Category: Uncategorized (Page 6 of 11)

The start of a new year and some time to reflect on the future. Best done with a good view. 

Today I had the feeling that I had to get out and go for a walk. A whole week plus Saturday stuck inside, it was time to get out and walk for a while. 

So I pulled on the boots and headed for the lump that dominates the heart of the city. Weather was cold but pretty much dry so it was perfect. 

Took a different route up from normal, climbing some stairs from the foot of the hill. On the climb, there were some views to be had. 

Didn’t tarry long at the top as it was fairly busy and quit windy. Onwards and downwards it was to the loch then round the road and down further. 

From there I took Supertramp’s advice and took the long way home. 

Even for such a short walk, it was nice to get out. I feel so much the better for it. 

It is the end of the camping season again and time to take stock of the years travels. While it got off to a slow start, there’s been plenty of things to see from the van’s window.

The Caravan club site at Melrose was my traditional first get away of the year round about the end of April. I usually head here first thing in the year as it is fairly close to home so if the shakedown of the van fails, I don’t have a massive journey back. The weather was cold but I got some good sight seeing in round about the abbey. 

May was a camping free month due to taking part in the Edinburgh Marathon but early June it was off to Durham. I’ve been here before and it is a very handy site, just off the A1(m). The reason for the trip was to do the Beamish open air museum. This was the second time I’ve been and it was as great as before. If you’re in the area, it is very much worth a visit. A whole day can be spent there. 

Summer holiday was Hertford to visit London. I did the tourist thing, saw many of the sights and enjoyed the good weather. Stand out for me was the Bond in Motion exhibition of all the James Bond cars. 

August saw two trips away. First was Herding Hill Farm near Haltwhistle to walk along part of Hadrian’s wall. Weather again was wonderful despite being woken at 4am due to a howling gale. Saw a part of the wall and some of the museums. A lovely little site to visit. 

Second of two trips away was Blair Atholl. This was to get some walking done along Glen Tilt. Lovely walk and plenty of photos taken. 

Last trips was Castlerigg Hall near Keswick. Again this was to do some walking. Weather at this point broke down with torrential rain on the day I arrived as I was setting up. Also the hill I was climbing, Skiddaw, was in the cloud. Still, it cleared up and the walk was worth it. 

There’s also been some day trips for walking and running around in the van. In general the van came through it all with no problems, the only thing that did go wrong was mould on the upper mattress. I’ll get that replaced for next year. 

So now it is time to hibernate for winter and dream of next year’s adventures.  

Hit the road on Friday morning heading for the Lake District for possibly the last weekend away this year. Was in the van and running at 9h45 and after the usual pit stop at Sainsburys it was onto the road south. Initially slow going on the A702 due to a lorry, once I reach the A74(M), I  was making good time and only got slightly lost exiting the M6 to get on to the A66.

Castlerigg Hall Campsite

The site is outside of Keswick proper up quite a steep hill. The rain had started almost as soon as I got into the van and by the time I arrived about 13h00, it was fair chucking it down. I booked in, pulled the wet weather gear on and started to put the awning up. At this point I realised that when I booked, I had not intended to take the big awning so had quite a small pitch. But I shoehorned myself on and only got a little damp in the process.

The site is quite impressive with some of the pitches having really fantastic views over the lakes and hill and there it a well stocked shop with food, camping gear and souvineers. There was even a freezer so I treated myself to some frozen chips which cooked pretty well in the omnia oven alongside the fish.

Saturday dawned with the rain having gone off about midnight. After breakfast I pulled on my hiking boots and it was on to the main reason for the trip, climbing Skiddaw. The first part of the walk was on fairly flat ground so I made good time though the weather was very close and I was sweating a fair bit having regretted putting my windbreaker top on.

Hitting the base of the mountain I could see there was low cloud shrouding the summits however it was onwards and upwards. The climb at this point was steep and slowish going. Took a detour to bag the summit of Little Man before on to the main event of Skiddaw. On a good day there will be impressive views from the top but today it was in the clag. I did get a couple of photos but not much of an opportunity.

Skiddaw

Skiddaw

Never mind, I bagged the summit and started down. The trip down was almost a slow as going up as I was taking it easy on the knees. By this point it was late morning and more people were starting the ascent. The weather was also clearing as well. During the descent, there were a couple of Autogyros flying overhead. Very low down as well.

Instead of heading back to the campsite, I went into Keswick and wandered around the shops and market. Lunch was had amongst the bustle of the market and a t-shirt and hoodie were bought at a shop called Sheep-ish.

Back at the site, there was lashing of hot water for a shower then it was into the onsite gallery where photos shot by the owner over many years were available for sale. Picked up a winter photo over Keswick from Skiddaw for a bargain.

By late afternoon/early evening the weather was really nice and the awning had mostly dried out from the previous night. I went out as the sun was setting to catch the fading light.

Castlerigg Hall Campsite

Sunday dawned with it having rained overnight so the awning was soaking again. Camp was broken in a relaxed fashion and it was on the road home about 8h30. It was a lovely weekend with a great walk and it is a site I’ll both visit again and heartily recommend.

Starting the year on a cultural note, I headed to the Turner In January exhibition at the National Gallery of Scotland. This is an exhibition of Turner watercolours that were bequeathed to the gallery on condition that it was shown once a year for the month of January.

Because the paintings are in storage for most of the time, the watercolours retain their vibrancy. It was almost as if they had been painted yesterday.

To see these paintings was a privilege. Art (of any kind) has a way of bypassing the intellect and reaching the soul. It was amazing how much better one feels after seeing/reading/hearing such things.

If you get a chance, I very much recommend the exhibition and I’ll be back next year to see them again.

This book is by one of the founders of the OKCupid dating website and has the subtitle “Who We Are (When We Think No One Is Looking)”which goes some way to explain what it is about. Expanded from a series of blog posts, Rudder mines the terabytes of data collected from all the messages, views, ratings and eveything else that is captured on a dating website. 

The book though is really in two parts. The first is a set of statistics that shows what people on the site are looking for, what brings them together and what keeps them apart. The end of the book however is an exploration of where “Big Data” is taking us, the implications for privacy and what it means to be on the internet in 2015.

The statistics section of the book is presented in an engaging way and free of the dry jargon and numbers that would turn a lay person off thte book. There are plenty of graphs (unfortunatly these didn’t really come out on my e-ink Nook) and lots fascinating insights into the world of online dating and beyond. One example is the words people use to describe themselves on the site. These strongly relate to both gender and race. Another fact, though somewhat unsurprising, was that the more attractive a person, the more messages they got. Exponentially more. All in all a really good look at people, if a self-selected group on a dating website, and what we can say about them in aggrigate. 

If that was all, the book would have been pretty interesting but the last few chapters were a more philisophical look at Big Data and where we’re going with it. He touches on the amount of personal information we hand over to corporations and the contact we make with them to provide services in return. And of course in a post-Snowden world, there is government collection of data. 

All in all a very enjoyable book. The only critisicm I would have of it would be that it is very short at only 180 pages before the footnotes. I feel that he could possibly have expanded on some of the themes at the end but aside from that, a very good book and recommended. 

After breaking camp on the Friday I headed for my next destination, Glen Nevis but first there was a bit of a detour. I’d always wanted to see the Glenfinnan Viaduct and this was reasonably near my destination so I headed for the visitor centre for the Glenfinnan monument. The car park was pretty full when I got there but the advantage of a camper van is that you can squeeze in where other motorhomes fear to tread.

The monument is on the location where Bonny Prince Charlie raised his standard at the start of the 1745-1746 Jacobite rebellion. The location is stunning, on the shores of the loch with surrounding hills.

I was able to see the viaduct from the observation point and it was a spectacular sight. There is something about the right structure in the right place that can enhance the landscape. I wasn’t able to get much closer as the path up was covered in mud and puddles.

After admiring the view for a while, it was on to the campsite at Glen Nevis. The site is an impressive size and well laid out. The showers are possibly a little old but the location at the foot of Ben Nevis more than makes up for it.

After some lunch I went along to the visitor centre for Ben Nevis. Here there was some very useful information about climb the hill to be had including the not very promising weather forecast. The top of the hill was in cloud and not much chance of it clearing.

Saturday, the main even was the climb up Ben Nevis. This was a 20Km walk with 1300m of ascent. There is a good path up but it was fairly eroding in places. As expected the summit was in cloud and there was nothing to see. But on the way up and down there were some photo opportunities lower down.

The most amazing thing was people climbing the hill unprepared. Trainers and canvas shoes, no maps. While the path is good, navigation at the summit can be tricky and if the cloud had got even just a little thicker, it would have been compass and pacing to get back to the path.

After the climb it was back to the van in torrential rain. I had to put full waterproofs on to go to the showers. It was still going strong when I went to bed.

Sunday morning the rain was off as I woke but came on with a vengeance after breakfast so the awning was pretty wet when packing up. But I broke camp in double quick time and then was off down the road. Legs were aching but a holiday well spent.

This year’s summer holiday was cut short a bit due to a bit of toothache. But never mind that, Wednesday morning it was time to hit the road and off up to Glencoe Camping and Caravan Club site. I’ve been before and it is in a lovely location. Weather wasn’t looking too hopeful but you’ve got to take the rough with the smooth as they say.

It was raining as I headed off and after a quick stop for fuel (both for me and the van) it was on the road. Once again the satnav decided that some B road with lots of numbers was a good way to go. I disagreed and stayed on the A82.

There was a stop at Loch Lubraig for a bite to eat then on to Glencoe. As luck would have it, the rain was off and I made camp in reasonable time. I’m getting better at putting the awning up so it didn’t take long to be settled in.

I wandered over to the visitor centre that is next to the campsite and had an enjoyable visit learning about the flora, fauna, geology and history of the glen. The sky was clearing and I got a few photos.

After dinner, I showered and hit the sack for rest.

The Thursday dawned bright but somewhat overcast and after breakfast I headed out for a wander. This visit, I wasn’t going to do any hill walking, rather have a look through the glen. There was a circular path being built (last section still to be done) and I headed along that in the direction of the Clachaig Inn. First visit along the way was the massacre monument. As you might imagine this even looms large in the history of Glencoe.

There was then some pleasant walking through forests and the second visit was to Signal Rock. This was a bit of a disappointment as it is fairly overgrown with trees so no view from the top. Still got some other photos.

It was a pretty warm and humid day so I took a bottle of water in the Inn before setting off back to the van.

After getting back there was a bit of a snooze in the warm then onto the pile of books that I’d brought with me. Dinner was chicken and then it was the Wallander DVD I brought with me for some entertainment.

Friday morning was time to set off, I broke camp and headed on to the second part of my summer holiday, Glen Nevis.

Off on another adventure in the van, this time down to the Lake District for a bit of walking on the Old Man of Coniston. I’d been here before but never made it to the top of the hill so it was time for a return visit.

I hit the road nice and early as there was a reasonable distance to go. A quick pitstop for food and fuel at Sainsbury’s then it was onto the A702 till I hit the A74(M) / M6 south. Largely the middle part of the driving was 100 miles of motorway. Mile after mile of fairly boring driving. Luckily I had some good tunes to listen to on the way down. After another argument with the Sat Nav it was off the motorway and into the Lake District proper. I was heading for the Caravan Club site at Park Coppice and they have a very strong recommendation to approach the site from the south. So it was on to progressively narrower and narrower roads till the final approach which got very snug in places. There was a convoy of us at this point and kudos to the person who was driving the Range Rover pulling the twin axle caravan through that.

Site was busy but got myself a nice spot in a dell. The site is strongly laid out. It is large at over 200 pitches but they are arranged in small 5 van sections so it doesn’t feel like it is a huge site and avoids the regimented rows of caravans you see in other place. It took just over 1/2 hour to pitch up and this time I put the roof up. The weather was very hot with the sun blazing away. I was glad I had got a pitch in the shade.

After dinner I watched a feature length TV program called Page 8 on DVD then retired upstairs to sleep in the roof bed.

Woke early on the Saturday morning having slept well in the roof bed. The weather forecast wasn’t great but I set out for my walk on the Old Man. Plan was to head to the summit via Goat’s water then do the round via Swirl Hawse then back along by Levers Water.

I made fairly good time on the way the summit despite the path I planned to follow only existing in the imagination of the OS. Had the place to myself until I got to the summit. There was some rain but nothing of real note. The clag was drifting in at this point but it was still good enough to navigate so I headed off to Swirl Hawse. Walk there was pretty easy going but after turning at the Swirl Hawse cairn it became a very rocky down climb which was slow going made all the worse by the sickeningly fit fell runners who were running up the same path I was slowly going down.

The path by Levers water was gently sloping and pretty good going. I made my way back to the site having walked 20Km and climbed 925m.

Some photos of the walk.

On the way back, I came across a triathlon in progress. The run to bike change over was on my path so I stopped to watch and clap for a bit. The organisers had been particularly cruel as the bike part started going uphill on a steep slope and a few of the competitors found themselves in the wrong gear at the start.

I had a bite to eat when I got back and waited for the toilet block to open again after cleaning then had a very enjoyable shower washing away the soreness after the walk.

Decided to give the TV a miss Saturday, instead reading Chris Brookmyre’s latest “Dead Girl Walking”. I’ve enjoyed all his books and this one is a particular page turner.

Sunday morning dawned with it having rained overnight and knowledge that now both the awning and the canvas of the rising roof were wet. No matter. I packed and then set off for home. Journey back was uneventful.

Another lovely adventure in the van with a great walk. Weather was a bit disappointing for the walk so not so great photos but still a good day out. Now planning the next one.

Second weekend away of the year in the van and it was a trip down to Dumfries and Galloway for a weekend at Moffat C & CC site.

Set out in glorious sunshine onto what should have been a pretty straight road. However both the Sat Nav and I made an error by trying to bypass Penicuik on the A701 and ending up on a B road through a couple of villages which wasn’t the best. However, got back on to the A701 and drove through some spectacular scenery.

Got to the campsite which was pretty full and managed to pitch up in only 30 minutes including getting the awning up. Interestingly, this is the first site where I’ve had someone show me to my pitch which had been allocated to me rather than me picking one and letting them know. The site was looking good and looked like it had been done up in the recent past with a modern shower block and plenty of WiFi repeaters.

I wandered into Moffat itself as I had managed to forget both peanut butter and a pillow. Got the peanut butter but no pillow. Had a bit of a snooze when I got back and then hit the shower but managed to pick one that only gave 10s of water per press of the button.

Dinner was some nice fish and then I sat down to watch a couple of episodes of “An Honourable Woman”.

Sunday dawned early after a decent night’s sleep. After breakfast I pulled on the hiking boots and set out to walk part of the Annandale way round The Devil’s Beef Tub.

First part of the walk is along a tarmac’ed road past a number of farms. Then there is a signed turnoff for the Annandale way. I followed it for a bit but it passed through fields with large number of sheep and associated lambs in them. I decided to turn back to the road and see if I could find another way to join the way further up. This turned out to be somewhat prescient as I saw cattle in the fields further along that track and I’m not that much of a fan of walking through cattle.

I reached Ericstane and was able to join the Annandale Way again. This took me over the A701 and the first view of the Devil’s Beef Tub. And an impressive sight it was.

Climbed on up to the trig point at Annanhead Hill and stopped for a breather. The weather was improving having been overcast up till then.

I was in two minds about whether to complete the loop or head back the way I came but decided on the round. I headed along Chalk Rig Edge then down Tweed Hop and back through some farms and onto the tarmac’ed road at Ericstane once again.

Then it was back to Moffat stopping only to pick up some toffee. I had lunch then crashed for a bit when I got back as the 22Km walk was a little tiring.

Dinner was some chicken then more episodes of “An Honourable Woman”

Woke up on the final day to reasonable weather but the awning was annoyingly wet due to the dew. Dried it off as best I could then broke camp in a leisurely fashion and hit the road home.

A lovely weekend with decent weather and good walk.

Some more photos