Gone Mountain Biking Again

Dunoon Mountain Biking

2011-11-06T19:47:00.003Z

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8-G2NVoP0s

Olot Again

2011-06-20T16:54:00.001+01:00

Went over to Olot in Spain last month for some cycling and walking It was fabulous as always.

Stretching Reality

2011-03-30T20:40:00.004+01:00

My photo friend and I went up to the south side of Loch Lomond yesterday up the viewpoint of Duncryne Hill. Maybe next time the sun will shine too.

Winter Skiing at Les 2 Alpes

2011-02-06T22:40:00.002Z

Portencross Castle public opening

2010-09-27T18:49:00.002+01:00

Collsacabra, Spain

2010-09-21T21:39:00.004+01:00

Anne and I spent the past week in lovely sunny Spain, well apart from three evening downpours. Luckily though it stayed dry during daylight hours and we got out to explore the ancient bandit region of the Collsacabra.
This was Anne's fourth visit to the area and my fifth, but there is still plenty left to explore so I expect we will be going back.
Our base at Olot town is an hours drive from Gerona airport connected to Prestwick airport by Ryanair flights twice a day.
This time we hired mountain bikes for a day, not very good bikes but we covered quite a lot of ground through the beach forest to Santa Pau, a well preserved medieval village connected to Olot by some nice rough trails.

The Editorial Alpina maps of the area are excellent but not perfect as demonstated by us spending 3 hours trying to get a walk in a badly mapped set of tracks up at Col de Bracon, nice enough but a navagational lesson learned the hard way.

Now I've all the BTT mountain bike route maps I'd really like to get out there with a decent mountain bike on some of the easier stuff, maybe next spring if I can convince my cycling chum to go.

Corrieyairack

2010-08-17T10:33:00.004+01:00

My wife and I were in Aviemore last week sharing a holiday with Graham and his wife Moira mountain biking and walking.
Aviemore is a great biking centre absolutely loads of trails accessible from the town.
I was dead keen to do the classic Corrieyairak pass, its a route I've wanted to have a go at for years but the need for a pick up at Fort Augustus meant this was my first real opportunity.
We were dropped of a mile os so before Garva Bridge to give us a good warm up before the rough stuff but Garva bridge would have been a good strart point, certainly a lovely spot.
The early part of the climb is only 80% cyclable as iits well washed out and full of large loose stones, quite a challenge just to keep going. There is a better section before the real steep stuff to the summit then it goes stony again.
I just didn't feel fit enough to work up the momentum to carry me over this so ended up pushing at almost all the corners.
The summit is marked by a little brick built radio shed with a set of handy steps for a sit and picnic before the downhill run to Fort Augustus.
My its a long way down but its not plain sailing there is a lot of rough stuff higher up, but at least its gravity assisted.
Lower down is much better surfaced but undulates a lot.
The finish at Fort Augustus is great with the locks and ice cream shop.
We had to cycle to Bridge of Oich to pick up the car as our wifes had left it there to have a walk into the town but that was a very pleasant way to warm down from our ice cream and cycling efforts.
A worthwhile route but if you go be prepared for rough loose rocks, a lot of pushing and a cautious descent.

Other stuff we did was Forest Lodge to Nethy Bridge, Boat of Garten Aviemore, a great mainly downhill route starting at Loch Morlich.
Loch an Eilein and Loch Morlich circuit including the Sluggan Track.
East Glen Feshie including the lovely Bothy Trail singletrack.
And last but not least the Burma Road to Sluggan bridge and Carrbridge, another classic.

Along the River Ayr

2010-08-02T21:43:00.003+01:00

Graham and I were out on the MTBs today down along the River Ayr, the first time since we abandoned due to ice maybe March this year.
Today though it was just a pleasant cool summers day along this route plus this bit starting at Fularton Wood near Troon down to Ayr then up to Stair Inn for a beer, a loop to Barskimming and back to Stair for lunch and the route back.
36miles altogether and every one worthwhile.

Kilmacolm

2010-06-30T20:53:00.003+01:00

Tom and I had a short (3.5hr) road cycle today from Lochwinnoch to Kilmacolm using a combination of cyce track a minor roads.
The sun shone pleasantly and in Kilmacolm we stopped of at Java Minute Cafe for coffee and cake, returning through the Quarriers Village and the cycle route.
I'm not a great fan of cycle routes they can be a bit boring with not much outlook, next time I'll try to keep more to the minor roads.

Loch Eck Circuit

2010-06-26T22:26:00.005+01:00

We did the Glen Branter downhill, that coupled with the monster climb on the east side of the loch made it hard going. Unfortunately the forestry commission have almost trashed the last bit of the forest road by digging the ditch and scattering the rubbish all over the road, so it rough as hell. That aside it was a very nice long day out on the bikes.

Galston Sorn and Mauchline

2010-06-21T21:26:00.004+01:00

Took a little homemade camera out for a photo spin on the bike today from Galston to Sorn, Catrine, and Mauchline the photo results were pretty poor but the cycling in warm sun on the longest day of 2010 was rather pleasant.
I sure hope this weather last a while yet.

Around Kilmarnock

2010-06-20T22:12:00.002+01:00

It was a lovely warm day today, ideal for a bit of road biking.
I decided to put the bike in the car, go across to Kilmaurs and do a Kilmarnock circuit.
It really is a wonderful cycle full of interest, Kilmaurs Toll house, Fenwick church, Loudoun Kirk, Barr Castle and near the finish Dundonald castle, all on quiet country roads for about 30 miles, beautiful.
Three tea rooms to choose from on route, Balmoral mill shop, Hays Garden Centre and Dundonald Castle visitor centre (summer only).
Today I stopped of at two of them, after all I was in no hurry to end a wonderful day out on the bike.

A little tour

2010-06-10T11:00:00.005+01:00

I did a little camping cycle tour over the past few days, parts were good and parts were not so good but it was all worthwhile.

View a slideshow and video here

This is the route details.

Around Irvine Valley

2010-05-30T21:28:00.002+01:00

Graham and I had a mavelous almost epic day of 33miles 2880 ft climb around the Irvine valley trails. A combination of the Dean Trail and west part of the Lanfine Trails

Doing the Gogo

2010-05-29T19:17:00.001+01:00

Very nice walk up the Gogo burn behind Largs

Gorge-ous walk

2010-04-23T22:27:00.002+01:00

This is the right time of year for a walk along the Mauchline Gorge and Lugar water
My wife and I did it today, keeping close to the riverside along the Lugar Water gives lots of interest and views along the river and a visit to Wallaces cave if you know where to find it.
Video below

Trivial pursuits

2010-03-02T22:13:00.001Z

Just had to get out the XC skis and have a go.

A bit of the white stuff

2010-02-28T21:43:00.002Z

Katy Craig and I were out Saturday on the mountain bikes.
The idea was to have a mainly downhill run by using two cars but we cetainly didn't expect quite as much snow.
All part of the MTBing experience- Katy and Craig now know all about cycling in the snow.

Carrick Hills

2010-02-13T22:39:00.001Z

Had a little tour with Graham over Brown Carrick Hill to Culzean today.

Route descriptions are linked in the sidebar. Happy MTBing.

Culzean and Turnberry

2009-09-27T10:20:00.002+01:00

Got out on the mountain bikes yesterday with a little group of family and friends.
Starting at Goats Green at Croy shore through Culzean, coffee and cake at Maidens then a loop out to Turnberry Lighthouse and castle widely accepted as Robert the Bruce's birthplace. Not a very strenuous day in the saddle but very nice with an extra coffee stop at Culzean Country Park Centre.

Cornalees

2009-09-12T21:52:00.001+01:00

Graham and I got up MTBing at Lunderston Bay and Cornalees, geat day!

Forth and Clyde canal

2009-09-11T22:42:00.002+01:00

Clydebank bicycle

Yesterday Tom and I got out on the bikes for a bit, just a short outing Eglinton to Dundonald, a nice little route with a coffee stop at Dundonald Castle visitor centre.
Its getting near the season end for this coffe stop the castle and centre close at the end of October until the beginning of April.
Back home I decided to fill the nice sunny afternoon with a bit more cycling so I took myself up over Fairle moor to work up a bit of a sweat, it goes up to 1000ft and has a cracking view over the Clyde to Arran.

Today was another nice and warm and sunny day good enough for a bit more cycling.
Anne and I put the bikes on the car and went up to Erskine to cycle into the city (Glasgow) along the canal to Port Dundas stopping off for a pub lunch at Lock 27.
The last time we were along the canal it was in 2000 during the foot and mouth outbreak when the coutryside was out of bounds, at that time the canal was in quite a sad state now though its generally wonderful a really nice linear park all the way into town (and back).
Photos below.

Fairlie to Largs

2009-09-03T08:46:00.003+01:00

Fairlie Kirk and War Memorial

The weather has been unsettled of late and the mud is getting established but I've managed a few short outings on the mountain bike mainly beach and Goldenberry Hill.
Yesterday though Anne and I did one of our regular walks from Fairlie to Largs and back along the sea front.
There is a new cycle track leading off this and with the burn crossing getting neglected it starting to get difficult along the rough way.
I got over the burn OK but Anne was struggling so I went off and got an extra big rock to give her a shorter step instead I just gave her s good soaking when I threw it into the water, it was funny though.

View a slideshow below (pinhole images).

Smugglers Trail

2009-08-22T22:23:00.002+01:00

I had a notion of doing some pinhole photos down the Irvine Valley today so Anne and I set off but as is sometimes the way of things there was a stream of cloud and showers hanging over the area we were headed too.
Not being one for cycling in the rain I diverted to Dundonald and the Smugglers Trail to Troon. Its a round loop of maybe 10 miles some off road and some on, we even managed to do a bit of 'new' off road and a picnic at the beach.

Very nice outing, see the photos (pinhole) below.

Bike pottering

2009-08-13T23:19:00.003+01:00

Wind and Power

Had a couple of bike outings during the week but just of the pottering kind, little loops for a sunny couple of hours, very pleasant but hardly demanding.
The first was a little loop over to Ardrossan (Clyde) Marina, today was a little loop with my cycling chum Tom around the lanes near Barnweil monument

PM Anne and I went for a walk by Portencross and I shot off a few pinhole colour photos to develop this evening- view the photos below.

Photo happy

2009-08-09T22:05:00.002+01:00

I'm so happy with my recent pinhole photos that I've embeded the whole flickr slideshow below. Feel free to terminate at any time.

Glasgow Cathedral

2009-08-04T23:44:00.002+01:00

David Livingstone and Glasgow Cathedral

Lovely visit to Glasgow Cathedral area for a few photos, view them below.

Culzean

2009-07-24T22:37:00.004+01:00

Culzean Castle through the folly

I wanted to shoot some large format pinhole today so thought we'd go down to Culzean for a walk and photo shoot.
The day just got brighter and brighter, really very nice indeed.
We walked in from Maidens to get a free entry and made our way to the visitor centre for a spot of lunch, a few stops along the way for some photos and sight seeing.
Lovely day out.

Fenwick moor

2009-07-20T20:00:00.003+01:00

Fenwick moor view

I went over to Fenwick moor today to have a MTB outing around the windfarm. I'd got a map off the internet and thought I'd get a nice loop out of it.
Well how wrong I was, the map turned out to be a work of fiction with the windfarm is still closed for constrction work.
The visitor centre wasn't finished so I ended up going into the forest at Carrot near Eaglesham.
Nice little rough climb from there up to the windfarm and some good views up on the windfarm roads but plodding around the tracks was rather dull, then the rain started so I got out as fast as I could.
Its too exposed up there to hang about when the weather goes sour.
A bit of a disappointing outing, I think I'll give it until next spring before I give Fenwick Moor another visit on the bike.

Galston loop

2009-07-15T20:56:00.002+01:00

Infra red image of Loudoun Kirk

Still quite warm today, so I thought the coolest activity would be a bike ride, taking a few photos on route.
For some time I've fancied getting a pinhole photo of Laigh Kirk in Kilmarnock my old hometown so I thought starting the cycle run from Dean Park would give me a chance to get the picture I fancied.
There is a nice loop for the mountain bike out to Galston and back via Hurlford, not too long and with some photo opportunities on the way, that's where we headed after my photo stop at Laigh Kirk and a bit of mid morning coffee.
It was a delightful cycle run just right for the weather and for length, loved it.

View some photos below

Goldenberry and Fairlie moor

2009-07-14T19:19:00.002+01:00

Video above of yesterdays short MTB outing between the showers and evening rain.

Today Anne and I had a walk up into the quarry on Kaim hill to admire the views and PM I did a bit of a 'training' run over Fairlie moor, surprisingly I found it quite easy, must have been the wind assistance again.

The Falkirk Wheel

2009-07-10T23:42:00.003+01:00

The Falkirk Wheel

Anne and I played at tourists yesterday and visited the Falkirk Wheel, not by bike although there were lots of cyclists around, we did it the lazy way by car.
Quite a contraption and a piece of original engineering I did think though it is getting a bit tatty and in need of a bit of TLC. We parted with £7.50 each and took the short gondola trip up to the top through the tunnel and back. The day was clear so we got the best of the views. See some photos below.

Today I managed a day of cycling but in three parts, AM my cycling pal Tom and I had a short cycle on an Eglinton Dalgarven loop. He had visitors coming PM so had to be back sharp.
Then Anne and I had a Hunterston Peninsula circuit starting down the beach track, through Thirdpart and looping to make a very pleasant figure of eight.
The sun was shining, it was cool and clear, just lovely for a cycle.
When we got back I had a little bite to eat and set off on the road bike over Fairlie moor. I've been doing it a few times recently to try and get a bit of fitness back into my legs. I think its working, today felt a lot easier, although that may just have been the wind direction.

Altogether a rather good days cycling.

Gently enjoying the warm weather

2009-07-01T17:34:00.005+01:00

Power and sky

Haven't been doing a lot on the bikes recently, an ascent and decent of Kaim hill a while back, a bit of short stuff over Goldenberry hill and a very pleasant loop at Lunderston Bay last week but nothing demanding.
The past few days have been too warm for me to think about the mountain bike but I have been out a few times on the road bike. That way I can keep reasonably cool and still get a good outing.
Yesterday Anne and I put the bikes on the car and went over to Dundonald, parking below the castle. We did a couple of hours along some lovely quiet lanes to Barnweil monument which commemorates the burning by William Wallace of the English garrison billeted in the barns of Ayr.

The past few months I've been taking lots of photographs mainly of the pinhole type. One great thing about pinhole cameras is you can make them youself to your own specification.
I've made myself various pinhole cameras to do all sorts different things and generally had a great time making and using them.
View a recent set below or use the sidebar to see my photo stream on Flickr.

Kaim - dry and sunny

2009-06-16T22:21:00.004+01:00

Blue Iris
Frittered the dull morning away making an 'underwater' camera box but the sun finally decided to come out and so did I, over to the downhill route on Kaim hill. I thought I'd give it a go before the forecast rain turns it to mud.
I was hard work though, the grass is growing making it quite tough, enjoyed it just the same and the downhill was wonderful. See a short video here.

Later PM went off down to Portencross to do some 'underwater' photos in the pools where there is lots of light hoping to get half below and half above, worked out OK for a first try. View the photos below.

Dunoon and Glen Massan

2009-06-13T19:31:00.004+01:00

Ben More house (outdoor centre)

'Tis my birthday today Katy and Graig let the old codger take them mountain biking across at Dunoon. Originally we were going to do the Loch Eck circuit but somewhere along the way a time constraint got in the way so instead we did the Glen Massan route over the new forest track which ain't shown on the maps, but can be seen on Google earth.
We stopped off twice at Ben More Gardens cafe although its a little detour/repeat on the way back.
I had a nice birthday outing and the youngsters learned a little about the joys of Dunoon mountain biking.

Video here.

Rob - I have published a route for Dailly on my web site although its in a bit of a mess just now due to Yahoo suspending their free geocities sites. The route can be linked in with the windfarm from Girvan or the Dailly Barr road, could be done from Straiton if you fancy and epic day.

Bright & breezy by the River Ayr

2009-06-06T21:17:00.003+01:00

Barkimming cottage
Graham phoned looking for a bit of MTBing today with hopefully a visit to Carrick Cycles in Ayr along the way so I figured it'd be good doing a not so little route from Fularton to Ayr and then to Barskimming returning on a similar but shorter trail. Its an extension of this route, by adding on this route giving a total distance, according to grahams GPS, of 34miles.
It was... ideal... lovely... glorious... perfect, just what I needed to get my head out of photo stuff and back into good old mountain biking.

I'll just go into my Yahoo videos and see if I've got something from that route, I'm sure I will..........5 minute search.......yes here's something but it ain't summer.

Yahoo are closing down geocities free web space so my MTB site will be no more unless I decide to pay up, they've done this sort of thing before with their free stuff and messed me about so I don't feel inclined to pay them money even though its the easy option, but mustn't say never, Amen.

Crossrequel Abbey and a Village cycle

2009-06-02T19:54:00.005+01:00

Rhododendron macro

I had a photo/cycle plan in the back of my mind. I had a notion to visit
Crossraquel Abbey for a few photos of the pinhole variety and then a short cycle around some quiet roads and villages near Maybole.
Today looked as good a day as any.
Anne had things to see to so off I went.
Spent about and hour in the Abbey grounds hunting viewpoints and taking photos in the lovely bright sun, then went into Maybole, parked at the Greenside and set off on the bike to Crosshill and Straiton.
Unfortunately the Buck Cafe closes Monday Tuesday so just had to make do with a snack from the local shop.
I decided to loop away from Kirkmichael toward Dalrymple to add on a few miles, glad I did there was a lovely stretch of road, only about 2 miles, that I hadn't been on before, wow! what a lovely lovely view over the valley and down to the Galloway hills, well worth the little detour.
Lovely day out, photos of Crossraquel here and I may generate a new route description for my web site.

Road bike in the sun

2009-06-01T18:52:00.004+01:00

Bumble Bee on clover

Phoned my cycling chum Tom this morning, we haven't been out together for quite some time.
He likes it nice and sunny when out on the bikes, I do too but if it ain't sunny I quite often go out on the mountain bike.
Today was certainly sunny and luckily he was keen to get out there.
It didn't take us long to decide that an Eglinton Dundonald loop would be just the ticket for a day like today.
About half way round the loop the route passes Dundonald Castle with a visitor centre and a tea room, it was very nice sitting out below the castle having coffee and cake in the sun before heading back.
Its a short cycle route of about 20miles round trip which can be extended with various short and not so short options, today though we just did the 20 mile mini loop.
Very nice! Lets hope there's more nice weather on the way and we can get a few more sunny outings during the summer months.

See a few more photos here on my FLICKR account.

Encouter with a fox

2009-05-26T20:46:00.005+01:00

Fox near Blackshaw pond

Anne and I had a gentle (pinholing) walk up to the wind farm and back down on the Kings Way footpath.
It was one of these walks that's never very far from places you've been before but is new enough to be interesting, although I find interesting in the strangest of places.
We meadered through little bit of neglected woodland along beside a stream off and on, then through an area the landowner has converted into an open parkland with managed routes around the pond and trees.
Its lovely, all the nicer for the fact that its being looked after by a farmer chap, no doubt with a few grants from the public purse.
Just as we were leaving the pond area onto what I call the King Way I saw a fox just over the horizon.
We dashed into cover and were rewarded by a nice view and a few photos as the fox wandered by.
It did hear the sound of the camera and got suspicious eventually dashing off when it identified humans behind the camera, but not before I'd got a few shots.

Two slide shows to see a digital colour + fox and a pinhole B&W.

Dailly loop

2009-05-24T21:13:00.002+01:00

Unlucky day for some.

Graham and I had a glorious outing over the Dailly loop and singletrack
the sun shone it was cool and clear. Unfortunately Tilly's tea room at Dailly was closed so it was a case of picnic by the river OK but a hot coffee and cake would have been nicer.
Three and a half hours on the bike with some lovely singletrack YE CANNIE WHACK IT!

View the video here on FLICKR

Pottering on the bikes

2009-05-20T18:35:00.006+01:00

About a week ago Anne and I were up cycling in Mugdock park just North of Mingavie, then I was wandering in Ayr as Anne was doing a bit of shopping and I walked over the hills to Largs on Sunday past.
All the photos I've taken on these outings have been waiting in the camera for this opportunity to get a showing so
here they are.

Today Anne and I did a bit of gentle cycling from Eglinton around some quiet lanes to Dalgarven mill for lunch.
At this time of year the mill wheel is running and of course the museum is open, its worth a visit. Today though we just had coffee and cake to keep us going on the way back to Eglinton.
As I was about to load the bike back onto the car I thought 'I could cycle back home and turn today into a reasonable time on the bike'
Thats just what I did giving about 4 very pleasant hours cycling.
I don't have a cycle route for this on my web site, funny how routes pop up that I've done several times and somehow they haven't quite made it into the site. Oh well maybe I'll put it on trip tracker. If I do there will be a link here.

The quarry route

2009-05-17T18:17:00.005+01:00

Biglees waterfall in pinhole.

This was an at home week end for my cycling chum Graham. He was telling me he'd been mtbing at the Quantocks with another (work) cycling pall, monstrous climbs he was telling me. I was quite envious although I'd only consider going there if I was in the area for other reasons. There is mtbing a plenty up in Scotland.

The weather people said it would rain quite a bit over the WE but they got it wrong yesterday was quite nice except for a couple of short light showers.
We got out for a few hours along the beach Goldenberry then the hard quarry climb followed by a rough downhill reward and back via Portencross.
I haven't been doing a great deal of MTBing recently so it was great to get out on the bike along some nice local dry trails.

The route is a combination of Goldenberry and the Quarry.

I've been developing some B&W pinhole stuff on Xray film view a few images here in a FLICKR slideshow.

Today I took a walk along the hillside to Largs. The weather was lovely, sunny and breezy with good visibility. Over Glantane, along the ridge above the normal cycle trail to Fairlie Glen, from there I took the low route through Kelburn.
Shot off a few pinhole photos on the way. View slideshow

Pottering in Mugdock

2009-05-15T00:14:00.004+01:00

Market display in Olot Spain.
See previous post

Had a bit of MTBing down at Auchincruive early this week. Out passed Stair into Barskimming and Failford. I discovered a little woodland trail toward Barskimming but it really needs a bit of trail maintenance to get it up to scratch, pity its just a little far from home to sort out.
I looped back along the Failford Stair section of the River Ayr Way for a coffee break in the Stair Inn before heading back along the riverside to Auchincruive.

View the route here.

Tuesday Anne and I took the MTBs up to Mugdock for a little loop following our walking route with a little add on at the east side and a bit of investigation around the reservoir. Just had a look for the walk but I only have the longer cycle route description. Funny how the mind plays trick on you, I could have sworn I had a walking route description for Mugdock.

Just got my Spanish holiday (Olot town near Girona) pinhole images back from One Vision Imaging really pleased with them even though they are basically just pinhole snaps.

Dalgarven Kilwinning

2009-05-10T20:31:00.006+01:00

Tulip at Eglinton

Made it out on the road bike today for a few hours. Over to Dalgarven mill on the hilly quiet route missing the traffic by risking a bit of mud on a farm road link.
There was indeed mud but only for 20yards or so. I just kept the speed down in it and just after in an attempt to stay clean.
At Dalgarven Mill tearoom there was a group of Billy Bilsland cyclist from the south side of Glasgow feeding there faces for the run back up the road into the showers.
I'd noticed the tell tale clouds and had decided to keep south in the sun and headed downhill to Eglinton and Kilwinning.

On the news tonight it was reported a chap from Kilwinning was missing and his wife in hospital after trying to rescue their dogs from the swollen river very sad, I couldn't help but wonder what I was doing at the time it happened. Maybe taking photos at the Abbey, or pottering home over the back roads home. Mmm makes you wonder what tomorrow might bring.

View todays photos here.

I'm not very happy with the slide show header, I'll check it on Anne's laptop and it its rthe same I'll be reverting to the FLICKR one in future.

Garrotxa - Spain

2009-05-07T11:23:00.005+01:00

Mountain daffodils at 1515m

Just had a week in Spain in the Garroxta area near Girona based at Olot town.
This is the 4th time I've been there first time was a 6 day cycling tour with my cycling chum Tom we cycled through the beautiful Garroxta region of old volcanoes and beach tree forests.
It was so nice I decided to return with my wife Anne for some walking, we both loved it and have been back three times now.
There are lots of signed walks and if you choose to be more adventurous the mapping is excellent so its possible to make up your own routes and follow them with relative ease.
I have 5 maps of the region all purchased from Stanford maps.
The main area map has a English language guide book for 9 walks up to five hours long.

Last year we went in March but that was just a little early, it was quite cold with snow on the higher hills.
This year though was just lovely although we did havea rainy evening, enough to change the next day planned walk to low level to avoid slippy conditions of the rougher hill paths.

If you choose to go there stay in the Borrell hotel in Olot and eat at La Veranda restuarant along the road.

View a slideshow of the holiday here.

More pinhole photos

2009-04-28T20:08:00.002+01:00

Ardrossan harbour light.

No hard physical stuff today.
AM loaded a few cameras with film and set off to do some more pinhole photos on xray film trying to get a handle on how best to use it.
Learned a little and also managed to capture one or two nice pinhole photos.
There is a lot going on with the skies I think the sky streaks are ghosts from the very slow manual shutter combined with short exposures..another lesson learned.

View slideshow

Wet in Largs

2009-04-27T23:09:00.005+01:00

Pinhole image of Barony church West Kilbride
taken on Xray film.

Anne and I had been out at a dance Friday night so I was a bit delicate Saturday.
It was nice and warm and sunny in the morning and after a good laze about by noon I was feeling much livelier and in need of a bit of light exercise.
I pulled the MTB out the shed for a gentle spin around the Hunterston Peninsula easy going and very scienic along the beach and past Portencross.
View the trails here.

Sunday it was Grahams turn to feel a bit delicate he'd hurt his back doing nothing much and although he was keen to get out didn't want to do anything too 'risky'.
We pottered along to Largs by Portencross, the cycleway to Fairlie then up passed Fairlie Glen castle to the edge of Kelburn coming back down near the marina.
The Harlequin Cafe served us some lovely apple tart and coffee well worth the stop off but by the time we got out the rain had started.
It was pretty cold cycling back into the wind and rain.
Fortunately it didn't last and half way home it eased up enough for us both to warm up a bit.

Some Fairlie trails here.

Today it rained am.
I pottered at a pinhole camera mod and when it cleared pm got out to shoot a few photos on my cheap(ish) xray film. I'm not happy with the results though but I'll try copying them again tomorrow in better light. Fingers crossed maybe day light will work its magic. View my photos here on Flickr.

Road biking

2009-04-22T22:29:00.004+01:00

Cowslips in pinhole
I've been distracted in the evening recently with developing my own black and white films and pinhole photos on paper, doctoring them up and uploading them to FLICKR.

Anne and I have been out on the road bikes, Saturday past we cycled along to Kilbarchan on a little 10 mile route. I thought at Kilbarchan I could get a few pinhole photos of the church and weavers cottage. I cycled home from Castle Semple giving me about 35 miles.
A route in the area here (longer)

Sunday I pottered about for 6 hours on the road bike to Dundonald castle then over to Barnweil monument. Funny dog up there friendly until I swung my leg over the bike when it went crazy. I got off and it was fine again back on it went daft. The owner finally dragged it away, she wasn't pleased when I called it a silly mutt!
A Barnweill route here but not the one I did from West Kilbride.

Monday more biking this time from Beith to Lochwinnoch via Howwood for Anne.
I cycled home again but it was hard going on the route I chose all against the grain of the land seemed like an infinity of ups and downs.
Similar route here (longer)

Yesterday I just played at photo stuff and had a run down the beach later in the day, wish I hadn't bothered though I was still tired from all that ups and downs from Monday, had to walk several times.
View slideshow

Today we had a long walk along the hills to Largs, great walk and a great bit of coffee and cake in Craigmiles cafe at the end.
View the Largs route here.

Kelvinside

2009-04-16T22:33:00.004+01:00

Glasgow University

Its been blowing half a gale all week, I haven't been near the bike.
Today Anne and I went up the road to Glasgow (in the car) to do a little bit of sightseeing around Kelvin Grove museum and the surrounding area.
Lunch was first followed by a tour of the museum then a walk up to Glasgow University and another museum, the Hunterian.
The university was lovely and peaceful after the bizz of Kelvin grove and the Hunterian museum is very nice too.
I may well go back up soon to take a few slow photos of the pinhole variety.

View todays slideshow here.

Around Lunderston and the cuts

2009-04-12T21:55:00.007+01:00

Above Gourock on the Greenock cut

I've been so engrossed in pinhole photo DIY that I haven't found time to do any blogging.

On the bike front Anne and I got out for a potter along the New Town Trail around Irvine yesterday.
Just had a look and I don't seem to have a route description for it on my web site but we started in Eglinton park and looped clockwise into Irvine mainly on narrow tarmac pleasant enough but not very demanding except as regards dodging broken glass.

Today Graham and I got out for something altogether more interesting, up to Lunderston Bay for a loop to Cornalees and the Kelly cut, a combination of this route for the Kelly cut and part of this one for north of Cornalees, a case of mix and match.
We climbed from Lunderston to Cornalees, looped over the hill, back to Cornalees for coffee and cake at the cafe, then along the Kelly cut to Wemyss Bay and the very rough mid road back to Lunderston.
The sun shone and it was wonderful, not just nice, but ...err wonderful.

Comment from rob re Rhinns of Kells, I have been along it to Corserine on the bike but its for masochists only view the route I did here.

Spring at Culzean

2009-04-06T20:38:00.006+01:00

Magnolia at Culzean

Anne and I went off down to Culzean today to view all the spring flowers, wow! it was fabulous. Lots of stuff to see in the hazy sunshine.
Took quite a few photos including some pinhole stuff yet to be processed view them here.

Kaim thrill

2009-04-05T22:12:00.006+01:00

Kaim downhill thrill

Lovely and cool today if a bit breazy, finally dragged myself outdoors just after midday mountain biking over Glentane and up to the very top of Kaim hill for the full downhill thrill. Ages since I'd been up there and it showed.
I was quite rusty at the technical stuff, a few sections I didn't get first time partly because they're erroded but mainly due to my low confidence.I think a little bit of trail maintenance is needed to get the flow of the track back, a few rocks in mud holes and at a drop off that seems to have got rather bigger than I remember.
Great fun though - a lovely couple of hard hours on the bike.

On the road again

2009-04-02T19:47:00.004+01:00

Daffodils at Perceton near Irvine

Too nice to squander another day on photo stuff (unless its snaps from the bike) so got out the road bike for a slightly longer outing today a loop over lots of little quiet roads to Dundonald.
Didn't do the full route though I cut a few corners but it took me 5 hours of easy going cycling. With the sun shining its so easy to enjoy a day on the bike I even took a couple of short detours to get extra photos.

Coming back through Ardrossan I noticed the memorial to those lost on HMS Dasher was covered in wreaths, the date of the tragedy was 27March 1943. The ships aero fuel blew up and it sank very quickly in the Clyde just south of Wee Cumbrae.
The whole incident is still clouded in secrecy but those lost are still remembered to this day.
Many of the wreaths had hand written dedications, very touching.

View slideshow

Mountain Biking on a lovely spring day

2009-04-01T00:04:00.005+01:00

Bumble bee working the spring flowers

I was keen to get a few pinhole photos this morning, loaded up some cameras with film and set off around the village to capture a few in the lovely morning sunshine.
Nice but then I squandered the rest of the morning in the darkroom developing them.
PM though I got out for a blast on the mountain bike over Busbie Muir windfarm, just wonderful up there cool and clear, with the skylarks chirping away and great views over the Clyde to Arran.
Came back down the 'Kings' road to Law Castle and steeply down into the village, mud flying off the wheels.
It was still quite early but again I was keen to copy the mornings photos into the computer so, after hosing down the bike, it was back to the 'digital darkroom' for me.

View the mornings B&W pinhole slideshow"

View the PM MTBing spring slideshow

Mountain biking Irvine valley

2009-03-29T21:19:00.007+01:00

Kilmaurs toll house pinhile image

Got out yesterday on the MTB on Irvine valley trails. Been a wee while since Graham and I have been there, its nice and sheltered and we hoped it'd keep the cold north wind off us, a good decision!
The full route is quite a beast we cut off the eastern loop in favour of the woodland tracks.
Unfortunately my chain broke again I was hoping it would last this one more outing as I intended going up to my favourite cycle shop Walkers Cycles to get some new drive chain bits.
Since my changer is worn out I've decided to convert to eight speed, the 9 speed has never worked well the chains are too weak and wear out far too quickly. Time will tell if its a good decision.

The route starts at Loudoun Kirk a picturesque spot so I took along a pinhole camera and took a couple of photos one of the kirk and one of Kilmaurs toll house (above). I'm pleased with the progress I'm making with this pinhole stuff, I've started developing some of images at home, just black and white, good fun except it can cause a bit of conflict for use of the kitchen.
Still doing colour stuff as well, when I got home from the MTB outing there was a set back from the lab, they are pinhole photos of Ayr from last weeks Troon to Ayr walk,the photos can be viewed here.

Some more here normal digital photos from the same walk.

Parkhill Woodalnd walk

2009-03-25T20:11:00.003Z

Pinhole of Portencross harbour

Yesterday I received a delivery of chemicals and ortho lith film for pinhole photos.
So before Anne was out of bed I set about getting my first photo(s) with it and managed fine (I thought) leaving them to dry while we went off up to Castle Semple to have a nice walk around Parkhill wood. It was unusually bright the sort of bright that comes with showery weather, sure enough it showered, but only a little.

PM I was keen to have another go at the pinhole film developing thing. I blacked out the kitchen window with a screen I built last week end, loaded the 'camera' ( a cylindrical short bread tin) with film and went off to my favourite photo spot (Portencross).
The good news is the exposures were fine and the images were OK but the development was way off, I got lots of blotches on the negatives, apart from that I was quite pleased.

View the not so wonderful results here on Flickr.

Failford to Stair yet again.

2009-03-24T20:13:00.005Z

Weir near Stair

Bright and breezy yesterday so Anne and I went off down to Failford for a walk along the River Ayr out of the wind and with the prospect of lunch at Stair by extending the walk if the weather held up.
All was OK, just a couple of short light showers but not enough to turn us back from the prospect of Stair lunch.

View a flickr slideshow here (Nov 08).

When we got back there was yet more photos of the pinhole variety waiting at the door. Doctored them up a little and you can view them here: and if you liked that lot see a few more here of the cross eyed stereo variety.

Mugdock revisited

2009-03-22T19:49:00.006Z

Lovely bike at Clachan of Campsie

Thought it'd be nice for Katy and Craig to get a bit of MTBing around Mugdock and Lennoxtown. It'd allow their friend Johnny to meet up and do a circuit as well.
Saturday past was good, we all met up in the main car park and set off clockwise around the park, out onto the West Highland way and along the now lovely smooth tarred railway line to Clachan of Campsie for the usual cake and coffee stop.
Lovely motor bike parked by the cafe, not that I know anything about these things but this one was all chrome and shinny blue, and about 200x more horsepower than we had with us.

I suffered two mishaps a chain break in mugdock and a gear changer fell apart just after the coffee stop, so I was down to three gears, plenty really.
Still got the gear changer to see to before I think about going MTBing again and I suppose it must be time to renew all the drive chain bits before I get a rash of chain breaks.

Short boring video below.

Latest photo thing I've been at is pinhole images on to paper and developing them myself like I used to do long long time ago. The results are nothing wonderful image wise but I've been having lots of fun making the 'cameras' and pottering in the darkroom.

View the paper pinhole slideshow here but don't expect much.

Troon to Ayr

2009-03-20T21:59:00.005Z

Beach scupture

Anne and I took a walk along the beach Troon to Ayr today, it was a glorious day for it, cool and sunny just right.
This is a walk we started doing 6 years ago (ish) during the foot and mouth restrictions and we've been doing it regularly since then when the weathers not too blowy.
Lunch a bit of non essential shopping before getting the train back to troon.

Took a few photos along the way, some with my little Ixuss 55 digital compact and some with a little Kershaw 110 camera converted for pinhole.

View todays slideshow here.

When we got back there was a set of pinhole photos back from the lab waiting for me on the doorstep, Hunterston and Eglinton view them here.

Ardrossan Castle

2009-03-18T19:44:00.004Z

Ardrossan church steeple through the castle window

Was up in Glasgow this morning to buy a present for a dancing friend, well I was more of a spectator really but it didn't take long so we went off to have a walk in Mugdock Park, a few pinhole photos snatched along the way.
There was a group of youngsters being guided around the park on mountain bikes.
Not a lot of cycling going on though it seemed every half mile they stopped for a bit of sightseeing or a game of chasing or climbing into hollow trees.
Best way to get them interested I suppose, minimise the hard work maximise the fun, wish I could do that!

Back home around 3.30, too early for indoors so I went down to Ardrossan castle to snatch a few photos.
I've thought for a while I'd like to give it a try and with the lovely low sun today it seemed like a good time to do it.
I'm quite pleased with the results view them here.

A delightful spring day

2009-03-17T21:11:00.004Z

Ash on Fairlie moor

WOW! what a great spring day. It started clear and mild and just got better and better.
I got the road bike out again today, second time this year (and this week) but didn't intend going far, it looked a bit breezy first thing so decided to do a Fairlie moor loop, a bit like this one.
That way I'd get back for lunch and maybe do something different PM, wasn't that different though, Anne and I went around Hunterston peninsula on the MTBs. With a nice following wind it felt really quite warm.
The new lambs were in the fields around Hunterston, daffodils flowering and some pink blossom appearing on one of the trees, very spring like.

PPM Anne was off to Largs to pick up one of her paintings she was having framed so I did another MTB loop down the beach and over Goldenberry. I must admit to feeling a bit tired by the time I got to the top of the hill so I just pottered home after the downhill blast.

What a lovely bit of springtime cycling.

View slideshow

Loch Bradan Loop

2009-03-15T19:19:00.004Z

Anne's prize winning knitting

Yesterday while I was out and about Anne was doing community support by entering knitting stuff into the West Kilbride flower show. She won 3 first prizes, one for a dressed doll (above) one for a lovely fluffy pink scarf and one for a babies woooly jacket. Well done Anne!

Today Katy, Craig and I went off mountain biking down near Straiton on the Loch Bradan easy circuit. A straight forward loop around the Loch with a rather strenuous Cornish Loch warm up.
In nice cool clear conditions it was a treat. Near the end of the run I suggested Katy and Craig freewheel down to Straiton while I collected the car, surprisingly they beat me to the Buck cafe almost 3 miles, its quite a freewheel ride! and the cake was yummy!

View the video below.

Cornalees and the Cut

2009-03-13T18:41:00.006Z

Graham in full flight near Cornalees Sept 08

Got out for a little spin on the MTB today up at Cornalees on the Greenock cut.

I'd been pottering at home too long and by the time I got up there it was looking a bit on the dull side.
Went over the hill and turned off to some single track on the north side of the hill above Gourock, sort of mini cut beside a couple of small reserviors.
When I got there a chap with a gun was looking as if he might have bagged a goose or two if I hadn't been passing, lucky geese, saved by the coincidental passing of a mountain biker, the ways of the world are....err....random.

Did the loop around the cut into some fine drizzle for a bit but it cleared as I got back to the visitor centre so I decided to repeat a bit of the track up to the top of the hill, somewhere I haven't been before and now that I've done it probably won't do again. Nice to get the view though so may take a walk up there sometime when the visibility's good.

Whitelee forest map

2009-03-12T20:08:00.010Z

Hunterston castle and daffodils

I was up rather sharp this morning due to going to bed before midnight, so to occupy the hour or two till Anne surfaced I went off down to Hunterston armed with my stereo pinhole camera for a bit of photo pottering.
Very nice until the showers came over just as I was getting back to the car, 6 stereo photos in the bag.

Back home after having second brerakfast (Anne's first breakfast) we went off in the car along to Fairlie for a bit of a walk up through Kelburn to the Kel Birdge a lovely spot where I wanted to get a few more stereo pinhole photos.
Its a very nice couple of hours walk I should put into my web site sometime soon (see sidebar).
Up into Kelburn from beside Fairlie garage (parking beside St Pauls church) all the way up to Fairieward Cottage and the Upper Kel Burn Bridge, back down the Kel Burn Glen to Kelburn centre and return along the low road in Kelburn.

PM Anne was off doing her own thing so I went down to Portencross for yet more photo pottering in the rather pleasant afternoon sunshine.

PPM Had a jog along the beach with a lovely following wind but unfortunately I pulled a calf muscle and had to walk the last half mile home.
Embarrassing dressed to jog and limping along at less than a walk!

A few (5) photos here taken with my digital camera as I shot off some film pinhole stuff.

This eveniong I did a search on the internet for a map of Whitelee forest wind farm, its part of my East Ayrshire epic 170mile route but has been a problem area with all the work going on. Not sure its all open now but I did find this map which looks good from the MTB'ers point of view, lots of easy access and loops to be had.

View the map here.

Kilbarchan road cycle

2009-03-10T22:02:00.004Z

Beith town centre old church

It was so nice this morning I decided it'd be an ideal day to get out the road bike for its first outing of the year.
It didn't seem to want to come out and play, maybe in the huff because I'd been neglecting it. The chain wouldn't turn, the mudguard was loose, and neither gear changer would work.
I spent 20 minutes or so freeing off all the stuck bits and giving it a quick test run before loading it onto the car for my getaway.

The route was a bit like this one Dalry to Lochwinnoch but I added in an extra bit, Howwood to Kilbarchan and a little detour along a couple roads I hadn't been on before.
I didn't have a map so it was a little bit of guesswork where I'd end up. Turned out fine although with an extra bit of climbing I hadn't expected.

I came down into Lochwinnoch on a lovely tiny back road above the river Calder where here used to be lots of mills, now either demolished or turned into large homes.
There is lots to see: the old lade, the weir waterfall, mill wheel ruins a grand place to stop off for a few photos or a bite to eat next to the waterfall.
Next stopping off spot was a coffee and cake break at the RSPB place at Lochwinnoch.
They've put in a couple of nice new scopes for bird spotting and I was lucky enough to spot a few Redpoll at the feeders in amongst all the usual stuff.
From there its a climb into Beith then a few back roads back to Dalry and the car.

View todays slideshow here.

A bit of local MTBing

2009-03-06T20:02:00.005Z

Garden falls at Blair

Got out for a jaunt on the bikes today with Graham, wasn't expecting to hear from him until next WE so it was a pleasant surprise.
Weather looked good as we headed down the beach to Portencross with a bit of nice wind assistance along the flat but around here the time always comes for a bit of significant climbing- up on to the moor where most of the best trails are to be found.
To get up there we climbed the Biglees quarry track quite a demanding bit of climbing, rough and loose, then along the wide wet track to the Fairlie Glen downhill.
I was very pleased to clean the Fairlie burn crossing Graham though failed and got his feet good and wet. Not that it mattered much the weather was going downhill fast.
We turned for home at Fairlie into the wind and rain, luckily a shower, it just stayed on long enough to get us properly wet and cold.

I was going to link to the route but this is the best I can do.

PS Got a few nice photos back from the lab today view them here.

aaaaa

Blair and other stuff

2009-03-05T20:49:00.006Z

Blair house and driveway.

The day started snowy, the vertical stuff that comes down when there is no wind, didn't last though, by 10.30 it was getting quite bright.
We went over to Blair estate, they have a long standing tolerance to walkers in the policies, quite nice to know your welcome. Its not a huge area, nice for about an hours walk but its a bit muddy off the firm trails around the perimeter track.
We circulated around enjoying the sunshine and in my case 3D photo taking.

PM was still good so I got out and about locally then down to my favourite photo spot at Porencross. The light, sky and surroundings were just wonderful and I had a very nice time doing nothing very much (taking pinholeroid photos) while enjoying the fabulous views.

View slideshow
To see the 3D image view at about 12" cross your eyes until a third full size photo appears in the middle it should be in 3D. You may have to try for some time to get the hang of it after which it should be much easier.

More snow

2009-03-04T20:39:00.009Z

Puddle view at Portencross

It snowed yesterday evening, Katy and Craig were up for dinner and by the time they were leaving there was a good covering, enough for a bit of a snowball fight, great fun for ten minutes until the wet and cold get through.
Earlier in the day I did get out, up to the dump getting rid of woodwormed timber and then between rainy spells I managed to grab a couple of nice dry hours up at Blair estate, wandering about firing off some film in a horrible little camera called a Flexora, destined to be a pinhole camera soon but I thought it'd be nice to see what sort of photos it takes. Its got a reprieve until I see them.

Today Anne and I had a leisurely morning stroll down at Portencross, wow! the light and visibility were stunning, I managed a few quite pleasant photos view them here.

A week end in the loft (attic)

2009-03-01T20:52:00.006Z

Film back for 120 film stuff.

I've just spent the week end in the loft (attic) treating woodworm and laying a new floor, very pleased its now all done (and the nagging has stopped).
All the rubbish up there has been dumped so now it sort of empty compared to what it was and of course I'm rather knackered.
I can't go at things slowly I just get stuck in till its done...and I'm dead, same as mountain biking, its only worthwhile if I'm dead at the end of it...slight exageration!

Back to my present obsession....

Ever felt a bit slow on the uptake?
Of course you have...me too!
Just today I realised that all this pinhole stuff would be so much easier if I could switch film between (homemade) pinhole cameras whenever I needed....the answer? obviously a 120film back.
I went onto eBay and ther it was, a 120 6X6 film back, 1hour still to go, I held off and made a last minute bid, now a 120 film back is wending its way towards me.
I can't believe how long its taken for the penny to drop, even though I've been browsing loads of pinhole photo sites I hadn't registered what a benefit it would be...doh!

Here is the the penny drop.
The hard bit about any pinhole camera is the winding mechanism also the film is stuck with the camera until finished. This means it can't be swapped to another format (camera), but if the film is in a 120 film back with a dark slide just put in the slide and go to a new camera.

Its another case of reading all the words about a subject but not grasping the meaning until I've made several significant trial and error failings.
Then again maybe its just my brain is wired that way.....thick!

Fun with 3D photos

2009-02-27T19:53:00.007Z

3D image of Biglees bridge.
(much better in the slideshow)

To see the 3D image look at the photo (eyes level and about 10" from the screen) cross your eyes until there is an image in the middle (3images) it should pop into 3D. You may have to try a few times to get the 3D effect.
I can do it easily but my wife can't do it at all....no gasp in amazement for me then.

I've been at the pinhole camera making again, this time the cardboard ugly takes 2 rolls of film and can do either 3D or large format (merged in software).
Its been fun but at £20 for eight photos it won't be getting much use especially since I discovered I can take 3D photos digitally with a quicker and cheaper return by mounting 2 digital compact cameras side by side in a cardboard holder.
Its nice though to design and build a camera that takes photos to my own spec and costs next to nothing to make, just some cardboard and a beer can to make the pinhole out of...... with the added pleasure of drinking the contents of course.

To see all my recent 3D stuff click on the side bar for flickr or view the pinhole stuff below. View at about 18" and cross your eyes for 3D photos.

View 3D & large format pinhole slideshow here.

MTB Busbie and Portencross

2009-02-25T18:25:00.004Z

Crocuses through a vaseline coated filter

Got out on the bikes with Graham today, he's between contracts and has a bit of free time to kill before heading off down south again next week.
The weather looked a bit iffy so we decided to stay local.
I cycled over the high road to meet him then we headed over Busbie Muir Windfarm and down to my place for coffee and scones bought specially first thing in the morning with coffee break in mind.
After coffee we did some local secret singletrack then headed up over Goldenberry Hill and back along to Portencross. The waves were piling in down there and I got a few nice long exposure shots (post ride) before we had a lovely wind assisted blast along the beach track back home.

Wonderfull short outing.

View the route here.

View the slideshow here.

Super dense filter

2009-02-23T16:32:00.004Z

Long exposure using my new 1000X filter.

After waiting eight weeks my super dense neutral density filter arrived today so I was off down to Portencross to give it a go
Because it was dull I also took along a set of colour filters to put some colour into the sky.
It went quite well I got a good number of reasonable photos for my efforts some looking a bit surreal, but that IS the whole point of it really.
Now all I need is nice sunny day to get a bit more colour and contrast into them on my next photo outing.

View slideshow here.

MTBing around Mugdock

2009-02-22T21:00:00.003Z

Mugdock snow drops

Payed a MTBing visit to Mugdock with Graham today. Its a great little varied run, singletrack around Mugdock park, a short stretch of the West Highland Way, some old railway, a little bit of forest track and last but not least a coffee stop at Clachan of Campsie. Its not a very long run but we managed to stretch it to 4.5 hours with all the photo, and coffee stops. The sun even shone on us for a while and I had my first puncture for quite some time, I think the tube will be a goner with three punctures, a thorn and a pinch.

Great day view the route here and see the short boring video below.

Arran days

2009-02-19T19:16:00.008Z

Brian on a bike to nowhere.

Anne and I were over visiting friends staying on Arran for a few days at an Auchrannie lodge in Brodick.
We had a great time wandering about Brodick Castle gardens on the first day, coffee and cake at the Aromatics place and a beach walk back in time for a bit of fun in the games hall and a bit of swimming to cool off.

Day 2 was a little bit drizzly but we had a stroll up to Coire Fhionn Loch on the north west of the island and a lovely meal at the Brodick bar restaurant in the evening.

Last day was a walk/lazy split option, three of us went up and over to Dunn Fionn and Clauchland hills from Brodick a nice little three hour loop.

Nice few days, view slideshow here.

Today was lovely and bright so I decided to get out my newest pinhole camera - its called a pinholeroid as it uses instant film. I thought it would be a good option instead of sending off film in the post and having to wait three days to see the result.
I have to say I am very disappointed with the results. The film just doesn't like shade at all, it just goes very blue. Won't be doing colour instsnt film again but I'll give B&W a try before I completely give up the pinholeroid idea.
This particular photo lesson has been quite expensive, I bought the wrong type of polaroid holder from ebay to start with and ruined a film with it. Got the right holder but ruined another film by loading it wrongly now I'm dicovering the results are not really very great at all. Oh dear what a bummer!

View todays pinholeroid photo slideshow here.

Auchinleck and Dumfries houses by MTB

2009-02-15T22:47:00.006Z

Mine worker image at Barony pit head.

Graham and I went for an easy spin on the MTBs today.
He is just back from 2 weeks holday and didn't want anything too demanding so we pottered about around Auchinleck and Dumfries houses.
Auchinleck house has some interesting places in the grounds a lovely ravine (except for the farmers rubbish tip, shame on him!), several caves, some nice old bridges, and lots of snowdrops.
We spent quite a bit of time off the bikes looking about and taking photos before heading over to Dumfies house via Barony pit head, interesting place for a break with lots of information about the old pit.
The winding winding tower in place and it been nicely layed out telling the history of the mine and its workers.

On the way back we met a couple of other MTBers out from Cumnock doing a similar loop to ourselves, well actually doing quite a bit more on this trail.

View today's slideshow

Ski visit to Ben Lawers area.

2009-02-12T00:47:00.004Z

Sun and snow Ben Lawers area

My efforts at Beith Golf Club put me in the notion for a little tour so put the skis in the car and went off up to Ben Lawers, handn't intended going that far but the snow further south was suprisingly scarce.
Ben Lawers used to be one of my regular outings early in the season to help get my ski legs, not the hill itself but the easy corrie to the NW.
There used to be a Scottish Ski Club hut near the top of the corrie but I discovered today that's away now. The hut veranda had a bench seat and was handy for a bit of shelter during lunch, now its a case of making do with crouching behind a big rock or a dip in the snow.
I was anticipating some great skiing on the way back down but it was just too hard for my skill level, all icy or windblown ripples I just couldn't get a decent turn in without falling on my bum but despite the sore bum it was nice to get up there on such a great day.

A local ski tour

2009-02-10T17:01:00.007Z

'Snow flower' Blair estate Dalry

It snowed again Sunday past and its been cold since then, I thought I'd break out the XC skis.
First try was down West Kilbride Glen sure enough I got a bit done but there was too little snow to turn the skis so today I went over to Beith golf course in the hope that the snow cover would be better and the fairways would allow me to practice some turns.
Turned out great, clear sunny skys great view up to Ben Lomond and Arran and the skiing was fun, good enough to spend a while doing a ski tour of the golf course.
It put me in the notion for some more...see video below.

Icy Kelburn

2009-02-07T17:33:00.003Z

The view beside Wardlaw cottage upper Kelburn

Lovely crisp winters day today, Anne was off to Ayr shopping and I took a wander up into Kelburn hoping it would be sheltered from the cold north west wind.
It was snowy and icy up in Kelburn with lots of icicles in and around the burns, needless to say I took a few photos as I meandered.

Met a chap on his MTB up at Kel bridge out with the same idea as me to shoot a few photos of the ice and burn. We chatted for a while before I headed off down stream toward the Castle waterfall and the car.

View an icy Kelburn slideshow here.

Snowy Greeta Bridge

2009-02-06T18:58:00.007Z

Anne and I had a walk up to Greeta Bridge behind Largs today
lovely and sunny snowy and icy.
View snowy Greeta bridge slideshow here.

View an icy Kelburn slideshow here (Saturday 07Feb09)

Shortbread tin photos

2009-02-05T23:22:00.003Z

Photo taken with a shortbread tin pinhole camera.

Got my latest photos back from the lab this morning, I was delighted with my wide angle shortbread tin photos, just what I'd hoped for lots of vignetting and fly away verticals.
The retry shots with my converted Agfa Clack though were a disappointment they still show light leaks not sure where from but next time I'll remove the shutter and use a bit of tape to see if that helps.

I'm just loving this designing and building cameras I'm sure it won't last but its lots of fun at the moment.

View my latest pinhole photos here.

A frosty days walk

2009-02-04T16:53:00.007Z

Boats and castle at Portencross

Wonderfully clear, crisp, still morning this morning Anne and I went down to Portencross for a walk along the bridleway and over Goldenberry hill.
Several times on route we stopped to warm ourselves in the winter sun, if we did a Prince Philip walk we were treated to nice warm(ed) hands.
It was superb walking all the mud was iced up the sun was warm(ish) and there was no wind.
On the top of the hill we lingered a while to enjoy the view and to puzzle over a motor launch, out for a spin around Wee Cumbrae we decided.

View slideshowof the walk here.

PM I wanted to get out on the bike, over to Busbie moor windfarm seemed like a good option but as I cycled over there the cloud came down and it started to snow thankfully lightly.
Enjoyed the 1.5hours on the bike even though it snowed the ground was mainly nice easy going with it being frozen.

Busbie moor boxing day video below (soon once I get one of these video sites to work) ahh.. finally got there.....

Snowy day

2009-02-02T21:58:00.003Z

It snowed off and on all day today but I got out and about between showers to grab a few photos. All varieties, pinhole on medium format 120 film, digital with my ZX18, and lensed pinhole with an ancient cosmic symbol hack.
All this film developing is costing the earth, I hope my super dense neutral density filter comes soon then I can do pinhole(esque) on my digital camera for next to nothing.

All was not lost on the exercise front though cause I also had a run on the beach, it only snowed a little bit.

View a slideshow on Flickr

Fish eye fun

2009-01-31T23:04:00.004Z

Fish eye pussy

I'm making yet another pinhole camera one that will show all the odd things that come with the breed, vignetting and zoom off verticals.
Today in Largs though I bought a door peep hole with the idea of using it as the camera viewer and tonight I shot a few photos through it with my compact Fuji which just happened to fit it nicely(ish).
The results are quite amusing.

View slideshow

Wide angle pinhole photos.

2009-01-30T19:41:00.004Z

Wide angle pinhole photo.

Yippee! got my trial set of wide angle pinhole photos back from 'the lab' and I'm so chuffed, a good percentage were actually quite presentable, not good but maybe slightly better than OK.
The down side is that the camera has a light leak (now hopefully fixed) so they could have so easily been better...ho hum the trials of pinhole photography, now I'll have to do another set to check the light leak thingy is fixed.

The down side of the photo thing, son phoning for a lift and the afternoon rain was I didn't get any exercise at all not even a run on the beach...I'll need to make sure I fix the lack of exercise tomorrow!

View wide angle slideshow here.

Walking parkhill wood

2009-01-28T17:50:00.006Z

A hint that spring is approaching

Went over to Parkhill woods for a walk today. Started off lovely and sunny, held up for a while but eventually the clouds came over just as we were heading back.
With it being nice and mild it didn't matter too much.
Not many obvious pictures about in the wood I took a few into the sun for a panorama overlooking Lochwinnoch and Castle Semple, unfortunately there was so much dust on the lens the photos were splatted with flair spots so no panorama- which reminds me I must clean the lens up before my next outing.
Post walk we went over to Largs for a slightly late lunch at Craigmiles cafe (well worth the little detour) and bought a few daily essentials, bread, milk and a couple of bottles of wine for this evening.
I also bought a tin of shortbread cause the tin looked just right for a 120 pinhole camera (and I like shortbread).

Short slideshow here.

A walk to Largs

2009-01-26T23:39:00.005Z

Wardlaw in Kelburn

Took myself off to Largs today walking along the hillside.
I was feeling a little chesty and thought I'd take it easy off the bike but I think the chestyness was a false alarm I feel fine now.

There was lots of soft going and surface water the Glentane hillside cycle track was just a slippy mess it'll need a good few days of dry weather (or a sharp frost) to make it worth riding again.
In all it took me about 4.5 hours to do the walk, a bit longer than normal.
I kept stopping for photos including a detour up to Crosbie house in the hope it might give a decent shot, didn't really, but the photo I got is in the slideshow anyway.
The best light was to the south which meant shooting against the sun and that high contrast silhouette stuff which can be nice and atmospheric.

It was kind of late in the afternoon when I got to Largs just as the bus was due so I missed out on Craigmiles coffee and cake..maybe next time.

View slideshow

Stair to Barskimming caves

2009-01-24T19:47:00.004Z

Contemplating the pain

Nice MTB outing today Stair over to Barskimming caves, lots of mud and a few monster steep climbs but thankfully short.
Katy and Craig hadn't been that way before so they got to see lots of new stuff, the 'caves' at Barskimming and maybe best of all Pedens Pulpit, a Covenaters preaching spot...may be worth search on the internet.
Anyway the weather was rather fine and we all had a great time on the bikes.

Video below.

My little IXUSS 55 is sick its zoom lens is stuck, I just hope its repairable, I'm rather fond of the little thing.
We've been lots of places together both working hard to capture the essence of MTB'ing (the way I see it anyway) and never a complaint until now.
I've got a Fuji which takes better pictures and is much better in low light but it isn't a patch on the Ixuss for macro and video (including video macro), fingers crossed all will be well in the end.

The trials of pinhole photography

2009-01-23T18:40:00.007Z

At last!...a decent pinhole photo

Got some pinhole images back from 'the lab' but again mostly they were lessons to be learned.
My Agfa Clack has a light leak somewhere, I'll need to take it to bits to have a look and maybe add a light proof lens cap
However my homemade cardboard ugly is working great (except for the slack shutter) but I seem to be getting most of my pinhole photos underexposed (shouldn't have changed film type)
I've been fixing them digitally from the scanned images, kind of defeats the object of getting back to the pinhole basics of really thinking about the photo I want to take BEFORE I take it and accepting the result as a finished item.
Maybe as I learn the lessons and get better the images will be presentable in their unedited form....now that would really be something....I think?

View slideshow

Waves at Portencross

2009-01-22T18:38:00.004Z

Waves by the castle

Nice day for out and about except a bit windy for the bike, so instead of cycling I went off photo shooting up at Fairlie doing some more pinhole stuff with my newly made wide angle camera. Then down to Portencross because its great down there especially if like today the sun is shining and the waves are rolling in.

View a very short slideshow

Panorama software

2009-01-20T23:37:00.003Z

Largs at night

The only real exercise I've had over the past couple of days is a daily half hour run on the beach.
Most of my time has been frittered away on photos nonsense of the celluloid type hence no return until I get them back from the 'lab'.
At nearly nine pounds a roll of film for develop and scan its a dear business and with only 8 photos a roll (120 film) the cost per photo is kinda high but there ain't much point making film pinhole cameras and not shootin' off some film.

Got a bit of software to do panoramas, its so easy to get really good results with it I went back to some recent efforts to try it out, view the results here.

The coast and Kelburn

2009-01-17T17:49:00.009Z

Neolithic tomb at Largs

Graham as keen to get out today but time constraints and the weather outlook compressed the time slot to make it into a local run. Still managed almost four hours on the bike along the coast Portencross, Fairlie and Largs for a bit of coffee and cake at the Harlequin cafe. I like the Harlequin cause I can keep an eye on the bikes out their big window.
On the way back we detoured a bit to the Neolithic Tomb, not a lot to see just a small chamber of stone but Graham hadn't been there so it was nice to visit it.
The way back through Kelburn meant all the hard work and mud was on the second half of the cycle but the reward was the great downhill to Fairlie.

We got back to my place just as the rain and wind was setting in so we had some soup, coffee, scones and clove and ginger wine before I ran him back home in the car to save a wet and windy end to the day.

Lovely cycling outing - view the video below or view a slideshow.

Home made camera

2009-01-14T18:07:00.008Z

My pinhole camera collection

I was just thinking of going outdoors this morning when the postie came with a parcel of photos.
They were from my recent pinhole exploits including the ones from my home made pinhole camera.
Needless to say I got stalled at home checking them out.
I'm delighted with the ones from my home made camera, although they did show I need to make up a viewer to help stop me cropping off some of the pictures.
The rest of images had plenty of lessons to be absorbed (and I mean lots and lots of lessons).
I can see this evening being spent trying to take all the lessons in so that next time I might get some photos instead of lessons.

View a slideshow which includes images from my home made pinhole camera.

PS The other photos weren't quite the disaster I thought view the rescued underexposed pinhole set here and the f100 Portencross set here.

Kilmarnock to Galston

2009-01-13T19:28:00.004Z

Galston Church

Got out on the bike today but had some film to get developed on route so chose to go over to Kilmarnock and do a little loop while the pictures were getting done.
The little loop turned out a bit longer than I expected about 3.5hours.
The route was a bit like this one except I added some nice single track near Cessnock Castle at the penalty of an extra climb. It was worth it though.
The photos I was getting developed were amazingly awful but I learned a couple of lessons so next time they WILL BE BETTER!

Boring video of today's MTBing below.

Old hydro electric at Wemyss Bay

2009-01-12T20:22:00.007Z

Divers helmet in Seafront Cafe Wemyss Bay

My son borrowed the car for the week end to go off with his pals to Sky, that together with a couple of wet and windy days severly restricted my gallivanting.
The disruption continued today, we had to pick up the car at Gourock where he'd dropped it off on route to his work (its a long story) so we decided to have a short walk up behind Skelmorlie to break up the day and make use the nice weather.
To our delight (well mine at least) we discovered the ruin of his lordships (Kelly I think) hydro scheme, one of the first on the west coast (according to a local we asked) no doubt servicing the big house with electric lighting.
We followed the lade from the hydro site up the bank of the burn to the ruined dam, a lovely spot with some nice little waterfalls (nice spot if you ignore the fire and booze debris).
The path continues on but got too overgrown for easy progress so we turned back and made our way down the Kelly gorge to Wemyss bay and the Seafront Cafe for a bit of the usual coffee and cake before climbing back uphill to the car and pickup run around.
All in all it turned out quite a nice unplanned outing and to make the trip even nicer we were treated to a lovely sunset on the way back down the road home.

Managed a few photos view them here.

A few quiet days

2009-01-08T17:33:00.005Z

Deer enjoying the winter
sun in Bellisle Park Ayr

Haven't been out on the bike this week yet just pottering about walking and taking a few photos (see previous entry for some pinhole photos at Alloway).
Tuesday we were down in Ayr to pick up photos and fill the day with a walk along the river at Auchincruive, lots of ice on the river but nice uderfoot for walking.
Yesterday was super mild, grey, misty and still with intermittent drizzly showers. It was lovely down on Seamill beach in the grey mistiness until it started seriously raining but we were on the way home by then so it didn't matter much.
Today I went down to Portencross to shoot off a roll of film with my homemade pinhole camera, its first outing.
All went well until the last photo when the film advance jammed up.
Just managed to get over the problem with a bit of brute force, turned out to be a silly bit of sticky tape I'd put in the feeder for some reason.
Now I've got some more film running about or posting to do.
Ho..Hum life's just so hectic.

Couldn't get the usual slide show to work so view the photos in Flickr

Agfa Clack pinhole debut

2009-01-06T22:44:00.005Z

Burns monument Alloway
taken with my 'new' Agfa Clack pihole camera.

Over the WE I modified an old Agfa Clack for pinhole photos.
Yesterday Anne and I went down to Ayr to get some 120 roll film and to shoot some photos along at Burns monument in Alloway. A lovely spot for a bit of pinhole nonsense. I got a few 'nice shots' and learned a few lessons about stuff I should have known anyway.
Got the negatives back today (Ayr Jessops couldn't print them just develop) and got them digitised by photographing them on my digital camera with the colour balance adjusted to reduce red and increase blue and green (same thing really).
I'm very pleased with the outcome, got some 'nice' pinhole photos and learned some more about shooting with pinhole.

View the Alloway pinhole slideshow here.

If you have to ask 'what is the point' just remember these photos were NOT taken with a fancy lens but a very small hole, a tiny little circle of air punctured in a thin bit of metal. Still don't get it? Well the photos have a soft quality that all pinhole photos have and can photograph thing very close and far in the same photo. They compress time, each image takes many seconds to capture so can produce time shift effects. Still don't get it....oh well maybe its not for you.

More photo nonsense

2009-01-05T20:14:00.004Z

Photo taken with a home assembled 90mm f60 lens

Ive been playing with pinhole and lenses again in between mountain biking, walking and blogging. Latest thing is modifying an Agfa Clack bought on eBay into a 'Lochlomo' as per this site info and reducing the size of the pinhole in my 35mm SLR to see if the image improved. Sure enough the images were sharper but I now understand why pinhole nerds (not quite there yet, its a 3year apprenticeship) go for big format basically the bigger the format the better the apparent sharpness (and the longer the exposure).
I must be a bit dull cause I've read loads and still had to go and make all the basic mistakes to understand all the things I'd read. I now understand loads about pinhole photography and am about to learn all about how to get my first two 120 films from the Agfa Clack ('Clacky') developed in these days of digital, it seems to involve lots of running around or snail mail but in the realm of trial and error, the trials are great and the errors boundless or alternatively let me guddle maybe it'll work.....nope that's crap (obviously)!

View my newest pinhole photos here but they won't win prizes

First MTB of 2009

2009-01-05T00:56:00.004Z

Ailsa Craig from Carrick hills

First MTB outing of 2009 today with Katy and Craig over the Carrick hills to Croy shore and Culzean.
Nice day for it the ground was frozen and it was cold and clear.
Carrick hills are a bit on the rough side for good mountain biking a touch of the '4th dimension' but has some great views over to Arran and Ailsa Craig. Its worth it just for the views alone.
Unfortunately the Culzean centre was closed today so no coffee we just had make do with our packed lunch before a loop in Culzean and back to the car. About 3.5 hours of some quite tough cycling. Loved it not so sure if Katy and Craig did though, but its all part of the MTB experience.

More frost at Dailly

2009-01-01T14:56:00.003Z

Frost crystals

For the last MTB outing of 2008 Graham and I went down to Crosshill to cycle over the moor to Dailly (similar route description here). Mid moor there is an old limestone quarry cut into the rock strata at a steep angle and forming caves filled with floodwater, a good place to stop for a breather and a look see. On the far side of the moor is a nice bit of singletrack through woodland, it could be great if some local MTBer took it upon themselves to fill up the muddy rough bits that break up the trail. I was even thinking I may go down there myself and do the job. It would be a worthwhile day of work but its a long way away so not a lot of return for outlay.
We stopped off at Tilly's tea room in Dailly and returned along the muddy trail on the side of Graigfin.
Great last day of mountain biking for 2008, lots more to come in 2009.

Been out with the camera capturing night scenes around the village view slideshow here.

Happy new (cycling) year

Frosty moor route

2008-12-31T08:54:00.004Z

Ice at the secret waterfall

It was marvelous on the bike yesterday along scary Glentane route to Fairlie was ice and frost not a drop of mud to be found. Graham and I had a great outing the sun even shone for a bit to give us some photo opportunities. I was a bit like a bike video outing Graham had his video camera with him as well as his stills camera and I was shooting headcam stuff. All the stopping and starting meant we didn't sweat up much, a good thing in the cold weather as it can lead to chilling.
Graham suggested visiting the 'secret' waterfall near Fairlie glad we did, it was plastered with ice. The overhanging branches were covered in frozen waterspray really lovely.
PM Anne and I took a walk in Eglinton after dropping my son off at Kilwinning station, he was off to Glasgow to meet a lady friend to shop (poor boy). By that time what sunshine there was had gone and it was very cold indeed, we didn't linger, once round the loch and that was us ready for a warm up in the car.

Fairlie route video below.