Category: Scotland

More frost, more snow – 11 April 2021

Posted on by Zogman

Where has spring gone? It seems like we’re back in the gloomy days of winter.

I’ve always thought trees had a hidden intelligence. They don’t produce leaves until the last frost is over because the frost damages the delicate leaves. Biologists now know that trees can communicate through their roots. When I see trees starting to put out leaves, I know that the ground and the air are warming up, even if I don’t feel it. Something seems to have gone wrong this year. The trees are spreading their leaves, but the temperature last night was around -4º along the Central Belt of Scotland and much colder than that up in the north. Have the trees just held off and held off until they simply had to get the leaves out to convert the minerals from their roots into the sugars and starches they need to grow, despite the temperature? Perhaps that’s so. Perhaps they know that the temperature is on the rise and will continue to rise into summer. Let’s hope so, for our sake as well as theirs.

We kept looking out the window today and saying “It looks nice, but open the door and you’ll feel how cold it is.” It was cold and I was glad I’d put a plant fleece on the rosemary bush in the garden. Poor rosemary is a Mediterranean plant not used to the rough winter weather in Scotland. Like the trees, it had just begun to produce new leaves when last week’s frost burned them. Hopefully the fleece will keep it safe until this spell of cold weather abates. We didn’t move much until after lunch today, and even then, Scamp found jobs to do in the house rather than come out for a walk with me. I got dressed for the cold and went for a walk in St Mo’s. My target was that big horse chestnut tree to grab some shots of the buds bursting into leaves. I got better than leaves, some of the buds contained the flowers, the candelabra of flowers that mark a horse chestnut. One of them made PoD.

Back home Scamp was battering a couple of chicken breasts to make Chicken Milanese. Flattened chicken breast dipped in egg and then breadcrumbs and fried until golden and crispy. Served with potatoes and a salad. Perfect Sunday dinner. She’d also made soup as a starter. Such a clever girl, Scamp.

Dancing tonight was an extension to the Waltz which kind of messed with both our heads until Scamp got it sorted out and taught me! Then the last part of the Tango which also caused us a bit of bother, but after the teachers had gone over it a few times it became clearer.

JIC had given me a birthday prezzy of six months worth of Audible books. I wasn’t sure about the practicality of listening to books rather than reading them, but after listening to The Sandman by Neil Gaiman for an hour, I’m sold. Not just one person reading the story, more a whole play with different people playing the characters. I understand the reason people listen to audio books now.

Spoke to JIC after the dance and heard about he and Sim’s first 10k run today. Watches and horses played a part in the discussion and also houses.

I am still trying to work out how these three post-processing apps can best be used and which of the two full price ones is best. Just now I’m still banking on Lightroom to win the day, but that is by no means certain.

Tomorrow we have a Tesco delivery scheduled for the afternoon, so any walking activity will have to be in the morning.

 

The Bin Man and The Girls – 25 January 2021

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Today I was a bin man. Not for us, but for my niece, although a few of our empty bottles went along for the ride.

Our niece was having problems getting her rubbish collected and she asked me to help her out. It wasn’t really a problem. She’d done all the hard work of sorting into different bags. I was just the transport to the council skips. For once there was no queue and no need to check proof of residential status. Just an “Ok buddy. Go right in.” Shona had done a good job of sorting all the paper, cardboard, general waste and glass. All I had to do was chuck the bags in the skips, empty the paper in the bins and the cardboard into the hopper for the crusher. Then the good bit, smashing the bottles in the big steel boxed with the rubber seals over the openings. I just love that smashing sound. Someone once told me that it’s only men who have a fascination with bonfires and throwing anything into them that isn’t bolted down. The same is true with water. Women want to walk beside it. Men want to throw things into it. Apparently it’s the same with recycling centres. Men love throwing empty bottles into those boxes to hear the smash. It’s some primal instinct.

With that done I drove up to Fannyside to see The Girls. The sheep, some white, some black who live in a field up there. The last time Scamp and I were there, the sheep stood for ages, like statues, watching us. Today they were more interested in their lunch which the farmer had just served. I took their photo anyway, because I knew they expected it. Nice backdrop of the Campsie Fells and their light covering of snow with cloud shadows giving some added 3D effects. On the way back I stopped to grab a shot of an old ruined farm which, according to the OS map is Jawhill. It’s very picturesque and would be even more so if it wasn’t for those bloody wind farms behind it, two different ones. Blots on the landscape.

Stopped at Tesco on the way home for food. Veg for soup and also milk and bread. When I got home, and after lunch, Scamp went out on a foraging mission armed with her shopping voucher from the Office for National Statistics and Oxford Uni. We had decided that we’d both use half our money to buy food for the local food banks and half we’d keep. Seems only fair. She returned looking pleased with herself. Half of her first payment now gracing the food bank donation box in Tesco. My turn later in the week.

It was Burn Night tonight and it’s traditional in this house to have Haggis, Neeps (which my spellchecker doesn’t understand) and Tatties (which it does!). So that was dinner sorted. Scamp was cooking. I was footering about with today’s photos. ‘The Ladies’ won PoD as I knew they would and should.

It started snowing about an hour ago and it’s still hard at it. I expect it will be mostly gone by tomorrow because it’s forecast to turn to rain later, but then again, they might get it completely wrong. We can only wait and see. If the weather is decent we might go for a walk.

Mountaineers – 12 November 2020

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Well, that’s how we felt today.

It was such a beautiful morning, it seemed a shame to waste it just sitting around. I suggested we climb Bar Hill. We had completed the Croy Hill ascent last month and it seemed like a good use of the clear, dry weather.

We parked at The Hebo House and walked up the hill towards Croy, crossed the road and started on the path to Bar Hill. Through two gates and when the road curved to the left we went right, following the John Muir Trail arrows. They took us along a wide grassy area between banks of trees, gently climbing, but we could see ahead of us the climb growing steadily steeper. It was also a lot soggier underfoot and pure mud in places. Scamp wasn’t sure about this part at all, but we found a way through it. We’d brought our walking poles and they helped a lot, giving the security to plant our feet firmly, knowing that the poles would support us.

Once we were past the boggy area, the slope got a lot steeper. I was pretty sure the view from the top would be worth the climb and I was right. Well, I thought it was worth the climb anyway. Scamp was more worried about getting back down, but I didn’t intend to retrace our steps. I was almost sure we could take a gentler way down. That last climb took us to an Iron Age fort of which nothing really remains. There is a trig point and we stopped to take some photos. A hundred yards further on was the ruins of the Roman fort, and then I realised that the gulley that we had kept on our right hand side on the climb was actually the ditch that had contained the earth used to build the ramparts that protected the wall itself.

We walked round the ruins for a while noting what went where and wondering how they managed to dig a well deep enough to find water on the top of a hill. I suppose it’s all to do with water tables and stuff. I vaguely remember being taught about it in geography in school, and that was only a couple of years after the Romans left. Then we headed back down by the “easy” military route which is probably the way the Romans with their horses pulling carts of provisions. It was still fairly steep, but there were ruts cut perpendicular to the direction of the path and these would help with traction, but it must have been slow progress from the level of the valley up to the fort. The ice cream would probably have melted by the time they got to the top.

Just because we could, we took a new path back to the car. Bits of it reminds me of the second day at Cautley Spout in Yorkshire where we were walking on what seemed like a stream bed. This was similar in places with water running off the fields on our left and then being channeled down the path and not across it. It looked treacherous, but was actually quite easy. “Quite easy” because we had walking poles to give us support again. Back at the car we booked a table for lunch tomorrow at The Hebo House. A review will hopefully be posted in due course.

Apart from a quick visit to Tesco for messages that was the excitement over for the day. On the way down the hill the clouds had been gathering and the sunshine less often breaking through. By the time we got home it was gathering gloom and by about four o’ clock it was getting dark.

PoD turned out to be a shot looking down the hill we’d struggled up. In the pic it looks like the fairway of a golf course, but you can see where the ditch is and where the earth has been piled up to form the ramparts.

It was a good idea to go out in the morning. We had the best of the day.

Tomorrow, hopefully we’ll be going for lunch to The Hebo House.

Today was a lovely day – 30 October 2020

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It was all that the weather fairies promised and we made the most of it.

So where would we go today? East or West, what was best? I chose East and Scamp refined it to South Queensferry.

We arrived there just after midday and walked down to the pier after finding a parking place on the hill leading out of the town. Cold blustery wind blowing down the estuary from the west. It might not look it from PoD but that was in the lee of the wind. The other side of the wall it was a very different picture with waves crashing over the sea wall.

We walked into the town proper from the harbour, passing a dozen or so folk fresh from a wedding ceremony at the Registry Office. They looked cold and unconvinced this was the best day of their lives. I couldn’t blame them. Walking along by the estuary in those “peery heels” as my mum would have described them with a gale blowing behind them couldn’t have been fun. One of the bridesmaids had decided that bare feet were better than wearing the uncomfortable posh shoes she was supposed to wear, and who could blame her?

I think the walk along the Main Street truly brought home to me the misery that Covid has caused to small communities. Shop after shop with either ‘Closed’ signs or ‘Everything Must Go’ in the window. Tiny wee ice cream shops reduced to selling tea and coffee to make some money, because realistically, who wants ice cream when it’s nearly November? Not one pub open. Not one restaurant open. I could almost hear the bell tolling the death knell of tourism in Scotland.

To cheer us up and to provide lunch, we had a portion of chips and a slice of really good tray pizza from a wee chip shop that was the only one doing a roaring trade on such a cold day. We sat on an uncomfortable seat eating the chips while we watched the waves crashing. The sun was shining, but the wind made it bitter cold. However, we were out of the house. The weather was dry. The sun was shining from a blue sky and we had chips. What on earth is wrong with that?

We drove home by a circuitous route provided by me and the sat nav. Eventually reached the motorway and basically came back the way we had gone a few hours earlier.

PoD was the view from the pier. No sketch yet because it took me too long to decide how to interpret ‘Ominous’ and because the gin was too strong. I’ll play catch up tomorrow, hopefully.

Rain predicted for tomorrow, so it will be a stay at home day I think. Still, we did get out in the sunshine today.

Old Friends – 29 July 2020

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Today we went to see a couple of old friends.

Scamp and I went for a wee run today to see a couple of old friends. One with his head always down. Some folk say he’s watching you. The other one has his head high. Some think he’s in pain, I think he’s laughing out loud at all these little folk around him. It’s ages since we’ve visited the Kelpies, not been there for months and I think Scamp was looking forward to seeing them again. I must admit I was too. Because of the Covid-19 restrictions, the Visitor Centre was closed, but there was an ice cream van and it seemed a shame on quite a sunny day not to have one each. We walked around them and then followed our noses to the lock that allows boats access to the River Carron and thence to the Forth Estuary and the sea. We were waiting to allow a couple to cross the narrow walkway over the lock gates when I recognised them. One was a teacher in the school when I started and the other was his wife. We stood and talked for a while about our respective families. We also talked about folk we’d known and worked with, some of whom are no longer with us. Eventually we had to go, but as usual when something like that happens throughout the afternoon little snippets of memories drop into place. A nostalgic meeting. They walked back to their car and we carried on with our walk on the far side of the canal.

For all the times we’ve visited the Big Horses, this is the first time we’ve crossed the canal and seen them from the other side. You get a completely different view of them from the other side and best of all there are no pylons or power lines to erase from the resulting photographs. Today’s PoD came from the bridge further back upstream, if you can have an upstream is a canal. I’d never photographed them from that viewpoint before and it’s such a natural choice with the Ochil Hills in the background.

Back home after lunch, Scamp wanted to prune back the blackcurrant bush in the hopes that she can get rid of the virus or insects that are damaging it, I don’t think either of us is really sure that it will work, but if we don’t try, we’ll never know. I got my hands dirty planting some more carrots and kale into pots to go in the greenhouse. The kale should be ok, but I’m not sure if the carrots will work. I’ve never been successful with transplanting root crops. I also bit the bullet and spread slug pellets in the raised bed. I don’t like using them where I’m growing stuff to eat, but I reckon it’s the slugs that have taken all the carrot plants I had there. There are definitely traces of slugs on the well eaten kale leaves. I checked them and there are no signs of caterpillars, so slugs are the best bet. Let’s hope they like their last meal of blue slug pellets.

That was about it for the day. A day at the Kelpies is always uplifting, but meeting another couple of old friends just made it extra special.

Tomorrow rain is forecast, so we may ‘Go for the Messages.”

Another beautiful Spring day – 20 March 2020

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Apparently today was the Spring Equinox, something about the sun crossing the equator.

I don’t know if the sun was actually crossing the equator today, but we definitely saw if for a lot of the afternoon. We’d decided to go for a walk again today. A much longer walk than yesterday, about 5 miles according to my Fitbit. We were walking along the Forth & Clyde Canal from Auchinstarry Quarry to Twechar and back. Before we left Auchinstarry I grabbed a shot of two roped up rock climbers having a wee discussion of the best way to climb the rock. One in the bag.We started out on our walk with the big Bergy coats on, Scarves, Wooly Hats and Scamp even had her gloves on. I was a rock cake and kept my gloves and my hands in my jacket pockets. Halfway along the canal, the jackets were zipped down, then the scarves, gloves and wooly bunnets were pocketed away and we began to feel the heat of the sun. We some folk who had gone further and were wearing shorts, but that’s just taking things too far. It might be that Spring is just around the corner, but that was a cold wind blowing from the east. One step at a time.

When we turned at Twechar and headed face forward into that eastern breeze, the bunnets were back on and the jackets were zipped up again. Got today’s PoD just outside Twechar as an eight shot panorama created in Lightroom, then cleaned up in ON1 2019. Quite pleased with it, it showed what the light was like today. We passed a few hardy folk out walking and cycling, and even a few jogging. All of them keeping the approved 2m distance from us, just to be sure.

On the way back to the car we discussed food options for the next few days and decided another visit to the butchers was in order. With that in mind we drove to Muirhead and then split up. Scamp to check out the Co-op and me to get some meat and fish it there was any fish. There was a queue outside the butchers, and I groaned. It was Friday and it’s usually busy on Fridays, but actually this was a H&S queue, all to do with Covid 19. People were asked to wait outside and were called into the shop to reduce the risk of cross contamination. Once in I had to sanitise my hands with an alcohol gel. Perfectly sensible really in these strange days. I was looking for some more Thai Chicken Stir-Fry, but there were no chickens from any geographical location in a stir-fry sauce. Got some beef stir-fry instead. Also got some fish for Scamp and best of all, two bags of pasta. No pasta in Tesco, nor as it turned out in the Co-op, but there was some in the butchers! Strange days indeed. When we got back home, the girl next door, Angela’s daughter Lucy, came out to say that she was giving her mum a lift to her work in Asda in the mornings and if we needed anything, just to give her a list. I thought that was very kind of her and told her so. I also said that although we were fine at the moment, I’d keep her offer in mind.

With that, our exercise for the day was done. Lunch was (Just) soup and a late supper was a pizza.

The big Covid 19 announcement of the day, apart from having to queue outside the butchers and then use hand sanitiser, was that all clubs, pubs and restaurants would be closed from tonight until the foreseeable future. That also made sense to me and was entirely predictable.

Tomorrow we may go for a walk again in a different place and a different direction, no doubt. Where is not yet decided, but we will be taking a flask and ’pieces’.

Out for a walk – 22 January 2020

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Much better looking day today, even some sunshine when we woke (whisper it).

After breakfast and a couple of chapters of my newest book (that’s about five chapters for Scamp) and then showered, dressed and out. Today’s destination was Mugdock Country Park in East Dumbartonshire.

Followed the satnav to go there and got parked without any problem and got the walking boots on. The girl who was parked next to us warned us that the paths were quite mucky and she was indeed correct. Walked down past the converted stables and on to the old ruined Craigend Castle, now protected from the punters by a security fence. Got a few shots there, pushing the camera gingerly through the gaps at the joints of the fence. It was the Nikon’s day out again today after it produced the goods yesterday. Further on in a stand of trees, big redwoods, we could hear a woodpecker, but couldn’t quite see it, then another one started up and it seemed a bit like call and response for a while. I was walking through the trees trying to locate the tree the nearest one was in when both of them stopped. Then I did see one fly away across the woods to where the other one seemed to be. No photos though. Scamp had followed me in to the woods and she was the one who noticed the daffodil and maybe snowdrops green spikes sticking up through the leaf litter. Hope I didn’t tramp on any on my way in. I was more careful on the way out.

We walked on to Mugdock Castle and that’s where today’s PoD of the Summer House came from. Just a ruin now, it must have been a fair sized fortress in it’s day back in the 17th century. From there we walked round Mugdock Loch and followed our noses back to the coffee shop at the centre. Two coffees, one roll ’n’ egg, one roll ’n’ sausage (with fried onions!) all for just over £8. A bargain and we’d earned it with our walk.

Drove back home through Bardowie. Drove right past your friend’s house there, Hazy. We couldn’t remember her name. Then we were on a well kent road all the way home. Enjoyed the walk. Enjoyed the company and enjoyed the food. Not a bad day at all. We’ve vowed to go back again soon and take a different road next time.

Dinner tonight was fish and chips with haddock from the fish shop in Kilsyth. A fitting end to the day.

Tomorrow I’ve suggested we go in to Glasgow on the bus.

Kelpied – 24 September 2019

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Today we were all Kelpied!

Today dawned dry but a bit dreary. However, it soon brightened up and we thought we’d risk a run to the Kelpies. It all went well until we were almost at the M9 then the car seemed to be misfiring, which is strange because it had been running so well since its last service. I hadn’t bought petrol from anywhere other than my usual two petrol stations and I hadn’t run the level down until the red light came on. So that should rule out the possibility of a little bit of dirt getting in to the carburettor or the jets, whatever it is the Juke has. Made the decision to detour via the Nissan garage in Stirling, where the service manager came to see what the problem was. He gave it a fair run through the gears, fierce acceleration and gentle driving, but could not replicate the problem. There was little more the poor man could do, but he took it in to the service bay, put it on the computer and pronounced it clean. No problems listed. Finally he suggested we drive off and if the problem reared its head again, we should book it in for a full day check. Clive and I were puzzled. We couldn’t agree on a possible cause and he knows a lot more about cars than me. It ran perfectly for the rest of the day.

Got to the Kelpies and wandered round them just taking them in. Glad to see that Clive was equally entranced with these beautiful equine sculptures. We both took lots of photos of them from different angles and in different lighting conditions. Scamp was also taking photos, but I think we were the subjects. People are more important than places to her and that’s probably her greatest photographic strength. She captures people very much better than me.

From Grangemouth, we said goodbye to the Kelpies and headed round the outskirts of Falkirk to The Falkirk Wheel. The giant boat lift was one of the things that Clive had wanted to see and we arrived just as it was doing a lift, so he got to see it in action right away. I took the car away to park it and met them in the shadow of the great wheel where we discussed the mechanics of this modern wonder. We waited for another boat to be lifted and after a swift look in the visitor centre, I found the one ticket machine that was working and paid for our parking. For a visitor centre which was meant to show this wonder of engineering design, there were a host of machines with OUT OF ORDER signs on them. Almost nothing of any note was working. Poor show Falkirk. Drove home and arrived just as the rain was starting.

PoD was a view of the Kelpies reflected in the turning pool of the canal.

Tomorrow we may go to Glasgow, but it depends on the weather.

The end of May – 31 May 2019

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But not the end of the rain!

Today we had planned to go to the Sagra Italiana festival of Italian food in Glasgow. The camera wasn’t being delivered until after 4pm, so that gave us most of the wet day to play with. The rain started seriously about 11am and from then on it was continuous. We reckoned the festival would be a wash out, but drove in to Glasgow anyway. We were right. There were about thirty people wandering around and at least half of them were family members of the girl group who were singing bravely on the stage. At least they were under cover. There’s nothing so desperate as folk trying to look happy and cheerful when the rain is pelting down and all the planning has been for nothing. I think we both felt sorry for everyone concerned.

To cheer us up we went for a pizza in Paesano. It was mobbed, but then again, it wasn’t raining in there. Everyone was warm and dry and being fed and watered. Went to CassArt and bought myself a little paintbox to celebrate the end of Every Day In May. I’ve had great fun doing the drawings and the paintings, but it’s been tough some days to work out how to interpret some of the prompts. I’d do it again. Today’s topic was A Crab. Try as I might, I couldn’t think of anything to draw other than a crustacean. After all, living in the middle of Central Scotland, there aren’t many crabs around here. So it was I wandered the arcades of the InterWeb looking for some decent photos. Eventually settling on an iStock image that was what I was looking for.

Today’s PoD was seen from Ingram Street in Glasgow. The poor bloke sheltering in the portico of the GOMA didn’t look as if he was the model of Domestic Bliss and I think that’s what attracted me to take the shot.

Came home and took charge of the camera from the DPD man. It looked in very good nick and after giving the battery a quick squirt I checked it over a bit more and was very pleased with it. Let the battery charge a bit more and then the warning light started flashing on the charger which indicates a battery fault. I tried it in the camera and it worked for about fifteen minutes before it packed in. I’ve just charged it up again, fully this time, and it seems to be holding its charge this time. Will find out if it’s really working in the morning.

The rain stopped for about ten minutes today, but it’s raining again. Tomorrow is to be dry, but then the rain returns on Sunday. We should make the most of tomorrow, but we’re not making any hard and fast plans yet.

Off Home – 27 March 2019

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Bags packed, ready for the off.

After an uncomfortable nightwith a swollen finger and a pain in the side after yesterday’s gymnastics, it was time for the last breakfast.

Since we didn’t need to leave the room until midday, we went for a walk along the front to soak up a last couple of hours of sunshine.  Sat on the same seat as yesterday with the same toy mouse, still unclaimed and gazed at the same sea.  Finally had to drag ourselves away.  Said goodbye to the wee toy mouse and told it we were sure someone would come back to claim it, then turned to face the journey home.

One final check of the bags before heading for reception. Sat and read for a while before we booked the taxi which arrived about two minutes later and we were off to the airport.

Whizzed through check-in and security and settled down to wait. Called to the gate earlier than we’d expected and were off home to a cold Glasgow, then drove home.

There’s not a lot more you can say about the long day at the end of a holiday, certainly not anything interesting.  It wasn’t the best holiday ever, and definitely not the best hotel we’d stayed in, but it was  a week in  the sun and it doesn’t matter what the hotel is like or the food is like, the sun’s the same for everyone, and the sun is free.

PoD was the queue at a gate in Fuerteventura airport.

Tomorrow reality will kick in!