Travel – Page 6 – Curious Bystander

Ardrossan, Scotland – Part 1

I went to meet an old friend in the very cold and wet, coastal town of Ardrossan, on the West Coast of Scotland – It was even colder than I thought it would be.

Ardrossan Marina, Scotland (west coast of)

You have to understand the weather in this part of the world, physically and technically, it is not REALLY that cold, but when it’s 7 celsius (42 f), and is humid, and has a 20+ mph wind in your face – it goes down to your bones.

Equally, it’s a rather strange, small place, with three to four train stations! Surely some kind of record for such a low population of about 10,000+?

We ate at the delightful and functional (excellent, friendly service!), Cecchinis, at the marina. It’s a modern Italian place, and is swift, clean and quality – quite full at this time (and weather) and place.

Afterwards, we hiked about the high street, and promenade (more tomorrow), but lastly, there’s palm trees there!

A palm tree in Scotland, a regular appearance on the West Coast

Killearn, Stirlingshire, Scotland – Part 2

Closing my review of the delightful (to me at least!), we look at the southern or eastern part of the village (I think?) and a few titbits of trivia.

After the “central” part of the village, said with a cheek, looked at the “residential” area of the village; which ranged from a new development of luxury flats, only 4 in total, which seems to be about the right number (not too many that is) and replaces the old Black Bull hotel, which sadly was sold?:

Old Black Bull hotel, sadly demolished for new flats

To the oldest part of town:

To a very small gallery, the Panik Gallery:

To maybe the most exact hedge trimming I’ve ever seen; a “shopping arcade?” and delightful callbox / library.

The Week Ahead – No blogging recently, we’ve been in Hospital! / Killearn, Stirlingshire, Scotland

Now that things are a wee bit more healthy, we will start to write a little bit more here; but thanks again to our NHS, and in particular, in the speed of their service, that I thought was an oxymoron due to the pandemic – I was wrong, they have been superb!

Killearn – Part 1

But first, finally had a wee trip away from Glasgow, first time in a long time that is, to a lovely village called Killearn.

I always had a memory of the last 10 years, where I was in a small village, with two churches opposite a narrow group of old one floor cottages; this was it.

The instant that I was here on a Saturday lunchtime, I immediately noticed the two churches, one has since been turned into a village hall / cafe / church, with stunning views westward.

What struck me, at least in a way that it appealed to me, was that there was everything you wanted; school, church, village hall, two cafes, pub / restaurant (the Old Mill), and even a “luxury” food shop (below):

Speaking of the café, we did lunch at the Town & Country Designs shop / cafe – very nice food and cake.

More on Killearn later and more blogging during the upcoming week.

Another small trip – St Andrews, Scotland and Golf –

Golf; they play that here in Scotland and in particular at the “Home of Golf” at St Andrews; where every October (for some reason!), the pros play the Dunhill Cup, along with many celebrities.

The last time I was here, I remember seeing Hugh Grant shank one (hit badly!) horribly, in front of a very packed gallery. Though I always think how I would do, with hundreds peering down at me.

Then, it was lovely, sunny and warm (yes it is like that in Scotland at times in October!), but for the event two weeks ago, the weather was dreadful, hence after a few hours on the course (it was free to enter), we decided to go to the horribly named pub “One Under Bar”, for our lunch. Where on the outside, there was a rather charming weather forecasting tool – brilliant!

Will do again, but please bring us some good weather.

English Trip – Leamington Spa – Interesting and Posh

After a recent trip to Warwick in England, I decided to go to the nearby town of Leamington Spa, another town in this region that appears to be not too short of dosh, as we say.

I was only there for over a day, but decided to go for a quick walk mainly in the middle of the town, near the Spa (though I am not sure if they actually have any water in it) and through their delightful riverside gardens.

I was impressed!

It always seems to me, that the English have a certain flair for this type of thing – a garden, water, benches, et al.

Whilst there, decided to take a tea & cake in one of these types of old Victorian / Edwardian tea rooms, that in this case has been restored.

Whilst there, I’d a conversation with the barista, and found out that I may have know his mother, as she also had gone to yooni in Glasgow – Wow!

We left back to our car, via a bridge over the river, with a late 70s(?) café that had both a good view, but may have still have been closed due to the lockdown

The Week Ahead / Final part of my England trip – Oakham, and the resting place of Ruddles beer

The week ahead, I’ll show some fotos of a recent St Andrews trip, along with more from Glasgow and some of the culture & highlights here in Scotland; but first . . .

Years ago living in England, as a connoisseur of Real Ale, my personal favourites ranged from Youngers No. 3 (Scottish), to a fine English bitter,

ESB (Fullers Brewery, London) and finally, Ruddles County.

Interesting that nowadays, only ESB is still being brewed, but wait, a surprise!

On my recent Warwick trip, as I usually do, I decided to go “off grid” (away from the Motorways), and headed on a rural short cut, that went from the Midlands, around Kettering, though Corby, through Uppingham and then, to the delightful village / town of Oakham.

Why? Because about an hour before hand, I had wondered what ever happened to Ruddles (kid you not!) and discovered, that the last head brewer there, was now practicing his trade at a new brewery in Oakham, The Grainstore Brewery. And that one of the beers was a startling resemblance to Ruddles County!

Que sorpresa! I had to go there and buy a couple of gallons of the “10 50“; presumably a reference to the specific gravity of the beer.

Beg, borrow and steal, to find this stuff; it’s lovely!

Warwick, England – Warwick Racetrack

Yes, this was an interesting one. If you live in the UK, we’ve Channel 4 with their racing programs. I for only really have 1 bet (flutter, etc) on the horses every year, during the Grand National, but when watching the races on TV (which is rare), do not really pay attention to the exact track, as in “the 13:10 from Doncaster”.

But yes, there exists a track here, with a fairly non-mundane yearly program. And what was even more interesting was that not only is the track within 5 minutes of the town centre, but that it also contains a golf course inside (or at least partly inside) of it!

Here’s some photos:

Completely accessible, not snobby and with the many dog walkers that I witnessed, multi-purposed as well.

Warwick, England – A hike along the Grand Union Canal (to Hatton)

The last week, I had the fortune to be in south England for a week, and was based in the charming town of Warwick. Warwick resembled Ludlow (from a few weeks ago) but was on a smaller hill with no castle, though it did have a multitude of older, cute buildings, which I will blog about later in the week.

What I did do, as I was normally in the flat, working; was to go on a short, charming canal walk, with a subsequent visit to a beautiful pub for lunch.

As the map above shows, we started in the centre of Warwick, traversed the Warwick Race Course (more on that later), and continued along the Grand Union Canal for about an hour, had lunch and returned.

Along the way we enjoyed the much hotter weather in the south of England and noted both there and back, a variety of locks known as the “Stairway to Heaven“, that has 21 Locks (!!) in total.

At the end of the outward journey, was the Hatton Arms pub, which resembled more of a hotel complex, rather than a “pub” – though it was still amiable as I sat outside drinking a lovely pint of real ale, with Thai fish cakes and mash – lovely!

Coming back was slightly quickly, as I was going downhill and the return was done via the town centre of Warwick.

More from Warwick and the surroundings later.

The week ahead; various from the arts, Glasgow, and shots from my recent Warwickshire trip.

I was once again south of the border last week, in the ever delightful Warwickshire, for which I will be showing some snaps this week on the blog.

In addition, will be looking at various things from here in Glasgow, from the ever present wave of new cafes, to certain neighbourhoods and several photos from here, but first, some pictures from one of my favourite shopping arcades here, The Argyll Arcade, in the town centre.

It’s an old fashioned Georgian? arcade, resplendent in a multitude of jewellery shops, one pub and and upstairs area; that in my opinion is criminally underused (there is a jewellery workshop there), and would be an lovely place to have a coffee, tea, or whatever.

You reach it from several ways, preferably from Buchanan Street:

And then can enter it, head straight east, and then south, to exit on Argyll Street.

Germany – Final Musings (miscellaneous Fotos) –

To end my thoughts on my recent trip to Deutschland, where I was predominantly in Hesse, the Pfalz and finally, Franconia in Bavaria – I’ve a variety of very different photos for your perusal.

Whilst there, the early days of campaigning were underway for the German parliament elections – there were signs everywhere, with each being highly different!

The other shots range from the always, underrated cuisine, to city centre BMX / Roller Skate tracks, to cars, to small chapels, to freight canals, to signs for various bike paths, to where I got my PCR test to travel back to the UK, and finally part of the old Berlin Wall.