bitsofbobs

I love camping! not going to lie…been waiting so long for the opportunity but the weather had been so awful. As a note, this post should have been written nearly a month ago but busyness and lazyness got the better of me so i’m stepping up. The occasion was maccas birthday and the location was originally going to be Gullane beach just outside Edinburgh towards north berwick. Macca started off his saturday like any other playing a bit of football only to end up in hospital on his birthday getting stitches in his heel…HAPPY BIRTHDAY. Eventually our little Glasgow convoy arrived at Gullane only to discover the car park was no overnight stays and no camp fires…uh oh…not so good. Up the road to the next location yellowcraigs…same story…panic. Not to worry as we had an insider who knew another place just a bit further up the road Tyninghame to be precise, a lovely little place in dunbar to be exact. We got parked as close to the beach as we could and headed down the cliffs towards the beach to setup camp in this lovely spot.

We picked up a proper BBQ on the way rather than those rubbish disposable ones along with steaks, burgers and sausages. Just over a wee ridge that protected us from the wind was the beach itself. A lovely stretch of proper east coast beach where frisbee and kite flying was top of the todo.

Back round the campsite to get a proper fire on the go. All the time our campsite acted as a through road for a lot of people carrying drums and tents further up the beach. We had to ask to find out what was going on. It turned out just 10 mins up the beach from us about 80 people celebrating the beltane (basically a fire festival) were having a massive party. Sat round our fire the rain started, about midnight we made the decision to go investigate. Walking down the beach in the dark we could hear the drums, also out of the darkness a massive orange glow casting some seriously weird shadows onto the beach. We turned the corner and there it was…a huge fire with loads of people dancing semi naked round it. All up the cliffside candle lanterns flickered, it looked amazing. Anyone who’s seen the big lebowski, imagine that bit where he goes to jackie treehorns back garden to meet him. Was amazing all playing drums and dancing. We were welcomed and shown where we could recycle our cans and bottles (of course) and only one rule, please don’t take any photos…fair enough. Was great fun, had to take my top off…seemed rude not to, even had a shot playing the drums…turns out…I’m rubbish. Was really starting to chuck it down but all you had to do was sqeeze up next to the fire for 5 mins to dry off. I’d never seen anything like it and doubt anything like that will ever randomly happen again. I got brave and disappeared down the beach into the darkness to take a picture…knowing you couldn’t make anything out..otherwise..who’d believe me?

Happy birthday macca..was magic!

Last night my attention was brought to the fact there was going to be the annual (apparently) persied meteor shower. about 9 o’clock I noticed it was a pretty clear night. It was decided. Nic was up for it, more to do with driving her new mini more than anything. So we headed to Balmaha beach about 1130 and sat with a picnic blanket (tartan of course) on the banks of loch lomond. Managed to get a few photos…which once looked at were actually black. Wasn’t until I got them into photoshop and did some trickery the image came to light. There was a bit of cloud but you could still see shooting stars through them. I loved it. Seen loads. dunno where they got this magic “100″ meteors in an hour nonsense though. Unless I went to bed too early

A while ago I bought a wee camping stove, a cheap and cheerful one from amazon. Friday night straight after work me and Nic decided to put it to use. To balmaha beach for dinner. It’s great there, big old hollowed out tree just the job for my improve oven. Whole beach to ourselves. Nic bought in a load of goodies. Skinny sausages and beans has never tasted so good. Definately be doing that again…Great fun.

Should have blogged this ages ago but i’ve not been very well and under the influence of ALOT of lemsip products. Last weekend Me and a few from work had some cheap flights to Dublin booked. Been pretty busy at work so only really decided what we were going to do a few days before we went really. Camping…It was the cheapest way to go. We found a wee campsite just outside a place called Rush which we could get to straight from the airport. We took lees massive tent as baggage. Ryan air fleeced me on the way in as I didn’t properly check-in on-line so had to pay £20 for some miserable women to stamp a piece of paper…nae chuffed. We found the campsite pretty easy once we had swapped a bus at a wee place called Swords. Instantly it hit us how expensive the trip was going to be. There wasn’t a great deal of difference between the euro and the pound. Everyday items seemed to cost a fortune…even in the quite clearly cheap places.

We eventually Arrived in Rush a lovely wee place with the campsite clearly marked straight from the bus. The campsite was magic, right on the beach and the weather was gorgeous. Tent up we went exploring and quickly found out eating out could be a tad pricey. Lee had a wee camping stove this turned out to be our saviour.

Between this an disposable BBQs we didn’t eat out once (had a cheeky chinese take away)…brilliant. The weather for the whole trip was amazing. Got sunburnt but damn was it cold at night…to the point where I went to the local shops and got some cardboard boxes to sleep on. Even with 2 jumpers, 2 trousers, shorts, gloves and a hat on I could still feel the chill. The town of Rush has plenty of shops, take aways and pubs. We tried to stay away from them as much as possible as everything was so expensive. Most days we walked along the coast to the wee villages along the coast on our way up to a place called Skerries. here was had more shops and it turned out to be a bit cheaper for supplies. Also here we found Bobs family entertainment centre. proper old skool amusements where we played what my Auntie calls the penny pingers. Also here they had operation wolf, outrun and afterburner…very geeky…very exciting.

The last day we decided we should go into Dublin itself…we’ve come this far. To the guiness factory we went. A bus runs straight from rush into Dublin, takes about an hour but you could get an all day bus pass for 6 euro which was pretty good as it covered all of Dublin. The momment I arrived in Dublin I didn’t like it. Think I had got used to the idea of having a whole beach to myself. We walked to the guiness factory It was a good walk. We didn’t hang around Dublin we did the guiness tour and left straight away. The guiness Tour was good. I’m not a huge fan of guiness but the tour was well put together and they had a section on all the design and advertising.

Back to the campsite to pack up tent and swim in the sea of course…we said we were going to do it when we arrived….stuck to our word. The result was I was off work for nearly a week…the others were fine…I’m just weak. Can’t recommend that campsite enough. Great location, Friendly people nice showers etc. All good…Ireland…tick. I’d maybe wait until the euro vs pound situation was a bit better though.

Saturday, who knew Glasgow was going to be one of the sunniest places in the country? well…me and nic did packed a huge pinic including my new camping stove…awesome. Balmaha beach was the destination nic loves it. Packed a blanket and some books…perfect, even went for a wee paddle. Nic has a new big fancy camera to so it was like a camera face off.

I’m at a bit of an advantage in that nic hates any kind of beastie…I LOVE THEM…I think they love me. Look at this little fella, it was massive and I heard it flying before I seen it. Have no idea what it is…anyone got an educated guess?

AWESOME weekend. Booked up a hotel and headed for the highlands. Got nic some walking boots and got a proper map of the surrounding area. Took monday and tuesday off work as nic had them off. All set. Got the bus up on saturday where we arrived at the hotel. I loved it. We went down and had a 3 course meal in the hotel. Lush. Sunday morning we got up bright and early had breakfast and went out with the map looking for adventure. There was an awesome amount of snow on the ground and hills. Some amazing views at the top of the golf course. Following the map…I quickly got us lost…HA it’s easy to follow the paths…until they’re burried under 1ft of snow. That’s my excuse and i’m sticking to it. We soon ended up stranded between deer fences…classic and had to go crossing streams. I loved it. Eventually we ended up in the back garden of this massive lodge…which was quite clearly private ground. Brilliant. Back into town where we stopped at the tipsy laird a pub in town where we had awesome soup and sandwiches.

Back to the hotel our chef had done a runner so went to a filthy fish & chip shop (happy days) where we sat in and ate more than we probably should. Back to hotel for pints and scrabble. Great stuff. Had too much fresh air I think. Only had the 1 pint and felt quite tipsy.

Monday up early again for breakfast…full scottish of course. Headed out to ruthven barracks an old fort about 1 mile and a bit outside kingussie. A nice walk but all the snow had gone. Then into town to do a cafe crawl and eat cakes and drink coffee. Pams cafe. great cake. Bus home and back to Glasgow just in time to get in and order a dimaggios for delivery. Great stuff. Now it’s tuesday a proper day off celebrated by doing very little. Got to experience day time tv…first thing on this morning, A midget fashion show…I might take next week off

Last minute weekend just passed. Been busy it’s taken me this long to get round to it. Loved it. Me, Macca and Jamie smith headed north after work on friday. destination…Aviemore. So much snow had fallen and Macca was itching to ski. I love the snow so needed no persuasion. On the we pulled into asda and purchased meat, beer and a tiny childs sledge…safety first. I took my xbox up (now fixed, woohoo) so friday we basically sat drank and played games while it continued to snow outside.

On saturday we all headed out with sledge for an adventure. I’ve never seen so much snow in Scotland…was awesome. We started off on a path which quickly disappeared, so just made the rest up as we went. Got some ace photos on the way…they’re all on flickr. It was here we came to rest to build a snowman. As you can see…snowmen are nowhere near as funny as a snow bobby.

Eventually we did end up in the middle of a builders yard stuck inbetween 8ft high fences…hilarious. Ended up in pub…well deserved cider…ahhhhhhh. Picked up all the skiing gear for following day. More games and beer. Helen shows up keen for skiing.

Sunday up bright and early…wasn’t even bright. Straight up to the cairngorms where it was a bit of a squeeze in the motor. Me and Jamie snowboarding…and the two ladies skiing. On the first train to the summit brilliant. Jamie smith never snowboarded before…I’m not far off but been a couple of times. Ran through the basics then discovered jamie smith was riding wrong foot forward…uh oh. Things got technical we had a screwdriver started taking things to bits…only for someone to walk past and show us the wee quick release handles that do the job we over complicated…ha. That was us. Straight down the slopes. Alot of high fiving. Big up Jamie Smith just biting the bullet. Day one…CONQUER THE MOUNTAIN. Was amazing fun, going to get back on the lessons I think but I LOVED IT. definately getting better. Still suffering a bit just now mind. muscles I never knew I had…but now I can hear them screaming. High five Macca for hosting…loved it.

Another quality weekend bagged. This past weekend I spent with nic in St Andrews enjoying the Autumn Sunshine…SUNSHINE! yes sunshine. What better way to celebrate than hitting the beach for some kite flying…Awesome. Other activities included alot of walking, taking pictures (they’re on flickr), alot of coffee drinking and finding out just how much I hate golf . A great weekend tough to top.

Lovely day of sunshine on saturday so me and nic flew off in the motor to Helensburgh…she couldn’t actually believe I’d never been there. Massive picnic packed including a flask of soup…HARDCORE. Not much to helensburgh itself but it’s right on the waters edge so there’s a big box ticked right there. Lots of wee shops kicking about when i stumbled into this one…genius…absolute genius.

After this we went on the search of Hill house a house that charles rennie macintosh designed but didn’t build himself (just being lazy). We didn’t actually go into the building because it was all national trusted up…didn’t have to pay which was nice…well we don’t think we needed to i took some pictures then we ran away. Great day out which ended in a massive steak dinner…WOOHOO!

Busy busy weekend…including decorating, awesome cooking, sorting my jumble sale like collection of things and rounded off with a sunday roadtrip to Culzean castle. What better way to spend a sunday than on a cliff by the sea next to a castle…brilliant. The grounds itself are massive with plenty to do and see. All been beutifully restored and maintained. Lots of walking to be done and cakes to eat. The best find was the Orangery. A massive buiding consisting of mostly windows where they just grew oranges. How posh do you have to be to give your fruit it’s own house?

There was no sign of the strawberryery. Also got to take my new holga camera out for a trip, ended up taking three cameras…oops.Great weekend