There's Gold In Scotland

I found this on a website recently - there are some modern day prospectors scouring the streams of Scotland for gold. I doubt if its a good way to make a living, I think it would cost you more in food to give you enough energy and warmth than you could cash in for precious metal for.
However I confess to being a little that way inclined myself. We spent some of our family holidays in the far north of Scotland finding some where there had even once been a mini-goldrush. I couldn't make a man out of it like this but maybe if our family had pooled together we could have done something similar. Not the queen's nose though.
I have been slightly inspired by the Scottish goldpanners website i saw this on to go and try some real prospecting but I doubt it will happen. It would be great if I could use my degree in Geology and Applied Geology to some profitable benefit.
Talking of rocks I saw the funniest thing in someones house recently - some pink/rose quartz sitting in a tumbler of water in the kitchen - some kind of new age thing. I cracked up when I saw it. Some of these things are pretty far-out. It was funny though.

Speaks for itself

My friend Ian drew this for a friend with a pink room! Give it a click to see in full size to see at its best.

Not your usual Christmas Card

I thought this Christmas card was great! I saw it in a friends sideboard who brings it out each year. Click on it for a closer look, its a picture of a lady holding her recently departed dog, (when it was alive of course).

Round the Mountains of Glenshee

Today I drove a bit farther than I usually do for my hill-walking, meaning a very early start as the alarm was set for 5 AM. But at least the roads were quiet and no hold ups. It was dark all the way. Once there I left my bike at the finish to save a bit of tedious road walking.

The forecast of unimpeded sun turned out to be spot-on. The ground was almost rock solid making the going fairly straight forward - in the summer it would have been a harder walk in squelchy peat bog - the main climb up to the airy heights was before me so there was nothing else for it. I soon hit the snowline and some difficult scree but the first Munro(mountain over 3000feet) Creag Leacach was reached at 9:45 AM. The sunrise had been very pink on the horizon.

This was winter walking at its finest - fresh powder snow, blue skies and a high level ridge walk. Awesome.

Time wasn't really on my side with 15 miles of walking in total so I just kept walking at a pretty good pace. I walked with a couple from east Yorkshire staying at Braemar for a while before leaving them to enjoy their soup at the next top.

There were plenty of black grouse, white mountain hares and even a ptarmigan (a type of grouse specialising in life at the top of mountains camouflaged in white plumage).

The next Munro was a big round mountain with little features on it, after that it was down to Ca Whims - an indistinct point sort of between two hills. I met another couple who were running off the edge of their map and I felt a surge of cheer as I realised the benefit of using my all-in-one printer to make a copy of the full route on one sheet, there's nothing (much) worse than fumbling with maps. Then two relative pimples on the landscape; Tom Buidhe and Tolmount. Two guys from Glasgow were impressed with my six munro route, they offered me a lift from the finish back to start but I had my bike. I gave a couple of dogs some chocolate raisins, they were shivering in the cold. 6 guys had just passed me running the tops - I'd like to see them run up the main climb up. I must have seen over thirty people and 4 dogs but it wasn't crowded.

The last Munro was the hardest taking me an hour and a quarter to reach. My legs were feeling it a bit by now. I needed my crampons to start the decent on steep icy snow, it was a great feeling though, i felt like i was walking on water!

I finally had some lunch at about 2:30PM. My bike was still there. There was a bit of a climb on the road up to the main Glenshee ski centre, but the last mile or so took me about a minute with not an ounce of effort, a 1 in 10 gradient a perfect finish in style - the guy in the car park called it cheating, but I don't care. Six Munros in six hours. Very pleased.

Showers On Loch Lomond

I left my camera on time delay when i went sailing on Loch Lomond in October. It was quite an eventful days sailing as the wind picked up while we were out. Fortunately the camera didn't pick up the action.

Interesting Clipping

In my job I often find old newspapers from yester-decades which can be quite a distraction. I took this from a paper from 1976 , possibly the Herald or Evening Times - a bit of google-sleuthing and the whole tour got cancelled for some reason - what a great line up - look at the ticket prices too - 4 prices - I wonder why. The Pistols are playing Loch Lomond next year (tickets are £110 and £45) - surely if any band should never even consider reforming you would think of the Sex Pistols - the ultimate anti-esablishment troupadors. Though recently they spurned the Rock and Roll hall of fame with great eloquence:

Next to the SEX PISTOLS rock and roll and that hall of fame is a piss stain. Your museum. Urine in wine. Were not your monkey and so what? Fame at $25,000 if we paid for a table or $15,000 to squeak up in the gallery, goes to a non-profit organization selling us a load of old famous. Congradulations. If you voted for us, I hope you noted your reasons. Your anonymous as judges, but your still music industry people. Were not coming. Your not paying attention. Outside the shit-stem is a real SEX PISTOL.

A year later they were re-recording for an album for the same they are the ultimate sell-out band.

A quiet day today - got my new all-in-one printer up and running. It scans, prints from memory stick, prints onto cds, can do wee previews on its colour screen - if the front is closed for printing it drops down to let the paper through - totally amazing. Reminds me of me showing my mobile phone to my Granny recently. "I can call anyone anywhere in the world from anywhere - and its a camera - and a radio too" I said to her - she just looked mystified and said "Put that away".

I was a year older yesterday. The football was a bit of a shambles for Aberdeen, I think players were carrying a few too many mincemeat pies. My friend took his son, Andrew (aged ten next week) to see them play, despite the poor showing he seems to be interested in Aberdeen (football club) - he likes Rangers at the minute so it would be a double bonus if I could win him over - I might buy him an Aberdeen top for his Birthday to try to nudge him in the right direction.

So a new year to look forward to. More of the same I think will do nicely for me. Most aspects of my life I would say tentatively are doing better than a year ago. Plenty to work on though.

Christmas Day

Well that was quite good. I got my soap on a rope and best of all a Birthday card and a Christmas card in one - on opposite sides and upside down - no-one has ever been so thoughtful and that parsimonious before (and not an Abderdonian) - its a good idea really - it could catch on - there are a lot of people with birthdays around this time. I will refrain from doing the statistics, but if you kept your birthday card up for 3 weeks before and a Christmas card for 11 days after Christmas then it wouldn't work just for Boxing Day babies like myself. You could squeeze in more than a twelfth of the population into that AND save the planet - if you saw Doctor Who special Christmas episode, episode X, Kylie is now so fantastic she has started saving the planet -she did it so well she is now saving my heart. She's risen in stature - quite literally it would seem since she was in Kath and Kim. It was the best TV I have almost ever seen when the Doctor held us in suspense (sorry for the punishment) with reversing our heroine's death while there was still a memory of her in teleport. But no she was gone - of course she was, she could hardly spare the time to film another episode could she??

Granny was more confused than I've seen her before. Its quite sad, life for her was fairly serious as she tried to work out exactly what is going on and there wasn't too much room for humour. Her memory still works fairly well, like how she got on well with one of her grandchildren (Mick) so long as he did what he was told! The carers that were there today were lovely. Its a shame there isn't some realistic alternative way of looking after her. She definitely hasn't been that confused before. She still has her personality and strong will which is good. She can get quite loud so I hope that she won't get too difficult as she gets older. She can wave her stick about quite madly apparently. She's in such good health otherwise too.


There were some madmen on the roads - twice I saw some really close tailgating, totally aggressive and really dangerous. We have great weather in Scotland! The Scotch mist looked like it had been on the bottle last night - it was acting quite strangely - it wasn't really on top of the hills but loosely associated with them in a big bit here and there, and it was in the valleys and around Stirling Castle - and at the same time a huge dark cloud was in front and blue skies with the sun shining bright behind. Still Christmas on the beach or the decking doesn't sound too bad either, but I don't exactly have the short straw either.


Off to see the Dons tomorrow, semi-decent weather permitting. Gretna don't have a proper stadium yet so they use Motherwell's ground - though I might check that before setting off - last time I went to Motherwell it was deserted after being postponed - waterlogged. We are riding high at the minute, and Gretna are still rooted to the foot of the table. But they have only lost one in their last 4 games which suggests a tricky tie for the Dons. I think we will win by a couple of goals, but it won't be a rout.

Since its nearly my Birthday and it is Christmas day I think a wee 'religious' word is fine. I've been studying the Bible chapter by chapter for quite a while now, 2 or 3 chapters at a time in spurts and starts. But now that I am well into it, its making a much deeper impression than from the odd read here and there. I'm seeing how the old testament is written with a clear focus and intention of looking forward to a King. I have found my faith struggling lately. Now, reading the gospel of John its as if that anticipation tension that I had taken on board without realising is let go in my own sort of personal Christmas Day. I can appreciate in a new way how what was being so looked forward to for so long in B.C. times was received with the release of that tension, even though on the actual day so few people 'got it'.

At this time of the year there are people with so-called 'convictions' being given a chance to air themselves, with their cheap shots at Christianity usually in ways that are contrary to facts. I'm glad I do know a little of what the Bible says so that their words are like water off the proverbial ducks back.

I hope you all had a great day and enjoy the rest of your time off.

youdaman

Funniest thing I've seen in ages

Irn Bru Snowman Advert

This is my favourite advert on the telly just now - I love the original song too - Aled Jones is famous for it but I don't think he actually sang it in the film The Snowman.

Rambling on Glen Coe

It’s a scary old place Glen Coe. Google wouldn’t give up the statistics but I have a clipping from 1995 that I stuck in one of my guidebooks to remind me to take it easy (don’t think it worked really). 9 people lost their lives in said Glen out of 37 in the hills in Scotland – and interestingly Bucachaille Etive Mor the gatekeeper at the eastern end, has a fatality record worse than the north face of the Eiger; but I had climbed that last year. Most of these were incidents involving rock/ice climbers I suspect but even for a modest hill-walker there are always potential for things to go awry but lets not dwell too long on what can go wrong.

It was a quite Tolkenesque journey from the road up to the hidden valley of Glen Coe – more so than just about any part of Scotland’s hills that I can recall – although the valley itself is quite petite the approach up to it is on a peculiarly grand scale for Scotland. You could easily hide an army of gools in it, among the cascading chaos of massive boulders, scree and scraggy trees. The walls hang either side as close to vertical as a plumb line, making a decently airy place for an above average count of jet black ravens. Curioius features like a stream seemingly spouting (but really squeezing) from beneath one of those house size boulders and a meandering but descending flood plain add to the slightly un-nerving strangeness.

The best aspect is reserved for when you reach the so-called hanging valley - right at the entrance stands a near isolated massive triangular rock (or should that be pyramid ). I’m sure it’s a natural placing of it as it makes the stones of Stonehenge (even taking into account their huge buried part) look like bricks – but we’re always turning up surprises about the sophistication of early societies (like how they x-rayed a glob of metal found a hundred years ago and found it was a complex geared model to calculate place of stars from about 100 B.C. http://www.world-mysteries.com/sar_4.htm ) – in some far off stretch of the scientific imagination I could imagine some way to turn it into a man-made phenomenon.
Still the valley is known as the place of the greatest atrocity in Highland history. Captain Robert Campbell of not too distant Glen Lyon was sent to Glencoe with his men and billeted in the clansmen’s cottages – the chief of whom he was related through marriage – where they spent two weeks drinking and playing cards with their hosts. One morning all those under the age of 70 were put to the sword in their sleep. The sacred precept of hospitality had been taken advantage of in the most extreme manner imaginable. We know the day (13th February 1692) and the written orders that were given. At the time the affair was received with a measure of disdain as far afield as England but of course the heidgens of the time claimed ignorance of the orders that were given and a few minions were left to resign their posts.

So then it was off to the Munros (tops over 3000 feet high) two of which were in our sights. A good path led up to the bealach between the two hills. A sandwich, tea, biscuits and the piece de resistance - chocolate raisins supplied by Adam gave some much-needed sustenance. Adam reached the top first and we were expecting the coldest wind but then were pleasantly surprised by the almost warm wind, it had been bitterly cold when we were getting changed, so some form of temperature inversion.
A fantastic ridge walk followed as first we climbed Bidean nam Bian (pron. beetyan nam beeoan), at 1150metres (3773 feet) the 23rd highest Munro. Again Adam with his weird sounding brand of brandy provided some much needed sustenance – why do our taste buds work so much better out of doors? Then came the return to the bealach and up to the ‘new’ Munro Stob Coire Sgreamhach at 1072 metres, thereafter descending and ascending down one of the Three Sisters coming off of it near the road with a difficult decent through some icy rocks, superbly navigated by Adam – sadly his touch deserted him as we crossed a half frozen stream, but it was the loss of his beloved tupperware sandwich box that he was bemoaning – having burst forth in fabulous slow motion from the top of his rucksack, exploding its contents as it hurtled down one of those icy sides.
A great day out in superb conditions – sadly no more Munros remain for me to climb in Glen Coe – I’ve already re-visited the Aonach Eagach ridge so who knows. Two more in the slightly larger vicinity to climb and then I will have to look towards the Grey Corries and Perthshire for my Munro challenges.

Footnote:The most interesting aspects I found in a report of incidents in the hills was that 52% of people recued in Scottish mountains do not live in Scotland. Secondly wind is the weather that accompanies most incidents and slips the greatest cause of trouble.

This Isn't Just Food - This Is Stewart's Christmas Cake

Firstly I have to update on the said cup. I wasn't convinced at first with it but I think that I find the flowery pattern appealing and fine china is classy. The handle style adds quite a bit of qwirkiness too so all in I am really delighted. It was quite difficult to replace my previous two mugs which I used almost exclusively (I do tend to have more than two at a time in case you are wondering) and when they both cracked at almost the same time, it wasn't like losing a pet dog or cat, more like a pair of canaries or gerbils - yes there was a certain degree of grief to be overcome. But it is indeed time to move on.

This is my favourite cake, orange and sultana loaf. Freshly made by myself. I even managed to butter it while still warm and the butter started to melt a little. No alcohol in it unfortunately. I like it when it has a crispy crust but it does also 'mature' over the first 40 hours or so, so it should be ready to be used as a Birthday cake too.

I wanted to add a blow up of it - to give it the M and S treatment but I can't seem to add another picture.

It looks like its going to be a relatively quiet Christmas - scrub the relatively - quiet with a big full stop after it. There is another haul of my single friends got hitched this year. I think as you get older too that it becomes harder to slot in to Christmas dinners.

I shall go up and see my Granny and hopefully I can have a semi-decent chat with her. Last couple of times have been a bit better but the overall trend is one of a gradual downwards inclination. I have a duck to roast, I might try and make an orange sauce for it, I'd like to add a few sauces to my kitchen repetoire. The best meals are the ones with a delicioius fluid to add a bit of fat and flavour - though I do draw the line at soaking it up with bread..... there's a future topic now, bread - speaking of which I think I shall go and fire up the breadmaker.