed if I felt like it (I didn’t, feel like it, or get sloshed) and spend my time however I pleased just as long as I got back to the bus station for 2.10pm for the bus back. It was a pleasant enough journey both ways except for one two old dears on the way back who complained about the cold draft from the air conditioning. It was a bit cool, but today was an exceptionally hot day, so I didn’t mind, and if I don’t complain about cold, it wasn’t cold – ask Scamp!

I went for coffee and tea at my favourite coffee bean shop. The tea is better in my favourite tea shop in Embra, but maybe that’s a middle class problem 😉 Since I was on my Jack Jones, I could wander unhindered into shops that demand a bit of time. For instance, there’s a decent Oxfam bookshop in Perf where all sort of bargains are to be had if you have the time to winkle them out. I winkled for a while and came away with a bargain.

After loading up on coffee and tea (tea, just in case I don’t get a chance to go to Embra any time soon), I went for a walk in the park. Lots of fancy dresses flouncing about a real fashion parade of girls AND boys. Apparently it was Perf races today. The great and the good were certainly making a day of it, and what a day it was, twenty something degrees centigrade. Isn’t it great not to be working! One of the gainfully unemployed.

Back to Scottish weather tomorrow with temperatures in the ‘teens, the low ‘teens. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

Snow Ride – 28 April 2016

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combo bToday after a dodgy night with an upset stomach I was feeling a lot better.  The upset was mainly due to too many Terry’s chocolate orange slices, but I don’t think the couple of mouthfuls of sour beer helped.  Anyway, I made a decent attempt at finishing off the breakfast that was set down to me.  It had snowed during the night and the hills across the loch from the hotel looked as if they had been dusted with icing sugar.  Outside the window as we finished breakfast, it was obvious that the icing sugar was an illusion because big fat flakes of snow were falling on the garden.  Nothing else for it but to get going, and that’s what we did.  Packed the car and headed out past the big garage behind the hotel that held, not a car, but a large model railway layout.  We saw it yesterday and I had hoped to have a word with the designer as he tended to it, but today the door was firmly shut.  Good idea, because I don’t think snow and model railways mix very well.

We drove over the bridge, turned left at the roundabout and then under the same bridge, hoping for some photos of Castle Stalker and maybe Oban.  It wasn’t going to happen.  The snow just kept coming and on a twisty coast side I didn’t get much of a chance to watch the scenery.  Castle Stalker came and went without a photo being taken.  In fact, without us stopping.  The sea was choppy and with the driving snow the view wasn’t what I was looking for.  Maybe another day, a warm day with a nice sunset behind the castle, or at least, no snow.

When we got to Oban we had to navigate its maze-like one way system.  When we eventually got the hang of it, we couldn’t find a place to park which was within walking distance of the main street.  By this time the snow had turned to sleet, so we both agreed to come back another day.  A warm day waiting for the sunset behind the castle and definitely no snow – or sleet.  Am I expecting too much?

Off on the road to Crianlarich which was a logistical nightmare finding the correct route through that one way system again, but we managed it.  Sleet had turned back to snow and it was getting heavier.  I remembered bits of the road through the Pass of Brander and I remember my dad telling me that birds didn’t fly over it because of the number of hawks that nested there.  I was watching the windscreen wipers and noticed that they didn’t have that much work to do as the streamlining of the car eased the snowflakes over the windscreen rather than splatting them on to it.  I even turned the wipers off and it made very little difference.  I think the fact that the snow flakes were light and fluffy meant that they floated better and this helped the effect.  Still it’s an impressive demonstration of the streamlining of modern cars.

Met the main road at Tyndrum and drove down past Crianlarich and stopped for a while just to get a rest from driving.  From there it was a fairly easy run to Lubnaig as the snow was lessening.  Stopped at the parking place at Lubnaig and had coffee and a jam scone each.  That’s where today’s photos came from.

Stopped at Dobbies in Stirling for Scamp to get some pansies to decorate her pots in the garden and that was the end of the run south.  There were blue skies over Cumbernauld when we arrived home, but soon after hail battered down and then the snow started.  Hoping for a better day tomorrow.

Up North – 27 April 2016

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combo bAfter a lazy morning (well, yesterday was a bit frantic, so we are due a lazy morning) we headed off just after midday bound for Ballachulish in Lochaber.

I just had to stop on Rannoch Moor to get one last time lapse. Yes, I know it’s old hat now, but just one more wouldn’t hurt. After 15 minutes I had my 10 seconds of video and 100 frames of high quality RAW files I’ll never use again. Such a waste and such a hammering the camera shutter takes making those 10 seconds of video. The good thing about travelling with two cameras is the ability to wander around taking shots while you’re waiting for the 100 shots to be taken. Saw a wee lizard on the moor. Didn’t realise you got them this far north. Maybe it was on its holidays.

Continued up to Ballachulish and booked in. As it was the end of an Itison deal, the hotel was full, but Scamp had pre-booked and also upgraded to a loch-view room with, as it turned out, a jacuzzi bath! Unfortunately neither of us could be bothered to try it out.

Went for a walk to Bishop’s Bay, a place we’d been the last time we were here, back in October 2015. The scenery and views were just as spectacular as last time. Time for dinner when we got back. Food was good, but our supercilious waiter needs to work a bit on his people skills. Scamp ordered scallops and he assumed she was ordering for both of us! What? Does his mummy order for him when he goes out to a restaurant. I had a burger which was fine and Scamp had a seabass fillet, but I’ve seen bigger sardines. She decided to have pudding and ordered sticky toffee pudding with ice cream. I ordered gin and tonic pannacotta and after leaving, he returned to ask if I wanted ice cream or cream with it. I was a bit bemused as you don’t usually have anything with pannacotta, but settled for the cream. I needn’t have bothered. It came as it was without an accompaniment and also without any semblance of G or T in its flavour.

I’d just remembered that the hotel had a lovely microbrewery IPA and we went through to the bar after our meal to see if it was still available. There was the pump with the River IPA. Unfortunately, there also was Mr Personality, the original dumb waiter.  Scamp had a G&T and I asked for an IPA. The scoosh from the tap signalled that the cask needed changing. “It’ll only take a minute” he said. He was right. It only took him a minute to come back and say “mvbemdm fnsn dm” or something like that. He certainly speaks fluent Mumble. It translates as “I don’t know how to change the cask”.  I asked for a pint of the River Blonde beer instead. I’m still not sure if he used a clean glass or the dirty one from the aborted IPA, but the beer was boggin’. I had two mouthfuls and left it on the table. The last time we were here there certainly was Service With A Smile. This time was different. Maybe we were just unlucky or maybe this is a turn in fortune for the Loch Leven Hotel. Only time will tell.

Hoping to head south via Oban tomorrow. Also hoping for decent weather, much like today’s.

Two in a row – 21 April 2016

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combo bTwo good days of sunshine in a row.  That’s what we in Scotland call Summer!  We decided not to waste it, so Scamp had the brilliant idea of taking the bus to Dunfermline in Fife.  No driving for me, so that put a smile on my face – for once.

Bus to the “Toonie”, then another less rattly and rickety bus to Dunfermline.  We walked down to Pittencrieff Park where we were accosted by the squirrel that stood there quite the thing in front of us and begged for peanuts.  Unfortunately for Tufty (reference to an ancient road safety cartoon) we didn’t have any, not expecting to be waylaid by a hungry animal.  We walked on through the park and strayed for a while in the greenhouses admiring the flowers and the goldfish pond.  Lots of hand painted mobiles that looked almost like puppets hanging in part of it.  I really should have taken some photos of them, but only now realised I hadn’t.  Oh well, a reason to go back again.

Had lunch in a Wetherspoon’s.  Cheap and cheerful – you can’t beat it.  Walked round the town and I added some books to my Bento booklist.  Why on earth Filemaker stopped supporting this excellent app, I’ll never know.  Filemaker Pro is a great piece of software, but it’s no use on an iPhone.  It’s a sledgehammer to crack a nut, whereas Bento is a nutcracker.  By that I mean it fulfils the purpose it was designed for.  I’m sure there is enough space for both of these apps in the world.  Filemaker, you made a big mistake there, and it’s not just me saying this.  Google Bento and just count the number of people worldwide who are mourning the cutting off of this software in its prime.

Bus back from Dunfermline and then the rattly, shoogly X3 back home.  Another lovely day.  Tomorrow isn’t to be as nice, which is a great shame.

All Good Things … 10 April 2016

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combo bAfter breakfast we packed up the car and pointed it south. Made fairly good time all the way down the road. Stopped off at Spean Bridge for lunch which for me was a mega breakfast of bacon, link sausage, lorne sausage, haggis, black pudding, fried egg, beans, tattie scone, toast and tea all for £7.95. Scamp had a chicken burger which was uninspiring. Should have had the mega breakfast, even if as a semi-veggy you’d have had to donate your sausages and bacon to me.

Back on the road we continued south and stopped just past the Clachaig Inn so I could take some photos. The first of the day. I wanted some shots looking back at Loch Achtriachtan – bottom right. I also got a decent shot looking the other way up the glen towards the Pass of Glencoe. That’s the mono shot. Just got back into the car when a people carrier arrived and out spilled half a dozen Chinese tourists each with a smartphone on a selfie stick and I thought of Murd!

Found a slot in the never ending stream of traffic heading up the glen and drove on to Rannoch Moor. I was watching the cloudscape that was forming above the snow covered mountains and trying to figure out where would be best to park to grab the shot I could imaging was being created for me. I’ve been caught out before by ignoring the first parking place, trying for the optimum viewpoint and finding there’s nowhere there for parking – Scotland’s terrible for providing parking where there is nothing worth seeing and no parking where there is. This time I chose the first place that presented itself almost empty too – just a white van in it, and decided I’d walk until I found the best VP. As it turned out, there was a beautiful clear shot of the mountains and clouds right across form the parking place (top two shots). Took the shot (or 10) and then realised there was a tripod with a camera but without a photog, just to my right. Then I turned round and saw the driver of the white van watching me. It turned out he was doing a time lapse of the changing cloudscape. I asked him how long he’d run it for and after some thought he said “about 30 minutes should be enough”. He said he was driving down from Skye and really should be in a hurry, but the landscape was just too pretty to ignore. I told him we were doing the same and took my leave, wishing him luck with his time lapse.

Our next stop was between Crianlarich and Lix Toll for a coffee and to stretch my legs. Then it was on through Callander and Doune to the M9 and home. It took us just over six hours.

Thanks Murd and Jackie for the hospitality again and hope to see you soon.

Over the five days we clocked up around 660 miles and I took 335 photos, most of which were rubbish, but some of which I’m really proud of. That’s what photography is all about. A 10% success rate is pretty good. My success rate was about half of that, but then, you can’t quantify art 😉