A walk in the woods

The combination of some lovely Spring sunshine and a wife like a bear with a burnt arse made the call of the wild seem irresistible this afternoon. With no clear plan in mind I packed an apple and set off up and east.

Soon I was on the Back o' Dykes road, where the eVent membrane in my new shoes was soon put to the test.

Just past this point I caught a whiff of exotic cigarettes (exotic as in foreign, as opposed to illegal !) On rounding the corner I discovered a rather striking lady of a certain age, standing beside some highly expensive looking camera equipment and smoking a Portuguese ciggie. Apparently she was waiting to take a picture of a nuthatch returning to the nest. Unfortunately my stock of ornithological chat-up lines was soon exhausted, so I bade her farewell and continued to Logie Old Kirk.

The church dates from the 12th century as do these two original hogback grave stones.

In my cyber personality I obviously have a professional interest in this stuff and there is certainly plenty restoration work to be done. The old stones were often carved with symbols denoting the previous occupation of the deceased

Think this was a tailor or perhaps a shoe maker from nearby Pathfoot.

Big shovel ? Stoker ? Probably a maltster I would say.

Pirate ? Naw. It's a memento mori, a reminder that we are all going to die and that the sands of time are quickly running out.

Yes well.

Moving swiftly on.....

Remember I told you about the Airthrey Hill copper mine a few weeks ago ? No ? Sure you do.

Anyhow this another copper mine just up the burn from Logie Kirk. It's is a horizontal adit or “ingaun ee” into the bank of the burn, typical of much early Scottish mining. Seems to have been a bit of a flop commercially, though.

 Big gate ! 18ft.

Enticing !

When Lord Abercromby improved the estate in the mid 19^th century he planted this wood and built a folly called The Hermitage. He even went as far as to advertise, presumably in The Guardian, for a hermit to live in it.I can imagine the interview. The earnest girl from HR asking “Tell us about an incident in your life when you lived alone without talking to anyone for 20 years while living on acorns and drinking your own piss. And how do you think this made you a better person ?”. However the post remained unfilled and is probably one of the 100,000 (or whatever) vacancies that the Stirling Job Centre Plus claims to have on the books

 

Is this a zen garden of contemplation ? Or is it the University water supply ? Or both ?

Spotted this on the way home. The coping seems to have been cast in situ. I assume there was some kind of former and it was run like a cornice.

And so, before returning home, a visit to the new Tesco Express for a bunch of flowers and new batteries for my taser.

 Todays clip has embedding disabled so just click on the link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-CXyhrZVcA