Bonnie Scotland

We just spent a week away in Scotland and a week was not long enough! 

We stayed in a bothy (cow shed) in Tynron, Galloway, not far from the Solway Coast. Despite the weather reports it was quite sunny and warm with only a couple of "dreich" days. Most of the time we walked or played with the dog on the beach.

Behind the Bothy is Tynron Doon, a large partially wooded hill that once had an iron age fort. We climbed up to look at the spectacular view over the Scaur hills (and to get a good phone signal). The route down was fraught with danger - particularly when I fell in a slurry pit and had to walk the lat two miles home covered in cow poo....

Along the Solway Coast and some lovely towns and villages wrth visiting - the best of these has to be Kirkcudbright and Gatehouse of Fleet. Kirkcudbright (Kir-coo-bree) is the "artists' Town" with The Tollbooth Arts Centre and several galleries. THe best of these is the WhiteHouse Gallery.

Because the climate is quite mild in this part of southern Scotland there is plenty of gardens worth visiting. We went to Cally Gardens, which is in the woods at Gatehouse of Fleet. It has some imaginative planting and is quite informal (a bit junglie) which is how I like gardens to look. 

The coast is beautiful. Totally unspoilt - no bucket and spades, no "kiss me quick" hats, no fruit machines or fun fairs. Instead, clean beaches, clear water and plenty of shells. We spent a lovely day at Rockcliffe and another day at Carrick and Brighouse Bays.  We walked across the strand to an island and looked in the rock pools. 

Jackson features in many of our photos - mostly carrying a stick in his mouth - it's not the same stick in every picture! 

Well it was all over too soon and now I am back in Yorkshire, freezing cold and looking forward to my next holiday. To see more photos of Dumfries and Galloway please go to Flickr by clicking on this Link.  

Why did you do it???

WHY did you think it was a good idea to roll on a sheep corpse last week? You have been subjected to three baths in expensive shampoo (don't tell Rachel we used her Australian stuff) which you hate and yet the smell doesn't seem to be dissipating.
It is particularly fetid behind your ears (your best feature) and you seem to wear it like a perfume (eau de stink). Have you wondered why nobody has cuddled you all week? Possibly not - do you even think at all?

Friday Afternoons!

2pm on a Friday comes around and I'm free from work! Yippee! I zip straight home, grab the dog lead, jump in the car and we both head for the hills....

One of our favourite walks is on Addingham Moorside, although we only do this once a week as it is rather strenuous.





The first part of the walk, up to Silsden Nab, is the steepest. It's good to get the worst part out of the way.

View of Silsden from the Nab with Cowling Pinnacle in the background.

Hurry up!

Walking along the path toward Addingham.

View of the wind turbines at Chelker Reservoir in the distance.

Beamsley Beacon with Addingham village in the middle distance

Turn right over the wall and start the final ascent to the bench on the top.

The footpath.

The bench is on the far right of the picture.

Here it is, at last!

Riddlesden Moor stretches out behind. To the left is Ilkley Moor, roughly 3 - 4 miles of walking (but not today)!

Interesting! What have we here?

Well fancy that! It's a stick.....

Looking down on the valley below. It's a shame that blogger doesn't have smell-o-vision because the heather is in full flower and everything smells dry. It's also a shame there isn't any sound - you can hear the curlews from here.

Well worth the walk!

Three years old today!

Happy birthday to you

Happy birthday to you

You look like a doggeee....

and you smell like one too!

A walk on Cowling Pinnacle

Last weekend we walked the dog between the two towers on Cowling Pinnacle. It was late afternoon and very hazy, therefore the light quality in these images isn't very good.

The distance between the two towers is less than a mile so it doesn't make for a very extensive walk. However, the scenery from the top of this tower is stupendous. We could see West Yorkshire, North Yorkshire and Lancashire laid out before us. these two towers have the nickname "salt and pepper pot" and are quite a landmark as they can be seen from miles away.

Unfortunately, when we climbed the first tower (above) to look at the view the dog decided to jump from the top. I let out a scream and Jonathan grabbed the dog just before he leapt to his death! I haven't got over the shock yet.

It was really cold on the pinnacle and the ground was frozen solid. But the sun was shining and we saw a hawk hovering over the cliffs.

Happy New Year!

Jackson would like to wish everybody a Happy and Prosperous New Year. Here he is, sporting his new red and white collar that he got for Christmas from http://lindsaydesigns.com (and NO, he doesn't look like a girl wearing it, stop saying that to him, kids)!!!

Vive La Difference!

So we went to La Belle France for our holiday this year. Three weeks in beautiful, sunny, unspoilt countryside went too quickly and we returned to miserable, damp, dank England. This year's french destination was Brittany near the town of Lamballe. The gite was really comfortable (details here) and the isolation was wonderful.
There are lots of positives about being in France - mostly the weather - and I have been pondering the differences between France and the UK. Here are of 3 things that the french do well and 3 things that they do not-so-well.
1. Food - of course. The supermarkets stock mostly local produce and the fruit and vegetables are seasonal. Buying local produce at the market is even better - we ate wonderful strawberries, apricots and peaches. We bought cheese, bread, local pate, crepes and, my favourite - mussels.
2. Roads - sounds odd, I know, but french roads are in so much better condition than roads in the UK. OK, so the french population per square kilometre is smaller than the UK, therefore less traffic, but driving is fairly stress-free. (Map reading is another story). Apart from the peripherque around Paris, I find driving in France rather relaxing except - why do we always get lost in Nantes when we go to The Vendee?
3. Flowers - it must be the climate but french flowers are always so much brighter and bigger than in the UK. I don't grow hortensias (hydrangeas) because they look washed out but in France they are bigger and brighter.

The not-so-wells.
1. Electricity - yikes! Why haven't they all electrocuted themselves? We stopped off at a pension in Avranches on our way to down to Lamballe for the night and the light switch was just outside the shower curtain. There was also an electric socket beside the sink.
2. Dogs - I love dogs but I don't love dog poo. NOBODY picks it up and I had a few strong words with a local who let his dog defecate outside our gate before casually walking on. My french is not good but I think I made myself understood. (He kept tapping his head and then pointing at me - what could he mean)?? The french love their dogs and go in for the strangest of pooches, we always have a competition to see who can spot the ugliest mutt. Also, the Dogs Prohibited signs in restaurants and supermarkets are mostly treated by the french as merely a suggestion. It's so funny to see a dog in a supermarket trolley or sitting at the table with a napkin round its neck.
3. Music - The french don't do popular music well, everything has a eurovision sound to it. And who told Johnny Hallyday that leather trousers were sexy????? I rest my case.

Here's a picture of "Meerkat" - she was such a sweetie and came to see us every day.

Guess where we are going for our vacation next year? and I'm going to get Jackson a pet passport so he can come too. Vive la difference!

Check out all my holiday photos on http://www.flickr.com/photos/glassprimitif/

Why the long face?

Jackson and I meet these two every day in the fields. They are both partial to dog treats and will let me kiss their noses. I don't think the chestnut likes the camera but they are so used to the dog that they are all friends now.

Sex and the single dog

For two years Jackson has never shown any interest in the opposite sex - until yesterday! He caught a whiff of a terrier bitch on the other side of the park and took off, like a bullet, toward her. It was so embarrassing - he totally ignored me and kept his nose firmly clamped under her tail. And she obliged by rolling over - the floosie! Eventually I managed to rugby tackle him and dragged him back home. Later we went out and met two spaniels on leads, also in season, and he snubbed them. Do dogs, like men, think about sex every 30 seconds?
"Do you have the time
to listen to me whine"

Is anyone thinking anything at all???!!!

"I know I had something to say

It lost its meaning and it faded away....."