August 2022, and we are still having a few days of sun, but it’s predominantly wet.

The new Pinter brewing kit, ready for action after conditioning in the fridge.

The Pinter beer maker conditioning in the fridge. 

First attempt did not have enough head as expected, and due to this the flow was rather slow. Nevertheless the beer was gorgeous. Seems that the printed instructions had the valve setting too open. Pinter were very good. Apologised for the mistake and sent me a free replacement. That’s been brewed, and the amended setting has resolved the slight problem.

Now the beer is flowing. A real treat, freshly brewed beer on tap, especially the IPA.

It’s summer, but the wood burner is on. The rest of the U.K. is sweltering and we are freezing. But the forecast shows improvement at the end of the week. After all, it is Scotland. You expect all the seasons in one day.

Winter feeling, so comfort food. Made myself cheese scones for breakfast. Didn’t eat all of them, shared a few with our guests. Added the recipe for anyone wanting to try them.

Quick and easy Cheese scones. Just the ticket for breakfast. Our guest love them.

Ingredients

250 g (9oz) Plain (all-purpose) flour T55

1 tbsp Baking powder (use only 1 tsp if using

self-raising flour)

• 1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda

• pinch salt & pepper

• 50 g (2oz) Butter, unsalted (at room

temperature)

• 100 g (3.5oz) Cheese, finely grated (Cheddar,

French Comté, Mimolette)*

• 1 tbsp Rosemary, finely chopped (or fresh

thyme, chives, dried Herbes de Provence)

• 1 egg (@60g)

• 100 ml (3.5fl oz) Milk (whole or semi-skimmed)

Scone Glaze

• 1 egg yolk (optional)

• 1 tbsp milk

• 1 tsp sesame or poppy seeds (optional)

1. Heat oven to 220°C/425°F/200°C

fan/Gas 7. Line a baking tray with

parchment paper or a silicone mat.

2. Mix together the flour, baking

powder/soda, salt, pepper, and

rosemary (or other herbs) in a large

bowl. Either rub in the butter using

your fingers but if you have a mixer, this

is even better. Mix just until the butter

looks like breadcrumbs in the flour then

add the cheese. Add the egg and milk

and mix until fully combined. The result

should be a sticky, wet dough. If you

find it's too dry, add a little bit more

milk.

3. Roll out on a floured surface to about 2

cm thick (nearly an inch) and using a

scone/cookie cutter (6cm/2.5"), cut out

medium-sized rounds. Alternatively, to

save time or if you don't have cutters,

roll into a circle (use a plate as a guide)

and cut into triangles with a sharp knife.

4. Place on the baking tray and brush with

a mixture of egg yolk and a little milk to

glaze (yolk is optional but

recommended for a shiny glaze).

5. Bake for 10-15 minutes until golden

brown.

It’s times like these that you wished you could see in the dark. The picture is there to take, but you don’t have your tripod, you want to take it on a time delay to eliminate shake, but you can’t see the controls on the camera. Take a deep breath and wish for the best. This was the best from a dozen shots. 

Just goes to show, you need to have your tripod handy, and memorise how to set the camera up in the dark. Or have a torch and a second pair of hands.

Glorious sunshine. Just had lunch at the James Watt and heading to pick the car up. Picture is of the Centre of Greenock, Cathcart Square with the town hall and municipal buildings behind. Looks gorgeous with the bright blue sky. The week before it was being used for a film set, some sort of Bollywood movie. 

Heading home on the ferry, hills in the background. Only a 20 minute ferry journey. Back home to the quiet surrounds of Dunoon and Innellan. Away from the frenetic scrabble of people and traffic on the mainland.

Well the commonwealth games have ended with Australian heading the table and England coming up a close second. It’s been thrilling, each day something else to take my mind off the conservative race for PM between Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss.

It’s my turn.

The news is gloom and doom, Power and food bills soaring, inflation roaring out of control. Although l can remember when it was 24% back in the 70s. Every week l would transfer thousands of pounds of cash from advanced deposits onto the money market at a rate of 10%. It made a fortune for the company, unfortunately not for me. I had just opened a new hotel in Dover and people heading for the channel crossing would prepay their accommodation. It was a time of boom for us with occupancies up in their nineties. 

Can’t recall Harold Wilson or Margaret Thatcher the then PMs handing out cash to get us through the difficulties. But then again people didn’t have credit cards and high mortgage repayments. In fact the majority of people lived within their means. It wasn’t a must have now society.

For years interest rates have been in the single digits. Pensioners savings have been dwindling. Perhaps we should go on strike for an increase inline with inflation.

On a serious note, everyone is bashing the energy companies, but it’s not all one sided, nothing is that simple. Shareholders have been loosing bucket loads. Many share values are less than what they were ten years ago and companies need good times to cover the bad. It’s a balance.

We shouldn’t forget Oil and gas companies already pay 40 per cent corporation tax, and if they pay a dividend the recipient is taxed at up to 39 per cent. In effect the government gets more than half the shareholder's' benefit. Coupied with VAT. this gives the government an

unplanned tax bonanza, even before double-dubbing with a windfall tax. 

It’s a difficult problem caused by Putin with the war on Ukraine and the premise of capitalism. Perhaps we need a short term solution, a sticking plaster to stem the flow, but a more long term strategic plan that isn’t controlled by vote seeking politicians, whose goal is to either stay or get into power.

A well thought out solution put forward by Liz Truss, the person that is now likely to be our new Pm, a woman so dense that light bends around her according to a recent article.

If 43% of UK adults do not pay tax (IFS. sourced) as they are carers, low paid, pensioners, unemployed etc. - how will tax cuts help them pay the £4,000 fuel and utility bills forecast?

Meanwhile Glasgow city is investigating in drilling a 6km deep geothermal well in the Clyde to provide electricity to the city. Estimated at cost £60 million it will tap into the natural heat found beneath the earth’s surface. This is the government who banned fracking as it could fracture the earths crust.

Wild swimming, not so much as swimming as going through the motions in the waters around the U.K.

The annual bonuses paid to water company executives rose by 20% in 2021, despite most of the firms failing to meet sewage pollution targets. Figures show that on average executives received €100,000 in one-off payments on top of their salaries, during a period in which foul water was pumped into England's rivers and swimming spots for 2.7m hours. The analysis of water companies' annual reports found that their Bonus

pool for executives now stands at more than £600,000 per company on average. In total the 22 water bosses paid themselves £24.8m, including €14.7m in bonuses, benefits and incentives in 2021-22.

Enough of gloom and doom, politics and the like.

Recently Judith has been talking about getting a motor home. This is from the person who felt our Bessicarr motor home was too lavish and not like camping. It was one of the most expensive holidays we have ever had. Three weeks travelling, after which it was sold.

In her defence, it was massive, and it had the disadvantage of being too tall to get into National Trust properties as well as the majority of car parks and supermarkets. 

So we are looking at small vehicles that can manoeuvre under height barrier’s, similar to the VW, but slightly bigger. Perhaps one based on the Renault Traffic with a pop up roof, to allow us more headroom whilst stationary. Although you still have the problem of taking your home with you, whenever you go out for the day sightseeing. A bit like a tortoise with stigma attached. Lots of bad publicity up in Scotland. Camper vans wild camping, blocking roads, emptying their toilet waste into the sea. Is that the image l want to be associated with?

Compact and bijou motor home

One careful owner

Shipped from New Delhi 

Should we have a small caravan. 

Hate towing. But if it’s light, you don’t feel it, so they say. 

It’s the reversing!!!! Yet they have those natty remote movers to position it on site. And l do love the retro Eriba Touring Troll 530 Rockabilly, and they are a hell of a lot cheaper than a motor home. Since covid, lock down and travel restrictions, small motor home conversion can easily cost £70k. More than we paid for our little cottage in France. 

Erica Rockabilly 

Judith found me another little project, not sure if it’s the car that needs an overhaul or the house.

She asked if it could be completed by October 31st. What a ghoulish idea. 

Once again, our friends have given us the use of their caravan. They have driven it up to Oban, had a week themselves and it’s now ours for a week. Then, they drive back to collect the van, as our car isn’t powerful enough to tow. Another big factor in the equation, we don’t have a tow bar.

Friday 19 August.

I'm writing this on Friday as we sit just outside of Oban in a traffic jam on our way to Ian’s caravan, parked just on the other side of the Connell bridge. Three separate road closures due to accidents had eventually diverted all the traffic heading to Fort William and beyond over the bridge. Eventually took us two hours to drive from Oban to the bridge. But at least we arrived safely, which can’t be said for those involved in the accidents.

The weather has been horrendous, gale force winds and rain that hadn’t stopped for hours. Dropping a week's worth of rain in just 24 hours.  The Met Office issued yellow thunderstorms warnings for England,and and Wales, with travel disruption, power cuts and lightning possible.

With the  Environment Agency issuing nearly 20 flood alerts for areas of the Midlands and south-east England.

So you may be reading my diary entry with the ring of thunder in your ears.

Getting back to the incessant rain. The guy nearest to us on site has chosen to start building an Ark next to his van. Must have insider knowledge or a connection with the big man. And l don’t mean Billy Connolly.

Must say Ian’s spot on the site is tremendous. He knows Judith hates noise, children, crowds. In fact the majority of mankind. Located with both mountain and sea views, as far away from other caravans as humanly possible, at the end of Oban international airport runway. They only normally have three light planes a day l have been told. Saying that, as we arrived we watched as a twin engined Hebridean Air aircraft narrowly missed Ian’s aerial and caravan as it swooped into land. Fortunately they only operate between 10.00 and 17.45.

We had bought oysters from Loch Fyne Oyster bar as we passed on our way to Inveraray. But we forgot the lemons. After settling in to the van at North Ledaig, we headed to the on-site shop. The last lemon was sold in front of our eyes. Buggers. Offered to mug the women on her way back to the G&Ts, but Judith held me back. They will have to stay in the cold for another day.

Nipped out in the car to buy fish and chips from Tralee bay Fish and Chips an award winning van at Benderloch. Not impressed. Judith’s was lovely, the medium sized fish in batter. Firm white fish crispy batter. Mine was the large, felt l could manage the big boy.  Batter was totally different, more like filo pastry in consistency. Fish , thin, grey and overcooked. If it hadn’t  been such a distance to drive l would have taken it back and requested a replacement. Disappointing. 

The night was bumpy. Howling gales rocking us, but not to sleep. The roof was peppered nonstop with rain throughout the night, although it sounded more like the hooves of a heard of galloping stallions. So pleased it ceased around six in the morning. So stayed in bed till nine. Showered, then a good breakfast before heading to our first walk, just north of Barcaldine. More importantly found a local shop that had lemons, as well as a good selection of chocolate treats. 

Parked up at the Sutherland Grove forestry track and linked three walk’s together. 6k in total taking us eventually up into the hills to the reservoir. And a perfect picnic spot for lunch.  

Plenty of water rushing through the ravine. Not surprising considering the rain we have had over the past few days.

Then off to Glen Creran for the Pine Marten Trail at the far end of the Glen. The drive was amazing, although the trail was closed as a bridge had collapsed. Not a problem, headed back to the nature reserve and climbed the hill before heading home. 

What a location for a lodge. Would make a superb retreat, perhaps a hotel. All l need is energy and lots of money.

Glorious hunting, shooting and fishing estate.

Sunday

Visit Beinn Lora, local Argyll brochure says 1126m, it didn’t take too long to climb up. Trig point says it 1010 feet, so not very high, not a Munro as it claimed, but the views over the coast and islands, and back down Loch Etive to the Ben Cruachan range, are well worth while. Especially the heather adorning the hills in it’s summer vibrant shade of pink.

Looking back down to the campsite

Just a short way up and the views of the Scottish islands to the West are magnificent 

The boggy stretch, not as bad as we had expected, as long as you manoeuvre around the worst bits.

Wall of lava, signs of how the mountain emerged 

Our resident geologist, Pauline emailed the exact details. - Lorn Plateau Volcanic Formation - Andesite and basalt. Igneous bedrock formed between 423.6 and 393.3 million years ago during the Silurian and Devonian periods, from the BGS Geogy Viewer, downloadable from the BGS website

Judith chatting to the Doctor on our way up to the summit.

Views from the trig point at the top, looking west over the islands.

Heading back down

At top of the hill met a lone walker, pleasant girl. Turns out she is a trainee doctor on placement in Oban hospital. Unfortunately, on her way up she dropped her phone. Helped her look for it all the way back, calling her number to listen for the chime. No luck. As she said, she could have had it on silence. Once back to her flat, she was going to see if she could locate it using her laptop, with the the find my phone app. Hope she did.

Before heading home we nipped along to the beach for a gentle walk along the sand.

Plenty of fat rabbits about. The grass must be quite lush in this area, the rabbits are enormous, just right for the pot.

Monday 

Catch the foot passenger ferry to the Isle of Lismore or Lios Mòrin - Gaelic  meaning the 'Great Garden'  a 10 mile strip of rocky of fertile undulating land stepped in history situated at the very South end of the Great Glen fault which crosses Scotland. From all accounts earth-tremors are fairly common – one reached 3.9 on the Richter Scale!

When we arrived we found the small port filled to the gunnels with cars, parked in every available space. We were lucky as the ferry had just arrived and some of the passengers jumped into the cars making room for us.

Castle Stalker, sitting proud on its little island on the approach to the ferry to Lismore

As per usual, the continental tourists don’t understand the concept of queuing, walking in front of everyone to get on the small 24 seater ferry. We had been duly queuing for 30 minutes, the only people there. When the Italian and German families arrived and jumped onboard in front of us.

We were close behind so managed to get a seat, others were less fortunate. Hopefully the ferry would have returned to pick them up.

A short 15 minute crossing on a sea of mirrors. 

Walked along the main highway, heading South. Say highway, it’s a quiet single track lane, just wide enough for a tractor. Although the only traffic was the tourists who had hired cycles at the port. 

Cut across the fields to the 2000 year old Pic fort, The Brochure at Tirfuir, positioned high on the hill overlooking the mountain ranges on the mainland including the flat top of Ben Nevis and the Glencoe range, and to the north east the twin peaks of Cruachan. But today they were shrouded in ever moving cloud.

TIRUIR BROCH

The broch was built around 2000 years ago during the kon Age, when the

important prehistoric community of Lismore was at Its height.

The broch dominated the surrounding seaway, standing up to 15 metres tall with walls over 3 metres thick at the base. The centre held the domestic living area, and the characteristic passageway between the outer walls can still be seen in places.

Tirfuir was built during the Roman occupation of Britain and a Roman enamelled brooch was found in the foundation layer. This is thought to have been a votive deposit or gift to the god, deliberately placed when building began.

Brochs often had long periods of occupation, and this is supported by

archaeological finds at Tirfuir. These include an 8th century highly decorative pin, a rectangular building nearby of Norse type, and a Norse Pin and boat rivets showing it was still occupied until the 11th or 12th century.

Thereafter the set of power shifted to the Clan MacDougall castles on the west side 

Then hugging the rugged coastline until we reach just north of the little port of Achnacroish. The Oban car ferry comes in here, Lismore’s lifeline to civilisation, and more importantly deliveries from the mainland. Notice on our walk that Jewsons the builders deliver if the number of their big blue bags dotted around the homesteads is anything to go by.

were we head inland and pass a large Loch before heading West to the other side of the island.

A tall ladder stile to manoeuvre across. 

Stop for lunch by the coast, a beautiful spot by the side of some old ruins of a water mill.

It’s also the local tipping ground. As l looked over the cliff, all manner of rusty vehicle parts were strewn at the bottom. From a time back in the 50s and 60s when it was simpler to just find a convenient hole away from prying eyes to dump unwanted machinery. Not PC anymore, or environmentally friendly.

Stopped at the local visitor centre , shop and cafe. Had a great Americano and a dam great chunk of coffee and walnut cake. Delicious.

After refreshments and comfort stop, we headed along the central lane before cutting off down into a hidden section of coastline, dominated by Coeffin Castle and views to the West and the Isle of Mull and the Ardamurchan Peninsula.

A farmer with a sense of humour. Et has arrived. The lone sheep seems a little taken aback by them 

A viking prince is reputed to have built a castle which still bears his name: Coeffin the surviving ruins are of a later date and were erected by the MacDougalls of Lorn in the 13th century

Lismore was an important site within their lordship, being the location of St. Moluag's Cathedral, seat of the Bishop of Argyll. 

Fantastic location. It has its own little bay and steep Clive’s on all the other sides. Sitting at the base of a beautiful valley, today occupied by a rather rundown steading.

A new build, hunkering down away from the westerly storms, but with some magnificent views to the west.

Lismore was chosen to be the Seat of the Bishop of Argyll and remained so till the 16th Century. The cathedral was built sometime between 1250 and 1350 AD. For a short period (1610 – 89 AD) this was an Episcopalian Cathedral. A section is now used as the parish church.

During the Viking era beginning of the 8th century, these much feared warriors started to appear around the western sea-board of Scotland. According to the litterateur,  one of their first deeds on arrival on Lismore was to lock the monks in the early Chapel and set fire to them.

Retrace our steps back to the main road to catch the ferry. Returning home exhausted, after a beautiful day out.

Tuesday

Over to Oban for the day as weather forecast not so great, especially for walking in the hills. In fact it’s really not nice. 

A wet, dark overcast day, and the forecast gives us more of the same for the whole day.

Leisurely breakfast, shower and then out to catch the bus into Oban. We had all the timetables, but after an hour of waiting around the bus turns up. For some reason the timetable had been changed once again. The driver sounded pd off about the new system. Never mind, a pleasant 25 minute drive into town.

Walked through the high street, popping into the odd shop. Enjoyed the fishing, hunting and shooting shop, although not the prices. Had a nice 10ft 6ins 4weight fly rod. Perfect for the local rivers . Maybe next year.

Headed for lunch at the Corryvrekan, gorgeous steak washed down with a pint of Brewdog IPA. Creature of habit. Then, as the rain has stopped, a steady low level walk along the coast before heading back to clean up the caravan in preparation for having it picked up by Ian tomorrow.

Whilst walking across the bay noticed an unusual looking ferry , emblazoned in the Calmac livery. Loch Frisa, bought this year to specifically operate between Oban and Mull according to what l could find on the internet.

In fact by 3pm the sun was out again. The usual three seasons in a day. 

Submarine activity is high this month. Must be testing things out. On its way back in after a weeks trials. But what are they trialing. Must have something to do with the big metal box fitted on its back.

What a glorious evening. The view across the water towards Largs

Another day across the water. Walked from the ferry up to Lyle Hill and the French war memorial. Fantastic views from the top.

Then down into town along Newton street.  A very wide street with palatial houses on both sides of the road. The road was dead straight, falling into town. Looking on the phone, realised that the railway ran along the same path, albeit in a tunnel underground. It comes above ground at the end of the road. 

It materialises that it’s the second longest railway tunnel in Scotland. 2111yards. 

The Glasgow, Paisley and Greenock Railway (GP&GR) was an early Scottish railway, opened in 1841, providing train services between Greenock and Glasgow. At the time the River Clyde was not accessible to sea-going ships, and the intention was to compete with river boats that brought goods to and from the city. In fact passenger traffic proved surprisingly buoyant, and connecting steamer services to island resorts in the Firth of Clyde provided a very great source of business.

The GP&GR merged with the larger Caledonian Railway in 1851.

The Greenock station was not alongside the steamer berths and as the trade developed, this became a significant disadvantage. The independent Greenock and Wemyss Bay Railway built a branch line to a pier at Wemyss Bay, giving much closer access to Rothesay, and in 1889 the Greenock line itself was extended to Gourock. The work involved the building of Newton Street Tunnel, the longest railway tunnel in Scotland.

hide v t e Glasgow, Paisley and Greenock Railway
Overview Locale Scotland Dates of operation 15 July 1837–9 July 1847 Successor Caledonian Railway Technical Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
Legend
Gourock Fort Matilda Greenock Princes Pier  (G&AR) Newton Street Tunnel Greenock West Greenock Central Lynedoch  {G&AR) Cartsdyke  Greenock and Ayrshire Railway Bogston  Greenock and Wemyss Bay Railway Port Glasgow (Inch Green) Goods  (G&AR) Port Glasgow Langbank Bishopton Tunnel Bishopton Houston Walkinshaw North & South Junctions Paisley St James  Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway  Paisley and Barrhead District Railway Paisley Gilmour Street Wallneuk Junction  Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway

Decided to walk back to the ferry as it was such a beautiful afternoon. It nearly became a little too ambitious. But we eventually made it. Proved to be nearly 38000 steps. Equating to over 13 miles.

Good job we had a pleasant and enjoyable rest for lunch.

Back home and our friendly puffin at Hunters Quay

Mount Fuji from photographed from the space station

Your thinking, why on earth has Parker posted a photo of a bi plane!

Well you have to watch the video. A women has to replace a wheel on a plane whilst in the air. But that’s not all.

Click here to watch this historical video

Just a quick sketch, well worth watching. Hilarious.

Billy Connery

Eat at home/ cinema food in America

Daily Dose Of Kindness - an amazing man and an amazing story of dedication and selflessness. Definitely worth a read.

For 13 thousand dollars, Englishman Brandon Grimshaw bought a tiny uninhabited island in the Seychelles and moved there forever. When the Englishman Brandon Grimshaw was under forty, he quit his job as a newspaper editor and started a new life.

By this time, no human had set foot on the island for 50 years. As befits a real Robinson, Brandon found himself a companion from among the natives. His Friday name was René Lafortin. Together with Rene, Brandon began to equip his new home. While René came to the island only occasionally, Brandon lived on it for decades, never leaving. By oneself.

For 39 years, Grimshaw and Lafortin planted 16 thousand trees with their own hands and built almost 5 kilometers of paths. In 2007, Rene Lafortin died, and Brandon was left all alone on the island.

He was 81 years old. He attracted 2,000 new bird species to the island and introduced more than a hundred giant tortoises, which in the rest of the world (including the Seychelles) were already on the verge of extinction. Thanks to Grimshaw's efforts, the once deserted island now hosts two-thirds of the Seychelles' fauna. An abandoned piece of land has turned into a real paradise.

A few years ago, the prince of Saudi Arabia offered Brandon Grimshaw $50 million for the island, but Robinson refused. "I don't want the island to become a favourite vacation spot for the rich. Better let it be a national park that everyone can enjoy."

And he achieved that in 2008 the island was indeed declared a national park.

Moyenne Island: The world's smallest national park

Moyenne Island: The world's smallest national park - BBC Travel