I asked ChatGPT where could I go on this driech morning. I was hoping to pinch Ken’s bike and go for a run along the bike path but I’ll have to leave that for another day.

It’s only 20 miles so off I went. I’d forgotten just how narrow some of these roads are and also how slow 30mph is. The car is a 6 speed manual, which I’m still getting used to, and you need to stay in 3rd to keep a steady speed.

Once you wind it up it goes pretty good. So the Maritime Museum was quiet and I found it very interesting looking at the old machines that were being used for well over 150 years.

The size of these machines. The gear mechanisms that work in perfect harmony with each other. Who were the engineers that designed them? And who were the ones that made it possible? The ingenuity involved boggles the mind, well mine at least.

Victorian engineering is a marvellous analog adventure.

As soon as it was safe to cross the Dhorlin, Ned took me back to the mainland where Ann was waiting to pick me up. I had a great time staying on Davaar and it was something that I’d wanted to do for sometime. When the tide turns almost everybody leaves and the island falls silent apart from the sheep and three highland coos.

So back on the mainland and I walked back from town as I wanted to explore while the sun was shining and I do believe that I got colour in me cheeks from the sun or it could be wind burn 😁

The sky looked amazing and added a great backdrop to some beautiful Campbeltown buildings and tropical plants of course. This has been the best weather by far that I’ve had here in many many years and it makes such a difference to see the place shine.

Another first, climbing up to the Trig Point. There is a well worn path up through the heather and bracken. It was a a bit slippy underfoot and fairly steep and it gave the old heart and legs quite the workout. Not sure if I’ll be fit enough to climb Ben Nevis when the time comes.

Great view from the top, although the wind was strong, nearly blew me away 😁 Made it back in one piece and came back and had a Siesta before I had lunch.

After which I walked up to the Stevenson built lighthouse, although you are unable to get a look inside these days.

Came back down the track and headed to the middle of the Dhorlin to where the very large bhoy sits. Wandered about in the fierce wind which was not so cold, I guess I’m getting aclimitised.

I’m on the island of Davaar, I’ve been coming here for sixty years I think. Not 100% sure about that, but it’s been a long time.

To get here you can either come by boat of course, however most people will walk across the Dhorlin, which is the sand bar that gets exposed at low tide. For the first time I got driven across in a four wheel drive by Ned, one of the caretakers of the island. There are three options for accommodation here and I am in the Barnacle-pod, I’ll leave the link for the website below.

Home

The main reason tourists come here is to see the cave painting of the crucifixion which was painted in 1887 by Archibald Mckinnon.

To get to it can be a bit of a hike from the mainland, of course you need to check the tide times before setting off. For me I really didn’t need to know because I was staying here for two days. It’s my 65 birthday and so I thought that this would be a great place to come.

After I visited the cave I then embarked on circumnavigating Davaar. This can only be done at low tide. Now if you think getting to the cave is challenging you’ll be in for quite the surprise as you continue on passed. It’s really quite treacherous at times, but I found that if you can rock hop using the larger ones you would be fairly safe. Traversing over the debris from the cliff falls was quite tricky, many of the stones shifted as you put weight on them. I was lucky really because only a handful of times did it get a bit wobbly and scary.

I clung to the rock face for a lot of the time, mainly because the ground was dry but I really just tried to use the larger rocks when I could because they were more stable. I got round safety which I’m glad to say and I must put that down partly to my wonderful walking boots.

21 years ago I came here with my two sisters and the ashes of my Mother. We came in a small red boat and disembarked at the small jetty just down from my pod. I remember walking up to the lighthouse trying to find a suitable spot to say farewell to Mum. The pods were not here then.

We stood on the grass somewhere where there was a drop to the shingle beach below, I think we faced Campbeltown, and then we opened the urn and let my Mother fly. The wind was so strong that she came back to all of us to say cheerio 😁

So Davaar for me is not just a memory of childhood, it’s a pilgrimage that I make anytime I can to say hello to me Ma.

Last night I caught up with Norma and David at Shimla Pinks and had a lovely meal. The madras was only medium but it was lethal, so bloody hot and my mouth was on fire and David had to mop up.

As usual this Naan breads were the size of snow shoes and the Peshwari was just marvelous. All in all a great meal and great company and hopefully I’ll have time to do it all again before I go.

Houston Square in Johnstone was looking great as the sun was setting 🤗

I’ve not been to the Burrell Collection in Pollock for over 35 years, last time I came here was with my friend Rosemary. If I remember correctly the collection was actually in the old house and not in a fancy gallery as it was today.

I went with Ken and Linda and we were on a bit of a tight schedule so we were in and out in about an hour and a half but I would think that you really need more time than that to explore and there is also the amazing grounds to walk through.

The collection is vast and covers historical artefacts from over 5000 years ago, mainly Egyptian. If I have time I think I will go again and maybe this time try to explore the outside. As usual parking is a premium and it’s £3 for two hours although it is free entry to the collection.

Another day in Glasgow, this time to catch up with cousins Ian and Ken. Went to Weatherspoons pub and I had Haggis and cheese panini, it was not very good… Black pudding is so much better.

After I just went for a stroll around the city centre enjoying the sunshine and watching the people. There seems to be quite a lot of different nationalities in Glasgow at the moment. The sun shone and the humidity was climbing but still pleasant. I only had two layers on today 😁

Stopped off in Johnstone and popped in to see Margaret in the flower shop before heading back home. It’s great coming home and catching up with “old” friends.

Sun was shining, put the bunnet and shades on and off we went. I was surprised at how warm it felt as we headed out winding our way through the neighbourhood until we came to some greenery.

A prefect day for a stroll. The objective was to make our way to the cafe in Bridge Of Weir and have a coffee. Lovely sitting outside, however the coffee was rather weak. Not too worry it was nice just sitting there watching the world go by.

Then on to the old track that went to kilmacolm and we turned left to go to Johnstone where we stopped to have a couple of rolls with egg and black pudding, I forgot to take a picture because I just wanted to eat. It was delicious and I nearly ordered another but I’ll save that for another time. The first of many I hope.

With the clouds beginning to form we headed for home feeling quite knackered.

As we come to the end of this epic flight I am surprised that it’s gone fairly well. The first leg was over 14 hours and when you get on the plane it’s really difficult to even comprehend that length of time and it’s better not to.

I had an aisle seat and was very disappointed because before I changed the date of my flight I had a window seat in a better area, however apart from the idiot sitting at the window who had to get out his seat like clockwork it was better than expected.

Next to me was a Baptist minister from Kenya and he was a big unit but a nice guy. We spoke about many things and only touching on religion briefly, which of course is his day job. And I have a place to stay if and when I go to Kenya.

The clown at the window would go to the loo and not come back for a good ten minutes or more, not sure if he was in there for business or pleasure. Even my Baptist friend was becoming aggravated at the number of times. Mind you he did look like someone you would happily just punch in the face.

So 14 hours to Dubai and then just under 8 to Glasgow with a 3 hour transit. On the second flight I once again have an aisle seat but the two ladies have not moved from their seats once, I did. There are too many kids on this flight and the parents don’t seem to realise they are on a plane with a few hundred people, I hate kids. Especially the ones that just moan and moan for the attention knowing their parents boundaries. I still feel that a separate cargo hold has merit for these creatures.

All of this justifies spending a huge amount of money on my Sony noise cancelling headphones which have been invaluable in making this journey bearable. I am surprised at just how effective they are at cutting out the background noise, including those Fuckin’ kids tantrums. I did manage to get a bit of a snooze on the first leg, although I think there was a bit of dribble. My new neck brace worked well but still not the best design. The seats are hard and getting comfortable is not easy. I didn’t drink much, only two glasses of wine so I feel it was just sheer exhaustion that helped me get some zzz.

I am very dehydrated but that is no surprise because I often do this so I don’t have to keep going to the loo on the plane, mind you the A380 has nice loos.

An hour and ten minutes to go and then I’m home.

I started the building of this wall a few months ago and I’ve only just more or less finished it. I still have to plant a few plants and finish the storm water.

Mick said that if I have a big piece of white stormwater pipe that you can see in the picture it will attract too much attention, which I think is true. The stormwater is supposed to go into the drains but this has never been the case with this outlet, however now that I have made this nice new wall then council workers might get a bit suspicious and so tomorrow I shall go to plan B to divert the run off towards the park along with all the other houses that do the same.

It’s taken me quite some time because it’s been difficult to dig the holes due to the black soil which is so sticky when it gets wet and the weather has not been dry enough over the last few months. The last two weeks have been fairly dry which allowed me to dig the post holes. I have four posts, each one about 600mm deep by 350mm square. Three holes took 60kg of rapid set and the last one took 80kg.

I also used 7 lengths of treated pine @3000mm long along with one box of bugal head screws. I think it’s turned out well and I hope that it works and helps protect the shed from further damage. Over the next few months I will continue to work on shoring up other parts of the wall as well as to try and under pin the shed. That will have to wait of course because I’m going home on Sunday for a month.