Me-Now-Views; Less Speak More Peek

Leaving Buchanan Bus Station, at the back of Glasgow College. At 1 pm.

One of the peculiar sculptures to be seen on the main highway between Edinburgh and Glasgow (the M8).
I am given to understand that it is a speaker and does actually work...

These clay sculptures always demand my attention as we fly by 'Eurocentral'.

No longer used, gasometer scaffold as seen from the M8... they are heritage listed would you believe?!

One day I will walk Greenock and get a decent shot of this sculpture

pre-Christmas crescent

YAMerised frosty hydrangea

Menootering and Pootering

I've been pootering around getting a great deal of nothing done. Blame the Masters Snooker. Very distracting. That and just generally having a lack of will to apply myself to anything of any real value. I've got to get myself in hand!!!

It is Sunday evening, and this blog goes live in an hour... because I never changed it from India time, which it was on when I set up at the ashram. It's a time that kinda suits me so I have never worried about it. This is a global community and time is relative to the point of being almost inconsequential here! Anyway, I realised, yet again, that I had not scheduled posts for this week. EEk.

However, this arvo, I did get to stripping images from the SD cards of both the Fudge and the Hisstix. Poor ol' Fudge has been a wee tad ignored of late. I cannot carry it around on the buses, so it stands guard here, on a tripod, at the Hutch's window. There is no doubt it is the stronger of the two cameras when it comes to zoom and the moon. However, the Hisstix is really doing quite a marvellous job on my journies, that I am not missing the heftier camera too much.

The point here being, that I now have something to share with you this post. Buses. I take the ferry across to the 'mainland', connect with the Clydeflyer 901 from Gourock to Glasgow, then connect with the Citylink 900 from Glasgow to Edinburgh (then connect with the X62 Peebles bus, which drops me at the foot of dad's street in the South of the city). Yep, it's quite the travel and average time is 5.5 hours. I have enjoyed my transition to public transport, though - especially as it is free to me with the Saltire Card. Mostly the trips are pretty comfy. However, they just got a wee tad space-age on the 900 route.

When I boarded the bus on the last trip back to the Hutch, I was faced with this...

Now, I may not have shown you the 900 bus before - which has really just been a glorified coach. I say 'the 900' as if it were only the one. In actual fact there are many and the service runs every fifteen minutes, 24/7.

This bus I was boarding was one of no less than eighteen shiny new machines added to the Citylink fleet! While they are not electric, as one might have hoped, they do use the 460hp Euro 6 engine, which is considered to be industry-standard low-emission on diesel fuel. I do think they missed a trick with all this expenditure not to have at least attempted hybrid, which Lothian buses in Edinburgh are now transitioning to.

The passenger experience itself is very 21st century. Not only is the conformation closer to the standard city bus, with low-level boarding and double-deck seating arrangement, all the lighting, including headlamps, are LED and there is a plentiful supply of connectivity points. Not least on the little tables on the lower deck - which one of the operators was delighted to tell me I could use to charge my phone. If I had such a smart devil requiring unplugged zapping! The lower deck lighting did have me a little puzzled though... yes, it's what you see here!

The seating was very comfy and the ride very smooth, a lot less 'rock and roll'. But then I was sitting at almost ground level. The story might be different upstairs.

Viewing of the external was hampered on the lower deck. As you can see from the above image, the 'lintel' is at neck height. As for the forward view - well that is almost nil, too.

I can feel myself wanting to explore the upper deck on a ride before long if I can get the legs to cooperate! I suspect the viewing is likely to be considerably better - especially as the name of this model is The Panorama!!!

I did manage to squeeze off this shot of the castle as it rolled by... Watch this space. There will be more!

Me-Now-Views; Less Speak More Peek

Menootandaboot - Views From The Bus

The brow of the hill leading up to the vista of the Clyde.
The heart thumps a bit stronger at this point.

The trip from West to East and back again was always quite fun when I had Li'l Ren. Driving, however, isn't all that conducive to the art of photography and on that run, in particular, stopping was never really an option.

Now that I am on the buses, though, there should definitely be photo-ops. That said, there are challenges.

ONE - remember to pack the camera where it can be easily accessed. All photographic attempts require photographic equipment.
TWO - the driver will not stop on-demand (unless at a scheduled drop). All photographic attempts must, therefore, be made whilst on the move.

Then, tipping over that brow, the vista brings the grin. Dumbarton Rock and castle over the water.

THREE - the bus will be moving at some speed. All photographic attempts must, therefore, be made at 70mph. Focusing will be very hit and miss. Blur can be an artistic device - but not smudge.

A closer look. (Next time I have to try and get a more panoramic view -
looking along the Clyde is really quite something.

FOUR - the bus will be moving at speed over not particularly smooth roads. All photographic attempts will have to be made with lumps and bumps factored in. Hit and miss become very real...

The only fully functioning shipyard still open on the lower Clyde - and even that is debatable, as the
government has recently taken over operations due to lack of progress on the two new
ferries for Caledonian MacBrayne. This one has been in the dock for four years...
That's Greenock you see behind.

I need a LOT of practice. On the last trip back to the Hutch, though, as we came to the part of the road which marks the shift from 'over there' to 'this is home', I whisked out the handily-packed camera (#one, tick). Having ensured that I got the very front seat, I was able to view through the main windscreen and therefore could be ready for all subjects (#two and #three, tick). Of the nearly twenty shots taken, these four were the only ones remotely worth presenting to you, (#four... could do better).

When the sun is shining - or at least when it is not raining - the ride is very scenic, even though it is a motorway (for the most part). At this end, though, the old roads return and one meanders through Port Glasgow (where Ferguson Marine and Newark Castle are to be found), and then into Greenock (the main terminal for larger shipping, home of tugs and port for Floating Hotels...err, liners). Greenock than morphs into Gourock, which is where we connect with the ferry over the water to Dunoon.

In the future, I am aiming to get a lot more of these places in detail to share with you!

Me-Now-Views; Less Speak More Peek

Menootandaboot; Bus-y Bus-y Part Six

On Sunday morning, it was clear that the weather was on the turn. There had been quite a wetness in the night, but it was off by the time we were thinking of going out the door. (We had been a little slow off the mark in the morning due to Rugby World Cup matters.) The sky was very overcast, though, and the wind was a bit 'lazy' (instead of going around you it was going 'through').

No matter. We headed along an even smaller road from Alligin to a place called Diabaig ("Deep Bay"). Research reveals that this was the maritime supply hub for the Torridon area before roads came. (From this, one assumes that ships brought product and then smaller boats came round from Lochs Shieldaig and Torridon to obtain their goods. It explains the surprisingly grand stone pier in this hamlet of little more than two dozen homes.

The building you see on the left of this image, taken from the pier looking back at the settlement, is the old schoolhouse. It is now transformed. The Ghille Brighde (Oystercatcher) restaurant is a destination, and, despite there being virtually nothing else within miles, we were surprised by how busy it was!

We, however, would have lunch back at the cottage but headed first for a look at the other part of the settlement called Inveralligin. It is larger and closer to the shore than at Wester. (I discovered on returning to Edinburgh, that Neighbour M used to spend childhood holidays in a caravan on one of the crofts here - I think the one which now has free(very)range chooks... I digress)

Although it was cooler and rather windier than the previous evening, Gail decided to do her dunk in the water again - only this time in the kayak.

Monday came and we cleaned and packed and set off back to Aberdeen, taking the time to stop in at Beinn Eighe visitor centre, for a little wander in the woods.

Our next stop after this was in Nairn, on the east coast (Moray Firth). We had lunch there. It was about 4 pm when we got into Aberdeen. Just one night for me, as I then had to get back on the buses, well one anyway, to get down to Edinburgh.

A FABulous trip and am already thinking about all the great places I can discover now I have this bus pass... watch this space!!! I leave you with a 'drive-by shooting' of a Nairn church, and a close-up and personal shot of a Nairn fisher wife.

Menootandaboot; Bus-y Bus-y Part Five

After our picnic, Bertie, Gail and I piled back into their car, and off we set Westward to a place that retains much of the original Highland feel. On the way, we passed lots of beautiful scenery of all types. Enhanced by the presence of pure sunshine. Unbelievable, but very, very welcome!

When we arrived at Wester Alligin, I looked out the window of the bedroom I was in. The scene was almost unreal... this is how it looked in that north-west nook of the Bonny Land:

Seriously. The low-angled light, the haze, the contrast. It tricks the eye. Stunning.

The added joy? No midgies! At least, so few as to make no matter. We settled in for the evening.

Next morning the sun again obliged. By the time we set out for our little tour of the area, it was reaching to the mid-twenties centigrade. We stopped first in Torridon village. From the carpark there, we walked the head of the loch, past the deer park and back by road to drop in at the art gallery.

Following a lovely browse through some wonderful works (and a lovely natter with Les), it was back into the car for a run around the south side of Loch Torridon, looking out for a picnic spot. We found a stunner and managed a few minutes of peace before there came a rush of folk. The only problem with such fine weather in the Bonny Land is that it guarantees everyone and their campervans, bikes, or cycles emerge from their cocoons. Remote places suddenly sprout populations.

The major problem with this is that, in small places like Shieldaig, they run out of ice cream. Even the local shop only had a limited selection of proprietary ices, none of the artisan choices we would normally expect. Oh well. We had fruity ices with ice cream centres and they served well on that day. On the way, we met some lovely peeps and their pooches.

As we drove back to the cottage, we were met by the local flock. After a cuppa, Gail announced she was going swimming. Jolly good for her. I stayed at the top of the brae and took down the evidence.

So ended our Saturday. And good weather. We couldn't complain though. It had been a real treat thus far.

More on Monday!!!