Category: Scotland

Snow Ride – 28 April 2016

Posted on by Zogman

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.

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 😉

Stunning Sligachan – 9 April 2016

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combo bDrove over Quiraing to reach Uig, then down the west side of the island to Portree. Stopped for a while at the top to take in the view and to grab some photos. I liked the style of the Indian bloke with his pink umbrella striding off across the footpath round the edge of Quiraing.

Had lunch at Jan’s Vans new café and also took on some petrol further down the road. Then we made our leisurely way to Sligachan to photograph the Cuillins which were looking quite dramatic after some overnight snow. Snow in April. Not unheard of, but after the fairly temperate winter we’ve had, it was not really expected. I got another painting done and was quite pleased with it. Just a medium sized sketch, but not timed this time. We made a really relaxed afternoon of it sitting in a lay-by off the main road with just the beautiful mountains and hills around us. Weather was kind with lovely sunshine and very little wind.

When we got back to Staffin I dropped Scamp off at the house and then headed down the slip. The place was quiet so I got to walk across the bog and on to the limestone pavement section and got a few shots, but not many. It was nice to sit there in the quiet and listen to the waves crashing and the birds singing. Sometimes that’s worth more than the dramatic scenery, but the drama helps too.

Remember, the mosaic at the top sometimes shows only part of today’s images and always at a reduced scale.  Click on the mosaic to be transported to my Flickr page.

Off home tomorrow.

An early rise (unplanned) – 7 April 2016

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ComboThe kitchen started work again at 6.00AM and so did the noise.  It was so loud, and it woke both Scamp and me and we just couldn’t get back to sleep, so I suggested we make an early start and get on the road.  Breakfast was very good – the food IS good.  Shower in the room had an air-lock in it and squealed when you turned the flow up above a trickle.  Scamp made sure she complained about this and the abominable kitchen when we were booking out and got a small amount removed from the bill after the receptionist had gone to speak to the manager.  The manager chose not to meet his irate customer face to face.  I wonder why.

The rest of the run up north passed without incident until we were on the single track section out of Portree when a diddy of a woman decided that we should reverse back a couple of hundred yards to a passing place and allow her through, even though she had just driven past a passing place.  I’m afraid that wasn’t going to happen and I was pleased to see her go incandescent when I made silly faces at her through the window.  Some people think they own the road.  They don’t, I do.

Went for a drive later as we’d arrived far earlier than expected.  Drove to Aird and I got two paintings done – TWO!  Ok, one was a small sketch, but the other was a full watercolour, both of the same scene.  I think the small one is better than the bigger one.  I’ll maybe post them some time to garner opinion.

After dinner I went down the slip and got some possible photos.  Will know better when I process them, but that may be a problem as it looks like the battery on the Mac is dying.  Down to 37% of its designed capacity.

On the road north – 6 April 2016

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P4060006- flickr--98--97Waited in for the postman hoping that he’d brought the paracord camera grip I’d ordered on Saturday. He had and it’s really neat, much neater than I could make. Fits well and black to match the ’10 – that’s their new names sorted. One’s the ’10 and one’s the ‘5. Much better than Oly’s ridiculously long names. Anyway, it arrived and I’m pleased with it. Got all the bags loaded into the Megane and we were off by 1pm. Weather was as predicted, sunshine and showers. Good April weather. Traffic was light with only one slow 40mph max Lordy to contend with. Once we were past that it was plain sailing up to Fort William. We did get stopped at the edge of Rannoch Moor by police because of “filming”. A mile or so further on we saw the film crew working a boom mounted camera just off the road. Didn’t see any stars though. Bummer. Arrived in Fort Billy just before 4pm. Room is ok. Just a room. Going swimming now. A chance to compare and contrast.

Well, we did compare and we did contrast and the overall result was that home’s best. The Ben Nevis leisure centre had a better pool, a much better pool, the sauna was not as good as Westerwood and the steam room was much the same. The changing facilities and showers at home were much better, so overall it was a home win, but that pool was really good.

Biggest disappointment was the room, or to be more precise, the location of said room. Right on top of the kitchen, which meant that from about 6.30 until 9.00pm the extractor fan ran non stop and there was the banging of trays and pots you’d expect in a hotel kitchen. We just didn’t expect to have it relayed into our room. However, when the kitchen closed, the noise stopped at 9.00.

Dinner was good. Scamp liked the chicken pakora we shared and we both enjoyed fish and chips.

On the slow train – 2 April 2016

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comboWe went to Edinburgh today, hereinafter referred to by its real name “Embra”.  Since the rail line to Embra is being electrified, the tunnel entrance to Queen Street Station in Glasgow is being closed to allow the necessary building work to proceed.  This means that trains will take a lot longer to get from Croy to Glasgow, 25 minutes longer.  That’s 25 minutes added to the 15 minutes it took before last Sunday.  On the other side of Croy, all the Embra trains now stop at all stations to Embra, meaning an extra 10 minutes on that journey too.  Now, I can almost understand why it takes the extra 25 minutes in to Glasgow with all the redirection that’s necessary, but I can’t see why closing a tunnel in Glasgow causes trains to stop at all the stations from Croy to Embra.  Maybe it’s a butterfly flaps its wings thing.  I never understood that either.

Anyway, the train arrived early, which was a surprise, and it was empty, which is unheard of.  Arrived in Embra and got tea (tea leaves, that is) at my favourite shop.  Walked up past the conference centre where there was a massive queue to get in to the Embra Comic Con, which at up to £27 for a ticket was really well named.  There were Doctors Who, Captains America and some vaguely demonic looking souls.  I said to Scamp that I should have worn my black and red striped rugby top and gone as Dennis the Menace, but she didn’t think that I was taking the thing seriously.  As if!

Walked through Princes Street Gardens, enjoying the thin sunshine.  Went to John Lewis and looked around the Toys.  Not the kids toys, the big boys’ toys.  Got an early birthday present of a camera bag.  Smiled at a bloke asking his wife if a radio he was thinking of buying was green or grey.  A constant topic of discussion between Scamp and I.

Walked back along to Zizzi and spent the voucher we got way back ages ago for complaining about the service and food in Exchange Square Zizzi.  Sometimes it pays to complain.  Squeaky wheels and grease.

On the way back to the train I went in to Waterstones and waited 15 minutes while a moron decided whether or not to buy a Dorling Kindersley book on Peru, because he was going there in June with a friend.  He has a friend?  Is it an imaginary friend?  I expect so.  He wasn’t sure whether to buy the book or not, because the new version was coming out.  He asked the girl behind the counter when the new version was due out and she said it was due to be published early June.  He then asked her if that meant the shop would have it then.  She said no, it was published on that date.  “What exactly do you mean by published?” he asked.  I sighed loudly “For fuck’s sake!” and walked away to go downstairs and pay for my book there.  How the hell is Peter the Peruvian Prick (alliteration) going to get all the way to Peru?
Go to the train station and ask Information “When is the next train to Peru?“
“It’s at 3.30pm sir, but you have to change at Queen Street and remember it stops at all the stations, so it will take you an extra 35 minutes.”
“What exactly do you mean by ‘stops at all the stations’?“
“For fuck’s sake!” Says the girl at Information and pulls down the blind.  “This position is now closed.”

We went home in the train in the rain, having had the best of the day.  It stopped at all the stations.

And a Bang on the Ear – 31 March 2016

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comboWe set off fairly early on an improving day. Down the M80 on to the M8 down to and across the Erskine bridge, past Dumbarton (can you guess were we’re going yet?). On past Balloch and up Loch Lomond side. We drove past Luss on the right and Inverbeg on the left and north to Tarbet (not to be confused with Tarbert which is miles away). From there it was over the pass to our first destination, Arrochar. We parked in the much reduced carpark across from the collapsing pier and watched the light change on The Cobbler (Ben Arthur). We saw folk walking some of the paths through the pine forests. If I’d brought my boots we could have been up to the summit and back down again in about an hour – Aye Right!

Arrochar is scenic, but there’s not a lot to see in the village itself, so we headed up past the part demolished torpedo testing station, past Ardgartan and on up the long slow climb to the top of the Rest and Be Thankful, passing on our right the new landslide trapping nets. This was the end of our scenic tour. We sat in the parking place at the top of ‘The Rest’ and had our coffee and ‘pieces’ – not sandwiches, Pieces. I took lots of shots looking down the valley of the River Croe and off to the west to the higher peaks where the snow still lay.

I went off to get some shots of still, dark, gloomy Loch Restil and that’s where I got my ‘bang on the ear’. I walked right into a road sign and bashed my ear on it. How stupid can you be not to notice a notice? It’s not as if it was a wee sign, it was about a metre wide by about 60cm high. Having said that, it was a stupid place to put it, right where somebody would bang their ear on it. It’s amazing how much pain is caused by such a small cut. Numpty.

From The Rest it was all downhill – literally. Took a different road back, down the side of Loch Long to Helensburgh (It’s ok, JIC, we didn’t stop except to go to Waitrose) and then back over the Erskine Bridge. There I made the big mistake of attempting the M8 rather than the M74 to take us home. In future, remind me to take the left lane and head for the M74 because the traffic is less horrific there.

Good to get out and see some beautiful scenery in good light with great company. Must do it again some time soon, if possible without the bang on the ear.

I Think It’s Going To … 26 March 2016

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combo b… Rain today.  Rained almost all day.  We went shopping.  Food shopping.  We could have gone to Tesco, but I thought it would be better to go to Stirling, even in the rain.  There’s a Waitrose there and I can usually pick up some nice meat there.  I also wanted a second look at a watercolour painting I’d seen in a gallery there a month or so ago.  Not to buy it of course, but to try out the effect the artist had achieved.  Thirdly, as usual I had a photograph in my head that I could take if the sun came out.  I didn’t get the meat I was looking for although I did get some kidney to make steak and kidney stew.  I didn’t get to see the painting either  because when we came out of Waitrose the rain had stopped, clouds were lightening and the sun was looking like it would start poking through so I went straight to option 3.

While we were driving to the location I’d picked, the sun did come out, but by the time I’d navigated Traffic Light City (do they really need all those red lights?) and found the spot, the good light had all but gone.  I did manage a couple of shots but without the light on the castle I wanted.  Actually there was no good light, but Lightroom is a brilliant piece of software that can spread sunlight where there is none and that is what I did.  Darkened down and texturised the sky with one graduated filter and brightened and warmed up the foreground with another.  That is how the top image and the bottom left image were faked created.  The image bottom right has only had minimal adjustments and show what the scene really looked like.

When we turned and headed for home after a disappointing stop, the rain started again, but not as heavily as it had earlier.

An excellent Chicken Curry tonight with my own version of a curry paste.  Feeling quite pleased with it.

Sitting in the Sun – 19 March 2016

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combo bSitting in the sun for a couple of hours at Loch Lubnaig. Taking foties, doing sketches and  being amazed at the difference a day makes. Yesterday, all was grey, but today there’s blue sky all around.

We couldn’t decide where to go today and last night had almost settled on a trip round the shops in Stirling.  This morning when we saw the bright blue sky, we re-evaluated our options.  Finally we settled on Callander with the option of travelling on to Lubnaig if the weather permitted.  The weather did permit and we did take the Lubnaig option.  We drew in at the first of the new parking places which are so much better maintained than the old ones where the dobbers would overnight camp from Friday to Sunday.  Buckfast bottles and who knows what else left behind.  The only good thing about it was that it was free, but you didn’t wander far from your car in case it was propped up on bricks when you came back.  Those days are gone now, so are the dobbers and the Buckfast.  Now you’ve got to pay to park, but £1 for two hours is worthwhile for peace of mind.

I had hoped to see the seaplane land on the loch, but I think that company has now moved to Loch Lomond.  What we did see were mountain climbers on a ridge, canoeists on the loch and a beastie on my painting.  First time for a long while I’ve painted in public.  It wasn’t the best effort, but it was a sketch and it was in the open air – I won’t use that arty-farty French expression, but it was fun.