Not Dead Yet !: August 2019

Monday, August 26, 2019

Thursday 23rd -- home again

The alarm goes off at 3am. Our flight is at 7am, we plan to relax, possibly eat more breakfast, at the airport.

In our room we have a light breakfast. Packing takes five minutes. And we're off!

The gps is great, it picks a quick route along the motorway. It's spooky on the motorway -- with no street lights. I finally work out the high beam but there is just enough traffic that I can't use it. So I drive slowly... Directly to rental car returns, we leave the car, leave the keys, walk into the terminal.

It's an international flight so we need to be there 90 minutes before. We are there two hours before. Not to worry, we prefer to wait at the airport rather than at the other end of a drive through unknown traffic conditions.

We check in. Say goodbye to our luggage, it will meet us in Perth. Unless Deb's case decides to take another holiday at Heathrow.

===

Deb wants coffee, I'm hungry, we get coffee. I don't drink much of mine, I'm preparing for a long flight with a seat which is not on the aisle...

It's an easy flight to Heathrow -- with a brilliant ending: We're looking out the window, it's a clear day with a bright and beautiful view as we descend. Isn't that a familiar London bridge? I say. Then Look! it's the London Eye! We spot the Gherkin and the Shard -- which looks amazing from the air. Is that Wembley Stadium?! All of London is laid out below us -- bright and visible -- as we follow the Thames across the city.

And we land at Heathrow.

===

We have three hours here which we fill with a fifteen minute bus ride to change terminals, then a light late breakfast. I'm still a bit hungry but can't face any more of the rather average "Eat." food.

We walk round a bit. Go to our boarding gate. Wait a bit. And board...

It's another 17 hour flight. This time we do have another passenger in the aisle seat. He's a nice bloke, not that we talk much. In betweem meals we all watch movies or sleep. I watch Alita Battle Angel then the first two Harry Potter movies. I realise that I have seen the second HP, it was what stopped me ever again watching another HP movie. This time I stop watching just before the final, embarrassing scene -- and enjoy the movie.

Our neighbour asks why I'm watching without the sound. I explain that it's hard to hear movies on a plane. (The super quiet Dreamliner? No, I don't think so.) So I use subtitles instead. Okay, the HP movies have no subtitles... but I know the books so know exactly what is happening in the movies. And Alita? Well, no subtitles there, either... but the plot is pretty obvious.

===

Whenever our neighbour stands up, I use the opportunity to go to the toilet. I'm running fairly dry, not much need to pee. Our neighbour -- from something he says, I think his digestion may be a bit more than regular. So there is no need to wake our neighbour and enough opportunities for me to get up and... go.

Another highlight of the flight: we fly over whatever mountains are near Baghdad. Another amazing, clear view!

Then a lot of night, quite a bit of sleep between movies. And... home :-)

I've just had a thought about watching movies... At home, I prefer to read a book. On a plane -- there is just not enough room to even *hold* a book. And no room at all to store a book in the seat back pocket, which is already full with just one flight magazine.

===

Overall, I rather like this non-stop flight. A bit more leg-room though still nowhere near enough. (I'd suspect the Qantas boss of being a midget. But really, I doubt if he ever tries sitting in an economy seat.) Sure, it's a long time to be stuck in a sardine can but the two-flight option probably adds up to even more.

I rather like just getting in a plane, suffering the discomfort all at once, then getting off at your final destination.

===

We declare that we have walked on farms and in freshwater streams. The boot check adds 30 seconds to our transit... and that is it. Free to go.

The truck is waiting at the airport. We drive -- don't need a gps here! And are home by about 1pm on Friday 24th... I think. I'm retired and just back from holiday, I'm having a lot of trouble tracking days of the week. Possibly demented but not yet dementia :-)

All is good. The cat almost wakes up to say hello. Deb checks the garden, she missed it. I play a bit of WoW, I missed it. And we both settle down to do all the little things that need doing after three weeks away.

A few bills to pay. Orienteering and rogaining events to enter. Emails to send. Eighteen geocaches to record. Holiday photos... all 422... still to be sorted. This blog/travel journal to be merged with selected photos and printed... eventually.

===

And that -- unless I think of anything else -- is the end of that holiday :-)

====    Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
             Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
===

"I would like to think it's possible to construct a society where our orders don't involve slaughtering our own people." ...Gen. Khiruev via Yoon Ha Lee

===

dying for you to read my blog: notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au :-)
====

Wednesday 22nd -- around Linlithgow

We're up and about by mid morning. Deb is ready earlier, I always take a while to get started. (In my defence: I keep going later. eg Tonight Deb went to bed, I had things to do, then started this blogging at midnight.)

Today (ie Wed 22nd) is for resting and relaxing round Linlithgow. We start with a stroll to the loch then a minor diversion to a coffee shop. One we haven't tried before, of course. We don't want familiar, we're here to test what's on offer... This cafe offers lemon cake with pumpkin seeds. Sweet & delicious.

Scotland, we have found, does Victoria sponge rather than the very lightweight plain sponge cake. I do prefer the Victoria-style sponge.

We walk around the loch (it's probably called Linlithgow Loch). Various sources say that it's a 2.3km walk. Our GPS measures just over 4km, still some way to go but the gps batteries go flat. No worries, it's a very pleasant walk.

The weather is fine, cool, sunny. I wear shorts and a heavy shirt and carry a light jacket. Deb dresses more warmly. I'm cool when we stop and otherwise very comfortable, Deb is hot when we walk.

Deb dresses for a pessimistic weather expectation. I prefer to risk being cold and miserable because when I get hot I am bad-tempered.

===

There are white swans on the lake, various other birds, one small dinghy with a fisherman. A few buildings and roads at the start of our walk, mostly set back on the other side of parklands. Then it's rough woodland with trees, flowers, quite a bit of blackberry. It sounds like a major road, out of sight on the other side of the woodland.

Two thirds of the way round, the surroundings become more open, grass with trees. I think we are into the parklands which surround the palace. (Linlithgow Palace, we were there a couple of days ago.)

In the lake itself are two islands which are, according to signs, old crannog sites. Deb and I discuss the origins of the trees now on the islands. We, of course, are crannog experts, having been to the National Crannog Centre :-)

At the edge of the park -- at a gate between park and main road -- there should be a cache. We can't find it. It's gone missing, judging by recent logs. And now the gps battery goes flat. Not to worry, there are no more nearby caches.

We're on the busy High Street but not for long. Deb has a town map, she guides us down a lane and back to the path in the park. We soon recognise where we are: back of the Burgh Hall where we had coffee two days ago. Today, it's a good time and place for lunch.

There's a man mowing the lawn around a small garden area. We've seen this garden before, it's a bit rundown, the concrete area in the middle used to be a pond. The man with the mower tells us the current story:

A Councillor wants to tear out the garden and build a memorial. I'm not sure to what but it's something that will help the councillor to get an MBE or OBE, we're told. A group of local volunteers prefer the garden so they are improving the garden. Our lawnmowing informant is one of the volunteers. He is also a lawnmowing contractor, helping out by, as he tells us, having a busman's holiday.

===

In the Burgh Hall cafe we have soup and bread. It's lentil soup, the waitress warns us. That's okay, I tell her, I'm sure it will be delicious. And it is. Though Deb is worried about all the mm-long white things that look like little maggots. Probably some part of the lentils, I guess. Or, at least, something that came with the lentils...

Then we walk back home. To relax. And think about packing.

===

We have dinner at the Mason Belles. It's raining as we walk there but Deb has an umbrella and I just get wet. Just damp, really. Most Scottish rain has been no more than drizzle. The restaurant is all glass windows looking out into a garden, very pleasant. We have a good view of the rain. (Which has mostly stopped when we walk home.)

The food is good and a little bit fancy. I order hake. After we place our orders we watch a cook go into a garden shed and return with what looks like a packet of frozen fish. Well, nothing on the menu says "fresh caught" hake :-)

I pay (as usual) with a card. It's a two-part system, a credit card connection links to the restaurant till. On our side we see "approved" but nothing gets to the till. We try again and it all works... And sure enough -- now we're home and I look at bank records -- we paid twice.

I may contact the restaurant. I definitely would, if they had an email address. I'm not worried about the money but the restaurant needs to know that they are using a dodgy system. Ah well, one failed payment amongst many many successes. All up we have spent less than twenty pounds in cash.

===

And then we are back in our room. I set aside clothes to wear tomorrow. Packing will wait till tomorrow. I set the alarm for 3am tomorrow.

Tomorrow, we fly home.

Wednesday 21st -- at the Tattoo !

Real time is several days later -- we are now back home. Quite a few of my travel journals have missed the last few days... For this one I will try to wrap it up. Possibly briefy, probably inaccurately. So:

I duck into the restaurant toilets to put a wool thermal under my shirt. It's an outdoor event in Scotland... temperature low teens (C), a chance of rain.

We leave the restaurant and walk -- just a few hundred metres -- to join the Tattoo queue. It's about seven thirty, gates open at 8:15... there are already hundreds of people queuing. We are next to The Hub, the queue goes out of sight round a corner, then another 100m to the castle entry.

Before we even turn the corner there's a security check. Not a full bag search but a pick up and squeeze. Nothing solid -- ie nothing suspicious -- in my backpack, just more warm clothes.

We're moving!

Once we start moving, it's quite fast. We're soon up the road... in the gates... in the stands... and after picking the wrong side of our section -- we're in our seats. Couldn't be better :-) Our seats are front row, directly above the spectator entry. And -- as we soon find -- directly above the exit for some of the performers. When a couple of dozen drummers and pipers march out from directly in front of us -- wow!!

I bought the tickets early, in January, when there was still plenty of choice. Then I waited till mid June -- post scan -- to book everything else. That late booking limited choice but all has turned out quite well :-)

===

The performance area is about the size and shape of a soccer pitch. Three sides of stands, still mostly empty, hundreds of people still coming in.

Okay, I think, having sat for a few minutes, Okay, it's cold. I make my way to the gents' toilets. No queue for the urinals but I wait a few minutes for a stall. Inside... and I add wool longjohns under my long trousers.

Have you ever changed your trousers in a toilet? It requires great care: take foot out of one shoe, remove leg from trouser leg, get leg into longjohns, back into trousers, back into shoe. Then repeat for other leg... all on a floor where you hope that the damp is just rain but you don't want to touch it... just in case. Not with trousers nor longjohns nor socks. All this in a cubicle designed with just enough space for sitting.

Anyway, it's an experience :-)

I rejoin Deb at our seats.

We put on raincoats. Over that -- and providing full-body shower- and rain-proofing -- we add disposable plastic ponchos. Clever Deb remembering the raincoats and buying / bringing the ponchos. I remember my warm puffy jacket, still in my case in the hotel.

The performance begins. And what can I say? Terrific! It's on tv, each year on New Years Eve. Watch it -- then imagine being there, watching it live. Wow!

Bagpipes by the hundreds. Scores of drummers. Marching music of all types. Formation marching, dancing girls... Yes, really. The Scottish dancers in tartan, of course. Oh my, the women's kilts are being worn short this year :-)

Even amongst the impact of hundreds of people marching, playing, dancing -- New Zealand provides two outstanding acts. Soldiers marching, playing marching music, okay. Then they do a haka and we're not the only ones in the crowd who think it's terrific. Then a separate NZ group do precision formation marching called Ice. It is... amazing. What more can I say?!

I'm starting to think, We must be half way through by now but there's no way this venue could handle an interval. Half way? It's almost finished! One hundred minutes? It just seems so short :-( we could watch it all again... sigh... What a great performance.

The final Scottish tune (Scotland the Brave?). Then the (British) national anthem. We all link hands for Auld Lang Syne. The lone piper plays. And that's it.

Hundreds of performers march (or dance) out, quite a few heading out under our seats. And that's it. The Edinburgh Royal Military Tattoo. Well worth the trip :-)

===

We walk to the station. Fifteen minutes till our next train, we take five of that to find the platform. It's an easy trip back to Linlithgow, a short walk home. To sleep.

Wow. I'm excited just typing my memories :-)

Friday, August 23, 2019

Wednesday 21st -- afternoon in Edinburgh

So we're back from a quick walk to get icecream (delicious, from an icecream shop up the road), returning via the local museum (small but good). Now back to yesterday...

===

We take the train to Edinburgh Waverley. It's easy, we're old hands, we did this yesterday.

aside: As I'm typing, a man is outside our open window. I think he's speaking Italian. If I concentrate I can hear that some of the words are English... Turns out, he is speaking English. Scottish English. Near incomprehensible.

Back in Edinburgh: We walk towards the castle. Turn off, reach the Scottish National Museum. Gates open for the Tattoo after eight pm, we have many hours to fill, we spend a few hours in the museum.

There's a lot here, we could have spent days! We're not looking for anything in particular, just wandering round. Not wandering too fast, not after I start to drip sweat. These buildings are designed for a cold climate, they can be a bit muggy inside.

===

another aside: In our accommodation, we wash a few pairs of underpants. It takes a couple of days for them to dry. Lying them on the heated:-) bathroom floor doesn't help. There's a "heated" towel rail but we can't find any way to turn it on. And on the theme of "fancy", the bathroom mirror is heated. After a shower there are two large warm areas, clear of steam.

The shower taps take some experimentation: there are three taps, unlabelled. Bottom tap fills the bath. Top tap is the shower, turn right for the hand-held shower, turn left for the fixed shower-head. (Or is it the other way round?) Centre tap adjusts the water temperature.

Of course there's a light and fan in the bathroom, switch is outside the door. Plus the fan and a dimmer light comes on automatically. Activated by a movement sensor, it's not safe to sit in silent contemplation for too long...

At the other, less modern, end of the room, the window has wooden shutters. Close the shutters at night to keep out the light. Close them with the solid, old, metal bar to keep out the world.

In the kitchen area, a two induction coil cooktop, microwave, small dishwasher, and a fridge. Deb fries eggs for breakfast :-)

Now back to Edinburgh:

===

We spend a couple of hours wandering the museum. There's a restaurant on the top level of the museum, we book for dinner. While we're up there we go up another level, it's outside. I go up the final stairs, to the outdoor terrace. Funny, I didn't like the stone spiral stairs at the palace, these metal spiral stairs don't worry me at all.

The view is nothing spectacular, a lot is blocked by the broad planters round the outside, which also make me feel safe. Rain is spitting down. I rejoin Deb inside the building.

Time for afternoon tea. Sweet or savoury? I ask Deb. Sweet, she replies. So I pick a sweet cupcake with light sugary thick frosting icing on top... sweet indeed :-)

At five pm we leave, the museum is closing. As we leave, we make sure that we know how to get back to the restaurant. We walk to the National Library, which is open till later. See the cunning plan? We are close to the Tattoo but avoiding the rain and the crowds. In the library we just sit and read free newspapers.

Back to the museum. There's a door open. A man inside, concierge for the restaurant, asks if we have a booking. In fact, I have no idea what he says, he speaks Scottish English but that is the question I was expecting. I give him our name, he passes us to another man who guides us to the lift, presses the button, tells us to go to level five then leaves us. Later, I wonder if these two are hoping to be tipped.

We take the lift up to the Tower Restaurant.

It looks quite flash. The food is quite flash, we choose options from the two-course "light, pre-show". All very nice. One of mine, whitebait, I like but is too fishy for Deb. We enjoy our own choices :-)

We spend a lot of time commenting on the people at the next table. One is a loud American man, a woman is happily being chatted up. The other two we identify as the man's sister and her daughter. All wild guesses but fun :-)

I go to pay, by card. The man says, This button allows you to add a tip... I say, Add ten percent and thanks for the lack of subtlety. I actually mean it, this place seems to deserve tipping. In general I object to tipping.

Another break, time for real-time dinner...

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Wednesday 21st -- morning in Linlithgow

Wednesday. The day of the Tattoo. The excitement builds :-)

We start with a stroll round town, Linlithgow. With a visit to the Palace.

Linlithgow Palace started as a fortress then was extended into palace. From a solid stone place for defence to a much larger country estate mansion. Four or more storeys, six or more towers, dungeons, parapets, the works. Now a very substantial ruin.

We check out a few of the upper floors... remains of floors... The narrow stone spiral stairs and the open -- though fenced off -- upper floors make us (or just me?) nervous. There are pigeons -- and nests -- in once-inside areas. The fresh remains of a rabbit lie in one lower passage.

I'm left wondering about those spiral stairs. I can see that they are a stack of identical steps. Each step shaped like one of those spinning seeds, solid pod with a flat wing (the step) attached. So when the "pod" sides are stacked (and the wings, steps, fanned out) what stops them sliding sideways?

We also check out the collections of household items find around the palace.

the usual sort of stuff. I guess that they sacked the maid who broke all the earthenware.

===

After an hour or two at the palace, it's time for lunch, or tea, or something... I'm writing this the next day, memory is already fading. I'm sure I can remember:

We have coffee at the Burgh cafe, in Burgh Hall. The name makes more sense when I finally realise that it's pronounced "borough", it's the local council house.

We also, at some point, have lunch at The Coffee Neuk. Probably soup and bun, we do that a lot. Then home again for a rest... and to get ready to go to Edinburgh.

Time for a break. I'll be back after some real-time icecream...

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Tuesday 20th -- mostly Edinburgh

We start the day with breakfast in our room. The Court Residence may be fancy but breakfast is continental in our room. Which suits us, no need to act civilised amongst other diners :-)

Then, eventually, we go to the big city. A ten minute walk to the railway station. Buy tickets. Wait five minutes for the next train, they are every fifteen minutes. A 20 or 25 minute journey, one stop at Edinburgh Haymarket then a few more minutes to Edinburgh Waverley.

I know this is the station we need. I didn't realise there would be a choice of 3 or 4 exits. We pick one. A lucky choice, we follow crowds of people and soon find ourselves near the castle.

"Near" the castle? Well, we can see perhaps 500 people packed into a bit of road with space for half that number. That, we think, is the entrance to the castle. Where we are standing could be the top of the Royal Mile. It's crammed with souvenir shops which are crammed with tourists. The roads -- closed to traffic -- are walkable, the footpaths are not.

We sidle into a cafe. Packs of people, not a seat to be seen. We sidle out again. Not many cafes here. Lots of souvenir shops.

We walk a little closer to the castle... and find The Hub. An old building converted to function centre. Today its main function is to sell Fringe Festival tickets. It also has a cafe and a toilet, we use both. There is space in both... I think we have been too long in the country, these crowds seem awful.

There are posters for Fringe events, nothing appeals. Rather, the style of the posters put me off though they barely hint at what the shows would be about.

I have a quick glance at a brochure for the real Festival. Some of the music would probably be good.

In the street is a busker, a Spanish shading on classical guitarist. He is terrific, we listen for ten minutes. Excellent :-)

===

btw: I suspect that this journal (for the last couple of weeks) is a bit flat. I feel that I have been recording what we have done, where we have been -- but just recording. With too little humour, too little enthusiasm. Yes, we are enjoying this holiday! It's just me, I'm a bit flat, I tire too easily. Then I'm tired -- and flat -- when I post to the journal at the end of each day. Sorry! We really are enjoying ourselves :-)

===

We are near yet another "souvenirs of Scotland" type of shop. Let's go in and buy you a beanie, says Deb...

At home I have a knitted beanie from our first trip to UK, 40-plus years ago. It's my favourite beanie, with a lot of emotional attachment. Trouble is, it is finally falling apart, more hole than beanie. Deb wants to buy me a replacement...

It's okay, I explain, I love the new one that you, Deb, knitted. I love the old one only for its 40 years of history. Not for its style or even its... provenance.

And then I worry. Deb wanted to do this for me. She may be disappointed. Sigh...

I give Deb a hug, thank her. Tell her I love her. And I do :-)

===

Enough of these hordes of people. We hop on a hop on hop off bus, for a tour of the city. We just stay on for the entire journey, 7.5km in one and a half hours. During which there is pelting rain though it's fine before and after. The bus threads through traffic which I would avoid in a Mini.

Did you know that Arthurs Seat was the vent for a volcanic blowhole? It was worth the trip to find that out, I still chuckle...

===

We walk back to the railway station -- via the Festival Village. Which seems to be a pop up pub with food. And crowds. Then downstairs to the mall, down again to the food hall. Where, of course, we get coffee and cake. Cheesecake. It's a universal foodhall, different yet comfortingly familiar.

A group of three... young women finish their food, take out cigarettes, head out to the smokers' area. They look young enough that they will need to chew mints before they go home to their parents... Or do they just look young through my old man's eyes :-?

===

Down another level to the trains. We ask which train to take... it's up, across, down again... and there's a train leaving in five minutes. Somewhere we read that Waverley is the second biggest station in the UK. Yes, it is big.

A quick train journey, a short walk, we are home again.

Out for dinner at six, to 1807, a pub across the road from last night's. Again, good pub food, relatively simple.

We walk a bit after dinner, it's still bright daylight. A bit of exploring, steps up then under a tunnel, we are on the other side of the railway line. Linlithgow is a strip of town along the High Street, a busy through road. Shops and such either side of the road. One side is then edged by the railway, with houses but no shops beyond it.

What we find is a park, a geocache and a canal... Yet another cache which has brought us to an unexpectedly interesting spot! There are narrow-boats (some occupied, some for hire) moored in a broad part of the canal. And a statue of a cat :-)

And then we walk home again. And relax.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Monday 19th -- driving Lagg to Linlithgow

Ah the Lagg Hotel. So pleasant, so peaceful. So many good breakfasts...

After fruit, cereal, porridge, eggs, black pudding, toast, marmalade, jam, tea and coffee... we pack up, pay, leave.

It's an easy drive along the "lower" middle road. Lagg to Sliddery, Brodick via Lamlash via Ross. Narrow road, hardly any traffic, beautiful scenery. Still no sign of the deer and red squirrel that are supposed to be on this island.

We reach the ferry terminal by quarter past ten, way too early for our 12:30 ferry booking. I have a Plan A and a Plan B... Plan A is to park near the ferry and fill in time nearby. I search out a ferry employee and we quickly shift to Plan B:

The ferryman takes our ticket, scans it, waves us into Lane 3... to wait for the next ferry. As I suspected we are booked for "today" rather than "today at 12:30". We have time for a leisurely stroll round the ferry terminal, a very nice, quite new building. Then it's back to the car...

We sit in the car. The ferry arrives, it reverses into its dock. The ramp is lowered, cars and other vehicles drive off. Pedestrians walk off via an aerobridge. Cars and campervans and cars towing vans and trucks and several really large trucks -- drive on. As we drive on I think, It would be faster if we drove on in two lanes. Of course one of those lanes would drive off the one-lane ramp into the sea.

We drive on board. Switch off. Get out of the car and climb up onto the lounge deck.

The ferry starts moving, we have barely sat down. It is so smooth we can hardly tell it is moving. It's too early for lunch, I buy coffees and a lemon cake for sharing. I even manage to carry it upstairs to Deb in the lounge. Then I wander round a bit.

The ferry seems only half full, plenty of spare seats. There are quite a few dogs on board. (I wonder if they need tickets?) One great dane is sitting on a seat with his front paws on the deck.

I decide that this car ferry is at least as big as the boat that took us to Antarctica.

A 55 minute trip and we reach Ardrossan. Unloading is as fast and efficient as loading. The only excitement is that some cars have had their alarms set off, possibly by people pushing past to get to their own cars.

There's a little red light blinking in the car, we have no idea what it means. Deb says that hire cars should come with instructions. Good idea...

I still have no idea how to control the inside temperature. There are two knobs which adjust two degree-C displays but do they affect the temperature? The intermittent windscreen wiper turns on -- or not -- regardless of how I set it. If it is detecting rain, it's not very good at it. The headlights and sidelights turn on and off as they see fit, I have yet to find any controls. We once turned on the radio and took five difficult minutes to turn it off again... And so on :-(

It's an easy car for basic driving. As long as you don't mind the engine turning off when we're not moving and the occasional stall when we drive too slowly. And if we park, get out to remove something from the back seat, we often find that the back door has locked itself... It's a car which thinks for itself, thinks differently to the way I think, won't adjust its thinking to suit the driver... as far as I can tell.

===

Off the ferry we make two stops: at the hospital where my elder brother was born and at the house where our parents then lived.

The hospital is large, several buildings. I take a photo of a building that looks old enough. For the house I have two choices, the same number and street, different suburbs. I find one, take a photo. Near enough :-)

===

We drive on, towards Linlithgow. I would like to stay on smaller roads, just for the interesting driving. Deb wants to avoid motorways, she's worried about heavy & slow traffic. The gps wants to take us via motorways and Glasgow.

I take a few random turns. Turn into a random place for lunch: Adamton House, a sort of country club. The restaurant is closed but the man at reception is happy to organise sandwiches and tea. Very nice, too.

Judging by the mansion style of the gardens and the main building, I am expecting something very posh. But... white sliced bread! Which tells me (right or wrong) that this is a cut-price hotel. (Brittania chain, if I remember correctly?) Very nice ham on the sandwiches, though.

===

Then we follow the gps to Linlithgow. Via motorways, via Glasgow. All very easy, all quite fast. I spend a lot of time on 50mph, even when the limit is 70.

Despite the earlier ferry it's almost 4 o'clock when we reach our accommodation. It's The Court, a converted old court building. And wow! we've gone even further upmarket!

===

There's no dinner (and no cooked breakfast) here so we go out for dinner. To the Four Marys, a nearby pub. Food is not fancy, it's delicious, it may be the cheapest dinner we've had so far.

We walk a bit, up and down High Street. Then back to our room -- our "suite" -- and that's it for today.

Monday, August 19, 2019

Sunday 18th -- close walks

Today we stay close to home. A morning walk to a beach, an afternoon short drive then walk to a waterfall. Minimum driving, very relaxing. As if!

We walk from the hotel, into nearby woods. Along a pleasant trail, we were here yesterday... or the day before... some earlier time this holiday. We found a cache, the previous time.

Today we walk past the cache. Out of the woods. In a field next to our path is a cairn. A very old cairn, the sort which contains human remains. From the days when bodies were left out for wild animals then the bones buried in a cairn. No surprise that this cairn contained a mix of bones, incomplete skeletons of adults and children, plus some animal bones.

We join the Arran Coastal Way. We're still a few hundred metres from the sea, on the edge of farm fields. The trail is sometimes muddy, as it squeezes between bracken and blackberries.

It starts to rain. Should we turn back? Naahhh... we put on raincoats. Temperature is low teens, good for walking. I'm in shorts and warm enough.

Down a short farm track. We find a cache, we reach the beach. Secret Beach, it's called, both the cache and the beach. There's a band of rocks -- then actual beach sand. Part of the rock stands up like a natural 2m wall. Someone has topped it with a man-made stone and cement wall, it's not clear why, perhaps the wall used to go further and block off access to something.

Rain has stopped, there's a strong wind, a good day for walking along the beach. So we do.

We follow the beach for perhaps a km. Sand, some rocks, a couple of very minor streams to cross. A few birds, including a crow and a seagull sharing a dead sheep. We cross a rocky section which leads us to grass with only indistinct tracks. The next village is 5km ahead, there's no obvious way back to the road.

We've walked 3km from the hotel, far enough. We turn back

One area of beach -- just a few square metres -- has lots of little piles of sand. Clear signs that something, shellfish probably, have been burying themselves in the sand.

Another shower of rain. We retrace our steps to the hotel. Light lunch in the Velo cafe. Then we relax for an hour or two.

===

About 3 o'clock, we drive a few km to a waterfall. Or, rather, to a carpark somewhere near a waterfall. We park and walk.

There's a good clear track, down to a very pretty cascade over flat rocks. Is this the waterfall? Probably not, there's a cache but it's still 400m away.

The path crosses a bridge and zigzags up a steep hill. Past a viewpoint then up even further.To another carpark! We go back to the cascade and try another uphill path.

After more steep walking we reach a "library", a wooden hut with lots of books -- and pictures drawn by visitors. The cache is now just 100m away -- directly across a steep ravine. We follow rhe track further, around the top of the ravine.

Finally! a view of the waterfall. And a view to the lighthouse on a small island just off the coast. The cache is close by.

We follow the same trail as it goes directly downhill, to that second carpark. It would have been a steep climb up. More direct but less interesting than the roundabout way that we went :-)

We take the easy option and follow the road back to our car.

Drive home, relax, eat dinner and that's enough for one day. Oh, yes: dessert is very chef-y, a combination of flavours, very delicious.

===

Remember that I bought a new pair of "trail shoes" in Oban? I've been wearing them for several days, they are very comfortable. They have leather uppers and let my toes get wet, but otherwise good. So I have finally thrown out an old pair of hiking shoes...

The old shoes were bought for walking in Ireland, about eight years ago. They were said to be waterproof but never were. Not at all. They were always very comfortable but the soles are now worn thin. They can be slippery and I can feel every stone on the road. They were good shoes... they are now in the bin.

===

Tomorrow, we leave Arran. Driving, ferry, more driving... Could be a long day.

Sunday, August 18, 2019

Saturday 17th -- across Arran

Here's something very clever:

Every so often I shave. As well as the usual shaving gear, I require a good light and a mirror. The last two places have had both... except for the "good". The light is always above the mirror. When I look at my face in the mirror -- the light from above creates shadows where I want to shave. Well...

Lagg Hotel has a light above the mirror -- and the mirror tilts! I tilt the mirror and can see my face -- with no shadows. So simple. So brilliant.

===

This morning, we drive across Arran, from Lagg to Brodick. Google maps shows a road along the north coast, a road along the south coast, a road across the middle. If you know where to look, and zoom in close, you can convince Maps to show you another road across, a bit south of the obvious middle road. GMaps is useless at showing road options across "long" distances, as you zoom out, roads disappear -- and are not used in route selection.

We follow the "hidden" road, from Blackwaterfoot to near Brodick. It's a nice easy road -- compared to the twisty coastal route! Even better, this road takes us directly to the ferry terminal. We will use this road on Monday.

Today, our drive across Arran is easy. There's a lot of single lane with passing places but we pass just six vehicles in about 20 km. Easy :-) Though one was a truck, that made me sit up and take notice... and extra care.

We visit Brodick Castle, now a National Trust property. It's magnificent! Deb says, It's nice to see how the other half live. The other .001%, I say.

The owners -- for the last few centuries -- were the richest family in Britain. And top nobility. One lord travelled the world collecting expensive souvenirs. Back home he would then have his souvenirs set in gold and silver settings. A more recent lord bought race-horses which never won. He lost the family fortune, a generation later and the government took the castle as death duties.

===

There's a bit of original castle, a solid lump designed to be defended. Well, not quite original, one or two earlier castles failed the defence and were razed. In more peaceful times the very rich lord extended the castle -- made it three times as big. The new part is less castle, more a very fancy hunting (and entertaining) lodge.

We go through the castle. It's full of amazing stuff, with lots of explanation.

We reach the butler's pantry, he has a lot of work, a lot of responsibility. Down a narrow staircase -- to the kitchen. Wow! It's huge... what more can I say?!

===

We walk through the gardens. The massive beds of fuschias. Lawns, trees, flowers. The formal walled garden, the less formal woods. We walk along a forest trail, find a cache, walk back.

There's one shower of rain, otherwise fine and sunny. We eat lunch at the castle cafe (a separate, new building). Then we drive home -- along the road that google does show.

The scenery along either road is excellent :-)

===

Back to our hotel. Coffee in the cafe. I would like to collapse on a soft sofa in one of the lounge areas but they are all occupied. ie there are some other people in each room. Back to our own room, relax until dinner. Which is delicious.

===

A very short stroll after dinner, across the road to the "other" garden area. We spot another brilliant innovation:

There are compost bins, plastic, looking like upside-down rubbish bins, we have one at home. These ones have an opening, a door, at the bottom. As the leaves etc compost -- you can dig out compost from the bottom! Then add more material at the top. Continuous composting... brilliant!

To get compost from the bottom of our own bin we have to empty the whole thing. We decide that we will start a business, importing these bins into Australia.

===

And that's the end for today. Tomorrow we plan a couple of walks starting near the hotel. Today, now... sleep.

Saturday, August 17, 2019

friday 16th -- camera

On our afternoon drive I notice that the camera battery shows as flat. there's still some life in it but not much. that's just a day and a half of photos :-(

i'll have to remember to recharge every night. and get a spare battery.

it's a good camera, does what i want of a camera. as far as i can tell... i'll be interested to see what the photos actually look like. but it has more features than i need, so more options than i can manage. including a tendency to show menus when i just want to take photos. just needs practice and learning, i guess...

and i'm learning to recharge every night.

====    Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
             Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
===

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away." … Blazing Swan Survival Guide

===

dying for you to read my blog: notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au :-)
====

Friday 16th -- Lagg Distillery

We start the day -- after a good breakfast and a bit of a rest -- with a walk to the Lagg Distillery. It's new, just months old Deb tells me. A fifteen minute walk from our hotel. Uphill along the road. A pleasant walk but warm. Weather forecast is for heavy rain. In our corner of Arran we have cool sunshine. I'm soon down to a shirt, carrying my light jacket.

The road is a narrow two lanes and winding. Maybe half a dozen cars pass. Either side are stone walls or hedges, sometimes trees, fields beyond that. Crops, grazing land, a few sheep, lots of cows and calves. A stone cottage, a farmyard, a larger stone farmhouse. Less than a km away, the sea.

All very pleasant. Idyllic English... Scottish countryside.

We reach the distillery. There are some interesting words about Arran: geology, people and whisky. (Arran is divided by the same fault line that splits highlands from lowlands. Little local boats are wherries. People lived in small groups called clachans.) We don't pay for a tour, we do stay for coffee.

Deb has an ad for New Orleans style dinner tonight, we book.

===

We set off back towards the hotel -- and turn off along a "cart track" to "Cleats Shore". We're passed by a car. Which reaches the gated end. Then does a multi-point turn to go back again. We go through the gate, the track continues.

The track leads down to the sea. There's a large stone "wall", a natural pile of rock. Apparently it's quite common on Arran for rock to have been forced up to look like a stretch of wall.

There's a stone and concrete shed, used by cattle for shelter, by the look of the "mud" floor. We're within a few metres of the sea, almost down to sea level.

We walk a bit further, to the beach. Large stoney pebbles down to the water. We know it's a beach because there are seagulls. The large British type, with their distinctive calls. Most of the birds, though, are different, we have decided that they are shearwaters.

We continue walking parallel to the sea but staying in the grassy (and sometimes muddy) field. And there are pigs! Three adults and half a dozen large piglets. I like pigs, there is something so unattractively appealing about them :-) These pigs are behind a single line electric fence, very effective for an animal with a sensitive snout.

We zigzag up the hill, through paddocks, past cows and calves. There is a stone structure... It looks like an incomplete bridge, just the first couple of metres.. heading out into thin air. Or a tunnel mouth... with no tunnel. Where it could be a tunnel is... perhaps... a fireplace inside a very small room with no front wall. It's not a ruin, it looks almost intact. We have no idea what it is.

Out of the cow paddock into a sheep paddock. Up to a gate -- and out of the paddocks, back to the cart track. A very pleasant walk!

Back to the road, back to the hotel. We have a late lunch (soup and a roll) at the Velo Cafe, a part of our hotel to attract passing cyclists. There's a strong cycling theme, with books, pictures, videos of cycle races. Then we go back to our room and rest.

===

A bit later we get in the car and drive, in the direction away from the distillery. We are thinking of coffee and cake but there are no nearby cafes. We do find a couple of caches and some great views, then we turn back.

The cheese factory and shop is closed, possibly for good. We park at a primary school to look for a "cheese" named cache... a pleasant walk through woods. There are some pretty decorated stones along the way, probably done by the primary school children.

Walking back from the cache we see a path leading directly to the hotel... Deb follows that path, I go the slightly longer way to get the car.

Coffee and victoria sponge cake at the Velo then more resting in our room.

===

Evening. We drive to the distillery for dinner. A set menu with a "deep south" theme. It's delicious, there's plenty of it.

We sit next to Irene and Ray from Toxeter (I think those are the names) (home of JVC Machinery) in Staffordshire. A delightful couple :-) They are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. They walk nearly every Sunday in the Peaks District, near their home. He repairs, makes like new, old tractors. As a hobby.

===

Then we drive home -- and it's the first time on this holiday that we have been out after dark! Back to the hotel. Coffee. Blog... And sleep.

Friday, August 16, 2019

Thursday 15th -- Oban to Arran

Today we leave Oban. Once again, the gps has us turning down a dead-end street. After some tricky maneuvering and a near miss with a stone wall, I get back on track. Down to the main road, ignore the gps, we drive out of town.

Weather: There was heavy rain last night. As we leave our b&b the rain has stopped. The rest of the day is fine and, very occasionally, sunny. The only rain is a heavy shower in the early evening. The temperature crawls up to perhaps 16C, I'm sometimes chilly in a short-sleeved shirt and light jacket.

We stop at Arduaine Garden. It's more formal, more maintained, than Angus's yesterday. No better, I think, though Deb appreciates the labelled plants. Again, we get lost while trying to follow a lightly marked trail.

Walking out the path passes a bistro(!?). We stop for coffee, which we drink outside. It's cool but comfortable and the view -- over yet another loch -- is beautiful.

Then we drive non-stop to the ferry at Clanoigh. Not quite non-stop, I occasionally pull over to let other traffic past.

I realise what is really different about Scottish country roads compared to Australian: there are always large trees leaning over the Scottish roads. Yes, the scenery is completely different. But the driver barely sees the scenery -- for the trees.

Soon after I realise this, getting close to Clanoigh -- the trees run out.

I turn -- despite Deb's instructions -- into the wrong ferry terminal. We are on a narrow country road, there are several ferry terminals. A few miles later and we are at the correct terminal, there's not much here. Parking area, concrete slipway into the water, marked bays for cars to queue for the ferry. We are first in the queue, we park facing down into the water.

While waiting for the ferry we look for the Kintyre Trail, a walk track that passes here. There's an old stile to get from field to carpark and that's about it. No signposts, no trail markers.

===

We see the ferry leaving Lochranza on Arran, it's not very far away. It arrives, lowers a solid steel ramp, we drive on. Out of the car, inside to pay, we sit down -- and the ferry is already on its way. It's very smooth, we can hardly believe that it's moving.

I wander round the ferry. There are seats on the two decks above us, metal seats, outside. The ferry must be able to carry a couple of hundred people, today it's a couple of dozen.

I chat with a fellow passenger, a geologist. He says Arran started as a volcano, a big granite "pluton" pushed up. And "Hutton's Unconformity" changed the way that people understand geology. I'll be reading up on that but not writing any explanations.

I spot a dozen or more dolphins in the water! By the time I get downstairs to tell Deb, they are gone... ah well.

random memory: We don't see much wildlife. We have seen a rabbit... and a hare, while we were looking for a geocache. That was days ago.

We land at Lochranza and are off the ferry within minutes.

We stop for a late lunch, scones, at the Lochranza Hotel. Very nice, great view across the water. Then drive on.

From looking at google maps I know that Arran is Lochranza, Brodick, Lagg Hotel and nothing else... Wrong! There are several not too small villages down the coast road. Lots of people, accommodation, hotels... it's a busy holiday island.

It's a very pleasant drive down the coast. The road is narrow but two lanes. Constant twists and bends, I watch the road like a hawk, constantly nervous. But there is not too much traffic. I stress, but enjoy the drive.

btw: Our street gps has a feature that may be new, it beeps in warning. When road signs indicate, narrow road, sharp turn, oncoming traffic may be in the middle of the road... the gps beeps. I guess the warning locations are in the gps. I've not noticed this in Australia, here the beeping is every minute or so... lots of warning spots.

We drive through Brodick to look at the ferry terminal, we'll be back there in a few days. Then on towards Lagg. And on and on and on... It's 13 miles (I think) but the road makes it seem a lot further.

After what seems like an age I comment to Deb, The phrase that comes to mind is, "the arse end of the world." It's beautiful... yet it seems that we are driving beyond all civilisation. Okay, except for the village at Whiting Bay, the cottages everywhere, the hotels... It just feels like the middle of nowhere.

And we reach our hotel. After 4pm.

===

Lagg Hotel. Google has trouble finding Lagg, it prefers to call it Kilmory. The hotel is old (1793? I'll check that.) Very nicely done up. We're in a Garden Room, upstairs, overlooking a garden and a stream, possibly a brae. Very peaceful.

We eat dinner in the hotel, very nice. Having driven the roads... we may eat every meal in this hotel :-) The assistant chef was knocked off his motorbike, he's now in hospital, the owner is helping. It doesn't hurt the quality of the food, we enjoy it all.

===

Deb borrows a book of 25 walks, three are near Lagg. We'll check the weather tomorrow before we choose between walking or castle or distillery or brewery. Or cheese factory. All good choices :-) ... for tomorrow.

Thursday, August 15, 2019

Wednesday 14th -- extra

In the chocolate cafe, there's a window to watch the chocolate work. A window into a room with two tempering machines -- for dark and milk -- and one worker. The worker is hand-shaping chocolates.

He has a tray of chocolate balls, perhaps 300 of them. The balls look to have been squeezed out of a piping bag: flat bottom resting on the tray, almost round, small tail on top. The man picks up a ball. Pinches off the tail. Rolls the ball to make it smoothly round. Puts the round smooth ball back on the tray. Then on to another chocolate ball. Over and over and over...

He may have been working on the same tray when we left the cafe.

Wednesday 14th -- Oban on foot

We're in a b&b, breakfast is good. Hot food and cold food. A full house of guests, a full breakfast room.

Back in our room, Deb points out an interesting feature. When the toilet seat is up, the flush buttons -- set in the wall -- are hidden. No need to go to all trouble of lowering the seat... Just push it down a little and the seat slowly and carefully lowers itself. Entertaining and pointless :-)

Also, in the bathroom, are heated towel rails. Except... they only work for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening. Cunning and cheap.

===

By 10 o'clock we are ready to get out and see the town. No way we will drive... Even if the traffic has thinned out, we may never find "home" again!

We set off on foot, across the hill. We're following signs to McCaigs Tower. No idea what it is but there are signs... Okay, I've checked Wikipedia: The "tower" was built in about 1900 by a rich man. He intended to build a family museum and provide employment for local stonemasons, but died when only the outside wall was done. Inside is now lawn and garden, a bit of a folly.

We walk down to town and find ourselves right next to the Oban Chocolate Cafe... which is crowded. We decide to just buy some chocolates... which we do... then Deb spots an empty table so we sit. I order coffees and -- overwhelmed by all the chocolate -- I order a jam and shortbread sort of biscuit (Empire, no chocolate) to share.

We walk north, to Dunollie Castle. Along the coast road then through woodland. Dunollie is the ancestral home of clan chiefs for clan MacDougall. An online review says that it is not worth the price of admission, that's why I don't bother with online reviews -- it's well worth the visit. And we find a geocache on the way, our one Oban cache :-)

The castle is ruined but the manor house -- where people lived and still live -- has a lot of interesting stuff. Including some family history and family letters. We stay long enough for a light lunch. We buy a souvenir... which lucky person will get it when we get home?!

Back to town. It's a small town but busy. Started as a fishing port, now spread along the seafront from North Jetty to South Jetty. There is no bypass, all passing traffic must go through the town. End to end is an easy walk, probably less than a km. There are two parallel roads then a maze of streets back up the hill.

===

Back at the castle, my camera battery has run flat :-( I do carry it always switched on -- so that the gps will always be ready. It may be smart if I get a spare battery.

There's a camera shop in town, they don't stock my camera battery. Oh well. I'll have to be careful abour recharging.

We pass a bookshop. Dangerous, says Deb, but we go in anyway. And buy a couple of books. We can't resist books...

Then we look for a shoe shop that we have passed before... and buy a pair of hiking boots for me. Boots? They are labelled as trail shoes. Feel solid enough. And if Scotland can't sell a good hiking boot, I'll be disappointed.

It's an expensive walk through town!

===

Back to our room, we relax for a while. Then head out for dinner.

We try a place which is fully booked. The next place is just closing. We end up on the seafront where yesterday we ate fish & chips. Today we eat indoors at The Olive Tree. It's pleasant, cosy, slightly upmarket. We agree that it's about the same standard as Killin Hotel but with decor at least 20 years younger. Food is delicious.

We just eat mains. Mine is pan-fried sea bass on pea and scallop risotto. Delicious and I'm sure it's healthy :-) Deb has tempura sole, she says it's delicious.

We walk back to our b&b. Each time we walk home it's uphill. We usually go via a Jacobs Ladder, concrete steps up the hill. We pause regularly to admire the view. There are three seats on the way up. (And, I suppose, three seats on the way down...) It's hard work. Good training for trail running :-)

===

Back in our room we have coffee and Oban chocolates.

Today we have walked about 7km. In mostly fine weather. Soon after we get home -- there is a shower of heavy rain.

The end of another good day :-)

Wednesday, August 14, 2019

Tuesday 13th -- Killin to Oban

Today we leave Killin. As Deb says to me at dinner time, You've had a difficult day.

===

The day starts well. Another hearty breakfast: grapefruit, orange juice, scrambled eggs, sausage, hash brown, toast, marmalade, porridge, tea and coffee. I decide that that's enough, without adding haggis, baked beans, bacon or cereal.

The porridge is... not as I make it. Killin Hotel porridge is made with milk and is still runny. I eat it with jam, a practice I picked up from my cousin and his wife.

The food service is very very fast... Today I just manage the timing: grab juice & grapefruit. Place hot food order. Make tea, make toast, butter half. Hot food arrives, I'm almost ready to eat it. Porridge and coffee come last. Today I realise, I could always tell the waiter, No, I am not yet ready to order the hot food...

We leave the hotel just after 9:30. And stop two minutes later, at a bank. It's a Bank of Scotland, with the St Andrews Cross in front of the name. I can't help reading it as the X-bank of Scotland. There's an ATM round the side, we only realise this because we see a man using it. Deb withdraws fifty pounds.

For a while I thought we were going to have a cash-free holiday. Then I remembered packing money left over from the last English holiday. (I keep leftover cash rather than exchange it. It's good for the next holiday, or for the next family member going on holiday.) The cash is immediately useful -- cards are no use at the long house, nor at yesterday's tea rooms. Mind you, the notes are good but the pound coins are no longer valid currency.

===

We drive out of Killin. It was a good village :-)

On to a main road. Busy but not too bad, I can occasionally pull over -- lots of "truck stop" style parking spots -- to let cars pass. We've been here before. Either traffic is slightly less or I'm getting used to it.

In one village we stop to look for a cache. It's a bit of a walk up a hilly road, on the other side of a railway station. We don't find the cache but enjoy the walk. We drive a couple of miles down a single lane road for another cache -- which we also fail to find. But it does lead us to a nice walk -- through forest, to a waterfall. It's not "Stoney" Hill but something similar. The cache is off the walk trail and into the forest, we don't even leave the trail. Again, an enjoyable walk.

We also find Angus's Gardens, an open display garden. It's a memorial garden, in memory of a son who was killed aged 28. The mother wanted a less formal, almost natural landscape. Photos show lots of flowers and flowering shrubs. Today it's green and pleasant and in need of some pruning.

We wait in the car while a heavy shower of rain passes over. It's fine and almost sunny for the rest of our garden visit. Typical weather for this holiday. btw: I think we are in Glen Lochie.

The garden is big enough to get lost in, so we do. Deb asks me if I would like a memorial garden, she finds the idea a bit weird. We agree that a memorial compost heap may be more suited to my memory :-)

===

Back to the main road. A mile or two further towards Ft William. We turn off known roads, towards Oban. The road gradually drops down, to run next to Loch Awe. Mountains in the distance but this loch is between almost gentle hills.

We reach Connell(?) which has a distinctly seaside feel: it looks like there is seaweed on the edge of the water. Of course I could be imagining it, as driver I don't have much time to look.

So far so good. And now the day goes downhill :-(

===

We reach Oban -- and traffic stalls. It's bumper to bumper all through town. Okay, we keep moving but it's stop-start. We want to stop for lunch, parking areas are full. I finally grab a roadside parking spot, two spaces. My careful rental car parking -- making sure there is enough room in front to get out again -- takes up a bit more than one space.

It starts to rain. Heavily.

It's ticket parking, we have no good coins, the ticket machine rejects the "old" coins. (The honour box at the garden had no such problem... I'm sure the coins are acceptable at a bank...) We make a hasty purchase in the nearest shop and ask for change in coins. Buy an hour's parking ticket.

Walk through the rain -- and traffic -- to the nearest cafe. I sit, Deb goes to order at the counter, which is out of sight. It takes so long to place the order that I start to worry, I stand up to see if she is okay. Food -- eventually -- is good.

The rain has almost stopped. We go back to the car -- just as the parking ticket expires -- set the gps to our accommodation and start driving. The somewhat shortened space behind us is still empty, makes getting out quite easy :-) though we still need to wait for a kind driver to let us out into the still bumper to bumper traffic.

The gps wants us to turn right across one full lane of traffic and into another. I refuse to even try, I make the easier left turn.

The gps recalculates and sends us in a circle to the same intersection. I make my own way through town. The gps recalculates. Guides us into a no-entry one-way road. No, can't go there, it's the wrong way. I drive past. The gps recalculates, turns us into a dead end, someone's private parking. I manage to reverse out.

The gps recalculates, I ignore it and drive out of town. We try again. The gps wants us to turn right at that awful intersection. By now the traffic has cleared, the turn is easy. But pointless.

The gps recalculates, tries to get us against the traffic into those one-way roads. I drive way out of town in a different direction. Amongst farms and past a golf course. Deb and I check maps. We head back into Oban.

This time we have managed to approach town from the correct direction... We easily find our Glenroy Guest House. Even the gps knows the way... this time.

We arrive -- pull into the private parking area -- and check in. Phew.

===

We walk into town for dinner. Fish and chips outside, on the jetty. Then coffee and cake in a little cafe. At least I ask for coffee, I get tea. Deb says, You've had a difficult day.

Now it all gets better :-)

We walk round town. The Oban Distillery visitor centre is still open, we buy whisky. The centre closes while we are there. Not to worry, we don't want to *learn* anything. Though a distillery tour would be interesting -- if they were not fully booked.

We walk back home via some steps. (Deb has a tourist map, far better than a gps.) The steps... go up a long way. I guess it's good for us...

===

And we find our way back to our b&b. Ready to rest.

Tuesday, August 13, 2019

Monday 12th -- Ben Lawers Reserve

Quite a short drive today -- but slow. And very enjoyable.

We drive out of Killin, along Loch Tay, then turn into Ben Lawers National Nature Reserve. Ben Lawers is... a ben. A mountain. The Reserve is a large area round the ben. We follow one road through the Reserve.

Our road follows what is, I think, a mountain pass. It's a very broad valley with mountains on either side. The road climbs up and up ... then goes down and down ... to Bridge of Balgie. That's as far as Deb has definitely planned. (I plan the trip, Deb plans the days.)

The road is narrow. Winding. Wide enough for one car, with frequent passing places. For a while the road cuts across a 45 degree hill slope. I'm a bit tense but there is very little traffic.

Scenery varies from pleasant to very nice to quite spectacular. It must be great country for hikers, we pass two full parking areas and see quite a few hikers. Day hikers? By the time we return, the cars are gone.

There are also geocaches. We are stopped for a cache, well off the road, when an enormous log truck trundles along the road. Like a cross between a tractor and a mining truck, towing a trailer, both parts fully loaded with pine trunks. I'm glad we are off the road when it passes.

===

Just past Bridge of Balgie is a T junction, we turn right. There's a teashop, we stop for coffee and a delicious "nutty apple" cake.

There's a walk which starts just beside the teashop. So, of course, we walk the walk.

It starts off up a 45 degree hill. Steep, wet, with terrific views. We're looking over River Lyon in Glenlyon. Up, up, up... though we avoid the extra 40 minutes to walk to a war memorial and lookout. It may have been a reasonably level walk following contours, we find out later. Our walk is long enough.

After perhaps a km, the track levels out, then goes downhill again. We may be walking in birch forest. Then just above clear-felled pine plantation. Mud and water on the track, we are able to avoid most of it. Weather is good for walking, fine and cold. Not much wind, mostly sheltered by trees.

The tracks goes back down to the road, a km or so from where we started. We're at Innerwick: rough parking area, bridge, entry to an estate. And a dry-stone (but cemented) ww2 war memorial.

We start back along an "alternative trail to tearooms" but it soon becomes a trail of damp sludge. We walk back along the road. To have lunch (sandwich) at the tearooms.

Back in the car. We drive beside River Lyon, upstream along the glen. Another narrow winding road, with so little traffic that it is relatively stress free driving.

There is a fine white house -- which turns out to be a gatehouse, the driveway goes underneath. Two side roads have signs, Private road to castle and home farm. We glimpse what may be the castle, it's more of a mansion. From what little we can see.

Posters claim that Glenlyon is Scotland's loveliest and loneliest glen. I suspect that the owners are well up on Scotland's rich list.

There are dry-stone walls... some are kilometres long, parallel to the river. There are a couple of hydroelectric dams. Two streams come down the mountains in a series of spectacular rocky steps. There are plenty of cattle grids. With signs pointing to one side, Horse-drawn vehicles that side. Though I notice that the horse gates (with no cattle grid) have lots of grass and no sign of horse tracks.

There are caches all along this road, we find most of them. Each cache gets us out of the car -- into the very cold wind -- and we can enjoy the great outdoors and the views. It's all very peaceful, very pleasant.

We spend some time watching sheep being driven, on the other side of the glen. Hundreds of sheep, a couple of people, a car and a dog. We can hear the dog and sometimes see it.

We finally reach a cache above a large hydro dam. And decide it's time to head back. The road is a dead end, we are not sure just where it ends. The gps shows a cache 4km ahead. Maps (later) show the road ending at the dam. Hmmm. The cache may be on a road which branches to the other side of the dam.

We go back down the glen. With a detour to one side for a cache. The cache is called something like, Gorgeous views. And they are.

We stop just once more on that road, to photograph the gatehouse. And an enormous truck comes up from behind! I squeeze a bit further off the road. The truck squeezes by. I can hear small branches being snapped off on the other side of the truck. Oops...

===

Deb is navigator. She says that it's now a bit late for her planned route home. So we return exactly the way we came, through the Ben Lawers pass. It's a lot easier knowing what to expect. Even passing another road-wide timber truck is easy.

And so... home again, by about 4:30. Rest, dinner, a short walk and that's it.

===

Tomorrow we drive to Oban.

Monday, August 12, 2019

Sunday 11th -- round Killin and relatives

Enough driving! Today we walk round Killin. And meet relatives.

I've been in email contact with a nephew who is currently living in Scotland. I suggest that we meet for lunch at noon, that we will have been walking in the morning and plan to visit an historic site in the afternoon. He replies, Okay, meet at 1pm and we can go for a walk after lunch. Hmmm.

We start the morning's activities after our usual hearty hotel breakfast. We set off on foot, to look for a geocache. Today I'm dressed for walking -- shorts and light shirt, running shoes -- and feeling comfortable. Cold, but comfortable.

The weather is good for walking. Occasional light showers, Deb's umbrella is enough. Temperature in the teens, I carry my sleeveless jacket, wear it when we are not walking. And in some places where we are exposed to the wind.

===

First, we look for a geocache by Loch Tay. There is a marked track to Loch Tay, we had found it earlier, near the bus terminus. We walk betwen the hotel and the church. Sure enough, it leads to the start of the track. We turn left, to the loch.

There are puddles, some mud, easy walking. We cross the river on a solid iron bridge then turn right. Our track follows the river. It's a broad flat bare area inside a bend on the river. An area that looks as though it could be flooded by heavy rain. Our track has mud and puddles that we mostly can avoid.

A fence, a gate -- and our cache is under a nearby tree in the paddock... Our first cache for the holiday :-) Yippee!

Back to the path. We are still walking next to the river. A bit further... we reach the head of the loch. There's a lot of water flowing in the river. There's a lot of water in the loch. What more can I say?

We pass four other walkers and one jogger. It's a nice peaceful place for walking and jogging. Nice and flat :-)

Some of the trees have splits near the base -- with stones stacked in the splits, we wonder why. Support? Stone storage?

The path leads through a gate then turns left, towards the village. We follow the path... it is quite muddy... we cut across to the parallel minor road.

===

There's a track leading of the road, up the slope. A narrow goat track. But well used. We follow it. After a short climb the track is a bit overgrown, the only plant I recognise is blackberry. I'm in shorts... We turn back.

We would have liked to go further. I'm nervous of strange plants. Deb politely says that she is not fond of tracks when we don't know where they lead.

A bit later there's a road coming in from the right. Almost hidden in the trees is a sign, Something Castle, private property, enter at your own risk. We enter.

It's the ruins of the castle and mausoleum of the Breadalbane family. With two large, relatively new stone crosses, for the last(?) Lord and Lady of the family. The castle walls are almost a metre thick. The living space inside is perhaps less than our own house, spread over several floors.

Back to the road. We soon pass the new cemetery... this is where we walked yesterday. We continue on, back towards the village.

Coffee would be nice, I think. There's a hotel, it is closed. Closed for Sunday, perhaps. The time is late morning.

We walk on, back to the hotel... but cross the road, to Breadalbane fields. That's where the games were held.

Across the oval and we find Fingal's stone. A single stone, a metre or so high. No-one knows why Fingal put it there.

There's a path past the stone, part of the Heritage Trail, we think. There's a hill above the path. A clear but rough track up the hill. Some people visible at the top of what we can see of the track. Why not? we think. We start walking. Up.

We pass several groups on their way down. Wow! we say to the man carrying a toddler on his back. It's not too hard, he says, I walk up the Munroes. Oh, okay. Those are all the standalone hills over 9000 feet. Or something like that. When there are two together they are known as Marilyns. rofl... No, that's not my own joke :-)

A family group say that they stopped before the top. A man says that coming down is hard on the knees. By this stage I am glad that my diseases are not heart related.

We slog on. Not to the top, but far enough. We may have passed the steepest climb. There seems to be quite a way yet to go.

And... down again. Very enjoyable, we feel that we can now relax for the day... so we walk a bit further.

We follow the footpath which leads to a road through an area of quite new houses. There's a cat. Deb says, Here kitty kitty. The cat does not move. I suspect that it has warmed the spot where it is sitting and will not leave that spot.

There are cars, Deb says, so there must be a way out of this estate. Somewhere up the hill... We turn back -- down the hill -- to the path that we know leads to the village. We pass a man cutting the grass beside the path. We had passed him before, going up. He tells us that the road does indeed lead back into the village. We thank him, but decide to continue ... downhill.

And come back to the main street right next to the cafe where we will meet our nephew. And his wife and their dog.

We're early but we go inside. It's warm inside :-)

We order coffee while waiting. Americanos with cold milk on the side. A good choice when we are thirsty, as we are now.

We wait till after one, then order our lunch, soup and roll. We eat, pay, leave, walk up the street -- and the nephew arrives. The drive took far longer than predicted by gps... Not to worry, we walk up the hill to the Falls of Dorsach. To sit outside the pub.

Nephew and his wife eat lunch, Deb and I drink more coffee, lattes. Dog sits and attracts admirers. It's a golden retriever puppy, twelve weeks, very cute.

Then we walk a few hundred metres to the nearby cache. We explain a bit about geocaching. We all admire the stone circle which is near the cache. Then walk back to the hotel. The dog, being young, gets carried most of the way :-)

Nephew fetches their car, drives us back to our hotel. Nice people, it's been good to catch up :-) They drive off, we get in our car and drive to the Long House.

Turn at the sign, we had been told, At the house with a pink flamingo in the garden. We see the flamingo before we see the sign...

It's now raining, lightly, on and off.

The house is an original poor farmer's cottage. Built in 1865, lived in and adapted till 1940. 1960? Eventually bought by the National Trust and restored. Part of the interest is the 80 or 100 years of changes by the people living there. For example, more than twenty layers of 20th century wallpaper (and newspaper). The paper was decorative, it also added insulation and windproofing.

Back to our hotel. Relax. Eat dinner. Take a short walk. That makes almost 7km walked today. And sleep...

===

And I think I am up-to-date with this journal. Time to go out and do something new... :-)

Saturday 10th -- Loch Lomond

We're right on the edge of The Trossachs and Loch Lomond national park. It's time to check out Loch Lomond. We plan to drive down the west side of the loch, across the south then back home by the quickest way. Easy.

The road by the loch has some glimpses of spectacular views. There are lots of trees but occasional views across the water. The far side -- when I see it -- is high, steep and quite rough. Spectacular indeed.

The road itself is spectacular. Narrow and winding. Packed with high speed traffic. Driving is... nerve-racking.

I do catch glimpses of the loch. Mostly, I am watching the traffic. I try to pull over, to let cars get past. Then it sometimes takes a long time to get a break to get back on the road. No worries, for a long time there is nowhere to pull over anyway.

We begin to appreciate the idea of settling for a month or more into the one holiday location. A road trip holiday here, seems pointless!

===

We manage to get off the main road and find a picnic area with a beach. (But see a later comment.) A beach of stones, on Loch Lomond. With people swimming and boating. A smell of old barbecue. Crowded but pleasant.

The West Highland Way passes by, we walk a hundred metres or so along the Way.

Then it's back to the main, busy road.

We reach Balloch, at the end of the loch. We look for somewhere for lunch, pass a shopping and eating area, turn into a wool demonstration building which also sells lunch. We park, look at the crowds, consider the heavy rain, drive on.

We take a suburban road. Interesting but leading nowhere. Turn back, get back on the main road. Which becomes less of a main road. The traffic must have stayed on the mainer main road. Phew :-)

It's lunch time. There's a sign, Eat, drink, indulge. Sounds good, we go in.

It's House of ?Drannach? It starts with a gift shop laid out like Ikea, a single passage winding through to the cafe. There is a cake display, every cake is at least 30cm high -- including the single serve strawberry tarts... We have scones. Delicious.

I suspect that the House is set up to trap busloads of rich American tourists. Not that there are any here today. Some English. A family of teenagers. Various others. It may be a tourist trap but the food and staff are all very pleasant.

We're now across the southern end of Loch Lomond. Past the worst of the traffic. We drive to Drymen, there's a Rob Roy walking trail starting here, we believe that the start of the trail may be a driveable road. We never see the trail.

We set the gps for Aberfoyle, to get a shorter drive on less travelled roads.

We see numerous walkers, hikers. The WHW follows a lot of our road. Oh, btw: That earlier beach stop was probably, really, on this leg of the journey... Oh well, I never promise accuracy :-)

We are now on narrow winding roads through forest. Lots of hikers. Then a carpark -- choc-a-block with cars and campers and hikers. And it's the end of the road. Even the gps says, turn back... btw: On day one I found a setting for this gps to record where we go. Some day I may find out where we are...

The gps takes us ten miles or more back along familiar roads, all the way back to Drymen. My guess is, I missed a turn. From then on, the gps is taking us to the nearest turn-around point -- the carpark at the end of the road. When we finally turn back, it is all fine. From Drymen the gps leads us quickly to Aberfoyle.

Next stop is Port of Montieth. Before or after Aberfoyle? I can't remember. I may look at a map. Later.

Port of Montieth. Monteith? That does look better. Port? Why a port, it's on a small lake?! Anyway: we stop for coffee at the Lake Hotel.

My impression is, this hotel caters to rich locals. Don't worry, staff are friendly. As are all the people we deal with in Scotland.

We enjoy delicious coffee, sitting by the windows, looking out over the lake. An island across the lake. A few people on small boats, fishing. A very very pleasant break. Especially welcome after the hectic driving of the morning.

And then it's an easy drive home. The last stretch is familiar, we drove here on our way from Edinburgh.

We pass the coffee cabin on the shores of Loch Lubnaigh... I suspect that I forgot to mention that: On our first drive, to Killin, we stop here for coffee and cake. All very nice, drinking coffee and eating home baked cake, looking out over the water.

Today, we drive past. And are home with time to spare to rest before dinner.

After dinner we go walking. Along the road, away from Killin. Almost at the end of the houses we turn off onto a smaller road (Pier Street?). I'm looking for the track which will lead to a cache. We don't find the cache but we do find the new cemetery. Enough walking. We turn back.

The *old* cemetery is directly behind our hotel. Ruins of an old church are between the hotel and cemetery, the current church is at the front, across the carpark.

===

The end of another day. The morning -- driving -- was stressful. The day then improved. And continued to improve.

Tomorrow, we decide, there will be more walking and very little driving. And (in the real time of writing this post) Sunday is, indeed, more relaxing. More will be posted... tomorrow.

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