Not a day for going 'Doon the Watter'!

Not a very clear pic - partly due to it being taken through a window and partly due to the poor visibility. What you see is as enhanced as I could get Elements 7 to give me.

The pic is of the Coruisk making its way down the Clyde to Rothesay. The weather did deteriorate after this and, after the Bute making a run from Gourock at about 3:30pm, sailings were cancelled.

Or Maybe Six?

Although we hear that the recession is easing it doesn't look that way for shipping companies.

Yet another Maersk container ship has appeared on the Clyde. The Maersk Brooklyn is sitting at anchor off Rothesay Bay and it would seem it is bound for Loch Striven to be laid up with its five other sister ships.

Again it is one of Maersk's newer container ships, built in 2007, and of the same design as four of the others in Loch Striven.

Then there were Five!

Having heard of the arrival of a fifth Maersk ship I had intended getting my good wife to take me back up Loch Striven to take more pics.

The best laid plans! We did set out, but as luck would have it the wind picked up somewhat and Fiona decided - given my lack of sailing skill - that it would be better to head back long before getting close to the ships.

The picture here, therefore, was taken from the road running along the Loch.

More of Newcastle

Returning to our Newcastle trip I have to say that I found the 'Geordies' extremely friendly. I don't mean to suggest that I was expecting anything else, but it was simply the warmth and openness of them that I found exceptionally pleasant.

Newcastle, itself, is a strange mixture of very new buildings alongside the very old. Not unusual in a city, but strangely noticeable here for some reason. I mean that in many cities you have areas of new build and areas of old - here you seem to find new almost 'grafted' on to old constructions. Really interesting!

Also noticeable was the night-life in the city. I know that I have portrayed us as the 'country-cousins' come to town, but it was fascinating to see just how many folk were out mid-week eating out and enjoying themselves. I can only imagine what the weekend is like! As noted in my last blog it's good for us wee villagers to get out and see more of the world. They are also a hardy breed in Newcastle - the lassies braving the elements with minimum dress. Lots and lots of bonnie lassies there! Now can I block my wife from reading this?

The Sage, Gateshead

An excellent three days in Newcastle this week!

Arrived on Wednesday - the last time we were here was over twenty years ago - and very pleasantly surprised by how the city has developed.

Stayed in the Jurys Inn and even more surprised at the standard and quality of the hotel (we don't get out much!). Honestly not advertising, but extremely pleasant with excellent staff and superbly spotless accommodation - would go back there again!

Why were we there? Well, my musical son was playing at The Sage with the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland as part of an extensive tour taking in Aberdeen, Gateshead, Katowice and Krakow - Poland and ending in Apeldoorn - Netherlands.

We opted for 'The Sage' to hear their performance and it was excellent. The music was varied. Under their conductor Takuo Yuasa, they played Antonin Dvorak's Hussite Overture op.67, the rather unusual, but strangely enjoyable, Cello Concerto by Witold Lutoslawski featuring soloist Alexander Baillie and a superb rendition of Ein Heldenleben by Richard Stauss. A really great evening's entertainment added to by great food and service by The Sage prior to the concert.

One of the benefits of living in a wee Scottish village is the appreciation of experiencing the big world outside now and again.

Newcastle - you really lived up to it. Brilliant!

More on Newcastle and Gateshead - places and people - to follow!

Not Sailing Again!

We had hoped to get away on the boat again this week, but a combination of me - the sailing wimp - and high winds has meant that we are still at home! The first picture is of the jetty at the sailing club from where we row out to Katana and the second shows Katana, in the centre of the picture, dipping forward into the water. Sorry, Fiona! Bet you wish you'd married a real sailor!

There have been days when the comment has been made that it was 'a great day'. Unspoken were the words - 'for sailing'. I do pledge to keep trying and get out there as much as I can. There that's public! Can't go back on it....:-)

However, on the up-side of this we have made some progress in researching our family tree - getting back to the 1700's in some branches of the family..... and Fiona bought a flexible laundry basket from our new hardware store having failed to buy one across the water!!

The next highlight in Dunoon's life is the opening of Morrison's on Monday. We look forward to it because we might get our Co-op back!!

Loch Striven

It's quite fascinating what seems to interest people around the world. Having checked my sitemeter lately I noticed that many of the hits are from people interested in the Maersk ships laid up in Loch Striven - and these hits have come from as far as South Africa and Switzerland.

The ships also appeared the other day again on Scottish National news giving what I reckoned to be a fairly sympathetic insight into processes being undertaken to 'preserve' the ships in the hope that they will go into service again. Certainly the Captain interviewed did not want to see the ships laid up any more than the residents living around Loch Striven.

I can't quite decide where my thoughts lie with the issue, but can't quite help thinking that there is a bit of 'Not In My Back Yard' coming into the argument. There has certainly been some heated local debate on the Clydesights web site.

I'm sure the debate will continue.

Caladh Harbour

On the way home the other day Fiona decided to treat me to a little sail through Caladh Harbour - something she had avoided doing until only a couple of years ago.

Essentially this involved leaving Wreck Bay, heading towards Loch Riddon and the bit of coastline shown in the second picture and continuing until a house appeared over our left shoulder. At this point a quick handbrake turn to the left was required and we sailed between the CCC pole on shore (starboard) and the white beacon on our left (port!). The instructions are very clear - stay mid-channel! Obviously completely convinced by Fiona's expertise, I was totally un-phased by all of this and happily snapped away with my camera and before I knew it we were through and heading back to the Burnt Islands - Fiona was most put out that I was not more 'wowed' by this diversion. Doesn't she realise us old sea-dogs have seen it all?