A long day

 A view of the Clyde...the one time of the day that you can properly pick out where it is!

A beautiful sunset after a long day..wood buying, head scratching, trying to make an extension that is square. And finding that the building that you are adding it to is not!!

I think that we have cracked the problems....and tomorrow after some calculations, we get even more wood!!

Straiton Struggle...road racing!!

 

Its not all about the riders..organiser, volunteers, trained motorbike marshalls, commissaires (judges) in lead and following cars, neutral service, first aid ambulance, marshalls, friends and family supporting the riders....and the club captain baking a storm with all sorts of cakes and sandwiches (sorry no photo of that!)

The Ayr Roads Cycling Club revived a race after a two year break..the race that Pirate started 28 years ago.

We had a long day marshalling one corner for both races, run on a 9 mile circuit..5 laps for the women and 6 for the men.

After days of showers and chilly winds we had a beautiful day...and when all had finished we had a ride around the slightly hilly circuit ourselves.

Roadside spring flowers

 

Beside the Clyde..

 

Barassie Shore.

We couldn't see Aran for the rain squalls..then this, as the kite surfers sped across the choppy waves.

A long day

today we had a long day, starting with nearly 70 miles through Glasgow to Falkirk, for the life celebration of one of my cycling team's founding members...a much better description than funeral...and he was a modest man with a long and distinguished  palmares in cycling and employment.

Then over to near Bathgate, Edinburgh, for a meal and people sharing memories.

I had written out the route instructions for Pirate...that kept him busy!!

It was a really beautiful day for his send off...a few showers and a rainbow when we finally arrived home.

On the last leg we passed this bing (spoil tip)...it's the end one of about five left in a group on the edge of West Calder.

Not coal...but the remnants of processed oil shale....I was very fortunate to spot the one stopping place by a farm gate, to stop and take this image.
 

Supper super view

 We treated ourselves to a takeaway supper on Monday evening....and a beautiful place to eat, simply in a layby eating in the car!!

Such views. Starting with looking north to the Bens , over to Arran then past Arran to the Mull of Kintyre.

You have to be a little further along the road and a little higher to see Ireland.

Getting back....and hacked!

 Yesterday we had our first bike ride for a while. Car to the prom at Prestwick, then along the bike route for about five miles. We turned back when we would have had to do a section on the open road...busy Saturday traffic was not inviting.

We managed to dodge the drips, waiting for a shower to pass before starting and hardly got wet atall. Home again to an unexpected sunny afternoon, and after lunch we did a little work on the construction.

One hand was really complaining by the morning.. possibly adding a little pipe lagging to the handlebars may be needed. However with the use of Aloe Vera gel with MSM today my well worn hands are back to their normal!!

The bad news is that my Instagram account was hacked and hijacked...one minute you are having a conversation with a friend, then you carry on and in the interim she was hacked..to have to check the veracity of the sender of every small message....

Instagram have been no help atall..so I have opened a new account....for now. I think that a return to using Flickr is called for.

I have been talking to my webmaster...aka brother....and he agrees that a new website is in order.. I may stop using Etsy eventually as it doesn't work for me.

So fresh start.....and a walk around Hannahston while the sun shone

A modicum of decluttering took place this rainy afternoon, while I tried to think of what I wanted to do first with printing.   Probably get back to drawing...back to basics all round it is then

Constructive

 

The workshop construction progresses..slabs down and mortared, wood cut to size and painted..now drying.

The bean sticks are up and runner beans planted..now it really looks like a garden!!

The garlic and shallots are growing well, better than the onions.

I have sown seeds, carrots, radish and beetroot.

Our neighbour opposite is back home but on end of life care...stage four cancer but at least pain free with no meds. 

He asked for me to make a bread pudding. These days I won't use the oven for one or two items...so I baked a batch!! I used a couple of wartime recipes. Quite apt for the times we are in, with 9% and rising inflation and supply problems......

Going up the Doon

 

 

The dam was built in 1935...and the medieval castle five mile up the valley was resited above the road along the lochside.

We went for a walk down Ness Glen....which starts with a lot of up, as the Riverside path has been flooded.

The path had been changed and no longer led to the dark skies centre... possibly as they did have vandalism problems in the remote centre.

We ended up further down the glen. Here there is a lovely bridge, and then we made a loop back to the road and back across the dam to the car.

No. Not a dinosaur..its a tree root!!