local disturbance

Joy, Dougie and Emma came to see me on Friday night for a weekend of eating, drinking and sweating (I'll explain later). The fact that my housekeeping skills would horrify my mother meant that I had to spend over 3 hours cleaning and dusting on Thursday night. In addition, another hour or two was spent on Friday evening cleaning the toilet so that it was suitable for female use.

We enjoyed a tea consisting of Wark Farm organic mince with tomato etc and pasta. Dougie had told me to make squirrel and lamb pie but I knew what Joy and Emma would have said. The meal was finished off with Apple Crumble with Cream.

Now to explain the sweating. The stove was on from the back of 6 pm and by 9 pm it was about 25 degrees. I suggested stripping off for a sauna but there were no takers ...

Saturday started with me making a Victoria Sponge for the evening meal and then we went to the Farmers' Market where I was hoping to buy chutney by Huntly Herbs but they had no stall this month. I made do with carrots and beetroot for pickling.

Then it was off to Stonehaven for a walk which started in the town and looped through woods to Dunnottar Castle and back along the cliffs. The strong north wind kept the clouds moving and the sun was shining by the time we enjoyed a beer outside the Marine Hotel (where Dougie got a terrible pint of Dunnottar Ale) and I had a lovely raspberry beer. Dougie felt cheated so we walked 20 yards and had another drink in the Ship Inn where the welcome was much warmer, and Dougie's pint much better (despite the fact that it was McEwan's Export).

We all piled into the car and headed for the chip shop on the front near the swimming pool and had brilliant fish and chips sitting on the bench. Emma complained that she was freezing but this was preferable in my eyes to greasy fingers all over my car. She disagreed!

We were all stuffed so it was pizza and victoria sponge for tea and more refreshments. Dougie complained of being bagged up so the alcohol intake slowed dramatically.

Sunday morning was a lazy affair and lunch was bacon and sausage rolls with the remains of the victoria sponge. Joy, Dougie and Emma left about 2 pm, but not before Dougie (a true blue) had seen the start of Rangers beating Aberdeen. He left a happy boy. Joy took a very young Japanese Rowan plant that I had grown from a berry and hopefully it will survive in her garden.

A quick tidy up and my house once again looks like a bachelor pad ie Sky football on the tv and only my rubbish and dirt lying around. A great weekend!

70s architecture

A meeting at work today allowed for some quick snaps of the inside of the building. In a strange way I love the decor - orange wall tiles, brown hessian wall paper etc. If the items were for sale on eBay there would be a lot of interest ...

My favourite pieces are the wall tiles - I can't make up my mind if they are purely artistic or are for acoustic purposes. They remind me of some futuristic space ship - 2001 A Space Odyssey springs to mind.

Back home now and looking forward to the Sponsored Walk tomorrow, as long as the weather holds.

trial run

This morning I packed my rucksack with what I thought I would need for wild camping. Everything just squeezed in and it hit the scales at 1 stone 12 lbs. The heaviest item was my good camera and lens which accounted for one fifth of the total!

However, the Exped dry bags look to be worth their weight in gold. I need one more to keep my sleeping bag dry. Still not sure about which stove I should get, or if indeed I need to buy one at all. I have a Coleman petrol stove for normal camping and it is brilliant, but quite bulky and the petrol may leak. I may have to invest in an MSR Pocket Rocket.

Because of my sniffles and the wet forecast I decided not to go camping for real, but I did walk to another spot that I thought would be promising. The spot is up Glenkindie past a deserted croft called Largue. The walk in is only 2 miles but the area is quite deserted, apart from the sheep and hundreds of clegs. Thankfully the sheep and clegs are further down the valley and I soon left them behind. A couple of sites look good with fairly good grassy patches and not too wet.

It rained for most of the walk so it was a quick walk back to the car and home to sit in front of the stove despite it being only the middle of September.

New tent

This is the tent purchased with the aim of doing a bit of wild camping for softies. It's the Wild Country Sololite. I tried it out in the back garden and boy is it small. At the bottom end it is narrow with just enough room for my sleeping mat which is only 50 cm wide. On the plus side, it seems very stable and the reviews online are very positive.

Sod's Law means that the weather has taken a turn for the worse and the north-west wind is making it feel quite cold. My sore throat and blocked nose dictate that I am sleeping in comfort tonight. Hopefully I will get off my backside and venture out tomorrow.

If all goes to plan I am heading for Ryntaing at the head of Glen Buchat. I've been there before and it is a beautiful spot.

it had to happen

Next time I mention possible purchases please take my cards off me. I've resisted for months, if not years, but a reduction from £160 to £106 persuaded me. I'm now awaiting delivery of a Wild Country Sololite tent. Looks ace and gets great reviews.

Of course, once I had paid for the tent people tell me I can borrow their tent. Thanks A :)

Because of the above madness I went for a wee walk looking for suitable wild camping locations. One of my favourite areas is the Cabrach and I think I've found 2 possibilities.

They are both on the walk up to Mount of Haddoch and I'll take advice from my hillwalking buddies. That's you, Graham and Brian. If all goes well I look forward to short, wild camps in the area without long walks in. Wild camping at New Year? Possibly.

Mike managed to solve my computer problem last night and he's quite right. Fiona and I had too much red wine and I paid the price this morning! Mike also predicted I would get wet on my walk today and he was right again. Quite a heavy shower on the hill. I suppose I should have met him in the Grill Bar for a pie and a pint after all.

tgif

Another working week over and time for a few holes of golf. The course is surprisingly wet considering the time of year - goodness knows what it will be like in February. Mind you, it could be under a blanket of snow if this year is anything to go by.

Should I or shouldn't I? Buy a solo tent. Part of me would love to go wild camping but part of me thinks it would be a waste of money. Would I ever use it? Would I be a wus? I've been very close to splashing out on the Wild Country Solo Lite for just over £100. See here for a review.

Just been reading Michael O'Leary's latest thoughts. What a twat. The Greenpeace comments are spot on.

Mike and Fiona arriving shortly and hopefully my "Thunderbird opening 2 times" problem will be solved.

Where to start?

Going to give this blog thing a go. It will probably not last long but it could be a bit of fun. Installed the new software on my iPhone4 today and tried a couple of hdr shots. The hdr setting certainly makes a difference but whether you need it on a phone camera is another question.