A walk before the wet

Blowing Leaves Fairlie Glen

Before the promised rain Anne and I went for a walk up Fairlie Glen to the falls.
It was pretty windy but dry underfoot, it won't be now, its been raining since 11.30.
Took some video just because I was there also some photos can be viewed here.

Oops the missing bit of video here.

Also spent several long hours relinking my Blog to the Yahoo photo albums since those scunners at Yahoo screwed them all up with their new photo rubbish....rant....rant!

A River Ayr loop

Woodpecker
I had a few things I wanted to get in Ayr so Anne and I went down to have a walk along the river before venturing near the shops.
It was mild with a bit of a breeze, we headed over to Wallaces seat and then round the river loop back to Auchincruive, about 8km walking.
The nicest bit along the water was the birds we saw, including half a dozen Goosander, unfortunately they were too quick for me to get any video, although I did get one or two other clips giving a total of 47 second of video, not very exiting but some nice bird clips.

Still photos of the walk here.


River Ayr walk the embeded video take some time to get loaded if it doesn't run click this link.

Glenburn Walk and MTB

Anne and I went for a walk out of the wind yesterday up Glenburn to the two Biglees waterfalls. I led the way and got us thrashing through the undergrowth and clambering down a ridge to the falls, not very clever but I found it quite entertaining, Anne wasn't amused.
The falls were flowing well and I took some video of us walking behind them both and showing the scale of the lower hidden falls. Its difficult to understand how something as big and noisy can be so well hidden from walkers just a hundred meters away.

PM went out for a short spin on the MTB in woodland, again out of the wind and shot another little video with an amusing take tagged on at the end.

Photos here.

Kaim and Caldron downhills

Kaim hill splash

Just realised that this video thing can give single frames of action shots, a nice spin off. Photos here.
Yesterday I went over to my local unofficial downhill route on Kaim hill to try and capture some video action.
It was a lovely day for it cool clear with just a little breeze so I was quite comfortable during all the stop start nonsence of video production.
After some time on the side of the hill I met three MTB'rs coming down through the quarry and followed them down but they veered off on the short route while I took the long route.
Had lunch at the waterfall before deciding to head up again over my other local hill, Caldron, for more downhill action. The only trouble with Caldron though is the long push and carry to the top, but the view and the ridge run make it worthwhile.

PS Just noticed this new Yahoo Photo rubbish has screwed the links from this blog to my photos, THAT IS SO ******* ANNOYING!!, what am I supposed to do now go back over all my pages and change all the links, AARGH!!!!....MORE EXPLETIVES!!!...

Kaim downhill video
If the embeded video doesn't run use this link.

A day at play

No fee to join this club

Despite the encouter above I had a fun day yesterday.
In the morning Anne and I had a walk over Goldenberry watching birds, taking photos and video and after a bracing visit to the cairn at the summit we had a play on the splendid rope swing in the trees.
PM Anne gave me and MTB a lift to the top of Hailie Brae to give me a mainly downhill run through Kelburn to Fairlie.
It was great looking over the Clyde from the Douglas Park viewpoint but I resisted the temptation to do the 'official' downhill from here down through the park as it would wipe out the height I needed for Kelburn.
I took lots of video on route and thoroughly enjoyed myself, lets hope there's lots more days like that before I join the 'Club with no fee above.'

Photos here, although still havent figured out how to get them in the order I want.

MTB video



Goldenberry video

Beautiful Kelburn

Old Boat at Fairlie

Anne and I were keen to have a good walk today, the sky was clear, the sun was shining and the wind was light. It didn't take us long to decide on Fairlie to Largs through Kelburn, one of our favourites.
Due to my present video exploits we started on the shore in Fairlie along Miller Walk so that I could give shooting through my binoculars a try if I spotted anything of note.
This little walk is best on an evening when it catches the sun, but its nice anytime.
The beauty of the Kelburn walk is the views behind and to the left over the Clyde estuary to the islands, on a nice day its just stunning, it wasn't quite that nice today but it was close.
Finished the walk about 1pm in Craigmiles Cafe Largs before catching the train back to Fairlie.
It was too early for me to go back indoors so I went off for a stole over Goldenberry, another favourite, by 3.45pm the rain was setting in again and I retreated homeward.

The links and embeded video below will work soon I'm sure, once YAHOO gets round to processing it. I really should stick to blogging in the morning when things happen a good bit faster, its so much less frustrating.

Needless to say I shot lots of video, if you view it don't expect excitement, maybe a nice view or two is about it. I enjoyed making it and hopefully in a few months looking back in my blog I'll enjoy it all over again.

Some photos here,. or maybe not........ I'm having some trouble with this new yahoo photo rubbish.

Click video if the window below does not run.....I'm having lots of trouble with YAHOO tonight, hopfully it will all be OK tomorrow.

An indoor day.....almost

A summer memory...Maidens beach

I finished making my spotting scope camera holder this morning and it works OK but looks awful.
Since there was no chance of getting out on the bike today due to the wind and wet I went down to Hunterston in the car to do a little bit of bird spotting and to check out the camera thing.
Luckily the wind was the right way for the scope and I managed a little bit of video, there is a little surpise in the middle of it.
By 3pm it had just about stopped raining so got out for a jog, a little further than usual since it was lovely and bracing down the beach with a bit of a following gale.

I'll post the video shortly meanwhile see some photos.

Bird video

The weather was a bit too showery and for the bike yesterday so Anne and I went up to Lochwinnoch to wander the bird hides for me to try to snatch a few video clips.
With all the recent rain the paths around the loch were flooded, even with wellies we couldn't get all the way along and unfortunately the birds didn't want to be photograghed and stayed hidden in the main. I did manage some video around from the visitor centre and had a little huddle of people around me interested in the idea of taking photos through a spotting scope, also was lucky enough to see a male hen harrier flying over the loch, maybe thats why the birds were so shy.
After lunch I went off down Hunterston and Fairlie shores to try my luck there and got some nice clips of redshank and oystercatcher. Some bird photos here.

I've decided to transfer to YAHOO for video as the uploaded results are far superior to YouTube.


View my other videos here.

A windy day

Portencross Harbour

It didn't look too promising this morning so did a spot food shopping but when I got back I thought I'd chance it out for a short run on the MTB, glad I did I had a great little outing up Biglees and down to Portencross.
The sky was black up north but the sun was shining on me so it was quite dramatic looking.
Along to Portencross Castle the waves were crashing onto the rocks, the sun shining through them made nice video I'm glad I didn't miss it.
Got home dry after 2 hours on the bike just as the rain set in.....great!.

Some photos here.

Uploaded to YAHOO video and it looks much better than YouTube view it here.

A break in the foul weather

Arran from Portencross

Phoned Graham this morning, he was keen to get out for the morning while the weather looked settled.
We didn't go far, starting down through the Village Glen the autumn colours were about as good as they get, a carpet fallen of leaves lay on the path.
Down by the sea the beach track had a following wind, there was nice swell and Arran was looking good with a little covering of snow on the tops.
Hunterston estate was pleasantly sheltered as we splashed through the puddles on the Sustrans cycleway, we opted to go up Biglees quarry onto the moor but didn't quite get there, Graham decided he'd like to revisit the Biglees waterfall so after a bit of downhill thrill we left the bikes and scrambled down the slippery slopes to the falls.
There was a fallen tree across the burn and I managed to climb across to get right behind the waterfall.
Took a video clip of the curtain of water to add to the rest I'd been taking on route.
By the time we'd finished scrambling about and taking photos it was getting dull so we headed back and managed to get home just before the promised rain started.
Its great to get back from a wonderful little outing like today just before the rain sets in.

View the video

View some photos.

Castle Semple and Glentane

Busbie Muir Windfarm

Surprise surprise there wasn't much wind and it wasn't raining this morning!!
The sky didn't look to promising though so we went along to Parkhill Wood at Castle Semple for a walk.
The Lochside path was flooded so we were forced to retrace our steps up to the old railway Sustrans track.
It was lovely in the wood, the clouds had mostly blown away and the sun was streaming through the autumn leaves.
Afterwards we went along to the RSPB visitor centre just round the corner from Castle Semple hoping to see some little birds on the feeders but they were all in hiding except for one little robin who stuck around for about 5 seconds.
We had a coffee, looked around the shop then headed home.
It was still reasonable weather so I set off over Glentane for a much needed thrill on the MTB and to do a spot of video, got back about 3.30pm 45minutes before the rain set in.
Graham turned up for a passing visit, he'd been up through the windfarm, unfortunately he also got caught in the rain!

Scarey Glentane MTB video

Out in the wet

Grey Heron
For an hour today it was actually not raining but other than that it just slung it down all day.
Anne and I went down to Ayr for a walk and to get some more memory for my camera to take bigger and better video clips.
We went along to Auchincruive and stroled along the river, it really started to pour so it wasn't long before we retreated to the car but I did managed a few clips before going along to Stair for lunch. We hoped the rain would ease off during lunch but it wasn't to be so we just headed back home.
The rain did let up a little by the time we got back so I took a strole up Fairlie Glen to see the water in the burn and to take a bit more video along the way.
The videos are not exactly exciting but its all practice.

A few photos here.

Auchincruive in the wet


Fairlie Burn

Fairlie Glen again

Failie Glen View

I was on builder watch duty yesterday morning but that was OK as it was showery, blowy and cold but PM it was Annes turn so got out to play at video making with my helmet camera holder. Played about at Hunterston and Glodenberry but there was shower coming so headed up to Failie Glen. It was clear up that way and I had a nice opportunity to video the Glen downhill again and one or two little waterfalls.
Took about 16 minutes of video and condensed it down to 1 minute which can be viewed below or some photos here.

Helmet Camera Holder

Yesterday I took some video down Fairlie Glen but most of it was unuseable due to shake. So today while I was stuck in with builders, I set about making a better mount that can be fitted and removed easily. Its made with some light aluminium its light and seems steady. Hopefully I'll have an opportunity to give it a go tomorrow, its a good excuse just to play about and not go far.

Waterfalls

Largs from Fairlie

I was out at a Dinner Dance last night until 1.30am so thought it'd be best not driving fist thing. Graham came over and we decided on a waterfall theme for the mountain bike route today. There's a biggish hidden falls up by Biglees he wanted to see and photo so thats where we were headed. Its a bit on the dangerous side to get to, there's a large drop right by your feet along a slippy ledge, not very clever really. Then we went to the upper Biglees falls, along to Fairlie and up the Glen to Fairlie falls before blasting the nice little downhill past the castle. I did some video along the way and you can view it below.

Waterfalls Route


A walk in Blair yesterday between showers

Windfarm route video

Anne was of stocking the larder this morning so I thought I'd get out for a short MTB outing before lunch over to Busbie Muir and the windfarm, hoping to do a little video on the way.
It was a bit wet over the fields but the sun was shining and it was pleasantly cool.
After lunch we went strole down Glen on to the beach, it was very nice hardly any breeze.
I've uploaded the video to YouTube but I'm not sure if it will display here, if not you can view some photos.

More video

Clyde view

I'm all excited about my new video thing so after a very pleasant short pre lunch walk with Anne on Goldenberry. I headed up the moor to upper Glenburn falls to do a spot more video. I have an ancient tripod and took it up to ease the camera fixing then just shot a few short clips with a view to stringing them together. I am quite pleased, it looks like a route but its all in the one little spot up the moor, I feel like a five year old with a new toy.

View the video here.

PS Anne had a little mishap with dinner so we decided to pay a visit to the Lauriston for a cheap supper. On the way back around 7pm the sky was clear and the moon was shining so I had an urge to try out my Yukon LED head torch with a short run down the beach track, didn't quite make it, it started raining but did three loops in the Glen, about 40minutes, and was quie pleased, combined with the Cateye LED on the handlebars there was plenty of light for easy trails, although I wouldn't like to do anything very difficult using them them.

Making movies

When Graham and I were out mountain biking on Sunday I was doing a drop while Graham was trying and failing to take a picture so it occurred to me that it would be easier to take at video, so at Fairlie glen we set about it.
The result was quite pleasing but at just over a minute long it is too big to post.
There are a few short sequences I may try to post somewhere but I'm not sure if I have all the tools to do it.
Yesterday I went out on the road bike for the first time in weeks and weeks, around Dalry and over Fairlie moor back for lunch then, since it was too nice to stay indoors I thought I'd get out for an adrenaline fix on the MTB.
Spent some time videoing again and caught some nice movie shots while enjoying a few thrills.
If I manage to post a short sequence I'll post it here.

A few nice days

Dunure castle

Its been cold and clear over the past few days so its been great out and about, a bit of mountain biking over some of my local favourite trails, Goldenberry and Kelburn, a day down at Culzean Castle and Country Park, and an afternoon meandering along the river Ayr at Failford taking photos. We met a cycling aquaintance and had a chat about off road routes, gave him my web address and hope he has some fun on some new trails.

Past few days photos here.

WOW! what a day.

Cottage on the moor

WHAT A FABULOUS, FABULOUS, DAY!
It was clear as a bell, and wonderfully cool so Anne and I decided to give ourselves a treat and take a walk up to Largs along the edge of the moor.
The beauty of the walk (and it is beautiful!) is the coastal views are there all around, you just lift your eyes from your feet and a fabulous view is there to be appreciated, one to the front another to the side and a different one behind, there are not many places I'd rather be on a day like today.
Three and a half hours of wonderful walking, a little late lunch in Craigmiles cafe in Largs and a 10 minute train journey home to a little refreshment with feet up before dinner..... just perfect.

View the walking route description and pictures.