better late than never!

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!

On the top!

Well since last signing in we have driven for 16 hours ish with breaks and a couple of hours kip above Glencoe, The 'lad' and I are having some 'us' time, bonding time before he goes off to University and We both no longer have the time, we have arrived here in Castletown on the North coast of Scotland , not far from John O Groats and have managed to get a room in a Hotel here (most are packed with tourists so we were lucky to find a room to die in!

Its an unassuming little place the Castletown hotel but it is clean and homely, the manager Andrew is very friendly and helpful, and the room comes  with a BATH, and lashings of red hot water, yesssss! The food smells good too, something to eat a couple of drinks and we' will be set up for a nights blissful kip, if you care here are afew pics taken on the way (the weather was atrocious most of the way)

This is the real rainbows end to our travelling though The Castletown Hotel, Castletown, if any of you Scottish bloggers are around here we will be in the bar all evening and would love to buy you a drink if you turn up!

Bye Bye for 5days or so...

As I said in the post beforee last I/we are off to tour Scotland for a few days to give sproggo some driving practice and hopefully some confidence!

If any Scottish bloggers want a meet, then leave an e.mail with a number to contact, I can access mail on my phone . No volunteers so far but I will take a couple of bottles of my home made wine just in case we meet up somewhere, if not I will be forced to drink em myself, no loss!
Have a good time while I am away everyone and do not stop giving out hell to those who deserve it, I will catch up when I'm back.

I will be taking a laptop with me so if I can post somewhere I will Ta Ra for now!!!

Ashes to ashes-council jobsworths to dust...

Sandwell..Sand-well...San dwell....what the fuck are you playing at, picking on OAPs is that the height of your aspirations for your citizens?

Cigarette ash?...are you out of your tiny misbegotten minds!!!

I am a smoker myself and I feel like coming there and puffing up a storm, flicking my ash everywhere and generally making a desperate criminal of myself just to see if one of your flourescent coated nazi scumbags has the effrontery to hand me a ticket.....

Shall I tell you where that ticket will be found milliseconds later?... do you think you can guess?

I have had it to the back teeth with the council apointed jobsworths, I am not JOKING HERE!!!

Let just one of them try it on with me ( a fairly able bodied person) and you will need to advertise for a replacement

70 + year olds are now the focus of the nazi state, as if they did not have enough to worry about with rising prices and all the other shite that is going on, now they cannot even flick ash off their ciggies in peace. What difference does it make to the environment ...NONE...what about all the gum chewing (filthy habit) vegetarians then, spitting gum onto the pavements to be picked up on shoes or bags you put down, half the pavements in the country look like fucking leopards or spotted hyenas!

Sick to the back teeth  with all of you, and if the lady in question needs a few quid to fight you nazi scum then I will reach into my pocket on her behalf, and if (god forbid) any magistrate i,s stupid enough to allow the case against her  then be prepared for mass demonstrations at the council offices, at the courts, at the homes of the officious little bastards that served a completely spurious fine on her.

WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH!!! the Liebore years of your anonimity have passed and we will find you and we will watch you and god help you if you drop anything, anything at all anywhere!!!

Anna Racoon for more on this subject The mad at you Raccoon or GOT here at Grumpy old twat

Indy (thats me) to tour Scotland...

Starting monday evening my sprog and I are going to be doing a round trip of Scotland (he's learning to drive) to give him some serious road time on (relatively quiet) and good roads.

We are doing a complete round the Highlands tour starting Tuesday morning from Loch Lomond and working our way up through Ft William, Ullapool, Durness at the top, across to John O Groats then down to Inverness across to Aberdeen, Dundee then Edinburgh and Home again!

There are 2 reasons for blogging this here;

1. He's a learner so if you're about then please be kind... on the other hand you have been warned now so you could stay indoors about when we pootle past!

and

2. If you are one of the merry band of Scottish bloggers that occasionally visit my humble little rant here on the blogosphere and live somewhere closeish to our intended route and would like to meet up in a cafe or hostelry for a chat then please e.mail me a contact number and I will give you a bell as we come through your neck of the woods.

Time is limited so I would imagine 1/2 an hour to an hour will be the longest we want to stop in the day, we will be camping overnight though so a pub meal and meet up are not out of the question depending where we stop!

The Hook???

Anyone answering this call by the time we leave (about 5ish Monday evening, last computer session) will have a bottle of Chateau Indy put into the boot as a gift on meet-up (can't say fairer than that now can I?) ((sorry its all red)).

I am not seeking a place to stay or even to visit anyone at their home, the offer is on for a meet and greet so we can put a face to the blog owner, its completely up to you.

Just look out for the Hat!

Smokey, Drinky Biker/Survivalist time

Time for some 'me' time I think, smokey -drinky play with toys!

See you in a hangover or two...