Bristol 5-8 November 2012

Monday 5th
Trains all went well as both were late, in Leeds I arrived and departed from the same platform which is good as I have had to run up and down those blasted steps countless times.
The train from Leeds was very cold so I arrived in fish finger state, got a taxi up to my hotel in Berkeley Square and checked in to a very cold room. Half an hour later I was in a different much warmer room slowly thawing out.
The Berkeley Square Hotel is Georgian in facade only, having been the YMCA in 1952 and I’m in the basement.
As it was a fasting day I did an online tutorial for my OU work and then got settled in. I popped to Sainsburys for some fizzy water and wine which I then drank.
I feel like I almost recognise bits of Bristol but it’s so different from when I lived here and I can’t remember how it all joins up. I lived here for about 3 or 4 years. It wasn’t a great time for me and included a year with a person who used to hit me. Guess what I would do if I saw her now! So slightly mixed feelings for me. I had some good fun here too.

Setting off, very cold. Self photos make my specs look bigger than I think they are.

So many bikes

Before I mess it up

Tuesday 6th
Woke in the early hours to furnace radiator! I’d thought fireworks would keep me awake but the basement meant I heard nothing at all, fab as I hate firework explosions.
Breakfast of fresh fruit, dried fruit, nuts and yoghurt. Waffles, mushrooms, beans, tomato and egg plus a mini pastry.
Down the road to Boston Tea Party for an espresso and back to the square for my course just a few doors up from the hotel. A Canadian called Steve to teach us. He’s great and really knows his stuff and makes it easy to understand. Quite a lot of talk for the morning. Lunch had not been ordered so we go to Pret (a Manger) and can have what we want within reason so I pick a yummy superfood salad. We take these back to the classroom to eat. I then go out the back to Brandon Hill to look at the Cabot Tower and find I can go up it so yes of course! Good views from there.
Finally get to shoot some footage. We get to use nice big camera and a Kodak flip type. We take it turns to film, be filmed and hold the reflector shield.
Some more chat then some more shooting. This time I go out with the boys with the Kodak.
Each time we review the clips and Steve critiques them. One of the boys I”m working with is very experienced already, however I still get to play so overall ok.
We finish up much later than the advertised time so I change and then head up to Redland. I wonder if I ever walked round Bristol at all, it all seems like I remember it through a big fog. My plan is to eat at Wilks veggie resto and then walk down to the Watershed. Wilks is unfortunately shut on a Tuesday but opposite on Chandos Road is a resto called Moreish which I remember from my researches. So in I go and it’s very nice, the food is good, and I don’t get made to feel weird for being on my own. I am offered free wireless which allows me to post a photo of my beer on Faceache. I have Wild Hare which is a Bath Ale accompanied by root veg soup, lovely, then goat’s cheese tart with lots of Mediterranean veg. All very yummy and quite reasonable, especially when work is paying. Work is getting off very lightly with me having 2 fasting days while I’m here.
I walk down to the Watershed, admittedly having to check my phone for directions slightly, although my nose does get me to Christmas Steps, I’ve always liked the name and the steps are just the same.
A swift half of Bath Ale Festivity porter which is malty and nutty before going in to see dire film Keep the Lights On which makes me cross but have a nice chat with a couple of boys (my age boys) afterwards. As Carol would say, “anything in trousers”!
Walk back up Park St very fast, I really love feeling so fit and healthy now!

It’s the twirly thing on the phone

Where the course was

The hotel

Cabot Tower

Wills Tower

White Bear

Bottom of St. Michael’s Hill

Wednesday 7th
Just fruit and yoghurt for breakfast today. Hotel espresso was rubbish. Up the square to start the day. I am straight out with the boys for our big video project, we have various rules but the main one is no more than 10 mins of footage. It’s quite hard to actually get much time individually with the kit, and it does seem to be that boys think they know more both about filming and about software (later) than people they perceive to be girls. Every single time I’ve tried to learn about filming, this has been the case and I am VERY bored with it.
I do manage to learn a bit despite all this but it’s not easy when I only get a few minutes on the camera. It makes it all a bit more stressful than I would like.
Lunch is sandwiches and I have some of these although am fasting today. I also have a couple of biscuits and later some fruit and nuts, yes I know, but I’m not going out for dinner.
After lunch we edit our footage using Adobe Premiere Pro which is nice software, this would be better if we could just edit the bits we had individually filmed without sharing the software. I suppose what I would have liked would be for us each to have a camera, this would give us more time to practise and we wouldn’t have to wait whilst taking it in turns. The sharing didn’t really work for me.
Finish up with our film reduced from 15 mins to 5. It’s actually better than I thought it would be.
The course has been very good but I would have liked more time actually filming and more time on the software.
Bye byes and then back to the hotel. I am expecting to go to Bristol Explorers’ Monthly Social but I’ve got the wrong day and that’s on tomorrow. After checking out a few things, I download a movie and am going to stay home and relax…

From Berkeley Square

Old Vicarage, now a solicitors’ office

The boys – Darcy and Andreas

Thursday 8th
Last night I watched Seven Pounds which sounded good in the reviews as it said it had a twist and I would be very surprised. Only if I was very very stupid. Another one worth missing. How did I manage to pick the only movie about organ transplants. Some footage of people on dialysis, but don’t bother watching it just for that!
Today I felt tired and ready to go home, first a nice fruity breakfast plus some small but delicious pastries. I checked out and left my case at the hotel. Then a proper espresso at Patisserie Valerie (just as well I am full) and a bit of shopping. I picked up my case and got a taxi to the station, ate my large bready thing with veggie sausage and hummous in it which came from a nice shop on the corner of Berkeley Square.
Bristol still seems very foggy to me and I think I walked round with my eyes shut before. It’s gone bike mad, there are literally hundreds of bikes whizzing around everywhere. I used to cycle when I was here although went off it a bit after getting knocked off near Old Market by a woman who worked for the police, the only witness was her pal who also worked for the police, so although she admitted she hadn’t seen me at the time, when I wanted her to pay to repair my bike and my jeans, they all closed ranks.
All the trains did what they should and I am now glad to be home.

Back to real life

University Music Faculty

Watery chap

Fighting chap

Temple Meads station, how fab is that?

[googlemaps https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Berkeley+Square,+Bristol,+UK&aq=0&oq=berk&sll=51.454513,-2.58791&sspn=0.306358,0.965424&t=p&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Berkeley+Square,+Bristol,+United+Kingdom&ll=51.455397,-2.605648&spn=0.016045,0.025749&z=14&iwloc=A&output=embed&w=300&h=300]

Please visit Map and Compass and learn how to interpret a map with me and my navigation partner, Cath.

Springsteen in Cologne May 2012

Thurs 24th May

7.30 pm Chris arrived at our house and I am all packed up and we are ready to rock.

Our stay at the Manchester Airport South, actually west, Premier Inn, starts with us getting an upgrade to a twin room at no addition to the £15 it is costing us each. The room is spacious and each twin bed is in fact a double. Chris has brought a flask filled not with coffee but iced gin! So we drink up and go to bed in good time for waking at 4. It is very hot.

“In the wee wee hours” (Springsteen), I wonder what happened to the nice shot I took when the room was tidy!

Fri 25th May

Wake at 4. Up and out promptly. Park in T3 Meet and Greet. Check in and we sail through Security having paid £3 each for the Priority Lane. This is well worth it as it gives us time to shop and have breakfast in Costa. Chris has a bacon bap and yoghurt and I have a croissant and yoghurt and coffee of course.

The flight is smooth and quick with only a half full plane and we are in Duesseldorf about 9.30. The luggage arrives correctly and we take the Skytrain to the airport train station. A short wait with some Bruce fans for the double decker train to Koeln. We end up in first as it’s very full chatting to Mrs. Bruce fan whilst Mr. is in a different carriage (because the train is so full). She tells us about their trip to Everest base camp. I don’t want to go there at all, ever, it sounds completely horrid. We arrive in Koeln and the hotel is a stone’s throw from both the station and the cathedral. The Hotel Excelsior Ernst is no. 1 on Trip Advisor and it is 5 star. Very helpful, verging on obsequious attention is paid to us. Only later do I realise the chap is touting for a tip, too late, and we never see him again. The room is huge, has embossed writing paper and a washbasin each! The mini bar is completely free and is replenished every day. So we sample some Bitburger to check it’s ok!

We unpack and then straight out to find lunch which is sitting outside a resto near the Rhein.

After perusing the expensive menu we opt for the daily schnitzel bargain which comes with chips and salad and more beer. C has a wheat beer and I have another pils.

It’s hot, about 25C as we walk along the Rhein to the next big bridge and the cable car. Very pleasant, lots of cyclists on what look like huge heavy bikes.

As the cable car moves off, C reminds me that she might have vertigo. At this juncture we are swinging up over the Rhein and about to cross the motorway! I am told to talk but not expect an answer! Despite the photo showing a relaxed traveller what you can’t see is the hands gripping onto the seat in sheer terror! Fortunately it’s a short trip with good views of the Dom.

We walk through a nice park and along the side of the river, some of which is dirty grubby. Then back across the railway bridge which has thousands of padlocks for love along the fence separating the footpath from the tracks. At the end of the path is a plaque to say 1000 Roma and Sinti left here in 1940.

Then we wander around the Altstadt, stop for another coffee which is not great. Through a shopping street where I buy a pork pie hat to keep a bit more sun off my ears. Luckily I don’t have to try to ask for it!

Back to the hotel for crisps, Koelsch beer.

Whilst Chris relaxes in a cool bath, a girl comes and asks if we want the beds turning down. I ask her to bring lighter weight duvets which she does.

Lovely shower and then out again to Heumarkt to find no. 6 resto on Trip Advisor. After walking round twice we get directions from a taxi driver. The Brauerei Zur Mauzmuehle is old fashioned and cool inside. You step in through a revolving door wondering when you will be let out. Chris has lots of Koelsch and woodcutter’s pork with fried spuds and sauerkraut and I have asparagus omelette with salad. It is asparagus season so lots of asparagus on the menus. Happy diners. Then I take C on a long walk to the gay area, some of which is trendy. We are aiming for a bar called Bastard and I am expecting it to be really tacky but it’s down a little ginnel and is lovely and quiet and leafy and dark. C has more beer and I have white wine. We walk back with Google maps but the Dom is such a good landmark day or night.

Our room has a doorbell. I love that there are electric sockets next to the washbasin!

It’s nearly midnight. Time for bed.

Archaeological dig

Roemerturm

On the plane

Our own washbasins!

Chris: “Why did I say I wanted to do this?!”

“OMG, we’re actually going to go over the motorway!!”

Padlocks of lurve

Archaeological dig of Jewish synagogue to become museum

Picture above an old pub

Boy on corner

The Dom

Pork and sauerkraut

Asparagus omelette

In the gay area

Also in gay area

Not Chris, obviously!

Roman Tower

Angels in dark, thankfully you can’t see the car they are attached to.

Bear

5* bedroom

[googlemaps https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Excelsior+Hotel+Ernst,+Trankgasse,+Upper+Bavaria,+Germany&aq=0&oq=hotel+excCologne,+Germany&sll=50.937531,6.960279&sspn=0.309814,0.965424&t=p&g=Cologne,+Germany&ie=UTF8&hq=Excelsior+Hotel+Ernst,+Trankgasse,+Upper+Bavaria,+Germany&hnear=&radius=15000&ll=50.941772,6.956406&spn=0.064899,0.102997&z=12&output=embed&w=300&h=300]

Sat 26th May

Wake at 9 and straight to breakfast. This is a sumptuous feast – lots of fish, meats, cheeses, breads and little pots of butter, mayo, cheese, beetroot and intriguing things. I have 3 types of muesli and yoghurt followed by thinly sliced beef and salami and cheese with rolls. Then a croissant. All washed down with proper coffee, espresso for me and cappuccino for C. She eats salmon, herring, cheese and salad.

Out to the U Bahn and after a bit of pfaffing we work out our ticket and platform. Head off for Bensberg about half an hour away.

The man at the hotel had thought we would struggle to find the outdoor pool but Google maps helps us to be self reliant.

The pool is in the ‘burbs on the edge of the forest. It’s open air and 50m long. Chris does 32 lengths i.e. a mile and I do 5 i.e. 250m which is a lot for me as am not very good at swimming. It’s quite blowy which makes big waves. It’s very hot in the sun on the grass and I don’t realise it until later but just this short exposure to the sun burns me. Thank goodness for Factor 50.

We wander back to the town for a cheese and tomato toastie and then back to the forest for a woodland walk on no. 13 path. We see a very big bird of prey. I am wanting a Biergarten and have seen huts marked on the map at the start of the walk. These turn out to be what look like wooden bus shelters and not inns. We take a “wrong” turn which spits us out at a “Friends of Nature” inn so in luck after all. Chris has a big beer and me a coffee.

Back via a lake to the station. We leave the train at Neumarkt and arrive back at the hotel at 7. Our luck is in as Philip Jump, one of the Badlands Fan Club brothers, is in reception dishing out tickets. He invites us to the bar but we have other plans plus there is mad Bruce fan hanging around and both of us would rather not have anything to do with her.

We go and shower and drink the minibar then out to eat. We’ve picked a bar but the whole central area of Koeln is packed full of people and fairly hideous. We end up in Brauhaus Sion sharing a table with a nice couple. Whilst we down several Koelsch we watch the gangs in their matching t shirts erupting into spontaneous singing. There are lots and lots of hen nights where they all have the same shirts and the brides to be carry what look like usherettes’ trays.

Chris has pork with onion gravy and fried spuds and coleslaw and I have beef roulade with mashed spuds and red cabbage. Our neighbours say goodbye and wish us a “schoenes Pfingsten”. I’ve never been wished a lovely Whitsun before!

Then we go to the riverside for ice cream, very yummy and watch the disco boat on the river. So many people it’s like being at a rock concert without the music.

Back to hotel.

Not posing at all.

Not a Biergarten

Bahnhof at night

And Dom also

Friends of Nature Biergarten, lovely

Big big logs.

Chris swimming movie

[googlemaps https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Bensberg,+Germany&aq=0&oq=Ben&sll=50.965633,7.157032&sspn=0.077407,0.241356&t=p&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Bensberg,+Germany&ll=50.965671,7.157078&spn=0.032433,0.051498&z=13&iwloc=A&output=embed&w=300&h=300]

Sun 27th May

This is Bruce day.

We have a very big breakfast. Muesli, raspberries, huge loganberries, yoghurt, cold meats, bread rolls and pastries. Unable to move. We go to the river to buy our boat tickets and then continue to walk off the breakfast by heading up to Neumarkt. We enter the Kaethe Kollwitz collection via a shopping centre which is closed because it’s Sunday and go up the tradespeople’s staircase to the 4th floor. Have to ring the doorbell to be let in. The boy and girl are surprised we have come this way. The exhibition is very good and hardly anyone else there. Calm and cool. Pictures very emotional. We leave via a glass lift.

Back to the river for an ice cream then a long time in the queue for the boat. It’s full and incredibly hot. I feel I’m burning even with factor 50 and through my shirt. We go up the river, down the river and back up again. Bit too hot and full for huge fun as we didn’t get a seat even after the queue so we sit on the lifeboat. I don’t mention that I can’t see enough lifeboats for the huge quantity of people on board. Some Springsteen fans are sitting near us. Today is the day to wear the Springsteen shirt, I’m saving mine up so it’s at least clean and not sweaty for a whole 5 mins.

Into town to the Peter’s Brauhaus for lunch, we get a seat today as failed last night when it was so mad and busy. C has sliced leg of pork with sauerkraut and mashed spud. I have boiled spud with veg in cheese sauce gratin. Very filling. C starts on the beer!

Back via the Dom where the Goths or possibly the fetish festival as well are hanging out. I can’t tell anymore! I did manage to spot some queers on our travels. I read the other day that people can tell immediately if someone is gay by the shape of their face. This sounds like sheer nonsense to me.

We prepare for the evening, Born to Run shirt on but The Rising baseball cap insufficient against the sun’s rays. I ring home and am entertained by Carol’s story of the biggest spider in the whole world. At 6 we go to reception and wait 5 mins for the Badlands people and then we set off anyway as they have clearly gone. We pfaff a bit in the station with the ticket machine because the VRS ticket office and machine are shut and are the same colour as the DB machine so we go to the info desk and it’s great, our Bruce tickets include free travel and indeed say VRS on them, but in the small print in a lot of other terms and conditions in German so I hadn’t seen this. We finally get going. At Neumarkt we change trains and are directed to a special train. We sit and chat to some German Bruce first timers. T shirt makers in Germany are having a boom time generally and so some have used the gig to demonstrate their affiliation. A group of 4 baby dykes are all saying they are Mrs. Bruce Springsteen. What will Patti have to say about that? Given that Mrs. Bruce Springsteen seems to have other priorities than fulfilling her membership of the E Street Band then perhaps she doesn’t mind at all…

Everyone gets in line in a most orderly fashion and we give our empty plastic bottles to a collector who will get money back on them. Eventually we find somewhere they will let us on the pitch. Security staff seem a trifle grumpy. I team up with a fellow beer buyer to get our beer, there is a €1 deposit on plastic glasses. We find a spot near the mixing hut but it’s not good for seeing the stage and only just ok for the screens.

Bruce comes on before 8 which is v. good for him. The audience makes a lot of noise! Then we have a 29 song set. Lots from the BitUSA album. About half time C gets more beer and we move back for a better view of screens. Less smoky here too. The Red Cross come past with a stretcher and snapping on the latex gloves. As well as being good value for money, Bruce made me laugh and made me cry. After some albums which didn’t quite cut the mustard, he’s back on track and talking to me again.

After a brilliant night we get some more beer although the serving boy is rude and stupid. Back on the train. Into the Bierkeller next to the hotel. I make another bar boy friend which seems to be the only way to get served!

Back to room to drink the mini bar!

Official gig photos
Working on the Highway on YouTube
Wrecking Ball on YouTube
The River on YouTube

Bruce’s own YouTube channel

Greasy Lake set list

From a distance you can’t see the supporting section

Dom and Gross St. Martin (I think)

Dom

1930s TV station

Suspended from bridge with the padlocks

Couple of poofs at gig

On top of the TV station

Poof doing a doo wop to Bruce!

“Tramps like us

baby, we were

Born to Run!”

With her killer graces and her secret places

That no boy can fill with her hands on her hips (sort of!)

Better camera for next time

And better spot too with luck

Mon 28th May

Awake at 9 after just about enough sleep. As today is a bank holiday there are no free newspapers. Lovely breakfast. I have bowl of fresh berries, cold cuts, roll, croissant. Back to pack and then check out. Leave bags at reception while we go to the cathedral and climb the south tower. It’s only 100m of climbing but up a narrow spiral stone staircase which is 2 way. Some people are v. annoying. We reach a central chamber above the belfry. The bells as we pass are chiming and so loud I was frightened and reminded of the Nine Tailors by Dorothy L Sayers. We rest and then it’s up an open stair. This bit makes me feel slightly sick! C keeps on going, after the cable car she is being brave. Finally it narrows and we are up as high as it goes so we walk round the outside which is strongly fenced in on all sides and top. Hideous amounts of graffiti. Then down. The first part down to the central chamber is all down a really narrow spiral and some prats are unable to interpret the no entry sign at the bottom which means it is 1-way.

Back to hotel to collect bags. The doorman is grumpy with us now that we are no longer guests. Grrr.

Off to station for ticket to Duesseldorf and fail to get coffee from 2 cafes outside so we get some inside. C also gets a Jamaican drink. Train is quick only half an hour.

At Duesseldorf we put our bags in a locker and buy a tube ticket. Travel to the riverside although at first it looks like we are in the middle of nowhere but actually we just walk along a short way to the riverside. Then we find a place to eat in the Altstadt called Maredo. We both have self serve salad which is excellent but the Schnitzel and chips just not great. The Altbier is good! Just as well.

Then along the riverside and back into the town to a lake with lots of birds and their young. Ducks, geese, swans. Sit quietly for a while away from the hubbub.

Back to river for ice cream for C and coffee. V hot in sun and I feel a bit too tired and hot with so many people. Back to tube. Back to station. Pick up bags. Off to airport, just 5 mins on train. Then on Skytrain to terminal C after quick look at A where no mention of flight.

Check in, Wander round. Do controls and then shopping. At last, as all shops have been shut for 2 days.

Flight is on time and very smooth. Only 20 passengers on plane, lovely.

Thanks Chris, for a brilliant Bruce adventure, here’s to the next one!

Places we went, things we ate, on Trip Advisor.

Please visit Map and Compass and learn how to interpret a map with me and my navigation partner, Cath.

Inside the Dom

Going up

Still some way to go

Zoom on Hotel Excelsior Ernst

The thought of dangling on this makes me feel sick

But clearly stonework needs attention

So very camp! (Duesseldorf)

Duesseldorf Rathaus

This was mad woman inspecting a photo!

Skates, dog, queers

Bad birds

Extremely bad birds

Phew!

Hot duckling, anyone?

or cygnet?

Last ice cream

The Four Muses

Please visit Map and Compass and learn how to interpret a map with me and my navigation partner, Cath.

Scotland March 2012

Fri 16th March

Set off fairly smartly stopping at Tebay for pies and meat. Some prolonged showers on the way up but a good journey. We went off the motorway for a fast sandwich lunch and only stopped once more for a wee before Glasgow. Arrived at Glengarry House B&B about 4.30 and were warmly welcomed by Ellen and Andy. We had flapjack and tea. We had a different room from the last time with an en suite shower, last time we had to cross the passage in our pyjamas to reach the shower room. Carol showered and I wasted time on my iPhone. After choking on my small Jura whisky we went down to chicken wrapped in prosciutto with pesto and mozzarella inside. Served up with small spuds, broccoli, green beans and carrots. Mine followed by boozy fruit and ice cream, C by sticky toffee pudding. Then coffee and mints. We stayed by the wood burner chatting to Ellen for some time. Some other guests turned up, the woman was going to run from Tyndrum to Fort William and the man from Bridge of Orchy, 42 and 30 miles respectively. She was in training for a 90 mile run!! Then another wee dram the right way down.

[googlemaps https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Tyndrum,+UK&aq=0&oq=tyndru&sll=53.777529,-1.958227&sspn=0.018157,0.060339&t=p&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Tyndrum,+Stirling,+United+Kingdom&ll=56.436068,-4.711761&spn=0.014236,0.025749&z=14&iwloc=A&output=embed&w=300&h=300]

Sat 17th March

C had breakfast of bacon, egg, sausage, tomato and cornflakes. I had fruit n fibre with yoghurt followed by baked beans, toast and a veggie sausage. Good journey to Fort Willy with some heavy showers. Stopped at Morrisons for even more supplies. Stayed on the A82 until Invergarry where we had a swift coffee at the hotel. This is a nice old hotel with decent coffee and a mountain theme. A change here as we took the road to Inverness because of the landslip at South Strome. Up to Fort Augustus but you can’t see the fort from the road (but I have since found it’s not Fort Augustus I’m thinking of but Fort George) and then all round the side of Loch Ness to Drumnadrochit. A few wiggles and then a quick pie break. C didn’t eat much of her steak and potato pie so I had to help out. Some more wiggles and then more or less a straight run through to Lochcarron which we reached about 3.30. Stalker’s Cottage is down a long track off the road, past another cottage and some big barns. It is a long low white building clad entirely in wood on the inside. We unpacked and boosted up the heating, then out for a short walk to get our bearings. Loch Carron is the view out the front and Glas Beinn behind. Steep drop behind the cottage leading to a stream in the ravine. We walked up past Tullich House to which estate this cottage used to belong, and up a path leading round Glas Beinn.
Back to the cottage which was then pretty warm and so roasting hot by the time I’d finished cooking that I was in a muck sweat.
I cooked up pasta and Mediterranean veg in sauce using a mixture of the Rayburn and the mini electric cooker. The room is so hot we don’t need the fire but the water wasn’t really hot enough for C’s bath. We are going to experiment with the settings…..
Drank the nice Merlot that greeted us and then looked into our walking plans for the week.

I think this is Ben Oss (near Tyndrum)

View from Stalker’s Cottage

[googlemaps https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Lochcarron,+UK&aq=1&oq=Lochcarron&sll=57.374185,-5.532265&sspn=0.132534,0.482712&t=p&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Lochcarron,+Highland,+United+Kingdom&ll=57.397717,-5.50312&spn=0.013874,0.025749&z=14&iwloc=A&output=embed&w=300&h=300]

Sun 18th March

C didn’t sleep well because she was cold as the eiderdown had slipped away so the bed has now been remodelled. The bed is made of blankets and eiderdown which is really heavy and too hot (for me).
I took a fairly chilly bath and then ate all last night’s leftovers for breakfast. We planned out the walks some more and then set off down the road to Craig which we’d driven through yesterday. Parked up in the forest and crossed the little railway line to be greeted by a white horse. On along forestry tracks to cross the River Carron and then up along the side of the Allt a Chonais ravine. The walk was supposed to go down to the river and then across a bridge but the path was non existent and the drop so perilous that we gave it up. We walked a bit more along the track with Sgurr nan Ceannaichean in the foreground and then it rained quite hard so we backtracked as we didn’t have a full complement of wet weather gear. We shared out what we had and got back down by which time the sun was warming us so we stopped for sandwich and fruit lunch and then returned to the car.
We went through Lochcarron passing the golf course cafe where we are to look for Ellen’s (from the Glengarry B&B) aunt to see if she is living there. The cafe was shut. Also our bistro was shut which was disappointing as we were counting on it for a meal out. There is a guest house called Rockvilla which we may try despite terrible name. What if it’s full of Shakin’ Stevens?
Back to our cottage. The water is now really hot so we seem to have sussed the Rayburn. The main drawback to cooking on it is that I get so very hot and am still feeling roasted now an hour later. We’ve just had Thai green chicken curry with Pak Choi.
Watched a bit of Downton Abbey to which we have both succumbed!

White Horse sans whisky

Sgurr nan Ceannaichean

[googlemaps https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Achnashellach,+United+Kingdom&aq=1&oq=achna&sll=57.491107,-5.261421&sspn=0.033028,0.120678&t=p&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Achnashellach&ll=57.482064,-5.33309&spn=0.013842,0.025749&z=14&iwloc=A&output=embed&w=300&h=300]

Mon 19th March

Into Lochcarron to buy a small selection of supplies including lamb mince from the butcher and oat cakes from the Spar. After putting the shopping back in the cottage we set off for a driving tour as it is very wet. We’ve got all the gear in case it dries up. First the single track A road to Torridon. We drop in at Shieldaig and get more postcards in the shop. Raining a lot. Then Torridon which is mostly shut including the cafe with the nice coffee. The season seems to be April to October which means most of the possible eating places are shut. We drive up a steep mountain road and stop in a car park for lunch in the car. There is a fence round the car park which is keeping out the rhododendrons. Very like the triffid fence. We both entertain ideas that J Wyndham got the triffid idea from these destructive plants. They are especially pervasive around Torridon and in parts have grown to be about 5m in height which is killing off the native pines.
Then out towards Kinlochewe passing the Whistle Stop Cafe which is open but we are not hungry. It’s in a tin shed. However its customers rate it highly. We go out on the road towards Gairloch and peer through the rain spattered screen at Loch Maree and then back via Achnasheen. Driving into the weather is vile. Back to the cosy cottage where I cook up baked potatoes, sausage casserole and veg. C does a washing load which takes forever.

Tues 20th March

It’s not actually raining today but there’s still a lot of low cloud. We drive along the road east to Achnashellach station which is a train station on a private estate. Our plan is to walk up to the Coulin pass and back in a circuit. Almost immediately we have to change our plans as logging is taking place on a big scale so we will have to do a linear route up and back.
The path is good and we follow the railway line for a while then rise up gently passing all the logging work. This mostly involves whacking the trees over and grabbing them as opposed to cutting them down. Some big logs were being loaded into piles along a wire.
The wide path peters out and then we go through a piny dell up and across the hill to meet up with the path we had wanted to take. A short clip to the pass with good views across to the Coulin forest and Glen Torridon beyond. We turn back stopping for a quick lunch on a log. Then retrace our steps back crossing the railway line.
Back to the cottage for a short while then out again and a fast drive (yes, this is still possible here) to Kinlochewe for dinner. We see some brilliant views, shafts of light glowing over the evening hills and a panorama down the valley to Kinlochewe with Loch Maree (it used to be Loch Ewe) and the Torridon range as a backdrop.
Dinner is at the Whistle Stop Cafe where fried green tomatoes are indeed on the menu. It’s a tin shed and is a bit chilly although it does have a big wood burner.
We both have chicken, mine stuffed. Both my first 2 choices are not available tonight neither is my first choice of drink. That apart, our food is all freshly prepared and very nice. Mine comes with pesto and pasta and thankfully not too much chorizo which I don’t like. The staff are very cheerful and friendly. Carol eats yet another sticky toffee pudding just in case they go out of fashion. We are warned to watch out for deer on the road and consequently I drive back at 40mph. We don’t see any deer and it takes the same amount of time to get back as it did to get there at 60mph.
I switch the lights on as we go in and the fuse blows. I know the torch is near the door and feel for it, the first thing I find is scratchy plant (dried lavender). Carol knows where the fuse box is so we soon get sorted out.
I bake some bread but forget to grease the tin. It tastes nice but will be in big chunks.

Logging

Achnashellach station house

Stalker’s Cottage

This is Loch Chroisg near Achnasheen

Weds 21st March

As we eat a late breakfast we receive a visitor, he is wearing a deerstalker and says his name is Eek, he has a strong scouse accent so to be honest I’m not entirely sure what he did say but he was wishing to go to the shed. We head off for Gairloch. A short break at the head of Glen Docherty looking down Loch Maree to take a photo. We wiggle round Loch Maree but mostly it’s a very good road only single track at either end of the journey. Investigation of Gairloch shows a few shops and a nice bookshop with cafe, the books are all travel and exploration. We park up at the old cemetery and walk along the beach, past where there was a fort on a bit of headland and then we stop for lunch on a bench overlooking the sea. Over to the harbour where there is a gift shop so we chat to the man in there. Finally we get walking and go up the side of Flowerdale House which is a large Georgian house. The current factor doesn’t want walkers looking in so he has put black netting up to stop the hoi polloi from peering in. We do in fact still see quite a bit. It would be better if he had forked out a bit more and just built the wall up. We follow the stream all the way up to the waterfalls passing some Shetland ponies where there is a ford in the stream. The lower falls are in a lovely spot and it is possible to go further up to more falls. We return to the car nipping by the side of the house and going through the woods until we come out at the new cemetery across from where the car is parked. On the way back we call in to Badachro which we had looked at for a cottage to rent out. It’s very pretty and in a great location, sheltered with islands on which the cottage sits. We had rejected it in the end as it was reliant on tides so would have been a bit hard if we had missed the time when the causeway was available! Back to the cottage stopping several times for photos. C has sandwiches and I have a baked spud for supper.

The view to Kinlochewe

Gairloch

Inland from Gairloch

Path through Flowerdale

Can’t remember, a famous mountain though!

From shores of Loch Maree

Slioch

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Thurs 22nd March

A beautiful day, the sun is shining and it’s warm. We get out early and drive to Achnashellach station. A train is due and we get chatting with a woman who lives in the old station house and who is about to take the train. This time we turn left away from the timber operations and follow a good track. The map says to go up through a forest but the path says to turn left so we follow the map and effectively cut off quite a corner but we come out onto the inevitable bog and make our way to the fence which has no regular stile but a sort of ladder affair which we use. A jolly chap then appears from a very good path which is what we should have taken and comments that we have taken the “interesting route” and so we did because we saw an enormous boulder and a pond in the forest. He teaches us a bit of Gaelic, he is going up to Fuar Tholl which is pronounced Phwoar Yoll! Of course he could have been having us on, how would we know? But he seemed a nice man, he’d done all the Munros and is now on the Corbetts. We take the very good path up to a junction and head down to the burn where there is a ford. A couple is also trying to cross it and they do but we decide it’s really too wide and too difficult to do it let alone to come back that way. So we retrace our steps and stop for lunch looking at a vast glacial expanse. This is Drochaid Coire Lair. Drochaid means bridge but none actually visible. It’s the middle of an enormous saddle at the end of a vast moraine. It’s too far to go up to the Loch so we turn back and descend. This time we stay on the proper path and skirt round the forest following the stream. Very beautiful.
We drive back to the cottage for a quick refresh and then out again to look at Achentraid and Kishorn. We stop for a brew of tea (Carol) and hot chocolate (me), brewing up looking at the Bealach na Ba. Then a small stop at Courthill House which is ruined and its chapel which is still in use.
Driving back through Lochcarron, I stop at Rockvilla and the owner tells us she is not open until after Easter, she is very friendly and seems almost rueful to be losing our custom. She tells us some more about the landslip and the road being built on a fault and some of the politics.
Back to Stalker’s Cottage for baths and shepherd’s pie. Despite me turning the Rayburn down a bit every day it is still really really hot and I am well roasted. I’m sunburnt too which doesn’t help. Sitting here in my T-shirt gently radiating heat.
We went out for a stroll down the lane with our head torches. There are so many more stars here than at home, it was hard to identify the ones I do know but in the end I found Orion’s belt, but not his trousers, C found the Plough and then we got Polaris from that. I still failed to find Cassiopeia, not a very good day for navigational success.
I have turned the Rayburn down quite a lot now after having to go online to get instructions for it. The owner of our cottage is Lady Scarsdale of Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire and her son lives there and she lives nearby. The hall is now owned by the Nat Trust and Curzon Jnr has a wing to live in with 23 rooms.

Porch at Stalker’s complete with stalker

View from Stalker’s

Achnashellach station

A Corbett

Loch is behind big lump on left so quite a way to go

More big lumps

The vastness

Walker not stalker

Towards Achnashellach

Courthill House

View from Stalker’s (Loch Carron)

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Friday 23rd March

Another lovely day, so up promptly and I whizz in to Lochcarron to buy steak and spuds. We drive to Strathcarron and park up at the station. Into the shop to see the very chatty owner who tells us lots of local gossip, more about the very contentious landslip and road. He says that Lady Scarsdale is “a real character”, the second wife of deceased Lord Scarsdale who died of emphysema.
Eventually we get going and it’s just a few yards from the station to Achintee and then a good hike up to Loch an Creadha. Today I’ve got my eye in on the navigation and everything is pretty much where it should be! Although I do take us on 2 more difficult sides of a square as have failed to see the path. We have to traverse several burns most of which are little more than a step across. Just before the loch we have to get through a big boggy bit with deep peat hags, then across a burn. This is much easier than yesterday and we cross successfully and sit near a stream by the loch for our lunch. It’s a bit windy and has clouded over. After lunch we head back the same way and this time crossing the burn is more challenging but we both get over. We take the correct 2 sides of path and it’s easy to see why we took the wrong one. On the way back we see the trains from Kyle and Inverness meeting at Strathcarron station. At Achintee we chat to a man at the fish packing shed. Back to the car and back to Stalker’s to pack up. Don’t want to go back to work but at least we have two more days of holiday, even if they are on the road!
We eat excellent value fillet steak from the Lochcarron butcher although hard to cook as Rayburn not good for grilling and Baby Belling grill not working. We watched some more Downton Abbey.

The ladder up the tree (missing a rung)

Burn at Loch an Creadha

Picnicker

From Stalker’s

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Saturday 24th March

Set off smartly as we had packed up before our steak dinner last night.
On the journey we stopped at Fort Augustus for the loo, Invergarry but our coffee hotel was having a wedding So we went to the next one along which turned out to be proper old fashioned hotel (Glengarry Castle Hotel) overlooking Loch Oich. More copies of Scotfish Field. Very strong coffee and delicious shortbread Then stopped for lunch by roadside. And then just kept on wending our way through the highlands. It was the first time I’d really been able to see Ben Nevis properly. Stuck behind a caravan forever. Stopped for diesel just as came into Glasgow and again for loo just after. The M8 has lots of perjurations or do I mean admonitions? Telling us to check tyres, check fuel, tie children into safety seats that I feel thoroughly harangued and nagged. Last bit from motorway through Lanark was very wiggly and both tired. Found our b&b which is in the middle of nowhere. Nice shower and then we set off from Doreen’s (emphasis on the 2nd syllabub not the 1st) down the very dark lanes and across the Tyne over an old single track bridge. The Cornhill House Hotel is down a long lit drive and is Scottish baronial but not posh and we get 2 course deal for £14.50. I have mini haggis starter which is great and realise I have missed out by not having it before. Then I have Balmoral strips of beef in whisky sauce with rice and veg. Carol has pork saltimbocca which looks nice and then a sticky toffee pudding, the third in a week! I finish off with a Laphraoig. Back through the lanes in the very dark. Trains go past nearby which is quite odd as we are in middle of a field but line to Edinburgh is near. Carol not feeling too well which worries me but eventually get to sleep.

Glengarry Castle

Somewhere near a loch

Road movie sky, never mind the single track A roads being empty

Sunday 25th March

Carol and I have become useless at remembering the clocks now that we no longer have Muriel to remind us. Luckily we wake early enough to make breakfast at 8.30 which is still an hour earlier to us. Carol is feeling a bit better after sleep. I managed to wrap myself into a parcel in bed as was a bit worried and didn’t like C to have any pain.
Doreen breeds West Highland Terriers and while she went to see to them this morning, four of them escaped and have run off. Her husband hasn’t helped so she is clearly worried as the train line is behind the bungalow. Husband does go off in the Land Rover to look for them. We promise to do the same on our way out but we don’t see them. We wonder if they could have been stolen but all told this doesn’t seem to be the case.
We are now in Daylight Saving Time which means that the sun is due S at 13.00. When I was trying to fix it the other day, I thought the winter months were Daylight Saving but no, they are GMT so I was 30 degrees out the other day. I knew it was wrong but couldn’t work it out. Sometimes feel very stupid, it has to be said.
We stop at Allandale Water for coffee as Doreen’s was weak instant. I have a double ristretto which is like taking drugs rather than an actual drink! Stop at Tebay for supplies including lunch and supper. Then go off the motorway for lunch but the road we pull onto is a bikers’ route and they are having a meet by a river so hundreds of them whizzing around and not very relaxing. I have a rant about Think bike, think biker when a motorcyclist overtakes me as I, having of course checked and indicated, am overtaking a pedal cyclist with lots of consideration for width from them. The bloody gormless idiot of a biker should be shot. Think bike, think pushbike. I am happy to think about bikes, but equally bikers need to ride with due consideration for all other road users too. Of course, I’m an ex biker as well as an ex smoker and “they’re the worst!”
Then we get back on the motorway and head for home. Nice to be home but would be even nicer if we had phone and Internet.

Please visit Map and Compass and learn how to interpret a map with me and my navigation partner, Cath.

Scotland October 2011

Friday 7th October

We set off a little later than planned. Weather is fine all the way. We stop at Lancaster services for me to get a lentil and beetroot salad for lunch and also my first espresso in 3 weeks which is lovely then Tebay as I want some soy sauce bur they don’t have any. Then Allandale Water for lunch. C doesn’t like it there as cars are playing radios and it’s not warm enough to go and sit out by the lake.

On to Glasgow which I manage to get through easily going out on the A82. We stop for Carol to get money and me the soy sauce just parking on the road next to bank and deli. Then out of the city along Loch Lomond. We take a road off the main drag and immediately into loveliness so pull up and brew using our “mobile beverages ” box! Then off again along the wiggly road where there is loads of litter.

Through Crianlarich and onto Tyndrum where we find our B&B – Glengarry House right on the road. After checking in with Ellen and Andy we chat to fellow guests for ages in the conservatory over banana cake and tea.

Then we are on a mission to find dinner. C has found a cafe on the web but when we go in it’s just a chippy with eating in a tent flapping in the cold and wet wind. We drive up and down the village 4 times but there are only 4 places to eat one of which is closed. This leaves us with the hotel and Paddy’s Rock n Roll Diner. The diner is quiet and the food is cheap all set to muted rock with a larger than life size Elvis at a table. C has fish and chips and I have a veggie burger with chips n slaw washed down with not very nice 80 shilling beer.

Back to huge bed and good comfy sleep.

A mobile beverage leaving lots of room for turning

Blimey, what’s that sticking out of your head?

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Saturday 8th October

We wake just before 7 and have a hearty breakfast – posh muesli, bacon, sausage, poached egg and beans, all good quality.

After a bit more chat we head off into the rain and gloom crossing Rannoch Moor and through the pass of Glencoe to reach Fort William. I fill up the car and we get some final supplies in Morrisons. Then off again past lots of big mountains and lochs stopping to look at Eilean Donan castle. We take a little turn off the road and stop looking at a loch through the rain smeared windscreen. I eat my lamb and damson pie from Tebay and worry about C who eats nothing.

We plough on and the A road gets smaller and smaller. The last places for shops is Lochcarron. We find out when the butcher is open and the bistro which we are planning for our wedding anniversary but the woman who runs it is flying off to Majorca and it will be shut evenings.

The last leg is the Pass of the Cattle, or Bealach na Ba. This has had a huge build up as it’s the highest longest road in the UK (beating Cragg Vale’s claim?). The pass is quite scary and a definite no in snow fog dark etc. But we get round the hairpins with ease. My passenger is a bit quiet.

After the summit at 628m we drop down to Applecross and 3 miles later we are in Culduie at no. 2, a total of 470 miles since leaving home. We quickly unload and get the house warmed up and set up. It’s in a great spot with views to Raasay and Rona and Skye beyond. We take a short walk to the jetty and return to bake flapjack and make the fire in one of the 2 sitting rooms. C manages to smoke us out so we abandon that sitting room and transfer to the other one which is lighter and warmer and less gloomy. I make an omelette and we consider our walk options over a few glasses of wine.

Eilean Donan castle

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Sunday 9th October

A leisurely start after a good long sleep. We trot round the nearest point to what is called a coral beach which is white sand with big chunks in it. It’s made of calcified seaweed but looks like chunks of shell. Only a short walk but I am well knackered so we return to base for lunch. Then a drive to the southernmost point of the peninsula which is sheltered and has some people doing something with fishing net but not quite sure what. Then back along the road to the north of the peninsula. It feels like an island because it is so remote and hard to get to. The northerly west side is bleak but has great views across to Rona Raasay and the Cuilin on Skye. Raasay has a small but perfectly formed mountain that just has to be an extinct volcano. Flat top to cone reaching like the hand of god (Bruce). Only 450m with a path so makes me want to climb it.

We have no TV, no digital radio, no mobile and no Internet which is mostly brilliant but I would like to get the weather and look up a few bits and bobs.

Back to the ranch for hot chocolate and then I bake bread (packet mix), and produce a Thai green chicken curry with rice and broccoli yum yum yum!

Dun Caan on Raasay

Monday 10th October

I wake in the night to the sound of a bellowing stag. He is a noisy old bugger. After breakfast we head for Applecross village stopping to watch a gang of seals on a rocky outcrop in the sea flapping their flippers and sunning themselves. We actually have sun today so a quick visit to the peninsula shop which is tiny and stocks everything from engine oil to oatcakes. Then we visit the village info centre in Applecross – this has some nice gifts, some outdoor gear and a PC for weather forecasts. The girl pulls up a selection of sites via a very slow broadband connection on a high spec computer and the overall picture is showers today, showers and wind tomorrow and better on Weds before returning to more solid rain.

On to the heritage centre but it’s shut and charges £2 to look at some old rocks and a coracle. Then Clachan chapel which smells very musty and is extremely Spartan with hard chairs all in neat rows. Peaceful though. There is an ancient Celtic cross on a tall leaning stone, this is part of the old chapel set up by Maelrubbha whose name means red monk and Clachan is the sanctuary.

We park the car on the beach and have a lovely river and woodland walk. I pull up some of the spreading invasive rhododendron but not enough to make much difference although clearly efforts are being made to control it. It only showers on us a little as we picnic near the river. Through the wood to Applecross house and into the Potting Shed for tea and another coffee for me. Nice now I don’t have to have it.

Back to the village to look in the Coal Shed gallery where I spot a singular card I want to buy. A woman comes in the shop and quickly buys something and I take no notice of her at all not even looking at her. I turn to pick up and buy the card of a cheeky looking stag and it has gone. Pipped at the post. Bugger.

Back home for hot chocolate and flapjack and more rain.

Carol made me a bacon sandwich for dinner and I’m now washing it down with a glass of wine whilst playing with a very complicated washer drier machine. It probably isn’t that bad but reading the manual made it seem so. I’m sure the wine helped me to work it out…

This just has to be a volcano (and it is)

Flappers

Tuesday 11th October

Wake up late on our 3rd wedding anniversary, we exchange small gifts – yummy choc marzipan for me and heather soap for C. We give each other nearly identical cards of the Bealach na Ba pass.

Small breakfasts as we are a bit behind. Off up the north coast long way round, this is very pretty and has its own dramatic sections but it does take an hour longer. Through Lochcarron which C is convinced has shops. It doesn’t, just the best Spar in Scotland so they tell us. Stop at Strathcarron which we also thought had shops but it doesn’t apart from a post office with much nicer cards than the ones we’ve sent! I only sent 2 so no curses please!

Back to Lochcarron bistro for our anniversary lunch. C has huge homemade burger and I have chicken with tarragon sauce and herby mashed potato. Good food and nice place. Into the best ever Spar for a few more oatcakes.

We drive along the loch shore and park near Strome castle which is well ruined. Someone blew it up a few hundred years ago.

Walk along the road through Leacanashie to Ardaneaskan. It’s an old pine forest with steep drops to Loch Carron. On the other side of the loch trains run next to the shore. We walk round to a beach which is part of Loch Ruraig and then up into the forest. Think we see an eagle, at least an enormous bird with a huge wing span. Then back down to Leacanashie and fast along the road to the car. We have to hurry because the light is going and we have to drive 18 miles back to Applecross half of them across the Bealach. The light on loch and sea is glorious. We climb steadily surprising a stag poking his head up and then a doe ambles across the road in front of us. This is an annoying move for me as it forces me into first gear but the ascent is fine. As we drop back down we see several more red deer. The Bealach na Ba passes between Meall Gorm and Sghurr a Chaoraachain. The car says it is 4.5C up there.

Home to chicken curry leftovers for me and bread and cheese for C.

Impossible to resist

Strome Castle

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Wednesday 12th October

It’s a beautiful sunny day and we are up reasonably early and up the hill back to Bealach na Ba. I park up at the viewpoint and ours is the only car there. By the time we’ve got out of the car the parking space is nearly full. It’s cold in the wind and height so we wrap up warm in full winter layers. We walk up the good path to the mobile phone tower and get the most fantastic views to Skye and way beyond, the other way to Torridon – just mountains interspersed with lochs as far as the eye can see. Truly heavenly. C likes this type of mountaineering which means most of the work done by the car and just the last 750 m on foot!

I then drive down the Bealach which I had been dreading but actually is fine. Take it nice and easy on the hairpins and the barriered section and all the rest is a breeze. It’s the altitude plus the exposure that makes it seem hard. I remind myself that 40 years ago this was the only way to get in and out of Applecross. However once in a day is enough for me!

Once down we head for Shieldaig, a tiny village on the edge of loch Shieldaig. Park up and walk around the promontory. We stop for lunch, sandwiches with the latest bread batch and circuit the headland. This takes a while and the going is rough in places including a helpful arrow pointing up on a sheer wall. After a bit of a scramble we carry on round passing houses whose only access is our rocky boggy narrow path or the sea. It’s very warm and we are soon down to our shirtsleeves so winter and summer all in one day. C gets bad ankle pains due to leggings and sock putting pressure on her ankle bone so she hobbles back the last section. She rests on a bench while I get the car to taxi her back.

We take the long road round admiring the stunning light on sea and mountain.

Then to the Applecross Inn where I had chicken and Provencal veg with linguine and creme fraiche and C had haddock, chips and peas. Huge portions and very tasty.

It’s still quite mild and we can see a long way even in the dark.

From the cottage

On Sghurr a Chaorachain

I’m told these are easy to photograph

From Shieldaig

From the cottage

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Thursday 13th October

Up late. C cooks my breakfast of bacon, egg, toms and I do the mushrooms in garlic with tamari.

Plan is for car tour to take account of C’s ankle. In Applecross we see a pale buzzard very close. We take the long route to Torridon and find it has a loo, a YH, a campsite and a shop. We drink coffee looking over the loch. Torridon very blighted with rhododendron which is strangling the trees.

Then we park up on the road near Loch Clair for picnic lunch. This is another single track A road with passing places. On to Kinlochewe which has a loo, a hotel, a garage and a rather run down but well supplied shop. C v excited with the retail opportunities today is offering. The woman running the shop is perturbed because the fish man has driven past and she needs to feed 20 on Saturday because Evan who used to be in the Wolfe Tones is coming. At least I thought that’s what she said. But it turns out there is a band called the Wolf Stones. I’ve had a cold sore in my nose and sniffles all week so have been congested which means I’ve been extra deaf. Evasio Radice was said to have hung out with Wolfe Tone during the time he taught at Trinity College Dublin, this is absolute cobblers because Evasio was 4 when Wolfe Tone died.

Then we head back and stop so we can walk on an estate track which is better for C’s ankle. Lovely walk by Loch Clair.

Then home the long way round as I’m not in the mood for Bealach thrills. We think we spot a deer.

Back to pasta bolognese cooked by me to a secret recipe handed down by my mama. No I am lying, I just did it the way I like to do it.

Another day of no rain, we have been so lucky with the weather especially as the forecast before we left home was awful.

From the cottage

Sleepy cattle

Every picture tells a story

From Loch Clair

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Friday 14th October

The cottage is an old croft in the island style so it has 2 dormers. This one has a single story extension to the side and this is the sitting room we ended up using. The one we didn’t use except for all our kit is always much colder than the rest of the cottage. The main cottage is internally clad with pale painted tongue and groove which makes me feel like it’s a boat.

We have a lazy morning in then just drive to Applecross village seeing the seals on the way and walk a good length of the Applecross river along a well made track. C is in my shoes so the ankle stays ok. Picnic on the path. Weather is cloudy and v mild but doesn’t rain on us.

Back home we pack up ahead of the long journey tomorrow. I bake some more bread and read some more.

Off to the Potting Shed for dinner. C is concerned that it will be awful. She is worried that the lack of cars in the car park means it’s no good. We are led in through the walled garden by a string of fairy lights. The proper dark and green canopy makes it feel almost Mediterranean especially as it is so mild and not raining. Very magical.

I have venison rillettes with Cumberland sauce for starter. A rillette is a kind of rissole. This is really nice. Followed by poached salmon and cous cous also excellent.

C has black pudding starter followed by hummous starter which both went down a treat! Pudding is apple bramble crumble, try saying that after a few glasses. Top marks for presentation at the Potting Shed. Do not confuse with the Coal Shed the gift shop here. C says it is great. I try some of hers and it is yummy. I’m too full for my own pudding.

C agrees that this was a good choice to come here after all!

The meal is accompanied by non stop Cat Stevens which drives me to a form of mania. I had not considered torture by Cat Stevens before but I can assure you it works.

One for Chris

I loved the skies

Sky and Skye

Saturday 15th October

At New Lanark youth hostel. It’s been a very long day.

Up at 7 and away at 9.30. We take the long slow way off the peninsula because of huge wind and driving rain and very thick mist at sea level so all will be much worse on the Bealach. I think I said before it’s quite enough fun in good conditions! As we go past the end of the road coming down from it and look up it’s in big fog so I feel it was the right decision.

It rains all the way to Glasgow. We stop for coffee at a nice 4 * hotel in Invergarry. Then for lunch off the road near the Commando memorial at Spean Bridge. Then for a few supplies and diesel at Morrisons in Fort William. Then at Crianlarich for chocolate and sweets Then in a lay by at the end of Loch Lomond for air and leg stretching. We walked round the car 6 times. It did wake me up.

We don’t stop at the services on the motorway and this is a mistake as we both need the loo. There are 11 garden centres between the motorway and Lanark a distance of 12 miles. We try Morrisons in Lanark but they don’t have any loos so we have to hold on until we get to New Lanark YH but then rush in and use all the loos on the ground floor. This done we check in and arrange ourselves.

Picnic supper using our picnic plates. There are about 8 others only one of whom could be described as youth and 2 of whom are geriatric.

Short walk in rain to show C Robert Owen’s house and the big water turbine all lit up and shining wet.

Wine in plastic cups to finish off.

No. 2

Sunday 16th October

Slept well on nice firm beds. C in bottom bunk and me in separate bed. The YH (which I
visited in April with Chris) now supply towels as well as squirty soap. This is Scottish YHA which also have much higher standards of cleanliness than the
ones I’ve been to in England and Wales.

We are up early and have a quick breakfast of cereal and toast. I chat with the New Zealander manager, Scott who is very nice man and then we pack the car and take quick walk to the Falls of the
Clyde and the hydro electric power station built in 1927 and still going strong. The falls are
in full spate. Lovely walk and it only rains just as we return to the car.

Off to Tebay for lunch stop and shopping.

Then home before 5pm after 1237 miles and having increased my knowledge of every loo between the Highlands and home.

Corra Linn hydro electric power station

BIG pipes

The Falls of the Clyde

New Lanark

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Save

Dales 16-18 September

Friday

Set off at 2.30 and meandered our way to Keighley where I bought Optrex for one of Carol’s ailments. It took forever in dithery Friday traffic to get to Ravenstonedale partly because of an excessive monsoony downpour which came north with us causing lots of standing water and some mini floods, the worst of which was 2 mins from our destination at High Chapel House. That sentence is long enough to challenge Lucy Mangan!

We settled in to the same room I had when I came here back in April. The rain had now stopped so off to Kirkby Stephen to the Old Forge for dinner. I had lamb koftas and chick peas for a starter – very tasty. Followed by pea risotto while Carol had pork escalopes with black pudding mousse with honey and mustard sauce. All served up with mashed spuds, mashed swedes and leeks with peas and chips in case anyone had room for them. All very good fare. This resto is recommended!

Saturday

Both very hot in the night. Brilliant powerful shower. Breakfast was cooked by John as Yelly was out doing a cookery demo at a nearby country show or fair. Full English for C and omelette for me. Just for a change it was very wet so we went into Kirkby Stephen which was having a horse fair. This meant it was hard to park and the town was full of rough looking horse traders. Went round the whole town and stopped for a coffee in the post office and deli. C was the one on coffee and me on tea so a bit of reversal there. I sniffed Carol’s Americano but still didn’t want it. It’s a bit like giving up fags as I think I should be having coffee. Then the rain actually stopped and we decided to give our walk a go so back to Ravenstonedale to park near the school and get fully togged up against the wet and off across the field to the main road. We followed a track and then charged up over pillow mounds, through a herd of non combattant cows and down to Smardale bridge hearing the sound of a hunt all the while.

From the bridge through some old quarry pits along an exposed section and up to Smardale Gill viaduct. It was well into the afternoon so I had my pork and apple pie and C a ham sandwich with some of my best flapjack.

Across the viaduct and along the old railway track, through some mud and down to a fast flowing section of Scandal Beck at Smardale bridge. We managed to get across and then I remembered we were going back a slightly different way so back through the river again!

Various muddy bits but soon back in Ravenstonedale in time to freshen up before going out to the Cross Keys near Cautley Spout.

The Cross Keys is a temperance inn and is run by Alan and Chrstine who are Quakers. No corkage charge so C provided a nice bottle of Fitou. Great coal and wood fire blazing in the range in the sitting room.

I had mozzarella and sun dried tomatoes in filo parcels followed by steak with onions and mushrooms with mixed roast veg and potato wedges – they make a point of telling you they don’t serve chips but the wedges are the thick end of. I finished off with crunchy caramel ice cream. C had a stack of chicken and bacon followed by crundle which is like cake with jam and cream. It was all very nice indeed.

I was pleased to see Alan he is a proper maitre d’ and comes to see each table is ok. We sat briefly in the sitting room then paid up and said goodbye to Christine. They both said they remembered me from April.

Home to finish off the bottle. Oh and raining again. We have now met the entire family at High Chapel House.

Through the window

Smardale Gill viaduct

Smardale bridge over Scandal Beck

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Sunday

Yelly was on breakfast duty today. I had the full English without the black pudding and Carol had scrambled egg and smoked salmon. I haven’t told C how I feel about scrambled eggs but it is quite a violent antipathy.

We packed up and wanted to take advantage of the lack of current rain so managed to get out early. Drove just a few miles to park in an old quarry and then walked up to Fell End Clouds which is a lovely walk ambling through limestone moraine and then bits of limestone pavement. We’d picked a lower level walk in case of more rain but it stayed fine and took us up high enough to get good views across to Wild Boar Fell which still draws me to it. We found Wainwright’s “conspicuous, solitary tree” and wandered back to the road passing 2 old lime kilns.

Then to Sedbergh for a bit of book shopping, grabbed a bread roll in Spar and off on a very quiet single track road to Dent. Stopped a bit further on next to a gushing waterfall to eat our lunches, it now being mid afternoon. Then continued on this road a little way and then I realised it was Whernside on our left and we passed where I’d climbed it from on my super fast ascent a year ago Easter.

From there it was a straight drive back to Ingleton and the main road home. And it didn’t rain on us all day. Super.

Limestone bits and bobs

“conspicuous solitary tree” (AW)

“Who’s going to ride your wild horses?” (U2)

That tree again

Lime kiln

Waterfall on Dent to Ingleton road

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