You’ll take the high road and I’ll take the low road

Or so the song goes.  We’re on the move and because it’s a Bank Holiday weekend we’ve had issues booking accommodation.  Eventually Jan found two nights in Dundee.  Those readers who took geography at school will know it’s on the other side of Scotland. Never mind, the distances aren’t great compared to Australia. We didn’t want to go via the shortest route as that would mean motorways.  Instead we decided to sneak upon Dundee.

  

Jan had read there were a few major events in Glasgow today so we avoided the city.  Loch Lomond is probably beautiful but both times we’ve driven along its western side there has been low cloud and rain.   Moreover there are not many layby where you can stop for a photo whilst heading north.

We had just reached the northern end of the Loch when we got caught up in a car rally heading to Inverness. The interesting thing was the need for each driver to stop somewhere on the side of the road and water the vegetation before frantically racing to catch up with the rest of the vehicles in the rally.  Consequentially we had to keep a close eye on the rear vision mirror as each car caught up and blasted past us.

We stopped in Aberfeldy for lunch.  Jan had macaroni cheese, which she said was very nice, whilst I made a poor choice opting for the mince and potato.

The water fountain outside the cafe as the only interesting feature I noticed in the town.

This fountain was erected and various improvements made to the town of Aberfeldy by Gavin, Marquis of Breaddalbane as a memento of the cordial reception accorded to him and Lady Breaddalbane by the inhabitants on their first visit after the restoration of the marquisate July 1885. 

 

Despite the weather, there were plenty of walkers about in Dumbartonshire and Perthshire today.

Tomorrow we plan to tour the local countryside. No visits to distilleries as Jan doesn’t like whiskey and I’m driving.

Brian I’m of the opinion that Google isn’t particularly interested in Blogger.It’s a poor medium for collecting data as it’s mostly one way (writers and readers) and most bloggers and readers don’t fit the age range that would appeal to Google’s potential advertising clients.  Most of us aren’t young and single with money to burn.

Oh….. I haven’t been able to insert photos from the web into my posts.  They are being inserted from my laptop hard drive.  I’m not sure if it’s Google Photos, me or the speed of our connection.

Galloway and Ayrshire

Today I’m going to see if Open Live Writer will import photos from my Google Photos Album.

We have been exploring Galloway and Ayrshire.  The first part of the journey involved driving from England into Scotland where our first destination was Gretna Green.This was our second visit and I still haven’t made an honest woman of Jan.  The interesting thing was how much the location has grown in size over the years.  I remember the Blacksmith Shop, which now has a coin operated turnstile at the entrance (we opted to save our money). The other buildings were unfamiliar being large souvenir outlets.  This is such a popular spot I suspect the prices are higher than elsewhere.  But that didn’t appear to deter the two coach loads of Chinese Tourists.  Didn’t they realise it was probably all made in China….. and cheaper there! 

The Old Blacksmith Shop

I don’t remember seeing any of this on my first visit.

The plan was to take the coast road to the west via Dumfries where we planned on having lunch.  That didn’t work out and Dumfries provided to be a disappointment. The issue was parking….. or lack of it.  When we finally found a vacant parking space the marking showed “Disc Only”. That’s when we discovered all the parking was “Disc Only”.   The car park sign stated discs could be purchased from participating stores and the TIC. This was just too difficult so we drove on.

The coast road is rather attractive and I would have taken more photos if parking area had been provided.  Unfortunately many of the road side parking areas are located where there is no view!

This part of the country is dotted with small stone whitewashed single storey cottages.  The tide goes out a long way in this part of Scotland and obviously come in very fast catching the unwary.  We could see a large wind farm out in the estuary.

Most of the land appears to be used for mixed farming.  The farmers were busy either haymaking or spreading effluent.  The smell of the latter certainly clears the nasal passages. 

here

When we reached Stranraer the road became very familiar.  It was here that Daniel (youngest son) and I caught the ferry to Belfast.  We had boarded the bus in Glasgow and I thought it was taking us to a nearby ferry.  Daniel hadn’t informed me we had a 3 hour bus trip!

But the coastal road is interesting and I rather enjoyed the views from the bus windows.

From Ayr we headed northeast to Killmarnock.  We’re now in Ayrshire. Our plan was to head inland and explore some of Ayrshire.  The first thing I noticed was the change in the terrain and vegetation. Crops were being grown in the west but as we moved further into the centre of Ayrshire it appeared the ground was poorer. There were some sheep and cattle but much of the land had been turned to pine plantations.   We were driving the B roads in an effort to stay away from motorways.

 

This area obvious gets some wind as there were numerous wind farms.

Tomorrow we head further north.

Robin's Open Live Writer Solution

Bloggers who have previously used Open Live Writer (OLW) to write their posts offline will know the program stopped working with Google Blogger after Google made one of their API's redundant.  I have unsuccessfully searched for a solution, but yesterday received an email from fellow blogger and clever Kiwi, Robin on how to again make OLW work with Blogger.  Robin's own blog can be found <here>.

I followed Robin's instructions and was able to publish posts from OLW without receiving the dreaded Error 400 message.

This is the solution provided by Robin.

Instructions

• Delete your old OpenLiveWriter folder (or rename it if you want to hang onto it just in case you still have problems).  I decided to rename the folder and found it on my C: drive in the folder  C:/Users/laptop/AppData/Roaming

The top arrow points to the path to the folder and the bottom arrow to my renamed folder.  You can see the new OLW folder above it 

• Install the new, updated installation file: https://ci.appveyor.com/api/buildjobs/n2ow5o38508i6oqk/artifacts/Releases%2FOpenLiveWriterSetup.exe

Clicking on the above hyperlink didn’t work for me.  Instead, I copied and pasted it into a new browser window address bar whereupon the download occurred.  Next I went to the downloaded file (OpenLiveWriterSetup.exe) and right clicked on it selecting the ‘Run as Administrator’ option

• Go to your new desktop icon for OLW and right-click on it...then click on "open file location." A window will open showing your installed files for OLW. Click once on "Update.exe" file and rename it...you can just add a 1 at the end, for instance. Press enter to save your new name. (This will prevent multiple OLW executions in endless windows.)

• Now double click on your desktop OLW icon to open the program. Once open, go to File and Options. Then click on Accounts. Click "Add" and go through the login prompts to reselect your blog. This will apply a new authentication token so you don't get an error when you publish. Once reauthorized, you should see two listings for your blog (the original one, and the duplicate one you just added). Delete the first listing of your blog and leave the new one. Click OK to save these settings.

• Create a blog posts with images and publish!

After following the above instructions I was able to write posts and include photos using OLW. To date I’ve been inserting the blog photos from my hard drive.  I haven’t yet tested if I can successfully insert photo from the Cloud.

Thank you Robin

Lake District–Part 2

Some good news!  This is my second post today.  Below this post you should see a test post complete with photos that was written using Open Live Writer.  If you can see the test post then the Open Live Writer instructions provided by very clever Kiwi blog reader (and Blogger) Robin Benton  have worked.  This post has also been written using OLW.

The second piece of good news is I was able to purchase a new mouse today which has significantly eased my ability to write using this handicapped keyboard.  Finally,we’re in anew location where the internet signal appears to be much stronger.

Now to catch up on our time in the Lake District. 

We stopped in Ambleside and browsed through the outdoor clothing shops.  Frankly there wasn’t much point in doing this as the clothing is far too heavy for the Australian climate.  I was looking for a very lightweight rain jacket but even the lightest jacket was too heavy.

We then drove further north to Keswick where Jan had remembered the location of the laundrette from our previous visit.  We’re back to being clean.  After that we had a late lunch at the local ‘spoons’.  

An interesting name for a Weatherspoons.

I took the next photo to remind myself of my last walk here.  Daniel and I walked up the hill on the left and then across the three peaks returning to the cottage in Keswick via the ridgeline on the right. 

Tomorrow we continue north.

Testing Robin’s OLW Instructions

This is a test post to see if Robin’s instruction for OLW work with photos

Where are we?

You are perhaps wondering if we have fallen off the face of the earth.  Actually we are in my favourite part of England; the Lake District.  More on that later!

I would have written an update yesterday however the problem with the dis functional spacebar on the laptop was too depressing.   Upon our return to Sale our youngest son asked if I would help him paint his new timber fence down the side of the property. He was going to use a brush and the timber was all rough sawn planking.  As you may recall......I hate painting! Jan and I slipped away from the house to visit the large B&Q at the Trafford Centre where I purchased and electric paint spray gun.

The 10 large timber panels were removed from between the concrete fence posts and moved the the back yard where I masked them up and started painting.  It took all day to carefully paint both sides of the panels (two coats).  Meanwhile our son painted the concrete posts with a brush.  Someone had to do the dirty job and age has its privileges.

Yesterday morning we packed the rental car very slowly.  I write slowly because I was as stiff as a board after all the squatting the previous day.   We have decided to complete a grand circuit of GB. However I don't want to drive the east coast of Scotland as it's rather boring.  We haven't been through the middle of the Highlands so it's on the agenda.

But first I need to wind the clock back a few days to the post about Ironbridge as I've received some additional information from blog readers.  Mike left a comment advising the bridge at Ironbridge was recently subject to major renovation meaning the timing of our visit was excellent.  Dave also sent some information and two screen dumps from Google Earth showing the former railway alignment.  I've included one of them below.

A little more researching revealed the Severn Valley Railway (GWR) operated through Ironbridge until 1966.  Another victim of Dr Beeching?

Today we went exploring the Lake District by car.  It's my sixth visit and Jan's fifth.  I didn't take many photos as I'm sure I must have written previous posts about the area.   I like the steep hills, stone walls and white painted stone buildings.  Unfortunately I don't have the required level of fitness to walk them these days.  But I can reminisce!

We've not previously spent much time in Kendal seeing it as more of a gateway town to the area.  However today we stopped and walked through the main street before heading down to the River Kent.

The main street wasn't particularly interesting.  Then I looked up and noticed the unusual chimney pot.

Santa has his work cut on that one.

The river was very low, but then I recall the area had suffered from severe flooding some years ago.

The black and white photo is an accident!   The path in the next photo is known as 'Waterside' and was on the local maps as far back as the 18th Century.  The river provided power to watermills for the processing of locally produced wool.  Well that makes sense as the region is known for its sheep.

I'm going to stop writing here as I now have three problems.  The spacebar, the battery has gone flat in the mouse and now the internet is painfully slow.   More tomorrow.

Catching Up

We've been slowly making our way back to Sale, Manchester stopping for the night at the Travelodge on the M6 just north of Wolverhampton. This is a very familiar Travelodge for me as it's where I stayed whilst recovering Waiouru from Ben Harp.  I paid for two nights but spent one of them in the hedgerow overlooking Ben Harp's premises as part of our plan to ensure the boat didn't get moved without our knowledge.

After a good nights sleep we drove to Rode Heath for a lunch appointment with a well known continuously cruising couple.

Yes, Pip & Mick on Oleanna.  We ate canalside at the Broughton Arms and whilst the company was great the same could not be said for the food. After four hours of conversation we realised we'd overlooked the most important subject spending several minutes talking about their composting toilet!

I also have to mention the "Moored like a Twat" who arrived in front of Oleanna to moor in the Winding Hole.  There was plenty of available mooring space but they managed to get the bow of the boat on the first mooring ring and drive a pin in at the stern.

Plenty of mooring space

Red arrow pointing to the "No Mooring- Winding Hole" sign.

Happy cruising Pip & Mick

We had two lunch days in succession with us meeting Peter & Margaret (nb Kelly-Louise).  If you've read about our experience in 2011 may recall Peter & Margaret very kindly allowed us to use their boat (Kelly Louise) as accommodation whilst we attempted to sort out our boat building issue.  Little did we know at the time they would experience their own boating problem when Kelly Louise was sunk whilst in the care of Swanley Bridge Marina.  These days Peter & Margaret do their cruising on something much larger!

They know this part of England very well and took us to a lovely venue where we had a delicious lunch spending several hours catching up on news.

Toilets were not discussed!

The Owls at Standish is a restaurant in the former rectory of the church of St Wilfrid's, Standish.  And so we are back in Sale to spend the weekend with the family. 

 

Ironbridge

Jan has always wanted to visit Ironbridge any or trip back north provided the opportunity.  We set the gps for the 'direct route' hoping to avoid the motorways and see more of the countryside. Obviously this would make the journey longer,but more interesting. It certainly proved to be the latter when we drove down a small lane only to find a "Road Closed Ahead" sign.  There was no'detour' sign so we opted for pot luck which may not have been the best choice as the lane became progressively narrower whilst the bitumen also started to disappear.  All this eventually resulted in us travelling down a very steep and narrow tunnel of trees.  However we did have one piece of luck managing to miss the  farm tractor which was about to turn onto the lane when we reached the junction.

The next issue was lunch. Or rather, where we might find somewhere to have lunch.  There didn't appear to be anything available.  We just drove on for miles before I noticed a potential pub.  Result.  They were serving a carvery.

Of course afterwards we passed numerous pubs~

Ironbridge is a small town on the River Serven in Shropshire.  It's upstream of Stourport on the unnavigable section of the river which is why we never passed it whilst on Waiouru.  

The town takes its name from the 30 metres cast iron bridge that spans the river.    It was the first bridge to be constructed of cast iron and is now on of the few remaining bridges manufactured from this material.  Today the town's major industry is tourism.

We parked in the large car park on the far bank which is when I noticed The Station.  

Could there be a railway station at Ironbridge?  The building appeared to be at the base of a steep hill.  Then I noticed what appeared to be a tunnel to the right of the building.  It appears there was a rail line to Ironbridge.

Sad News

Jennie you are being naive thinking you have escaped us.  You're travelling at 4mph whilst we have a car!

Marilyn I'm a SNAG (Sensitive New Age Guy).   If Economy Class is good enough for me then it's good enough for Jan....... Unlike someone I have read about who travels Business Class and sends their spouse Economy!  Actually Jan has never recovered from travelling First Class in 2011.  I'm trying to get her into remission.

For the past 35 years I've maintained contact with close friends of Jan's grandparents.  Jan has known them even longer.  Peter passed away more than a decade ago leaving Hilda on her own.  They had no children, however Hilda has a number of friends.  Each time we've visited the UK we fit in a visit to Hilda and whilst we were on Waiouru we were able to make regular trips.  Upon returning to Perth we maintained contact using Skype.  For the past couple of months we hadn't been able to make contact with Hilda and one of the first things we've done since arriving this month is to hire a car in order to visit her.

Sadly we found Hilda in a local care home.  She had a couple of falls in March and had been directed into the home for a rest.  The three of us were very pleased to see each other, however Hilda's physical condition was a concern. She is very frail and gaunt.

Hilda was concerned about her house and it's contents, worrying about what might happen to them prior to her return.  Unfortunately we suspect she will never leave the home.  Our initial impression of the care home was that it appeared quite modern and clean.  The staff appeared friendly but as Hilda pointed out they were all either Asian, African or from the Middle East and she couldn't understand what they were saying. We arrived at the conclusion of lunch and when I looked at the meal trays I decided I'd prefer not to eat there.  We're making arrangements in order to maintain contact with Hilda.

Jan has visited numerous care homes in Adelaide when she was a member of a local choir and has a good understanding of the types of homes you might expect.  They're not for me.  So I'm going to have to drop off my perch quite quickly when the time comes!

After two years in Perth we've been spoilt by the lack of traffic.  UK motorways are busy and there are so many trucks (lorries).  What will happen when petroleum becomes scarce and expensive?  Beeching may have seriously disadvantaged the nation. 

We spent the night at a Travelodge on the M4 slightly south of Reading.  It's the same Travelodge we spent two nights at whilst the interior of Waiouru was varnished.  Consequentially this morning I suggested to Jan that as we were very close to Aldermaston perhaps we should see what changes had occurred in the last five years.

The CRT car park has been reduced in size and replaced with modern canal side housing.

 

  
 

The historic tearoom building owned by the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust is still there; albeit in smaller grounds.

And Aldermaston Whaft was looking much tidier.  All but one of the staff who were there during Waiouru's fit out have now gone.

There was a steam powered boat moored on the water point.

We've got to stop visiting canals!