Weekend and meeting again

 Saturday the thermostat was fitted, so we took a run down to Girvan to check it.....working fine! 

Sat on the prom in the car watching Ailsa Craig play "now you see me , now you don't".....and drive back home...at least I went along the two different roads along the Girvan Valley!!

Sunday we were up and out early (ish!) and drove down to Cally Woods in the Cally Palace estate at Gatehouse of Fleet.

There we met friends that we haven't seen since 1996 when they left Garn Dolbenmaen, two years before we did!!

She used to childmind #3 and #4 in exchange for grazing for her Shetland sheep on my spare fields.

They were there with their two children, now 39 and 37 ( ?) and their dog, an English Setter who was itching to get going!

A good walk ensued..and we found a motte as well!!

Then to the Iron Brew café in Gatehouse for drinks and cakes and more talk!!

I had a short wander around the town with The Oily One...I need to get back there early one nice morning with the camera...

Back home through rain showers and time for a late lunch and relax.

Cross day

 Friday and Saturday were nothing to write home about...so I won't...!!

Apart from meeting the club bike run at the end coffee stop...that was good, even if I did go by car. 

Today I went to watch a cyclo cross in Linlithgow...good practice sorting a route..the non-motorway route was ten miles shorter! And interesting, even though it did cross various bits of moorland. The weather was damp and drizzly.... until a couple of miles from the town! And the same on my return three and a half hours later!!

Luckily the races were running late and I was in time to see the 50+ and 60+ riders doing their practice lap...then catch the bag of our Fife friend as they lined up ready for the start, with his and a friend's jacket in it...

Then they get ready the riot act..i.e. Behave!!

Then ticked off the list as they go up to the line

After lining up, the 60+ go off a short while after the 50+

The course devisers had been creative....using zig zag taping to get the length of course in...the course is supposed to take a top rider about eight to ten minutes and be 90% rideable, with a couple of obstacles..some pick up their bike and others "bunny hop" over them. 

Each race is for a time not a distance, and after the first  lap or two the commissaires can judge how many laps will be needed for the time and the lap board goes up... there's a bell for the last lap...and when the leader finishes, everyone that comes in behind has finished, whatever lap they are on. Every rider has a transponder on their ankle, so the number of laps completed can quickly be read off the transponder.

Our Fife friend was second in the 60+...and his friend beat him!

The juvenile ( under 12, 14, 16) races and the 40+race had finished by the time I arrived, but at the same time as the 50/60+ race was on, the under 8s and 10s were having fun on their own separate and easier course 

Then the womens' race was on ... seniors (18+) and juniors (16-18) together, but with prizes for the age groups. Good to see about thirty riders.

No photos as I was having lunch!! As well as the usual coffee carts

There was a van selling burritos... so I had one with vegetarian haggis, rice with lime, guacamole, salsa and black beans....even the smallest "regular" size was a decent meal.

Then the podiums...

And the "yob with the gob"... keeping up a commentary all day!!

I didn't stay to see the main senior race ( ie not specifically veterans who are 40+, but if they think they are capable they can ride the open event) as I wanted to get home in daylight...and it was 65 miles..

But a nice day out, good to see quite a few friends and enjoy the craic.

Day out at Culross and other places

 Will split this into more than one post...there is so much to see!

I sold two small boxes of vintage bike bits to our Dundee friend...the one with the same initials as Pirate, VP!!  Our midway meeting point was Culross in Fife we met at a cafe by the palace...and chatted for two hours!! Then he went on a bike ride from there as there is a really good shared path along the coast, and I headed for the Palace. It is a sixteenth century house, with a seventeenth century extension....they did end up with eight children and I think moved to another house there..but kept this for business...as the owner extended the coal mines, used the coal to evaporate salt water making salt, and eventually, when the town was awarded the status of Royal Burgh by James VI, was allowed to export salt and coal and other goods...bringing back pantiles as useful ballast.

It is now maintained by the National Trust, and has been owned by them since 1932, so quite an early acquisition.

Please excuse the light quality of the photos...the light levels are low not just to give you a feel of how it would have been, but to conserve things, especially fabrics and paintings..mainly the walls and ceilings.

I wandered around the house and garden for well over an hour....and could have stayed longer...then had a little stroll around the cobbled streets. I didn't stop to draw as it was a little chilly and damp.

On tho Kincardine where part of the 1930s bridge used to swing open...but only until 1969 ...that is also an old port town...I missed the café..and was too early for the chip shop (worth a visit if you are there after 4pm....) but the bakery was open!!

Heading for home the motorway got busier...and slower.....so I turned off and cut across country along the foot of the Campsite Fells to the best wheel builder out..Big Al at Wheelcraft..at Milton of Campsie...I did need handlebar tape....but I accepted a good cup of coffee and we chatted as he worked.

No point dashing back through Glasgow at rush hour.....and we both enjoyed the discussion! 

I left there just before 6....it is an easy route down to the Clyde Tunnel, one we have done many times on the way home from there! Then across to Ibrox Park, the home of Rangers football club, and across to the M77...three junctions and I'm off again...hitting the reduced items in Waitrose this time....cancelled out by the purchase of the latest Terry Pratchett book..The Lost Stories written under a pseudonym in the 70s and 80s.....

And back home on normal roads, now in the dark.

The coffee made sure I was awake for the drive.....I was still well awake for nany hours.....and I fell jet lagged today!!

But it was very nice coffee Indeed.....

Barrington Court visit

 We were going out today to see something in the Somerset Art Trail....but the rain washed the plans out...

A visit for lunch at Barrington Court was the next option for a starter....but no hot food....just coffee and cakes....

So the four of us had a wander around including the bottom floor of part of one house, stables extended in the 1920s to create a house for the Lyle family ( of Tate and Lyle, the sugar manufacturers and importers)...

Farm and estate buildings

Doorways

And house

We didn't go round the old original house , built in the 1500s as we had all seen it on a previous visit. The man who had that built went bankrupt...." Oh, look what a big fancy house I have to show how much money I have.....oops it's all gone" !!!

At least the rain stopped while we were there.  Then a quick visit to a supermarket and a late lunch of pizza, focaccia and a glass of good red wine at their home...not far from brother's house where I'm staying.

A nice relaxed day.