The early May bank holiday was finally a confluence of good weather, me being well and a day not at work. So it was time to head out and get some walking done. Plan was to do the round of Scald’s Law in the Pentlands.

Hit the road early to a smattering of rain but by the time I’d parked up at Flotterstone, the rain was off and the sun was out. It was fairly windy but nice walking weather. I pulled on the boots and the rucksack and headed out on the path.

Part of the reason for the walk was to check out my gear was still ok and a first outing for the Oregon 600 sat nav that I bought.

First off was the climb up Turnhouse hill. At this point I realised that all the hill walking muscles in my legs had gone and this was going to be a challenge. Still I got to the top without too much pain. It was blowing a gale at the top and my map case was flapping in the breeze and trying to strangle me.

Stopped to take photos then it was on to Carnethy Hill. The sun was dipping in and out behind the clouds but the weather was still fine.

The cairn on Carnethy hill is massive and well spread out. I clambered around for a bit more taking photos then it was down for a while to the start of the climb up Scald Law. The path is well defined and zig-zags up the hill making the ascent easier on the legs.

My camera has a sweep panorama function but using this at the top of Scald Law was impossible with the wind buffeting me. Still the views over the Pentlands and towards Penicuik, which was glinting in the sunlight, were impressive.

Down Scald Law to the crossroads in the path then on further down till I reached Threipmuir Reservoir. Stopped there to have a bite to eat and a drink then followed the path back round to Flotterstone. It was getting on for midday now and the car park was full so I was glad of coming early.

All in all a good day. The sat nav performed well but was low on batteries after 4 hours of walking. I need to have a look at the instructions to see if there is any way of turning off the screen when not using it to preserve the life.

Now planning and looking forward to the next walk.

Some photos from the walk :-

First weekend away this season and my first trip away in the new California (which I have decided to call Cali). My choice for this weekend was Northumberland, specifically Haltwhistle. I love this part of the country and I’ve been meaning to come back and see a bit more of Hadrian’s wall.

Took me about an hour to load up Cali for the trip. There is about the same amount of storage space, including a massive boot, as my old van but it is arranged differently so there was a certain amount of trying to find spaces for things.

Took off at about 8h30 and with a quick pit stop for food, I hit the A68 and headed south. The road wasn’t too bad, there was some traffic but it was flowing freely along it. However just south of Jedburgh there were some road works and it look like part of the road had subsided. I had forgotten how much of a roller coaster the road is but it got even more entertaining when I pulled off to head towards Hexam. That road was really up and down with signs saying “Hidden Dip” and alike. Then onto a B road with a surface so bad I couldn’t get any speed up on it at all.

The reason for the cross country travelling was that I was intending to stop at Housesteads fort on the way to the campsite. The weather wasn’t great with mist and some drizzling rain but I decided to stop anyway. The fort is reasonably well preserved for a Roman fort on Hadrian’s wall and there was plenty to see in the attached museum. There were also staff dressed as Romans to answer question. It being the Easter weekend, there was an Easter Egg hunt going on as well.

Wandered around the fort for about an hour then went back to the van and had a sandwich while overlooking the rolling hills of Northumberland. Or at least, what I could see of them as there was a bit of clag.

Headed for the campsite after lunch, passing through fantastically named Twice Brewed. Here, the sat nav and I had a falling out as it wanted to take me down some narrow unmarked roads and I was wanting to keep on the B road till it met the A69. A longer road for sure but one that was easier to drive. Since I was the one in the driving seat, I won.

Eventually saw signs for the campsite and they weren’t kidding when they said it was a steep approach. 10% hill and Low Gear Now signs. But I was in, got my pitch and started the set up camp.

First order was my new awning. This is one of the new Vango Keela 2 blow up awnings and it was so much easier to put up than the old one. Six pegs in the ground then pump it up and in 30mins it was standing. With practice, that will come down.

Tea was fish and potatoes and then a shower. Facilities are a bit old fashioned but they’re clean and there was plenty of hot water.

Watched a bit of Dr Who (Terror of the Zygons) then off to bed. The lower bunk was easy to make and comfortable.

Woke the next morning after a decent sleep and stuck the heater on to take the chill off. Which it did rather well, the van becoming a sauna in about 15mins. The heater is a bit noisy but works well.

After breakfast, I headed out on a walk to Haltwhistle. It had been raining for several days up to that point and the path was a bit muddy. First stop on the walk was Flowerstone bridge. Very high and with quite an angle on the approach this was worth seeing.

Then on through farmland and countryside and into the town. After the inevitable stop at the tourist information it was on to Mr George’s Museum of Time. This contained a collection of clocks that the owner’s father had collected over his years as a clock and watch repairer. The name Mr George comes from a series of children’s books that the owner had written with the central character based on her father.

Haltwhistle claims to be the center of Great Britain and there were several signs to that effect.

Then it was back to the campsite via the Railway station which still has some authentic 19th century features. The sun was really out by this point and it was a fantastic day for walking.

Back at the camp I hit the showers again and managed the schoolboy error of forgetting my towel. Ford Prefect would have been most displeased. I had to get dressed (in the clean clothes I had brought) go back to the van then back to the showers to get dried off and change into a different set of clean clothes.

The awning was dry so I took it down before tea then after having eaten, I settled down for some more Dr Who (The Three Doctors).

Last day in Haltwhistle I was up early and on the road about 9am. There was a pretty thick fog with poor visibility and I toyed with the idea of staying on the A69 to Newcastle and heading up the A1. But, I thought, the A68 can’t be that bad. Wrong. It was. A roller coaster with 100m visibility isn’t that much fun. There was one beautiful moment where the road climbed a hill and I was out of the fog. I could see sunshine and the fog in the valleys round about.

The fog cleared by the border and I stopped there to have a break and revel in the sunshine. Then a very pleasant journey home.

The trip was brilliant and the van performed really well. Comfortable, cooking was good and the awning easy to put up. Looking forward to my next adventure with Cali.

Last weekend I traded in my faithful camper van Harmony. She has been with me on many adventures through the five years that I owned her but was requiring a little more TLC to keep on the road that I was able to give. I’ve no garage facilities here and even if I did, the extent of my mechanical abilities stretch to replacing the windscreen washer pump (and even that took me 90 minutes). So, as sad as it is, I bid her farewell.

When I started looking for my new van, I wondered what I would require. Harmony was the first van that I owned so when I bought her, I really had no idea of what facilities were needed. In the end, I only ever used the loo at night and never used the hot water or the shower. However one of the big plus points was that she was quite petite at slightly under 5m long. This was one of the main points I wanted in the new van, a small vehicle I can take wherever I want to go. This is more of a challenge than you might think as most of the manufacturers are going for ever longer van conversions. Compact is considered to be 6m.

I decided on the classic camper van layout of bench seat at the back and kitchen down one side. Initially I was attracted to the Wellhouse Leisure Terrier. Ticked all the boxes and was on the new Transit base. It has been getting rave reviews in the press but probably for that reason, there is a 6-8 month waiting list (as of november this year).

Next up was a VW. You can’t own a camper van and not own a VW one at some point in your life. I considered some from Hillside Leisure and then even considered buying a transporter T5 and getting it converted. But while I was out looking for a T5 at the local VW van centre, I came across the VW California and fell in love with it.

The California is VWs own conversion. Built to the standards you’d expect from VW with aluminium honeycomb technology for the interior fittings and loads of neat touches like two camping chairs that fit into the boot lid and a camping table that lives in the sliding door.

I took the California for a test drive and it was very pleasant. Smooth, well put together with no rattles and all the modern toys. It was the one for me.

They are expensive but I got a good deal on an ex-demo model and if I look after her, she will last for many years to come. I have decided to name her Cali.

I’m looking forward to 2015s adventures and I can see lots of them, fate permitting, in the future. As for Harmony she served me well and I really hope she goes to a good home getting the care and attention that will keep her on the road for years to come.

This book, set a little way into the future, tells the story of Mae, a new employee at The Circle. The Circle is a Facebook like social media company writ large. It has many fingers in many pies alongside the sharing idea of social media such as identity, shopping and search.

The story opens with Mae, having tapped her friend Anne for a job, starting as a customer support person. At this early stage, there are inklings of the attitude of the company. Customers rate her on how helpful she’s been and because these metrics are tracked, she’s encouraged to follow up whenever the feedback is less than perfect.

As the story unfolds, she is drawn further into The Circle, having relationships with two other Circlers. She fully subscribes to the philosophy of the company and begins to lose the understanding of people for whom social media is not the be all and end all.

At the midpoint of the book there is a crisis. Mae is caught, on surveillance cameras that The Circle is trying to make ubiquitous, committing a very minor infraction of the law. When grilled by the big boss of the company she fully gives in and becomes a part of The Circle and its ideals. She goes “transparent” which means she carries a camera and records every moment of her waking life.

This transparency mimics the wider Circle as it pushes for more and more information to be put online and made freely available no matter what the cost. Politicians are encouraged to go transparent and those that do not or criticise have mysterious falls.

As those hurt by The Circle’s ideals mount, Mae reaches a point of inflection. She has to decide whether she is going to go along with push or blow the whistle.

The book is written entirely from Mae’s point of view and espouses her ideals. It is through Mae that we are introduced to the point of the book, a cautionary tale of the growing power of social media and online companies in general. There are consequences to the opening of lives and handing over personal information.

It also looks at changes to us as a society that the social media is causing. At several points in the book, Mae is contacted by needy people and chastised for being slow to follow up on requests.

I found the book both thought provoking and a little disturbing. The Circle or something like it is the endgame for many companies such as Google or Facebook. Total information and the ability to extract profit from it. Is there a point coming where we begin to worry about it, especially for the next generation growing up with effectively no privacy.

I find myself wondering when the world and Geek-dom in particular became so full of haters. It seems every forum is full of bile and every discussion descends into a slagging match.

The catalyst for this thought was reading some of the reviews for the Blackberry Passport. To be sure, this is an unusual device and Blackberry have targeted it at a particular segment of the market. They’ve looked at what they think a business person wants and tried to tailor the device to that. All credit to them. They’ve been on the ropes a little in the past few years and they’ve come out swinging. I hope it does well and I do harbour some desire of getting one.

However many of the reviews have been scathing. Not a case of the reviewer carefully considering the device and the target market and coming to a conclusion that they think it is wrong. Rather they have been smug and sarcastic writings of someone who has taken the opinion that it isn’t Android or iOS and therefore must be rubbish by definition. The attitude of it-doesn’t-work-like-I-expect-thus-does-not-work is prevalent as these people mistake easy to learn for easy to use.

The followup comments on the reviews have equally been full of the smug self righteous proclaiming that their view is the correct one and that those who disagree are defective in some way. Often resorting to ad hominim attacks.

I fear that this is a reflection of the world. Debates in Parliament are now at the level of playground conflicts. There is no respect for other peoples views, no attempt to come to a consensus or persuade through reason or great rhetoric.

However, the geek world has something especially unpleasant about it. In every community and hobby that I’ve every joined, from BMF and running to the Salsa scene and to things I did as a kid such as racing model cars, I’ve been welcomed with open arms. I’ve been helped in to the hobby, advice given and generally made to feel a part of things as quickly as possible. Compare that with the experience of “newbies” in the tech industry. Treated very badly and with contempt. Advice given grudgingly and often appallingly bad advice given as some sort of hazing ritual. And the experience of gaming is even worse. Abuse shouted over communications channel with the Women who dare venture into the games receiving worse. It is difficult to believe that this is the supposedly civilised west in the 21st century.

Perhaps it is our own fault. As so called digital natives, there is a loss of ability to concentrate and this means that carefully constructed arguments are not read. A common reply to any long article is tl;dr.

We’re losing something here. If the masses impose norms and any deviation is ridiculed, where is the innovation going to come from? If those new to the tech industry are comprehensively hazed, where is the next generation going to come from?

Time for the summer holiday and this year I was heading south. Not necessarily in search of sun but for some relaxation and to see the sights.

So on Monday the 7^th, I hit the road about 9:30am in glorious sunshine and headed for the A1 south with a quick pit stop for food at Cameron Toll and for fuel at ASDA Dunbar. The A1 is a road I have driven on a number of occasions and it has never endeared itself to me. Alternating single and dual carriageways for most of the length in Scotland and northern England means that it is possible to get stuck behind something for some distance. Add to that, this year, they decided to add some road works into the mix.

But nevertheless, I made it to the first site at Knaresborough. And in a fit of excellent timing, I missed the Tour De France by one day. Probably for the best, most of the roads were shut. Pitched up and got the awning in place with only a little swearing. The sun was still shining and I was “glowing” with the effort of putting the awning up so I hit the showers (up to the usual Caravan Club standard) and settled down for the night with an episode of Shetland. Very good but feature length which I hadn’t realised.

Woke the next morning having had an ok night because, as is traditional, I’d forgotten something. And in this case it was a pillow. Still, was up early and after breakfast, hit the road for my first day trip of the holiday. The Knaresborough site is a little outside the town, about half an hour’s walk away. Knaresborough itself is close to Harrogate and sits on the train line between Leeds and York. It was to York that I was heading and was quite impressed when a class 150 DMU pulled up. I thought they had been put out to pasture a while ago. But it was a comfortable and reasonably quick trip to the massive station at York.

The first port of call of any trip to York has to be the National Railway Museum. I got there for it opening and spent an hour geeking out looking at the trains and other railway items. The Deltic was hidden in the corner but there was a new and rather splendid looking steam loco along with the Mallard.

After the museum, the next port of call was to be York’s cold war bunker. However, I misread the opening hours and got there to discover it was only open at the weekends. I got bus back into town and the next thing on any list of sites to see in York, The Minster. Decided to forego the guided tour and the climb to the top of the tower and spent the time instead marvelling at the stained glass windows. They are currently in the middle of a multi-year restoration of the large window at one end of the minster and there was a fascinating display on the work that they are doing. It will be worth going back to see when complete.

There wasn’t really anything else I wanted to see so it was back to the station and back to the Van. There was a cloudburst on the way back with one of those rainstorms that lasts 30 minutes then the sun comes back out and turns the place into a sauna for an hour or so.

Wednesday the 9^th dawned early; one of the problems with the van is that the curtains do next to no job of keeping out light. It was back to the station and heading in the other direction, to Leeds. The main goal of going to Leeds was to see the Royal Armouries. On the ground floor they have some WWI and WWII weapons that have been converted to simulate target practise (presumably they fire lasers at the screen showing the target). I had a go on the 303 and found that I was a 2^nd class shot. In to the museum proper, there was a display on jousting.

The armour was looking very good and then there was something unexpected but very welcome. A display of replicas of the weapons used in the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies. Good to see the swords up close, the detail that goes into them is amazing.

The timeline of the displays showed how warfare has changed over the years with armour and lances being replaced by guns and castles being rendered obsolete.

The centre of Leeds is a large shopping area. I wandered around looking in various shops till I found a Lego shop in one of the malls. Since it was my birthday, I treated myself to a Lego Mindstorms set. More wandering then it was time to head back to the train. Leeds station is huge, possibly bigger than York’s. Back at the van, I spent the afternoon reading. I usually bring along a few books to get my teeth into while I away and my Nook ebook reader is perfect for it. I finished the book Stuffocation (more on that in another blog post).

After dinner and another episode of Shetland, it was bed time.

Thursday, I decided to spend the day in Knaresborough itself. There is a castle and museum. The remaining castle itself is fairly small, having been largely destroyed at the end of the English civil war. The museum tells the story of life in that part of the world from its foundation.

Mother Shipton’s cave is nearby but I decided to give that a miss as I’ve heard that all it is is a petrifying cave. Plus it was a bit of a hike along the road and it was getting pretty hot at this point. So I settled for a walk along the river bank to marvel at the viaduct.

Friday was moving on day and I packed up fairly lazily at Knaresborough as there was no point in hurrying. I headed for River Breamish via the Morrisons at Harrogate getting only slightly lost in the process. The traffic was heavy round Newcastle but once on the A697 it was clear and I made good time.

The River Breamish site is just past Powburn on the A697 and I arrived about 2pm. I checked in and found that the wardens had been at the Edinburgh Caravan Club site last year. We chatted for a while then I got pitched up. Decided not to erect the awning.

Saturday, I had a very lazy day, just sat basking in the sun reading. I did wander into Powburn but there wasn’t much there.

Saturday evening, I finished the last episode of Shetland and settled down. By this point, the weather was turning and the forecast rain was arriving, it started to get heavy at night.

Sunday, it was time to go home. And good timing too as the weather had turned. It was raining pretty heavily as I packed up. I hit the road, following the A697 north to the border. As I drove the weather gradually cleared till I was back in Edinburgh and in the bright sunshine.

All in all a fantastic trip. Both Leeds and York are well worth a visit and it was nice just to sit and relax. But now I’m home, I’m planning my next adventure.

Over the past couple of weeks, Harmony has been feeling a bit sick. There has been some squealing while driving, a funny burning smell and she’s been running a little hotter than normal.

So last weekend it was off to the doctors in the form of the garage Robert W Brownlie. The squealing and burning smell was quickly traced to the front brake which was binding on. This was sorted by buffing it down and greasing up the caliper.

The temperature problem was more difficult to spot. Turned out the fan wasn’t running. On a boxer, the fan is electric and there was a broken wire in the wiring loom.

Everything was fixed and Harmony is back to normal. All ready for some more adventures.

With training for the marathon, the first trip away in the van has come fairly late this year. But here it was, beginning of June I was off to the Caravan Club site at Melrose. I’ve been here before and it is a lovely site, if a little difficult to get into. But somehow I got a booking and off I set.

After a quick trip to the shops for some weekend sustenance, I hit the road. This time I forgot the sat nav as it was a straight-ish road. I’d also forgotten to put the freezer packs in the fridge to start cooling it down. Never mind.

Round the bypass and onto the A68, the journey down was very pleasant. It is very instructive to see just how much more expensive fuel is outside of Edinburgh. 4p a litre dearer in the towns I passed through.

Despite, or perhaps because of, forgetting the sat nav, I made the standard navigation error and ended up driving through Melrose itself rather than going round the bypass and coming in from the other end. Still not to bad though I did drive right by the site and had to turn around.

Arrived, booked in and started the pitching process. The Caravan Club seem to be getting very strict about how to pitch up and I managed to get it wrong the first time. But after turning the van around, I got the water filled, the electricity on and lunch eaten.

Usually at this stage of the pitching process, I start swearing at the awning and vow never to take it with me again. However, having spent the entire winter considering how best to erect it, I tried the new tactic and amazingly, it was done in 30minutes. The key seems to be to peg the corners down first then put the poles through.

I nipped into town to get some sunscreen and visit the local butchers for some more food then since it was early in the afternoon, I headed along to Melrose Abbey.

This is a fantastic visit. The ruins are well maintained by Historic Scotland. And there is plenty to see. Including a marker where it is said that Robert The Bruce’s heart is buried.

Melrose Abbey

Melrose Abbey

Back to the van it was time for tea and the chicken fillet that I had purchased earlier. The omnia oven performed admirably as usual and I sat bathed in early summer sunlight eating.

Sat down to a DVD for the evening. Instead of the usual Doctor Who, there was a couple of episodes of Dempsey And Makepeace. Quality mid 80’s cop drama.

Night saw the first opportunity to try out my new Duvalay . This is a replacement for the sleeping bags that I’ve never been entirely comfortable in. First impressions were good.

Up on Saturday morning bright and early having had a good night’s sleep in the Duvalay. Very comfortable and quite warm enough.

After breakfast, I hit the road for a walk in the Eildon hills. The weather was fantastic and the walk glorious.

Eildon Hills

Eildon Hills

Eildon Hills

Eildon Hills

Got back to the site for a shower to discover I’d left the breakfast dishes sitting in the dishwashing area. D’oh.

After lunch I decided that I’d earned a nap from the morning’s walking. Woke up about 3pm to torrential rain. This was a downpour of biblical proportions. It was running down the road in rivers and one side of the pitch was beginning to flood ( and mine wasn’t the only one ). Started getting a little nervous as the electrical cable was under water.

Evening fell and tea, consisting of possibly the biggest pork chop I’ve ever seen was eaten. I sat down to a couple more episodes of Dempsey and Makepeace then hit the sack.

Sunday morning, the rain was off, the sun was shining and the pitch had drained. I did my best to dry the soaking wet awning and then broke camp for an uneventful and pleasant journey home.

Brilliant weekend away. Saw the Abbey ( always worth it ) and got some walking done. Even survived the downpour. Looking forward to the next one.