Scotland: It's guid ti hae yir cog out whan it rains kail

There's always something incredibly special about seeing something in the flesh for the first time. Perhaps something that you've known about for a long time, from childhood even, something that you've seen pictures of in books or on TV or in films, something that you feel as though you already know intimately. For me these occasions are always something to get excited about and I can make myself quite ill with impatience and the unbearable anticipation of peeling back my eyes to finally see 'it' in front of me. Will it be as good as I've always thought?, as big as I'd always believed?, as awesome as I've been told it is?, as magical as I've always hoped it would be?, and "oh no.. what if it's all a big let down..?" Well... I'll share with you that this big guy was really one of those things for me; Ben Nevis.

I've seen the highest mountain in England and the highest one in Wales, I've seen the highest one in Northen Ireland, I've been part way up the tallest one in Italy, and France, and Switzerland, and I've flown around the highest one in Norway, and I've been lucky enough to see many more 'biggest' ones but never have I seen the tallest one in Scotland, the tallest one in fact in the whole of the British Isles. So how cheesed off was I when we couldn't see even a hint of it from our hotel, or from Glen Coe, or from Fort William or in fact from anywhere on our side of the loch. So we had to travel to a place called Corpach around the other side of Loch Linnhe so that we could see him. We parked up at the foot of the Caledonian Canal (more of that later) just to get a glimpse. Well, it was worth the wait and it is worth the effort as we enjoyed the view shown above. Another of life's little ambitions ticked off on the list but how good would it be to actully go up there...? Hmmmm... That gives me an idea!

Well, there's only one way to find out and that's to go over and do it! Rest assured that we didn't lose our minds like some people and pay a visit to the outdoor shop and kit ourselves out with ice-picks and crampons, oh yes... they we're all there, in our hotel, shaking from having nearly died that day. No, we did the sensible (ok, TOG-like) thing and took the Gondola cable car up Mount Aonach Mor to the Nevis Range ski resort so we could get a least a flavour of what it's like. So... what was it like? Well.... It was bloody freezing!

Yet it is actually very beautiful and the weather kindly took a short break, enough to give us an amazing view over Loch Linnhe and the surrounding glens, Bens and Munroes, some of which were apprarently up to 20 miles away (according to one of those panoramic 'you-are-here' bronze view map thingys). We were even treated to a fresh fall of snow which was really exciting as we watched all of the brave souls getting dragged further up the mountain by a fast moving bin lid on a stick between their legs, and then skiing and snowboarding down, some gracefully and skilfully, and some disgracefully and pitifully, which provided us with a little voyeristic enjoyment, but OH MY GOD! It was SO COLD!!!.

It was great to be knee-deep in fresh snow, it was wonderful to be amidst the falling flurry and it was truly awesome to see the views out in the sub-zero refrigerated air and then warm ourselves up inside the Snow Goose restaurant with a hot coffee and then send postcards from the highest postbox in the British Isles, but best of all, absolutely best of ALL, was yet another fulfilment of a life long ambition for me, and I couldn't quite believe that for the first time in my life that I was face to face with these little boys and girls who danced around and around, just feet in front of us like some scheduled performance of a ballet; Snow Buntings!!

They are genuinely a scarce breeding species in the UK, only in Scotland now for many years, and only a few (literally) recorded pairs making them an RSPB 'Amber List' species which means that there are less than 300 in total, at less than 10 known sites in the entire country. They are just gorgeous and they were quite clearly comfortable with the hoards of aliens tramping around them in huge rigid plastic boots, Michelin Man suits and deep sea diving masks as they came back time and time again to scavenge the dander and detritus of cheese sandwiches and bacon rolls; Lovely!

Forgive my indulgence with these little chaps but it has genuinely been one of my lifetime ambitions to see them since being in the YOC (Young Ornithologist Club) as a child! Precious, precious moments indeed.

Bloody cold though! (did I mention that already?) So, after a couple of hours we decided to start our descent and we hustled into the cable car to ride down the mountain. Once again the views were spectacular and the 15 minute journey passed dissapointingly in no time.

Time for a little more history along the way to our lunch destination which was so far out of the way that we only just made it...

The journey kept stalling continually to take in that monument and this waterfall, those deer, that buzzard, and that famous viaduct above which featured in the Harry Potter film 'Prisoner of Azkaban' when the car flew alongside the Hogwarts Express. Directly opposite the bridge is this incredibly special view of the Glenfinnan Monument which, in my opinion, is the most tasteful coalescence of natural beauty and manmade architecture I have ever seen.

The Glenfinnan Monument is set at the head of Loch Shiel and was built in 1815 to commemorate the Jacobites, who fought and fell during the 1745 uprising. Prince Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) raised his standard and rallied his clansmen for battle on the 19th August 1745 which marked the start of his campaign to restore the exiled Stuarts to the throne. The Glenfinnan Monument was designed by James Gillespie Graham and erected by Alexander Macdonald of Glenaladale some years later.

Loch Shiel reaches out long into the horizon before your eyes, veiled on both sides by steep craggy snow-topped mountains which have remained completely unchanged and unspoilt since the events that made the place historic, and after reading the testimonies on and around the monument we couldn't help but wonder how it must have looked and sounded when it was swarming with more than a thousand enraged highlanders all those years ago.

We eventually set off towards Glenuig again passing through even more stunning scenery and resisting many occasions to stop and point and go "wow!" and take pictures and film and well, you know how it can be, but we had a deadline to meet... Lunch! Then, however, we came across this view below and we just had to pull over and get out to drink it all in and wonder quite genuinely how we could possibly still be on the mainland of the United Kingdom.

This view from Roshven looks out over the Sound of Arisaig and the clarity and colour of the sea makes you pinch yourself. As you can see the skies were clear and despite the slightest of zephyrs coming at us we had a wee stroll along the sandy beach, with me wearing just a tee-shirt quite comfortably and a picnicking family nearby quite unblieveably chasing their pet spaniel into the water wearing just swimsuits.

So... that's part 2. We did make our lunch venue and I'll tell you more about that in Part 3.

Lots of love

Andrew & Linda

xxx

Scotland: Where English sounds like Gibberish!

So... After WEEKS of toil and hard graft with rubble, fences, flag stones, patios, sheds, tiles, woodstain, sand, cement, gravel, soil, posts, nails, screws, segs, blisters, baths and many many aches... We finally set off for our well deserved holiday in Scotland. The journey up on the first night was certainly 'interesting' with sleet, snow, hail, rain and 80-90 MPH winds just some of the challenges. Still, the intrepid duo of travellers battled on and survived the 212 mile drive on just a small pie and a bag of crisps from our favourite service station; Tebay! We arrived in the heart of Glasgow just in time for a relaxing drink... or perhaps it was two :-)

Next morning I had to work :-( My Glasgow office is only a few minutes from our hotel at the SECC so I strolled in early, and Linda set off on foot to see the sights of a city that she'd never before seen. The weather was still a little unkind and we eventually met up just after lunch and took a stroll around the Necropolis (graveyard) at the Cathedral. What a fascinating place with lots of old decrepid and sadly vandalised statues, tombs, crypts and graves and we even saw a skull and cross-bones on one stone which apparently signifies that the person lying within died from the plague.

The graves all told a family story about who was who, who was married to who and what their maiden name was, who had fathered who, what he or she did for a living or what they may have contributed to Scottish history and in some cases even how they came to be no longer. The highlight for me was the grave of William Miller, who in 1841 wrote the children's poem, "Wee Willie Winkie". Afterwards we had a look inside the Cathedral which was both cavernous and historic and of course, beautiful. Then we headed north through Glasgow to Dumbarton and on to Loch Lomond before getting very slightly lost around Loch Long, and then eventually arriving at our destination, the historic Drovers Inn.

Well... if it was good enough for Rob Roy McGregor..!

The Drovers is a fascinating place, it's more than 300 years old and it's not exactly modernised, or even decorated, I doubt it'll ever have a 'star' or a 'crown' of any sort, and I don't think that even Kim and Aggie would be able to clean the place up BUT..., the quality of the hospitality and the fascination of it's Scottishness and it's absolute uniqueness is truly wonderful!



So, they put us in room 6, the "Haunted Room". Apparently no matter how they heat the place that room NEVER gets warm, we can both now support this theory, well... I can at least having woken up in the wee small hours with NO bed covers as Linda did her best impersonation of a cocoon. It is apparently haunted (in the walls) by the ghost of a young girl who drowned in the nearby loch. Well, that may be so, but Linda and I really enjoyed the roaring fires, the beer, the wine, the food and the £10 a shot whiskey (Well... you have to sometimes don't you?!) to such an extent that the poor girl could have danced around the room all night making Wwwooooohhh noises and throwing the pots around, we would never have noticed :-) "hic..."

Next morning after a full 'Scottish' breakfast we headed up in to the highlands towards Glen Coe and it wasn't long before we felt our shoulders relaxing and our brows unfurrowing as we were met around every corner by beauty...

and nothing quite so beautiful as the gorgeous boy we met at the top of a particularly steep and winding climb...

This handsome chap was standing at the end of a small car park which overlooked a particularly beautiful scene of lochs, glens and snowy mountains. We stopped the car respectfully quite a distance away from him so we could stare and gasp and take some film and photographs of him and his stunning garden. We stayed behind the car and despite several others pulling up to watch and to film him also he stayed for ages just making the occasional polite and gentle low pitched calls. His harem was just out of sight beyond the brow of his hill.

Needless to say he was eventually spooked by some complete idiot with a camera phone who apparently wanted to get close enough to smell his breath, and just for a moment we both wished that he'd provided us with some goring blood sport for us to admire with those impressive antlers, but anyway... at least we'd enjoyed a real moment (about 15 mins actually) of wild Scottish magic and it was to be the first of many for us during the week.

After a lovely drive and a couple of strolls through Glen Coe we had lunch on the banks of Loch Linnhe and eventually arrived at our home for the next three nights just outside of Fort William. The hotel was fine and the location was perfect for our tour. We awoke early the next morning to see a genuine phenomenon (I don't get the chance to use that word too often!) as the tide moved the loch waters from right to left in the view (below) from our bedroom and the fantastic sight of the mist hovering just a few feet above the water, rolling along at exactly the same speed. I've never seen anything quite like it! More Scottish magic and mystique which we watched for ages until the sun burned it all away to reveal the stunning panorama of snow capped mountains and rich deep heathery glens and lochs.

We set off for a day of adventure to Glen Coe. Linda has recently read about the infamous battles between the Campbells and the MacDonalds and the massacre of 1692. So we had to visit some of the historic sites and along the way we were completely stopped in our tracks by how still the waters of Loch Leven were and how perfect the reflections of the sun kissed scenery around us could be. We stopped to look and take some pics and it was utterly magical, so cold, so sunny, so perfect that one had to question it's reality.

Again we were joined by many photographers and admirers of this tranquil scene, well, many being one or two as it's all so quiet up there. We were SO lucky with the weather all week and the last time that I saw such radiant blue skies was in Nothern Cyprus. The most bizzare thing also shared this vision with us... A red Ford Fiesta which was built completely into a shed thing, on stilts, and was being used as a boat pulley, you'd have to see it to believe it! That and the wonderful scenery made this one of those genuine 'life is good' moments.

We took a walk through the forests and rocks and hills and glens at Glen Coe to visit Signal Rock. Which is where the clan Chieftain used to address his followers from and where history has documented that the signal to attack was given on that fateful day nearly 400 years ago when 38 members of the MacDonald clan were so brutally murdered. Here's a picture of Linda (a.k.a. William Wallace) sharing in that history from that very rock... "It's all for nothing if you don't have freedom!"

Our second walk of that day was a much gentler stroll around a man made loch known as "The Lochan". The Glencoe Lochan was created by Lord Strathcona in the nineteenth century to help his Native American wife get over her longing for her home in Canada. We (well... Linda) could see what he was trying to do and hopefully we have captured some of that beauty in this picture below...

The walk around the Lochan was fabulous, every corner turned gave a different view and yet another sharp intake of breath and earned our agreement that we're indeed, in the right place at just the right time. Just below the car park for the Lochan was a very tasteful monument to the massacre where we once again encountered wild Deer and the lovely crystal clear electric blue River Coe running beneath the old stone bridge.

Well... That's a lot of typing and uploading for me and a lot of reading and looking for you so I'll leave it there for now. Let's call this piece Part 1 and I'll promise to write parts 2 - 4 of our Scotland trip over the next couple of weeks.

Harbingers

Well, I never really understood what a 'Harbinger' was..., is..., but it is a word that always makes me smile at this time of year when Sir Terence Wogan starts to mention anything and everything as being a "harbinger of spring". I looked it up and according to Wiki, a harbinger is a sign of things to come. Well I do hope so because today Linda and I went for a walk around Burscough and spotted several of the affor mentioned harbingers which bode well for the spring. First of all, we start with a beautiful display of Crocus in our own garden, planted last year by Linda and Katie and smiling up at us today like so many hungry baby birds as the sun blessed Burscough for the first time in ages! Weeks, months, nay decades it seems. We also have several displays of Snowdrops, some of which are very special as Linda actually kept them from her Grandmothers garden and we have the pleasure today of seeing flowers from the same bulbs that once delighted Mrs. Pawson herself in Willis Lane, Whiston. A simple but fascinating piece of living history.

It was a gorgeous day to day and for a change I didn't have to wear my hat and gloves, or even my Barbour jacket for our Sunday stroll, it was, well, warm! We've had a tough weekend, in fact a tough few weekends, emptying Linda's house in Southport, so we decided that we'd earned a relaxing walk in the sunshine. (I'm sitting here typing this with a Janet Clarke sized G&T that we have also well-earned!). We'd tried earlier to visit Bank Hall which boasts one of the most magnificent displays of Snowdrops in the country, but, alas, so did half of the county and the resulting queues were not unlike the sort one sees when Gordon and his pals put up the price of petrol by 0.0003 pence at budget time. So we came back home and strolled around the lanes and fields that are so accessible to us around here. I'm creeping to our lovely village now as my last post was somewhat less complimentary to our home location.

Of course I took along my camera and my 'big' lens and as a direct result of doing do, there wasn't so much as a Starling or a stray dog to photograph in the sunshine. Harbinger 2 was delightful though and we saw Snowdrops a plenty. Such simple but beautiful flowers, they never stay around for long enough in my opinion! We did see a black cat by railway line, and a dead rabbit, which started to conjour up a cunning plan to photograph them both (very badly) and tell the local newspaper that we have a wild puma-like 'big' cat on the loose in the village, "the Burscough Big Cat", and that everyone should lock up Mr. Bunny, Fido and Mrs. Fluffy-Whiskers, and indeed any small children, just in case.... But we changed our minds.

Instead we kept on strolling and musing at how such controversy can begin and then we came accross harbinger 3. The people of this village do indeed have a cracking sense of humor. I'll explain.

Of all the unique features in Burscough, the one at the top of Red Cat Lane is my favourite. An expression that has been around for centuries and yet, the only real example that either of us has ever seen.

Yes, we have a 'knackers yard' at the top of the lane and in case you're unsure about what that really means I'll explain in two ways...

First of all, from Wiki; A Knackerman is a person who collects dead, dying and injured farm animals and horses. They render dead animals that are unfit for human consumption and turn them into dog food, cat food and glue. Animals such as workhorses that have died 'in harness' because they are too exhausted or too old to continue working. That is where the slang expression 'Knackered' comes from, meaning 'being VERY tired'. Fabulous!

Anyway, the second, and perhaps the best explanation of what the Knackers Yard is all about comes from our local 'neighbors' who carry out this traditional duty. We nearly wet ourselves at the side of the road when Linda spotted the weather vane atop the Knackerman's cottage.

Enjoy!

Wet Wet Wet

OK... so we CHOSE to live on the very same lane as the World Wetland Centre, and just maybe we didn't do the 2+2 math, you know "World", that must be the biggest one then, the microcosm, the most extreme one in all of humankind, on the planet! "Wetland", Mmmm "wet" being of water, and "land" being a topographically or functionally distinct tract. "Centre" ahhh now then, according to my dictionary that is "a place where some particular activity is concentrated". SO... 2+2 actually equals the largest or most significant topographically centred place for getting wet, in the world! And WE chose to live here.... nobody made us do it! So we accept that it is perhaps the 'norm' for it to rain quite often around here... but now it's getting a wee bit tiresome!



This afternoon the doorbell rang and I answered it to find 2 cows, 2 pigs, 2 rabbits, a pair of stoat, and 2 robins, 2 geese, 2 ducks, 2 dogs, 2 cats, 2 frogs, 2 hamsters, 2 foxes, 2 doves, 2 starlings, a brace of pheasants, 2 rats, 2 sheep, 2 lamas, a horse, oh and another horse, 2 snails, 2 iguanas and... well, I'm sure your getting the idea. I've started growing a long white whispy beard and have taken to standing in the front garden, in my new robe (fashioned by Linda out of an old curtain, ok, a pair of old curtains) and holding my arms aloft, wooden staff in my hand and shouting at the sky "I'm ready to do my duty Oh Lord but when will it ever cease!?"



Oh you think I'm exaggerating don't you? I thought so... Well last night Linda and I ordered a takeaway as we've both been a little under the weather... Pun intended! We decided that some good hot Jalfrezi and a little red wine was just the sort of thing to see off the bugs, of which there were of course two, and after ringing to chase our order several times, this was the scene when the food eventually arrived, 2 hours late!



To some people, rain is little more than a minor inconvenience. The kids can't play out, one has to carry around an umbrella, our new hairdo gets ruined and the grass is too bogged down to cut. For others of course rain is far more disasterous, farmers crops get ruined, football matches get called off, peoples houses flood and their lifes possessions end up as piles of detritus on the front lawn to show the TV cameras, and yet for around 30-40 thousand of the residents of this lovely, charming little lane on which we live, it's absolute heaven. And I hate every single, quacking, flapping, preening, "I don't care how much it rains", pointy faced, web-footed one of them! Now, where's my gun?

So much to do...

Sorry we haven't posted for a couple of weeks, it's all been a bit mad and will continue to be so over the next week or two. LOTS to write about, concerts, meals, school progress, holidays imminent...

Hopefully will get the chance to post some updates this weekend :-)

L&A
xxxx

The Duck and The Otter

I purposely left out the word 'soup' from the title to avoid giving the real subject of the first part away. Yes, I'm afraid we went to Ye Horns Inn last weekend :-) Linda treated us to a 'sleepover' last Saturday as we didn't have the girls on the Sunday, and the weather has turned rather cold, windy and miserable and she thought we needed warming up. So we pootled off, booked in, and before we could say "Soup and Duck please" Linda was perched in her favourite chair with a warming glass of something red.


Of course we had to do the full 5 course 'thing' with hot buttered potted shrimp to start (delicious!), and then Mrs. Woods' famous beef and vegetable soup, the curer of all ails...


Then came a truly shock decision from me! I've been to Ye Horns once or twice now since I met Linda and yet I have NEVER had the roasted duck! I know... but it's true. I always somehow get distracted by the steak and kidney pie or the lamb, or the lamb and sometimes... even.. the lamb! I was very brave on this occasion however, and after much time deliberating and deciding and then changing my mind and then deliberating and eventually deciding, we had to call in a counsellor, a whole team of therapists and even a hypnotist, but I somehow managed NOT to order the lamb. There... I've said it! So at long last I tasted the infamous roasted Goosnargh duck for the very first time and OH MY!! I have to say that it was rather good :-p..


So with what little space was left, and bearing in mind that I didn't have to drive home for a change so I could foresee a couple of pints of Spitfire coming my way by the roaring fire before bed, I plumped for this little treat. Yes, Bread and Butter Pudding! Wow!


Eventually, after much groaning under the strain of our waistbands as we forced down one or two further beverages sitting by the fire, we rolled back to our room like a couple of Weebles.

Next morning after breakfast we went to Newby Bridge in the Lake District to visit these chaps below...


I can highly recommend this place, http://www.aquariumofthelakes.co.uk/ it's well laid out with lots of interesting 'touch' pools, and as well as the Otters there are harvest mice (smelly but still cute), reptiles and other small and cute fluffy things to see. Best of all is the underwater tunnel and viewing bowl where you can watch lots of fish varieties and ducks swimming and diving in what is a representation of Lake Windermere itself.


We watched the Otters for about 40 minutes as they were so gorgeous and entertaining. After the aquarium we had a fabulous drive up the west side of the lake through some beautiful autumnal scenery as Linda made as many references as possible to what a shame it was that I hadn't planned ahead and therefore let the batteries run down on my camera. Still, it really was that stunning and special that perhaps on this occasion it should stay secret and sacred where it is, locked away for ever in our memories.

Then came the dangerous bit... a very scary shopping trip to the big 'Lakeland' store in Windermere where after a nice lunch we managed to buy all sorts of 'stuff' that we just don't need! You know how it is :-)

Andrew
xx

Cool !

Well.... It's official, Linda and I are "Cool!!".

I guess we always suspected it really, and I'm sure that it doesn't come as any surprise to you all, but on Wednesday evening several groups of teenagers who'd dressed up like Marilyn Manson, Freddie Kruger or Peter Cushing, or wearing 'Scream' masks, and then some small children who had dressed up as witches and monsters, and their accompanying parents, actually told us that we were "Cool!!", so there!

Well... actually, what they said was that our house was "Cool!!" and "Ace!" and "Wow!" and "Really Really Good!!", so that's near enough for me. The following pictures will hopefully explain all this a little better than I've done so far.


It was the build up to Halloween and Linda had been shopping, oh, and then shopping! So we set about hanging 'cobwebs' everywhere, and I mean EVERYWHERE! once you start with that stuff you can't get rid of it, it follows you around and pops out of places you'd never imagine and appears when you least expect it to. You brush you hair and it's there tangled up in the brush (well... not me obviously), you brush your teeth and it's there, you get into the car to get away from it and its all over the dashboard, you arrive at work and it's tangled around your i.d. badge lanyard and even when you eat your sandwiches, that you've been out to buy from Marks and Spencers, it's there... in between the bread and the cheddar! See below....


Then there's the Bluetak! how come when you're putting stuff up with that stuff it won't stick, and then when you try to take the same stuff down 3 minutes later on it won't bloody come off?! is it me?


Anyway, back to the scary bit. Linda festooned the house with webs, more webs, and spiders of ALL shapes, colours and sizes. She even scared herself several times by forgetting which of them were plastic and which of them were "Andrew!! Come here... oooohhh I don't like it! I'm not sure about that one, I don't remember putting that one there". Then there were a dozen glow-in-the-dark skellingtons, a squeaky rat, some pumpkin and spider 'fairy'' lights on of the box bushes, more chuffing cobwebs, bats, candles, a grave stone with flashing eyes, and of course, a pumpkin jack-o-lantern.


The children thought it was fab and came from all around, and I'm sure that some of them came back in different masks later on. They were greeted by a VERY excited, no... you don't understand, I mean VERY excited!!, Mrs. Drummond presenting them with an enormous Halloween bowl of sweeties and choccies.


The very brave were even given spider rings. I say the 'very brave' because some of them wouldn't approach the house due to the bellowing "Scream" CD that Linda had bought just to add that finishing touch to the Munsters Mansion, and...., to top it all off, the doorbell was decorated with its very own spider. One tiny little witch braved the music, the gravestone and the cobwebs and then hurried back down the drive as fast as her broomstick would allow, hanging on to her pointed hat saying "Mummy I don't like it, I don't want to press it!!" She eventually came back when Mortitia opened the door and brandished Cadburys Caramel in her direction but she refused to take a spider ring 'cos she "don't like spiders so I don't want one!" I'm surprised we didn't get arrested :-)


The kids around here really enjoy Halloween and they put a fantastic effort into their costumes and make up. So it's only right that we made effort too and it all made Halloween a very enjoyable and memorable evening.


I daren't even think about what Linda will have ready for next year!!

Lots of love and don't have nightmares

Herman
xxx