New car & Ben Vane

Hill walk up Ben Vane, 12 July 08

Last weekend we had picked up our new car from my dad, who very kindly gave us his old one - a very nice Audi - and had sold our old Rover to a dealer. Mic was really keen to get out on a walk today– I think he just wanted to give the car a good run! I checked the Met Office for the weather report, then we filled up the tank of our new car and were shocked to see it was £61! Per litre we are now being charged £1.18 to £1.20!

Michael putting his boots on in Iveruglas car park - Sloy Power station in the background

We headed for Inveruglas, a village on Loch Lomond about 60 miles from Stirling, intending to climb Ben Vane, one of the mountains in the ‘Arrochar Alps’. On the way we stopped off in Callander to check out the outdoor wear discount shop but it was disappointing –no new boots for Mic and no trousers for either of us. I was also disgusted at being charged 20p to use the public toilets in the village and £1.80 to park the car for an hour – I tend to agree with Michael that it’s a bit of a tourist trap.

This was a supposedly an ‘easy walk’ according to one Callander walks website– I think they rather exaggerated (I think Michael thougth I had been fibbing!) – it was really quite hard with very steep rocky sections, loose rocks and steep drops. The directions to find the route weren’t that accurate either- we were lucky to find the start of the path! On the plus side we had good weather – sun and cloud – no rain all day, a miracle. Mic even got a bit sunburnt. It was a pleasant temperature for walking - about 14c with a nice breeze.

'Don't take my picture' - Michael avoiding the lens. Ben Vane in background.

On the way up we passed the Sloy hydro-electric power station (largest in Scotland) and the sub-station which was buzzing ominously. We were a bit disappointed that there were so many huge pylons ruining parts of the view – could be why the walk was pretty quiet when there are so many unspoilt ones to choose from.

View of Loch Lomond and beyond from Ben Vane

Mic found it hard going and decided to call it quits at a cave on the way up (although he did well to get as far as he did considering he’s had little practice). He amused himself there while I decided to carry on and see how far I could get alone, but after 2 false summits and encountering a steep rocky section with no path I decided that I didn’t want to see the view from the top that much and what looked like the summit was in a cloud anyway! It had already been a bit hairy with lots of loose rock on the track. I had seen some good views anyway and seen the huge hydro-electric dam.

The old Cat boots Mic was wearing hurt his feet as usual and he was disgusted to hear that my feet felt absolutely fine after the walk. I can thoroughly recommend the pair I bought – Raichle in leather – just like slippers and need no breaking in.

The lone ascent - avoiding looking back at how steep it was while taking a self-portrait

One of the other 'Bens' next to Ben Vane

On the return journey, we stopped off at the Lade Inn near Callander so Michael could experience the real ale and I had a tea with shortbread. We had thought about having fish and chips here but at £9.50 each we decided not to bother (even the starters were a fiver)- the food might be nice but it’s very over-priced for a wee Scottish village!

Mic was very pleased with the new car and enjoyed driving it on the country roads so much so that he turned down the offer of a pint at the inn and stuck with a half so that he could finish the drive home. I can see I’m not going to get a look in here!

The Cobbler

Wet, wet walk - The Cobbler 29 June 08

Only three of us out of the usual group were brave (?daft) enough to go for a hill walk that day- shortly after we started walking we got absolutely soaked - the rain poured down. However, there were lots of other people doing the same walk - a group of young English people with a guide all dressed in navy blue Helly Hansen waterproofs (a dead give away that they wer eon a guided walk!) and a couple with a young son of about 7 or 8 years old - all wearing welly boots- yes wellies! - to climb up the steep rocky bits and the boggy bits. It was pretty hard work for us with our proper walking shoes to get to the summit but this wee lad in his rubber boots made it to the top! They must have had some serious blisters by the time they got back down.

The distinctive outline of the Cobbler's 2 peaks - it looked like this before and after we reached the summit

At the top, we could see nothing of the view- only mist since we were in the rain cloud. We stopped only long enough to eat a banana, take a few piccies and congratulate the 7 year old boy on getting to the top! For a few brief seconds the clouds parted and we caught a tantalizing glimpse of the view we might have seen if only our timing had been better. Oh, and we talked to some of the Helly Hansen youths who were very disappointed that Sergi wasn't Scottish despite his Scottish accent as they were desperate to meet some real Scottish people (not sure why they hadn't encountered any in Scotland so far!). They then insulted the only Scot amongst us by asking why anyone would want to move from Barcelona to Scotland! Perhaps for the same reason they had come here on holiday ...!

Sergi & Toni at the summit- the view was of mist, mist and more mist (we were actually in the rain clouds)!

The Cobbler looked pretty much like this when we were at the top.

Sergi & Emma getting very wet and cold on the summit in the rain - we didn't linger there for long

We took a slightly different route down- recommended by the welly boot family - which seemed harder and steeper but was apparently a short cut. I was glad we did because as we came round a corner, Toni spotted a brown and white bird with a red spot on its head, smaller than a hen with a small brown chick -a ptarmigan! I wasn't quick enough with the camera but just enjoyed watching them since I have never seen one in the wild before and certainly wasn't expecting to see one this far south. I thought they were only found further north in the Cairngorms and similar places. I even filled out an RSPB viewing record when I got home!

Munros & midgies

Cruach Ardrain, 21 June 08
Near Crianlarich 5 of us went on a hill walk up Cruach Ardrain (one translation from the Gaelic is ‘Stack of the High Part’- catchy, eh?) which is one of the mountains that stand in Glen Falloch - a few of us have been doing quite a few walks recently and are getting quite fit but we had a newbie with us who really struggled up the first slope meaning it took us much longer than expected with lots of stops. It was a long walk anyway with lots of up and downs and very steep sections - 12 miles of walking! It took us 5 ½ hours.

Lunch stop - Romain, Cath, Roser & me

There were beautiful wild flowers including pink and white spotted orchids, butterflies, and drifts of stems with soft cotton wool-like seeds. There were lots of scruffy, pooey sheep and lambs very near the summits where it was cold and windy– they seemed a bit pissed off to see us and baahed at us loudly for ages! We saw a couple of dead sheep on way up - poor things.

Lunch with the midgies & mountains for miles around

There were paths on the mountains worn by humans and sheep which also use the paths. I was a bit surprised that there were actually paths to follow on the mountains but some routes are so popular that it’s fairly easy to follow the way without a map (as long as it’s not cloudy/ rainy when you could fall off the mountain).

When we stopped for lunch we were hassled by insects- I wasn’t sure if they were midgies or not as they were very small, looked innocuous and it’s been a long time since I’ve been attacked by any (we got mozzies down south!). The next day I knew for sure by the itchy, swollen lumps on my arms, legs, ears, and neck that, yes, they were definitely midgies! 3 day’s later they were still driving me mad itching (even woke me up in the night) and now I have scars!

Top of the world!

The summit, called Stob Garbh is 959 m (3146 ft) high (I don’t quite understand why a mountain has a different name for its summit…). As it’s over 3000ft it’s classified as a ‘Munro’ named after Sir Hugh Munro who was the Scottish mountaineer who created a list of mountains in Scotland over 3,000 feet (914.4 metres). A popular activity among some (sad) hill walkers is ‘Munro bagging’ basically climbing as many munros as you can just to say you’ve done it!

The obligatory summit shot - left to right Roser, me, Toni & Cath

White cotton flower seed-heads in foreground & Toni & Romain descending

When I got down the mountain my legs were like jelly and were trembling when I stretched them – later my thighs felt bruised after such a hard climb.

The weather was good until we got back to the car when it finally rained. On the return journey we stopped off in the Lade Inn (har, har) by Callander for real ale – I’d never been before and it was really nice - one of the Spanish guys knew of it. I didn’t get home till 8.45 pm - Michael had been worried as had not expecting it to be such a late one and I’d had no phone reception all day.

Highland Fling!

June Highland weekend

My manager at work has a good friend who has the leasehold on a cottage on the Rothiemurchus estate near Aviemore that he rents out cheaply to friends and friends of friends. I suggested a weekend away to a bunch of friends and we organised for 10 of us to drive up there on Friday night and stay for 2 nights.

We had instructions on how to find the cottage, how to get in, how to work the electricity, stove etc and I was having anxious dreams worrying about how we’d manage with heating enough water for all of us to wash etc!

Our accommodation for 2 nights- Guislich cottage on the Rothiemurchus estate

The journey up was really quick with only a few delays due to slow-moving vehicles on single lane roads- only 2 hours from Stirling to Aviemore. I drove with 3 passengers. We’d left after lunch so had plenty of time to get some last minute shopping in Aviemore, explore the cottage and make dinner before the second car arrived with the other 4 people who were staying all weekend. The last 2 guests just stayed for 1 night arriving late on Saturday for birthday cake and cava since it was Jenny’s birthday that week.

In the garden of the cottage enjoying the gorgeous weather and amazing scenery after a hard day's hill walking

When we arrived with a lot of the food that needed to be refrigerated I was mortified to find no fridge but only a cold cupboard! We looked in all the kitchen cupboards in case it was disguised, in the hallway, all the big cupboards in the living room until eventually I found it in the cupboard under the stairs along with a microwave- bonus! It then took us another 20 minutes to work out how to turn on the electricity!

A rare photo of the whole group in front of Loch Morlich and the Cairngorms, Sunday

To heat the water we had to use the wood burning Quebb stove which meant a toasty hot living room all weekend which in the hot sun did make it a bit uncomfortable in the evening - the insects were out in force so we had to shut the windows too.

The setting was lovely- incredibly peaceful and smelt amazing with the trees, grasses and flowers. On arriving we saw a deer skipping off into the trees – great excitement for city boy Sergi!

The ‘country girls’ had the job of lighting the stove while Sergi and I were responsible for bringing in the fire wood from the shed – we did try to chop some. I hadn’t realised how heavy an axe is – I couldn’t even hit the piece of wood!

The Quebb stove and kettles

We stayed in the house in the evening with our well-stocked wine/ beer cellar, loads of food and some board games. I learnt some new ones including ‘Mafia’ a game relying on your abilities to deceive and also to concentrate hard (now we know who’s a good liar and who’s terrible at it) and ‘Cranium’ a board game involving various creative tasks like modelling with Play-doh and drawing with your eyes shut as well as trivia questions.

Despite the large amounts of alcohol almost everyone kept their dignity apart from one person (naming no names) who, on Saturday night, passed out behind the armchair having already had a near miss by falling off the back of another armchair almost hitting the cast iron stove. Sergi discreetly put the person to bed while we carried on with our game of Cranium!

One of the amazing views from the cottage

There was a swing on a large oak tree outside the cottage- we had great fun swinging on it while admiring the wonderful view of the mountains – until one of the bigger blokes had a go on it and broke it!

On Saturday we did a hill walk up Cairn Gorm starting from the car park by the ski slopes – we had fantastic weather and even got sunburnt. It was very rocky and barren – the only wildlife I saw were beetles! There were lots of people out walking although not all of them took the steep rocky route we took to ascend. Ailsa got a bad attack of fear on the way up –it was very steep with lots of loose rocks and I was scared too but we spent about 20 minutes with her frozen to one spot before she calmed down enough to keep going. Chunks of rock kept getting dislodged and falling in my general direction- I was worried about losing a tooth or an eye! Going down the way we’d come up would’ve been harder than continuing up the slope.

Anyway, we made it to the summit and then on the way down there were rocky stairs that had been created so it was much easier to descend although by that time my legs were tired and it was hard on the knees. When we got back to the cottage we lay on a rug in the garden, chatted, had wine and admired the scenery.

On the ridge on our way up Cairn gorm- despite the hot sun there were large pockets of snow near the peaks

The summit of Cairngorm- my first munro (2 previous attempts in winter resulted in me turning back before the top when the option seemed like 'die or go back down')

The last 2 guests, Jenny and Jason had also been on the mountain but later in the day than us and they had been rock climbing close to where we had gone up the scary slope. That must've been even scarier although they did have safety ropes etc.

The only down side of the cottage was that it isn’t serviced so we had to do a big tidy up on Sunday morning before leaving- almost everyone helped and we then had the day to chill out and have a picnic by Loch Morlich, then wander round Aviemore before driving home.

Out & about on holiday

May 08

I had a week off work to use up some of my 44 days annual leave (those of you across the pond will read that and weep!) and spent it at home and on various days out. Michael was officially on holiday for the week I had booked off but then his uni organised a meeting/ seminar during that week! Either it's a holiday or it isn't! They did exactly the same thing over their Easter break - they are very badly organised.

Anyway, while Michael was at his meeting I sat and whiled away a pleasant hour in a nearby cafe reading the paper and drinking coffee. As usual Dundee was quite cold compared to Stirling so we didn't linger long going round the shops and sight-seeing.

Above: part of Dundee Uni art school

I did take a few photos including these of the not so lovely art school at dundee uni where Michael studies. The older buidling below is at least more attractive than the concrete cube above!

While we were there Michael picked up his offical letter telling him he had been awarded his postgraduate diploma - yay! Just a few more months of work to go and he'll have his masters.

Above: another part of Dundee art school

We had some lovely hot days too and mum and dad came over and then we all went to visit Culross which is a well preserved Scottish village on the Forth estuary. Some of the buildings date back to the 15th & 16th centuries although we did spot a few concrete monstrosities around the back of the village. The main industries in Culross were coal mining and salt-panning.

The locals pronounce Culross as 'Coo -ross' - who knows why, there is never any logic to the pronunciations of place names up here. Take Milngavie near Glasgow- it is pronounced 'Mull - guy'!

Above: cute cottages in Culross, Fife

The only unfortunate thing about Culross is it's location opposite Grangemouth petr0-chemical works which sit over the water spewing out suspicious looking clouds of smoke. It's also very close to the humoungus Longannet power station but at least you can't see that from the village.

We had a very nice lunch in the National Trust cafe, lost mum for a good 30 minutes in a craft and pottery shop, visited the ruined abbey, old church and just wandered about admiring the architecture and enjoying the hot weather.

ABove: Dad & David barbequing

We popped over to Glasgow to visit the family and had a barbeque despite it being a bit chilly and needing to wear our coats in order to eat outside! All the nephews were fascinated with the burning coals and found a variety of things to burn on them! It reminded me of when me, Sarah and Kate used to go to 'the burn'- a piece of woodland - to our den and build small camp fires with pilfered matches along with our neighbourhood friends the Forsyth's.

Above: 3 hungry boys - Dan, Ruben & David, BBQ at Mum & Dad's house

Above: Michael in Mum and Dad's conservatory

The rest of the week was spent cycling, sleeping, catching up on jobs, weeding the garden of all the sticky willy (it's a plant ok!) and dandelions.

Above: Charlie in our garden

I also had another yoga workshop, this time for 1 day in Edinburgh - that was the day it chucked it down with rain all day so I didn't mind spending the day inside. The teachers were Judi and Tig- a couple who run their own yoga school in the Cotswolds - they were a somewhat eccentric couple. Judi was definitely in charge and bossed Tig around quite a lot even going so far as to say that when he'd worn out she'd find a new younger model despite the fact that Judi must be around 15-20 years older than Tig as it is!

We did twists in the morning which I enjoy and don't find as hard as some of the other poses but the afternoon was forward bends and I overdid it a bit by over-stretching my lower back. Still, I learnt a lot and enjoyed it. Still can't do a handstand, but can now do unsupported shoulder stand- woo-hoo!

Above: the very photogenic Dunblane cathedral -you can see the oldest part is the bottom half of the clock tower.

Party!

Free university 40th anniversary staff party - 10 May 08
There’s nothing I love more than a party- except for a free party! The uni put on a free staff party to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the uni being established. We had a couple of free drinks (a bit sharp but I managed!), a meal (lasagne – sadly no cake:-( ) a ceilidh (some of the dances I didn’t recognise which was odd), disco (weyhey!).

Above- Staff party. Whose idea was a congo...? Sonia leading the way!

I danced all night- there was quite an eclectic mix of music, they even played such classics as the Nolans ‘I’m in the mood’, and something by AC/DC (see air guitar photo)! I ended up getting a lift home with someone I had only just met at the party when her chauffeur services were ‘offered’ by someone I was at the party with who knew her- I think she was a bit surprised. (However, she has since added me as a ‘friend’ on Facebook so I can’t have offended her that much)!

Above- and whose idea was the limbo...? Me about to go too far!

Saturday was spent gardening (digging up dandelions to be more precise) and then it rained! Did quite a lot of work on Sat & Sunday- got an idea for a paper I am writing and had to do it! The Formula 1 was on so Michael was well occupied- he almost deafened me with his over-enthusiastic shouting at the TV!

Above- air guitar to AC/DC - Sergi and random

Monday, I got rained on in Edinburgh (not impressed). As I came out of Waverley a family of tourists passed wearing anoraks and balaclavas- it wasn’t that cold! I had to go there to give a presentation with my boss to people at the university there. There was an old guy in the audience- who fell asleep during my section of the presentation- wearing a tweed waistcoat and jacket with a purpley-pink tartan kilt! Apparently he’s a retired academic who likes to attend seminars and then doesn’t really listen to the answers to his questions!

Above: cherry blossom in Riverside, Stirling

Tues night I was invited to postgrad BBQ – was a lovely evening but got a bit nippy after 2.5 hours of standing around. I had the bike to cycle home but the door to my building had been locked and all my stuff including my bike helmet and bike lock key were in my office. I ended up spending 30 mins doing a tour of the maze that is Stirling uni Cottrell building to find a porter to be able to get my stuff to get home. (I’ve been cycling to work this week too but it’s making me quite tired!)

Above: Postgrad BBQ on campus with my building and the Wallace Monument in the background

Spring is here!

April & May 08
Well I’ve been so busy I haven’t had time to blog! Work has been a bit hectic with a two day marathon trip to Oxford to plan some research I’ll be doing there. My green conscience meant I took the train which was ok on the way down despite several changes but on the way back I got on the wrong train home… Why there are two trains both leaving Birmingham New Street as precisely 18.03 both going to Edinburgh I cannot understand! I ended up on the slow East coast one and almost didn’t get back to Stirling - the last train from Edinburgh is around 11.30pm, my Birmingham train was running late and only got into Waverley at 11.26pm. I ran like an asthmatic for my last train home (maybe I am asthmatic, my hypochondriac alter ego wonders?).

I also had a two day seminar up in Carnoustie which is north of Dundee where I had to give a presentation only I hadn’t had time to finish the presentation having spent a lot of my spare time doing other more enjoyable things and helping Michael with his Masters report. The hotel was right by the beach and golf courses - I don’t golf but there was a spa at the hotel, a nice bonus, of which I made use for a swim, Jacuzzi and sauna! I woke really early for some reason to see the ‘har’ – fog – obliterating the view from my window. By 7am it had cleared a bit and the first golfers were teeing off- they must be bloody obsessed (golf widow Vanessa will agree with me on that one)! I had time to finish my slides, eat a huge breakfast in my room (it would have filled 2 or even 3 people) and go for a walk on the beach while the sun was still shining! Oh, and the presentation went ok too!

Above: Gorgeous sunny bank holiday- our rented bungalow and cherry blossom

The weather has been great up here recently – very sunny and warm - so I have been making the most of it with bike rides, sitting outside cafés drinking coffee, walks and parties!

Last Friday I went to the French society barbeque where we had Normandy pear cider, stinky stinky cheese (brought a huge piece home and Michael thought he’d developed an allergic reaction to it as his eyes had swollen up but that turned out to be hayfever), and delicious tarte au chocolat. Unfortunately, a bearded lady dominated the conversation all evening with boring anecdotes about herself most of which begin ‘in my church group…’. By 9pm, finally unable to put up with much more, we finished up and as it was such a mild evening I walked home through the campus where the baby rabbits, squirrels, geese, ducks, and swans were out in force.

Above: View of Dunblane & river

On Saturday night I went to another party this time in Glasgow where Patrice, an old uni friend lives a few miles away from my parents. There were lots of people crammed into her house including people from Spain, Germany, India, Luxembourg, the Netherlands. I had half a glass of champagne then drank apple juice all night till I left around 11.45pm – I wasn’t even the first to leave (didn’t want a hangover for my yoga)! I stayed over with my folks as I had to be in Glasgow the next day anyway for a yoga workshop.

Above: Bike ride - Michael between Bridge of Allan and Dunblane

Sunday yoga workshop with Firooza Ali

I did the yoga workshop with Firooza Ali from Mumbai - felt a bit out of place at first since a lot of people there were trainee yoga teachers and all knew each other but as the day went on I got into it. I accidentally placed my mat right in front of the teacher– means you can’t get away with doing anything wrong! I felt sore the day after, particularly my shoulders and they were still sore the next day. It was 5 1/2 hours of yoga but with lots of instruction a bit like a lecture and demonstration and we had an hour’s break for lunch. At the start of each session we had to repeat a chant in Sanskrit or Hindi or something- by the time she’d finished a line I’d forgotten it so was struggling to repeat it! Oh and we did quite a few ‘oms’ as well!

Above: View of the Ochils from Cambuskenneth Abbey

5 May bike ride

On bank holiday Monday the weather was gorgeous so Michael and I went on a bike ride via Cambuskenneth, round the lochs at uni, through Bridge of Allan and then took a different route to Dunblane from last time using back countrey lanes and then going through the woods. There were more people using the woodland path than when we did the route in March and on our return journey there were even people paddling in the Allan Water river in BoA. It was warm, 20-21c, and we wore shorts & Tshirt. I wore my new padded cycle shorts which were great and stopped a lot of bum ache!Weather is gorgeous here since Monday. It has been so nice this week that I even rode to work and back for the first time ever (better than the bus with grumpy drivers and noisy students) and did it on 3 days! It’s not far –it takes about 20 mins there and 15 back.

I have now been living in Scotland for a year and Michael’s anniversary is coming up soon as he moved up 3 weeks after I did.

Above: Remains of Cambuskenneth Abbey founded in 1140

Above: View of Stirling & castle from Cambuskenneth Abbey