Busy busy busy, Lots of work stuff on at the moment and today I’m actually in work for 0830. Crikey…early night tonight. What an experience everywhere is busy…couldn’t get a seat on the train. Was full of school children…school kids…I didn’t know they made them anymore. A busy week if i’m off to connect on saturday…GET IT DONE!

Need to get these in production…genius. I know at least 2 people who would actually wear it…me included

No one in the office comes close to matching my mess…oh right…this is a bad thing.

Got it. Only available from japan at the moment. Been having great fun with it. Expect to hear some equally as bleepy music in the not to distant future. From the same people who made my Kaossilater. Find all the information you need on it here…can’t wait to get home…get it through the stereo!

Sunday seen a spot of fishing. The destination Millport. A small wee island accessible from largs. The train from Glasgow central takes about an hour to get to Largs then it’s a 2 minute walk to the ferry which runs every 30 mins or so and only takes 10 minutes to get there. Now if the day befores weather was anything to go by it was waterproofs but I was quietly confident it wasn’t to be. Shorts and T-shirt was the order of the day. Once on the ferry these were our views…

Out the back:

And where we were going:

Shorts and T-shirt instantly paid off. The ferry drops you off at a wee harbour but you have to get a bus into Millport the main town which is about 4 miles round the coast…we just cycled it. Now fishing was the order of the day. We hadn’t had much luck sea fishing…infact I’d go as far as to say none . So halfway to millport we stopped to try some fishing. No Luck but didn’t actually lose any gear. It was here when a couple of old guys started fishing a bit up from us who clearly knew what they were doing (assuming, just cause they were old) one guy using different gear from us and catching fish while the other guy using the same as us was catching nothing. Once we spied what it was we headed the rest of the way into millport to find the fishing shop and grab some lunch.

Having found what we were looking for in the fishing shop (after eventually owning up to the shop owner I have no idea what I’m doing but know what I needed to catch fish) we headed back to the same spot. Lee unleashed some beers he’d stashed…hoorah. The fish we were after: Mackerel. The bait we were using: Feathers (well fake plastic ones) We both setup with the new bait. With instant success. The way feathers work is that there are actually up to 5 feathers with hooks on so when a shoal swims through you actually end up catching 5 at a time. I only had 3 on but was more than happy. End of the day I caught 11 and Lee caught a stupidly impressive 17. Great day out, got completely sunburnt. Ended the day with Fish and chips in Largs…Jackpot. Now We’ve mastered the sea I think it might be time for a trip back to Rothesay.

Imagine the scene…It’s raining and the phone rings…It’s a friend who says lets go for a walk…I’ll bring my dog. Done deal. The location Mugdock park just outside Milngavie. The place is actually massive but we chose to walk round the reservoirs. 2 massive reservoirs that have been filled artificially by two 26 mile underground tunnels from Lock Katrine. Who knew my blog could be so educational. Also When the reservoirs are full they hold enough water to supply Glasgow for twelve days. Anyway all this is irrelevant, I got to walk a dog. This is Stovie…great name for a dog.

Cross between a springer spaniel and something else I think…It’s also irrelevant…I love dogs. Great fun. Especially ones that jump in drinking water and puddles. I also ended up soaked and covered in muddy paw prints trying to match stovies enthusiasm. Great day out, even though it rained…will have to go and look at the rest of mugdock park.

Didn’t need them at all. But I couldn’t help myself. I already have a black and a green pair. I used to have a red pair but wore a big hole in them…kinda like my black ones are now . I like my red ones…A bit sonic the hedgehog. And the beauty of these…Don’t even need to try them on…easy.

I have been putting this one off for a long time. For no other reason than There is so much to cram into it. A small books worth rather than a post. Macca covered it nicely so I’ll try and work in tandem to fill some gaps.

synopsis: 8 men in a caravan, bikes, meat, beer, banter and oban on our doorstep.

Now some of these men were french…5 of them to be precise. This plays a big part in the story. My english is pretty bad but my french would make del boy blush. We headed off from Glasgow bright and early to get the train to Oban. I was the only one taking my bike the rest were hiring theres at Oban. Train ride up is brilliant, took about 3 hours to get to Oban but the scenery is a great introduction to Scotland for some of the french that had never been before.

Arrival In Oban, found the bike shop where Christerry arrived…travelling from dundee with a car and bike attached to back his car indeed was a blessing in disguise. The Guy at the bike shop was very helpful and filled our ordinance survey up with good bike routes but more importantly pubs and good places to eat. Instantly a cycling holiday was made…didn’t even catch his name…let’s call him jeff.

Was here we chucked all our big heavy bags in Christerrys motor then headed off in the wrong direction to find the campsite. Found it eventually.A great wee cycle run that hugged the coast…nice easy road to cycle on. It would be this road we’d be cycling everyday to the pub and shops. Although Christerrys car did come in very handy.

Upon Arrival to the Campsite we found our caravan and were instantly turned to giggling children picking rooms and checking all the cupboards, maybe it was just me. There was the fear that as it only slept 8 it would be a bit of a squeeze…oh no it wasn’t it was huge. I had the foresight to send Christerry up ahead as driver and score us a good room. Not sure if he did, I didn’t fit on the bed…dunno if anyone else did. It was a pretty tall holiday in fairness. Me and christerry buddied up as the hobbits. Can I just now applaud Christerrys bed time banter…brilliant. There was so Much hilarious banter constantly but to laugh yourself to sleep everynight…hilarious…that was until macca introduced “whisper time” boooooo.

Day one seen macca and Christerry head off to get supplies in the motor…my word did they do well. Not only did they get a bbq (which had to be built, but they just swiped the already built display one…genius) they somehow rummaged through the reduced section and found a chunk of roast beef reduced from £10 to 10p…genius. Lots of beer and beef later we all knew it was going to be a magic holiday.

Next day cycling into town where we locked up the bikes outside the train station then went on a distillery tour. Brilliant fun…got some samples and bought a bottle for our EU caravan. Was from here on the way home we thought we would use our map and head for the big hill. Got a bit lost in all honesty but got there in the end. At the sumit we all swigged some whisky. I’m not a fan of whisky…on the tour, i did stuggle with the sample…at the summit however. Bit knackered sweating can’t really stand…it was just the job.

Nest Instalment of cycling randomness was kerrera a small island oppisite our campsite. A wee ferry goes back and forth for £6 return. Just a wee flatbed that could take a car at a push. Bikes on then off for adventure. The Island itself had 2 main cycle routes. Red and Green, we took red up to Gylen Castle. What a place that was…amazing. Ditched the bikes and walked round the cliffs. Loved it…was just like a mini stonehaven (yes everything will always be compaired to stonehaven). The cycle run ended with a massive downhill that got us straight back to the ferry. A great day out. The island also had a seal colony…but we never ventured to the green side.

Wednesday was the big cycle. Started off with main roads up to Connel Bridge to get some top scran from the glue pot. A nice wee local. Hanging outside above the door was a gluepot…can’t remember the relevance of it although once inside we found out it was unlucky not to touch it on the way in…good to find out…ONCE YOU’RE IN!

No bad luck fortunately but we did go up to Dunstaffnage Castle…which was pretty crap…they charged to get in…instant dislike…i didn’t even take a picture of it…that’s how much of a disappointment it was.From here we crossed the rail tracks and ventured into the hills back to Oban. Great fun. Loads of ups and downs and different track to cycle on. Another great downhill into Oban which ended with me cycling through a tree. Hilarious. Back to Caravan for more meat and beer ofcourse.

Thursday the group split…We stole one frenchmen but all the other french insisted on cycling nearly double what what we did the day before…nutters. We caved and cycled to the pub to sit and read newspapers and drink cider. Back to Campsite for some pier fishing and a little dip in the see….damn it be cold and salty round those parts…this i realise is pretty obvious to most but it was a beautiful day.

The others arrived only to sit for a while have a few beers then get back on the horse and head back into town for another night out…hardcore. Was here we stubled upon Barbera…our distillery tour guide…she got talking to us and told us a few good places to go…onwards we went only to discover…everywhere had shut up shop….doh. No worries she says…my folks are away lets go back to mine. Ok we say…don’t need a taxi our means of transport is locked up outside the trainstation. Bingo..10 people, 8 bikes and 1 light cycling in the dark about 3 miles up the coast. Hilarious. Eventually arrive to end up dancing (to wizards, i wish it could be christmas everyday) in a relatively random girls kitchen whilst drinking all her mum and dads wine. Brilliant fun, amazing banter. Eventually me and benoir headed home…about 4am I think so about 7 miles to cycle home…100ft into the journey…roughly at the bottom of the hill benoir slams his brakes on and goes over his handle bars…then laughs on impact…magic. 7 miles later in the rain as the suns coming up we get home….a good bit soberer than we were before we left.

If you’ve made it this far well done…sorry this is so massive. Some essays i wrote at school weren’t as big as this. We’re nearly there. Next day was a bit of a lazy one. Christerry drove us into town where we found an amazing wee cafe that did nothing but roast meats. Chicken, beef and lamb in big filthy sandwiches or with all the trimmings. Just the job. Pottered about in town going from coffee to coffee. Eventually headed back to the others who had just flopped all day but needed food. Not ones for getting back on the bikes we decided to get a couple of taxis. Oban is a small place…very small. Word had got out that a load of french invaders had taken to cycling at xam completely pissed…the police knew but thought it was funny cause they were french and also everyone knew we’d been to barbaras house. Hilarious it was outside the pub we received a phonecall (the bar staff brought us their phone and told us a jenny wanted to speak to us) another nightout was arranged then off to another pub for dancing and drinking. This pub contained the contents of the pink bus in our campsite…turns out it’s a gay bus full of swedish people on tour…they liked to dance…we got on very well…not that well. A taxi home at xam again where we told the taxi driver we’d been cycling it pissed in the dark proceeded to switch his lights off and drive us there…not so clever…didn’t die though…all good.

Saturday We returned the bikes very lazily, And it was from here me and Christerry parted ways. The remainders took train back to Glasgow for another nightout…harcore. Whilst i went back to dundee with Christerry then went back to the home comforts of Ma and Pa and to get my washing done. There are literally hundreds of hilarious things that happened…one of which was fishing and catching a pineapple…exactly…alot of stuff equally as funny…but look at the size of this…it’s just silly now. Amazing holiday, amazing company but most important of all…amazing meat

Unavoided (topright) not in the dictionary but in the scrabble one. Someone try and use it in a sentence…nonsense…but did win me the game

Well this weekend seen me down in London on a monopoly pub crawl. The jist: 26 pubs in 12 hours, tough work. The Reason: My brothers local barman is off travelling (I’m not a fan of football but apparently he looks like michael ballack) so needed a sendoff. I joined the crawl 12 pubs in (poor show I know) was great fun though. Not possible to do full pints in all the pubs, they’re well spread. Mostly buses and tubes. Was a great way to see London…I’m a big fan of things that are organised with the intent of getting lost. So now i’ve got the bug and am organising a glasgow subcrawl…who’s in?