Season's Greetings

As I write this blog, the end of the year is approaching at a rapid pace and Christmas along with it in all its trimmings and commercialism. For me the commercialism of Christmas is not so much that it disguises the true meaning of Christmas, but that it disguises the joy of life itself. Do we really need to see one more picture of one more family going overboard in their commitment to celebrating the birth of Christ. How about the man who decorated his house so elaborately that it caught fire from a shorted fuse. Where is the sense of 50 or 100 people jumping into freezing water for a swim on the coldest day of the year. Why bury Oxford Street in so many lights that the night becomes day. And why, oh why does the old tradition of a carol service on Christmas eve become a mayhem of carol services for all kinds of things starting in late November. I have long taken issue with Christmas starting in September and October but I think I gave in on that years ago. But I do object to this incredible proliferation of services often disguised as raising funds for charity. Not to be controversial but it makes one long for the Indian Diwali or the Chinese New year that are short sweet but no less sincere. 

I loved Christmas as a child and bemoaned all through my adult life at how long the Christmas season became. My earliest recollection  is of a now defunct department store in Toronto that always cleared its Christmas space the week that kids went back to school in early September, the plastic trees and ornaments came soon after and santa's grotto was in place by October. Now this is a given and we have come to accept it. I never imagined it could get worse but now my head veritably spins with all the carol services. I just want to get to Christmas Eve to get to the actual carol service that may actually mean something.  

I think the real joy of Christmas is its timing in the year, close to the winter solstice, I am told to give the heathens something to celebrate instead of dancing around stonehenge on the 21st. Also close to New Year's bringing a real sense of rebirth as the months and seasons start their new march from January to December again. For me I used to wish for the New Year to get rid of Christmas but I don't feel like that any more. No for me now the longing for new year is for the rebirth of the earth, as the crocuses and snow drops push up, as the daffodils start to appear, as buds fatten and birds start to sing again. As the sun starts to rise again in the sky in a real dawn and not hug the horizon for a few hours. 

But most of all we have started a new tradition, the cheap holiday booked in seconds over the internet to take me to Southern Europe to Portugal and the Algarve where 20 degrees in January is not unheard of. Where oranges hang from trees in winter. Where fish restaurants reign supreme, this is the new Christmas Season for me, a chance to celebrate life and a love of this earth in a land of colour.

Roll on January, with apologies to all those Christmas/Solstice/New Year revelers........

Oswestry Food and Drink Festival

This year we visited the festival as returning visitors full of expectations of a good time and we were not disappointed. So, to backtrack, we discovered Oswestry as a place to visit in the Spring of 2013 and went there several times over the next few months. Oswestry is a relatively unchanged market town but has modern shopping stores like Marks and Spencer, Sainsbury's, Boots and Costa Coffee. Our visit in July of 2013 was the same plan as before but we were delighted to find the street full of vendors selling all kinds of food and drink. We had a great time sampling the fayre and enjoying a lovely warm day, there were even some street musicians playing excellent music. We walked all the way up the Main street turned left at the old Llwyd building and walked up to the market square. We then worked way round to The Post Office and back into the centre. This year we made a planned effort to visit the whole fayre properly.

The fayre was a week later in 2014 and we arrived and parked around 10.30am. I had my camera ready

and we started at the Sainsburys end of the main street. There was an amazing bread stand selling every kind of loaf and I recognised the vendor from last year. Further on was the cheese man with a huge variety of cheeses and then the first of the beer stalls. I tried several beers from each man and all of these samples were free, but they were happy to give them out especially when I then bought bottles from each vendor. They were delicious as I am a great fan of real ale. (If ever the dear reader is up in Scotland then is a tavern in Cawdor near Inverness that sells Mcgregors ale. I am sure it is available elsewhere but a finer richer beer you will not find. Just a by the by.) So back to the festival...

Close to the heart is the main tent that provides information about the festival, a sort of tourist information centre where polite ladies can tell you everything about what is going on. We stopped there for quite a while and picked up several brochures including the very useful map of the town and a list of all the participants. S far we had spent much of our time on Cross street but there was still the whole of Bailey to cover. I turned away from the information tent and spotted the truck that carried the oxygen tanks that were being used to blow up the balloons. Last year the balloons were green but this year they are pink. It is now August 13th as I write and the balloon is still hanging in my office although I will confess I have filled it up again by carefully not completely tieing the balloon end off. A trick I learned as a kid. Be careful if you do this because the weakened balloon can eventually pop unexpectedly.

Time for a break and we headed into Costa's. Now I know this is not strictly part of the fayre but these

shops actually are quite quiet with all the customers eating and drinking outside. So we had no problems finding a table and getting a coffee. We were soon finished and heading back and up on to Bailey street where the vendors continued unabated. We finally found the cupcake stand which had moved higher up this year, the display and assortment of cakes was even better than last year. Then more cheese, more beer until we reached the square and there was my olive man from France. A bigger display of olives you will never see and we bought our fill. Higher again into the square and this is where much of the fresh fruits and vegetables are sold.

We returned back down the hill via Willow street and came back to the centre before heading back down Cross Street to complete our shopping at Sainsburys. More than anything else the festival tells the story of what a wonderful town Oswestry is, how friendly are the people and how proud they are of their little part of England that is still not sure if maybe it is really Welsh. I would recommend a visit by anyone if they are ever in this corner of Shropshire and especially at the time of the Food and Drink Festival.

I'm going to Scotland

July 7th 2014 

I first went to Scotland as a young teenager and stayed at Troon in Ayrshire then a few years later at a hotel in Pitlochry. At 19 and 20 I went to Glasgow twice on summer geology college trips but little did I realise at that point that I was saying goodbye to Scotland for forty years. Forty Years, my God, where does your life go. Very scary thought.

So as the pending referendum for Scottish independence approaches, fortune has presented an opportunity to return. We are meeting some friends from Canada and plan a tour of Loch Lomond, Loch Ness, Inverness and Edinburgh. I am setting up this blog now so that I can update it daily as the trip progresses. A sort of live interaction for anyone interested. 

Day one is Sunday July 27th 2014

Galloway Arms Hotel

We crossed the border just before 4pm, passing the large Saltaire poster by the roadside. We immediately turned off left for a 25 mile trip to Dumfries. We had the usual nightmare of finding the Glenaldor Hotel not through any misdirection, simply that not every road has a name board and you have make a few guesses. Evening was spent driving to the Galloway Arms Hotel in Crocketford for supper then a pilgrimage to the Robbie Burns mausoleum and Burns house. 

Day two is Monday July 28th

Well we made it up the M74 to Glasgow past all the signs for the Commonwealth

Cairndow Coaching Inn

Games and despite forebodings of traffic jams, survived to the Glasgow Airport unscathed. We parked and went into the arrivals area, checked that the flight was on time and settled in a coffee shop to wait. Checking emails the news came through that our friends flight was delayed from Toronto by severe weather and missed their connection in Iceland. So we travelled up to Cairndow alone, stopping at Luss by the side of Loch Lomond. Luss is portrayed as the prettiest village in this area but sadly overrun with tourists all wanting to see the prettiest village! Arriving at the Cairndow Coaching Inn around 3pm we had lunch and then spent a pleasant hour walking around the Arkinglas tree reservation. It lays claim to containing the tallest tree in Britain and there certainly was a mighty silver fir. But my favourite was the redwood grown from seeds brought from California over a century ago. We were only vaguely hungry in the evening so we shared Scampi and chips in the garden at the front of the lnn overlooking the loch. 

Day three is Tuesday July 29th 2014

Green Welly Shop

Today was the big drive day because we had to track back to the airport, pick up our friends and drive up into the highlands. Our first stop was a brief moment by Loch Lomond to take a photo then a bite to eat at The Green Welly Stop in Tindrum. From there we took the highland road through a dramatic mountain landscape and then down into the Loch Ness faultline. We arrived in Fort Augustus at 5pm and walked around the locks followed by supper at The Lock Pub. Finally settled at the Netherwood B&B with house martins nesting at the front door and red deer grazing in the field across the way. I am now drinking my friends Peter Lehmann Shiraz as I rest in our bedroom suite.

Day four is Wednesday July 30th 2014

Skye Bridge

Today was the first real day of exploration as we headed along a mountain road to Kyle of Lochalsh stopping at several mountain vistas on the way. The weather has deteriorated but not enough to stop activities. At Kyle we went over the new bridge to Skye and stopped at the tourist office in Kyleakin where a knowledgeable gentleman recommended Portree (literally the Port of the king or rex) so we headed off into central Skye. We stopped for a short mountain hike but only got about a kilometer as we were beaten back by midges. I saw a new butterfly, scotch argus, beautiful brown and orange spots but sadly hid in the grass and my camera was confused by the focal point. Note to self, I need a manual focus. On to Sligachan where we stopped in a bar that had 400 different whiskeys, Jeff was in his element but refrained until the return trip. We spent some time outside with a load of tourists all taking photos in the brief sunshine. We then moved on to Portree, a pretty town where we had supper at the Rosedale Hotel. Picked up wine, milk and haggis flavoured crisps at the Co-operative the headed back to Sligachan where Jeff got his fine rare scotch, Talisker Dark Storm and I had whiskey flavoured ice cream, delicious. The rest of the day was uneventful as we drove back to the Netherwood.

Day five is Thursday July 31st 2014

Scotch Argus

Deciding to take a break from the car we travelled just twenty miles to Fort William and the foot of Ben Nevis. We visited the information centre and got instructions for climbing Glen Nevis, a route that leads up a steep gorge to an open flat valley known as a hanging valley gentle in its upper course but steep in the lower here a passing glacier had truncated the river course. I found the Scotch Argus again and spent a happy time chasing several individuals whilst the others admired the scenery which was spectacular. We returned to Fort William and drove over to the ruin of Inverlochy castle, but just before we arrived, I noticed that the steam engine that pulls the Jacobite train was puling into shed for the night. To my delight, photos and videos were obtained. The castle itself was in pretty good shape and provided good photo opportunities. Finally a visit to the Newton Locks, that control the water supply into Loch Lochy, and a place to view Ben Nevis. Sadly the mountain weather did not cooperate so we headed home and went to supper at Fort Augustus.

Day six is Friday August 1st 2014

Urquhart Castle

After saying goodbye to the hosts of Netherwood we headed off for Inverness. The first stop was a field of highland cattle where we took photos and I actually fed one, its muzzle was so gentle as it lifted the feed. Then on to Urquhart Castle by Loch Ness and the spectacular Divach Falls near Drumnadrochit. Finally arriving at Inverness where we parked in a multistory and roamed the town including visits to the whiskey shop, Marks and Spencers and Boots. We then drove to Nairn where we had rented an apartment and went for a walk on the beach.

Day seven is Saturday August 2nd

Ivatt Mogul on Strathspey

Drove to the Bloomhill station on the Speyside Railway where we bought tickets to Aviemore on the steam train. We had an hour to kill so we went to the Heather Restaurant about a mile away and had clootie dumpling and coffee. Then back to the station and a great ride to Aviemore including a band playing on the station. Next stop was Cawdor Castle made famous in Macbeth where we toured the castle and gardens, on leaving I passed the Lady Cawdor who greeted me with a "Good Afternoon" and I replied hello. We smiled and went on our way. This brief encounter caused much excitement with my friends who had learned a lot about her yet, .because I had walked ahead, it was me who had the encounter! We then had a drink at the Cawdor Tavern before a whirlwind shop at Sainsbury's. 

Day eight is Sunday August 3rd

Whiskey Galore

For some reason today I am exceedingly tired. I put this down to seven days of continuous sightseeing and touring, normally days like these are once a week but my soles are just tingling. Anyway the day started off with a visit to the Benromach   Distillery where we took a tour with Jim Lowther, an employee of the distillery and an ex RAF electrician from Kinloss. It was very interesting although, fine single malt whiskey it be, it still was not the drink for me. On to Elgin to see the ruined cathedral and a pint at the droughty pub. On the way back we stopped at Forres to see the Celtic stone and the award winning gardens.

Day nine is Monday August 4th

Forth Rail Bridge

Happy Simcoe Day in Ontario Canada. The day was spent travelling 180 miles from Nairn to Edinburgh with one stop at The House of Bruar near Pitlochry and a second at the Forth Bridges at North Queensferry.   But another crisis approached when we arrived at Edinburgh Airport to discover Heather and Mathieu's plane was held up in Birmingham for four hours. We left the airport and spent an hour in a field watching trains go by and planes take off. At 8pm the plane arrived and we went to the Gurkha Indian restaurant in Musselburgh. Quite tiring but all worked out in the end.

Day ten is Tuesday August 5th

Fringe Festival

Took Scotrail from Musselburgh to Edinburgh and walked towards the Royal Mile where there was a throng of people enjoying the Fringe Festival. What it is, is a load of people acting or singing to promote either a show or a performance or a CD or simply for you to give them money. Some of the stuff was bizarre but some was really good. For me the best was a boy girl team playing violins whilst standing on a bollard. This can be seen on my Flickr and youtube accounts. After we walked through the city, visited Barclays and had tea in Marks and Spencers. Finally a second walk up the Royal Mile and supper at the Broad Street Bistro. My feet were absolutely dead at the end of the day.

Day eleven is the penultimate day August 6th

Feed the Birds

Tomorrow will be the last blog entry since the day after is simply the journey home. However I will add an addendum if anything of import happens. I am very much against updating blogs except for spelling or grammar. The thoughts should stand as they are written. So today was a journey through the lovely Southern Uplands of Scotland stopping at a delightful café called the Red Barn. The waitress had a very English accent yet had grown up locally. Being a Scot with an English accent made her uncertain where she belonged but put it down to an English mother and growing up close to the border. She is a medical student and will no doubt make a worthy contribution to society. On to the border and go in search of Hadrian's wall stopping at Brampton for directions and food in the co-op. Now all who know me know that I am not a pleb, but lets face it Hadrian's wall is ....a wall and while it is a great engineering feat from the days of antiquity, it still remains a wall and I just can't get excited about it. So the others went off and I looked after the car since we fortuitously had no change to pay the parking meter. On to Windermere and finished the day with supper at the Hylton restaurant and a walk by the lake to watch the birds being fed.

Helvelyn and Red Tarn

Day twelve is the last day August 7th

OK the last day and lets wind down and take it easy. NOT! No let's completely knacker ourselves and climb Helvellyn, the third highest peak in England. To be fair it was beautiful, with hillsides of fern, green slopes, panoramic views and lakes especially the Red Tarn. I did fine on the way up, just got very tired but the views were worth it. But the walk down, I fell twice when I went on to the grass off the rocks. I hurt my knee both times so it was just plain dumb. I hobbled to the car and we went to the Travellers Rest and had a great meal including sticky toffee pudding with custard.

Addendum

Brief Encounter

The journey home through England is not really part of the Scottish trip but we did stop briefly at the Carnforth Station, interesting because it is where David Lean filmed 'Brief Encounter'. We have a scone and tea in the actual cafe in the movie and the proprietor was very knowledgeable and forthcoming about all things related to the movie. After that, it was a beeline for home

Hello World (An update on my life)

Well it's been a long time since I have done an article like this. When I started blogging I was in the midst of depression that had got me by the balls. That was 2008 and I climbed out of it with the help of my good local doctor to whom I am and always will be very indebted. For those who think depression is a state of mind, let me assure you it is very physical. It is at its worse when you wake up and almost cannot lift your head off the pillow. This always gives a bad start because at 11pm the previous night you were almost feeling OK. It's like your brain rewires each night and you have to climb back out. Daylight is a killer, even a chink through a curtain and no amount of sitting in the garden surrounded by flowers enjoying a cup of tea will shake the mood. Slowly it lifted and by the time it was mid to late afternoon, normality would start to chink in and the feeling a) maybe its over and b) how come I feel OK after feeling so bad. Then bedtime comes with the usual dread that tomorrow reverts back to a nightmare. It truly for me was like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. 

So it lasted two years for me. Why so long, well from what I have heard, why so short could easily be the question. The biggest problem with depression is that you cannot see the road out, your brain has rewired in a dreadful way and no matter how many times you flip the circuit breaker it does not reset to normal. The fact that you cannot reset adds to the problem.  For me the answer was Effexor or Venlafaxine as long as I stayed on it. There was a six week nightmare wait for it to start to lift my mood, it has very undesirable side effects that was the reason why I kept on stopping it. But finally I listened and from early 2010 to mid 2011 I stayed on it, my brain reset and I slowly came off it.

Now I avoid anything that smacks of drugs, especially ones that help you sleep, my new blase manner means that if I have a sleepless night then I simply lie awake and wait for the next night. Eventually I conk out and system again returns to normal. I have also filled my life with things I enjoy doing so that any depressing thoughts are kept at bay. My life is not perfect but its not bad, not bad at all. Now that I have told you all this, reread my 2008 entries when I was under the influence, I have left them untouched but it truly is a different mind speaking.

So what is in my life, well where do I start, my only real hobby is my model railway which is slowly evolving into something akin to what you can see in any model railway magazine. The town is called Abbingdon, I don't know if it exists or not but the name has stuck. It's a town within itself and doesn't need the railway to look good. It's currently undergoing an overhaul into its final form (I hope). My other interest is to engage into every facet of British life that I can, from music, to coffee shops, to pubs, how towns are laid out and whether there is a Costas. The Costa in the picture is on my model town of Abbingdon. I lived many years in Canada and I try to do the same there using whether there is a Tim Hortons to define the town status. It's a lot of fun and will be the subject of more blogs. I live by the sea so a lot of time is spent in glorious scenery with the sea to the west and mountains to the east. Yes life is good. I also sing in a Welsh Choir and learning lots of new songs for a concert at the Albert Hall next year. this takes up a lot of time. My last interest is online blogging, youtube, Flickr, Squidoo and facebook. I enjoy social media as long as I control it and not the other way round. I also have a website dedicated to my great aunt Bessie. She has her own website and Flickr account even though she passed away ten years ago. I am getting a lot of help from a recently found cousin. Lastly I love to visit all things to do with railways from Network Rail to Arriva Trains to any preserved steam railway and tour the country to see as many as I can. I will make blogs in the coming months on some of these items specifically so please revisit when you can.

Algarve - January 2014

Using a well worn phrase, I have a bucket list, and on that list the Algarve has always sat near the top. This is the story of our trip in unprecedented detail compared to previous blogs. We flew from Birmingham on Monarch Airlines flight number ZB402 on January 4th 2014 and arrived about 11am. The weather was beautiful and about 15 degrees. It was like being transported into April. Upon arrival we picked up the car, a black Fiat Panda and drove to the self catering apartment in Olhao where we met the owner and paid the rent for the week. First duty was to find some lunch so we walked around the town taking in all the new sights in particular the market building on the shoreline. Walking back into town we saw many restaurants but settled on O Bote Restaurant where we had fried fish and potatoes. On the way back to the apartment we stopped at Pingo Doce to get some groceries for the self catering side of the holiday.

January 5th we headed out east to the Spanish border and the town of Vila Real de Santo Antonio. We parked and relaxed with a coffee at Pastelaria Carol  before heading up the high street. A major stopping place was Casa Caravella which was an excellent souvenir shop. We walked on taking in the sights, a view over the river to Spain and Santo Antonio's lighthouse. On the way back we stopped at Tavira and walked around the town, castle and had lunch at Tavira Romana Restaurant. In Olhao we shopped once again at Pingo Doce.

January 6th we decided to go to the westernmost extreme of Portugal today so headed out along the I125 and except for a coffee at Mcdonalds in Lagos we drove all the way out to Sagres point where a large Napoleonic fort is located. This is the open Atlantic with only Cape St Vincent between us and America and the waves were huge. We sat for a while just watching the breakers in the huge swell on an idyllic day. To be able to say we'd done it, we parked in Sagres and had a look at the harbour. This is essentially a tourist town and pretty dead in January. Lovely and clean like all Portuguese towns. We drove back to Lagos and parked on the riverside promenade. We walked around the old streets of the town and sat out in a patio coffee shop. We shopped at a small Intermarche on the promenade. Chris wanted to see the breakers hitting the harbour wall so I dropped her off while I went around, got lost in Lagos old city and then picked her up. We also visited Dona Ana cove to see the rocks made famous on so many Algarve brochures, before driving back home. On the way I filled up with petrol at Compañía Española de Petróleos, S.A (CERPA) in Lagoa. This is the flagship gas station in Portugal

January 7th we split into two outings, first to Faro starting with the station and I saw a selection of

Portuguese rail transport then around the old town checking out the Cathedral of Faro and a got lost at the lovely Jardim de Alameda Joao de Deus Park. We had parked near Egreja de Carmo on a parking meter run by Masitrave, a major sign and parking management company. We then returned to Olhao and headed for the Ria Formosa Park. We first ate at Restaurant Vista Formosa the best fried fish meal of the holiday. Then a wonderful day wandering around the trails of the park seeing wildlife and plantlife that we had never seen before, massive cacti, olive trees, spoonbills, flamingos. On the way home we again shopped at the Intermarche in Olhao

January 8th saw us heading inland to Silves and Monchique, the latter being up in the mountains at the top of a 15 kilometre winding road. We again wandered the town and got right up to the famous ruin of the 17th century convent (Nossa Senhora de Desterro- our Lady of Exile). We drove back to Silves and stopped for coffee just below the castle at Cafe Ingles. Then a highlight we went into Silves cathedral and saw the five tombs of the crusaders in lovely yellow Sives limestone. We bought some souvenirs at Cantinho Das Tradicoes and got a free pen! We stopped to take in the city near the Roman bridge.

January 9th and we decided to see a resort. Albufeira has a huge beautiful beach and we wandered over a

mile along its shore and could have gone much further. Albufeira also has an old sector but it has grown hugely to serve the tourist industry and whole streets of retail properties some with familiar names. We found a quiet street and had a another lovely fish supper at Adega De Pipas Restaurant. We stopped at Lidl for some groceries and Jumbo Petrol Station run by the supermarket chain Auchon.

January 10th being our last proper day we tried to cover a few outstanding sites. First the beautiful church at Amancil which was closed but has a famous trompe l'oeil inside. Then on to Loule to see the market, buy a plate at Idalecia Correia  and coffee and cake at So Sweet Cakes. We then went on to Estoi and visited the grand Palacio de Estoi. The evening was our last supper and we went to Restaurant Petisqueira in Olhao. We enjoyed it but not the best meal we had, I won't order skate again, boiled with potatoes.

January 11th and time to go, we filled the car up at BP of all places and then to the airport where we had a Costa coffee, bought some souvenirs and boarded the plane home. The Algarve is now officially one of my favourite places and I hope to return one day.