and back down (more Scotland trip)

 

 this is one of the old fortified'tower' houses that dot the coast of Scotland, half house half castle!

 

 The road upin the far North West

 

 Ullapool and tired driver!

 The stormy North West coast

 Oh to have your own private beach eh!

The young pretender himself...

Some people make sand castles, this person George, manages to rescue this post from the travel category and back into a more political realm..
You see George is a 'homeless person' and an alchoholic (self confessed) to boot. Bit instead of just sitting on his arse drinking himself to death on benefits he has entered into a different kind of lifestyle. For George considers himself to be an artist, and he embarked on a MAMOTH project, he is sort of half way through it at this point.  Starting in Brighton a year ago, George is walking round the coast of Britain and building pebble/stone sculptures at suitable places on beaches, for which he recieves donations from members of the public which keep him going, George does not claim any benefits! Local papers do stories on his sculptures and when the trip is finished he hopes to write a book.
His purpose is to draw peoples attention to the homeless problem in the UK today and show that even the least regarded of our society can do something which is worthy of support, more power to him I say!
He has a facebook page Georges page (Dr Geebers)
some other angles of his sculpture;

Using only natural materials he finds on the beach he is on

his fanciful representation of a twin outboard boat and octopuss are very cleverly constructed...

 One of Georges press cuttings, do go and see him if he is near you, he is a very friendly character!

The Artist George (Dr Geebers)
When it started to rain we headed off leaving George sorting through a beach full of stones for the right ones to finish his work.
Thats as far North as we could get really and its all'downhill from here

The harbour at Lybster, I once lived in this area and dropped in on an old friend on the off chance he was there still, he was but sadly his wife Sandra had died three years previously, Fred gave us a cuppa and took us to see some friends of his who are the second saving grace for this post...

For the friends, Steph,Roy their daughter Sky, and a friend of theirs Mark are all living on/off the land. They have fought the local council for the right to have their 'home' (above) on the croft they are farming about 16 acres.
They told me they went along to the local council meeting when their 'tent' was on the agenda, only to sit through an application to bury NUCLEAR WASTE at Dooneray Nuclear power station to which absolutely no objection was raised by ANY councillor, yet when it came to their 'tent' they were ALL up in arms!!!
Hypocrites and carpet baggers I would call them (actually you know me and I would call them far worse than that but Sky may read this one day so...)
Freeman on the land was the flavour of our converations that and Law (mostly planning), and we were then given a tour of what these hard working and friendly people were doing. Everything is done in as environmentally friendly a manner as possible from turf roofed structures to being totally off grid, I hope we stay in touch and I get the chance to visit them all again! a few pics follow, they have been in residence now for 3 years or so and all you seee is their own work, well done folks and long may you prosper!

Created from the off cuts from a local saw mill the sheds and raised bed system they use is producing their food, there is other stuff growing in a cultivated field as well...

It is hard to envisage a more sustainable lifestyle and they are perfectly happy to be just left alone to survive...

On down the coast to Brora we were seeking food by now and the chippy was closed so on further to Golspie and the Trawler for a marvellous meal of Haggis and Chips (the best chips I have had for years, no kidding fresh and with a slight crunch, brill, go there if you are in the area).
and then a long drive to just past Inverness where we camped at a place called Moy

Yours truely getting round the no camp fires rule...heh heh!, it isn't a camp without a fire (besides it helps keep the midges away)

We left at 4 in the morning cause we were freezing our tits off and unable to sleep, it was nice and clear as we drove out  and I was hoping for some spectacular sunrise over the mountains pics for you all but a mile up the road it turned into this (above) and sonny jim had to drive 80 odd miles  through it too following this lorry at.. wait for it... mostly 70 miles an hour...so no views at all sorry!

Except this one...

 and this one...

The Bridge in Perth, where I spent the first 3 years of my life...Perth, that is not on the bridge(or under it)

Down into the Scottish Borders...

a teensy bit more political comment to pad the blog out....

Just outside Edingurgh we picked up Marie a french hitch hiker who came with us down country, the castle thing in the background is Hermitage castle just above Carslile, impressive place, really forbidding and mostly intact...

The thing is huge and has seen much bloodshed in the years it has stood here...

and its miles into the hills and hidden in a valley...give up hope all ye who enter these gates, could have been written for it...
and so after dropping Marie off, after a chat about Sarkozy (she's as impressed with him as we are with our lot) she calls him an idiot, in such a nicely emphatic french accent that you know she is only being polite...she will regret that once she reads my blog I think.
So thanks to all the people we met, you were all stars in your own way, and here's to meeting again some time, some where, Slainte'var

Oh well back to the ordinary political bashing tomorrow I suppose, though there is more to say on the subject of some of the peole we met and talked to, which I may return to as and when, hope you enjoyed our 'little drive', 1,380 miles on the clock, 500-600 odd done by the young 'un! Not bad going for his 5th time out eh!