Tuesday..

 

..being what is known in meteorological circles as a “fine day”, I set out for a stroll along the Kings Highway between Menstrie and Logie. This is the route of the old road which held up along the base of the Ochils before the carse was drained and “The Turnpike” was built.

As I wandered, lonely as a cloud, I beheld a host of golden….

 well, Doronicum actually.

 

 not the sort of thing you expect to find in the woods.

 

 The Whin was in full bloom, although you can get flowers showing for 10 months of the year.

 

 An old, amply proportioned kissing gate. In fact it’s probably more of a knee-trembler gate.

 

 Blairlogie – the kind of conservation village where the local pub probably has Snowcem on draught.

 

Now this is where the story really starts ( as Wallace Greenslade used to say).

I’ve walked past this house dozens of times and created a history in my head based on my interpretation of various current features. 5 features, in fact, and I got 5 out of 5 wrong !!

(I know – difficult to believe, isn’t it ?)

The owner was parking his car as I passed and I engaged him in conversation. (It’s just a knack I have). He turned out to be a thoroughly pleasant, informed and chatty bloke – there are a few still about but, Christ, you have to look hard for them.

We leant on the the gate in the sunshine, chewed the fat, exchanged prejudices, sucked on straws, and gently farted, as old men do. He told me where I had gone wrong.

 I had this figured for a doocot being restored. WRONG. It was actually built in the mid-19thC as a ruin – a folly, and was now being converted into holiday accommodation.

 

 At first cursory glance I had this figured as an converted horse mill, a theory I found other evidence to back up .WRONG. It was built in the 1970s as a granny flat !

 

This I had down as the mill lade with the fenced off area being the remains of the sluice gate. WRONG.WRONG.

This was the spring-fed well for the house drinking water,pumped up using a hand pump. The channel was an overflow which fed the local curling pond.

 

 All that is left of the curling pond. You can just about make out the remains of the overflow mechanism which kept the water level low to facilitate freezing.

 

And finally, the lych gate thingy which I had decided was a folly or conceit. WRONG .Actually it was moved when the extension was built and was originally the gate from the garden through to the well and was in fact The Watergate.

So, pretty comprehensive, really. Shows to go ye. eh.

 

 

Now, I’ve been suffering a bit from bloggers block. I’ve done a few wee walks, uploaded the pics and then couldn’t be arsed writing it up.

This hasn’t been helped by the fact that Livewiter no longer handles Youtube clips and Blogger editor doesn’t really handle text or pictures. So I tried this, the new 2 part post.

Not so much touched by genius,

as headbutted by it

Charlie horse

 

Since Christmas, people have been coming up to me and saying “Open your diary and write our name in the first available space”

And I have been replying “ Open your wallet and repeat after me “Help yourself””

This mutually beneficial arrangement has taken a lot of my time in terms of preparation, performing, travel and recovery, and little time has been available for walking or blogging. Witness my January and February walking stats displayed below.

 

However,the work load now seem to be easing off, I’ve lost some more weight, and have bought a new pair of shoes which seem to suit my feet. So, let the planning begin.

There is, however, one major disappointment . I had hoped that this Spring/Summer I might do some light camping.(Shurrup you boys at the back with the beards and glasses).Whilst I can realistically forget about the mountains and the big hills, I had thought I might attempt some of the big passes – in, say, 10 mile days with an overnight.

The problem with this is in the post title – not, as you might think,Nigella Lawson’s recipe for a speedball (allegedly), but a strange name given to acute night cramps – a symptom of several of my ongoing conditions.I won’t go into detail – a lot of people are much worse off than me- but it is not a condition which lends itself to spending the night in a sleeping bag in a small tent.

So day walks it is – with the possibility of some B&Bs funded by my recent activities.And hopefully next months graph will display more parabolas and bell en curves.

When I snap my fingers, you will wake up and forget everything you have just read. There, I told you so.

 

Ok, you’ve been very patient. So, a double ration of cheap music.

Nope.

As you were.

The lazy, smelly ,halitotic, socially and culturally inadequate self-abusers who refer to themselves as IT specialists (the SH is silent) seem to have fecked up Livewriter so you can no longer insert Youtube clips.

May their balls go square and fester at the corners.

Weather forecast

 

Walk 21/02/14

 

Today I went for a walk in the Ochil Hills

It was a bit windy and then it came on rain

I enjoyed it.

It was about 6 miles long and 800 ft high.

Thank you

 

Welcome to the first of our Value Range of blog posts – designed for those of you whose modern hectic lifestyle doesn’t allow sufficient time to work out what the words mean, peer at the anti-photographs, and boogie on down to the music clips on a normal blog.

Those John Muirs explained

 

 

John Muir was an old guy with a beard, a stick and a big hat. he was born in Dunbar 200 years ago and emigrated to the USA with his family as a boy (like David Byrne). While working in the lab, late one night, he discovered the National Park Movement, for which the Americans were very grateful. He walked a lot in the mountains of California, but unfortunately, none of his spreadsheets have survived.

The John Muir Trail is a waymarked walking route named in his honour in the Californian mountains

The John Muir Trust is a Scottish based charity devoted to preserving “wild land” in the UK. It owns Schiehallion and some other places, and lobbies against wind turbines and stuff. Basically, on the side of the angels.

The John Muir Country Park is a managed area of foreshore and woodland to the west of Dunbar.A very pleasant place.The branding is probably quite appropriate as it is a mini National Park and close to the great man’s birthplace.Run, not by The Trust, but by East Lothian Council.

The John Muir Way (1). A waymarked walking route from Dunglass to the outskirts of Edinburgh. Or vice versa.. If I recall correctly ( something I do but rarely these days), this used to be called The East Lothian Coastal Trail, a more appropriate title as there is little connection with Muir apart from passing through Dunbar. I’ve walked most of this at one time or another and it is generally a good mixture of cliff-top, foreshore and farm and woodland. I tend to leave out the tarmacy bits.

The John Muir Way (2) Due to open in April 2014, this is a coast to coast route from Dunbar to Helensburgh.Eagle eyed readers will have spotted a similarity in nomenclature here. I haven’t seen a detailed route map yet but it is bound to overlap with parts of the original John Muir Way, Macaroon McKeich’s Goretex Trail,and possibly parts of the West Highland and Three Lochs Ways.I do know that it will cut across the western corner of Stirlingshire, and The Cooncil are wetting themselves at the prospect of the area being inundated with bearded Englishmen buying vast quantities of beer and  pies and propping up the failing local economy. We shall see.The John Muir name in this instance is really just taking the piss – just because it starts in Dunbar. Why not go for sponsorship like the sainted Cameron  did–---the Emirates Trail or The Buckfast Way ?

 

 

So, I hope that has cleared everything up for you and , no, Jean Muir was a dress designer.

I tried walking sideways, and walking to the front..

 

 

but everyone said..

What ?

Who ?

Me ?

Really ?

Did I ?

Eric Clapton ?

Well, of course I meant to say Penelope Keith.

I’m always getting them mixed up.

Ever since that strange night at the old Marquee on Wardour Street when I found that piece of funny blotting paper in my drink.

Anyway Penny richly deserves it for services to the middle classes. Her acting range spans the whole gamut from A to B+. But, like the Murphy’s …….

 

 

 

I once had the privilege of buying a beer for Guy in a bar in Navasota.Since then he’s become an old man. Unlike me. Shirley ?