Going back to my routes to find new experiences in the wild places.
Based in Scotland.
Reached 200 within 72hrs
CLOSED at 2,017
APRES CLOSE: 2,021
Following on from earlier, here are some more photos from my visit to the Callanish Standing Stones on New Year’s Eve 2009. The weather lightened up and so I decided to risk the roads. My parents had a HOST guest staying, Zhe, from China, so we did the ‘circular’.
Yup, the 4,000 year old stones are still a useful shelter.
More to follow when I next get some time to myself.
I work in education. It is nice to get see a performance that really just sums up my job in a few words.
Oh, and I’ll post my feedback now, to save me time later when I hit the delete-comment button to revise the dissenters into oblivion: “yawn”
I’m still around, just up to my eyes with other things – work, wargames, and women. Okay, so two out of three ain’t bad.
Here’s a dodgy photo from my Christmas break at my parents. The Callanish standing stones in the snow on the Isle of Lewis. When I get some time, I’ll do a catch-up post of my un-exciting life.
I snapped my neck round as I heard Jools Holland mention my home (sort of) town of Stornoway. It turns out that they are a young band from Oxford.
Good luck to them.
Some photographs taken with my new Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX150 down at Aberdeen Beach today. I haven’t tweaked these beyond horizon straightening, selective crops and resizing.
Did you spot the photo taken in pinhole camera mode? I can’t see myself using it too often.
I’ll blame some of my students for this morning’s trip down to the beach at 0630am. In the cold and dark, I stood taking some snaps to compare my new Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX150 with last year’s Canon Ixus 950 IS
I had read the reviews on DP Review, and so was a bit concerned about the noise, but Play.com had knocked a lot of money off the price, taking it down to the price that I was looking for. It was too good to miss. I wasn’t bothered about the 14.7mp (just under twice that of the Ixus), as quality is measured in more than mega-pixels. I was finding the Canon Ixus a bit ‘flat’. I know that I won’t get a decent depth of field with a point-and-click, but speaking to some students and talking about our cameras had given me the impetus to go looking. The camera arrived yesterday, and had a fun time in the cold, wearing my Alpkit down jacket and liner gloves.
Things I noticed: in fully-auto mode the Lumix remembers flash settings (unlike the Ixus, which will switch the flash on even in ‘night snapshot’ mode). The ‘rule of thirds’ gridlines are thicker on the Lumix than on the Ixus (meaning some details disappear from the screen when composing a shot). I like the separate review setting on the Lumix, meaning that the mode dial is just for taking pictures. The ability to shoot in 16:9 widescreen is a boon on the Lumix, unavailable on the Ixus. The Lumix’s intelligent focus is better than the Ixus, and has more choice in the settings.
So, without further ado …
Beach Boulevard.
Focusing in on illuminated sign.
Wide-angle 16:9 shot for the Lumix, and comparative 4:3 for the Ixus.
Text quality. Legible on both, but neither camera has a built-in grammar checker. Shouldn’t that be “it’s” rather than “its”? The funniest I saw was just along from here where the council note “Do not surf” in this area, but designate it as a “surf board and water craft zone”.
The larger number of mega-pixels shows through in the Lumix, as I selected the car our before resizing both images down to the same size.
The warmth of the final Lumix shot sells the deal for me.
Conclusion: as the pro-reviews stated, noise can be problematic. I was pointed to Steves-Digicams by a workmate after I had ordered the camera, and I agree with his conclusion. It was a blast to use, and I’ll be locking out the ISO to reduce the noise. Not sure to what setting yet, possibly 400. I’ve some other photos to post, where I had been shooting in RAW and trying the dynamic tracking - features unavailable on the Ixus 950 IS. Shiny.
I ordered a new petrol tank from http://www.everycarpart.co.uk on Monday. The money was withdrawn from my account. There has been no response to emails asking where the part is or when it will arrive (Wednesday noon; Wednesday evening), or to my cancellation of the order (Thursday evening). My car still has no petrol tank, and I have lost 4 1/2 days because of promises made on their website (next day delivery; responding to emails within 2 hours).
Nochexs is investigating, but my credit card company say that without a stated delivery date (as opposed to ‘general’ promises made on the company’s website), they have to default to 30 days for delivery, so can’t chase them up until November.
With help, I have got another tank coming from a company that emailed me 2 hours after placing the order last night, and again at 7am this morning to confirm delivery to the garage (http://www.bradgatemotors.co.uk). What a difference! I also had 2 responses from another website to my enquiry (http://www.partsgateway.co.uk/) – excellent, but I had to tell them that I had a brand new tank now ordered.
Life is too short to get worked up over poor customer service, but it looks like the law has not caught up with the 21st century. So, be careful of dealing with companies who fail to live up to their ‘general’ promises. They are difficult to spot – especially if in a rush and a panic to get a replacement.
I’ll be building this up – showing promises on their website, and broken promises at that. As I start my October break with no transport, thanks to the time lost dealing with this company, I have plenty of evening class work, and chores, and painting to get done. All within easy reach of the fridge.
In the meantime, it is great to be able to applaud good customer care. Well done, folks.
It was the start of a long weekend break. It was maybe my third trip out this year. I was planning on heading up to Loch nan Cnapan as I hadn’t got there last year due to the bout of cellulitis in my leg. So I had packed for 3 days – which is pretty much my overnight kit, but with extra food and fuel.
I took my first break after crossing the Luibeg Burn at the ford that the NTS has been working on. They’ve done an amazing job. I didn’t, and misjudged the water depth. Time for a snack. I had been out of the buffeting wind along the valley, but moving back out on to the hill’s shoulder got the skloogs running back up my nose.
I had my camera out ready to take a photo of the jet fighter, who’s engine I could hear, only to realise that it was the wind in the glen beside the Bod. Whichever way I turned, the wind seemed to be in my face. If this was at ground level, I was already ruling out getting up to the open plateau – especially as the wind caught me unprepared twice and almost bowled me over.
I thought about heading south down Glen Dee, a route I’d taken last year with Dawn, but the wind would be in my face for a couple of hours. If I tabbed it back towards the shelter of Derry Lodge, I would probably keep going back to the car.
Arriving at Corrour Bothy, I had already decided to head back to Aberdeen. Knowing I had to cross the burn again, I dug out my oversocks and stored them in the backpack's belt pouch.
Crossing the Luibeg Burn again, I dug out the TrekMates Gore-Tex "Amphibian" waterproof over-socks and crossed holding my trail-shoes in the cord of my poles. I was surprised by the grip offered. Job done. Thanks for the suggestion, Dawn.
My goal had now become to get back to the car before 6.30, when the new series of “The News Quiz” would start. I made it with 5 minutes to spare. Sadly, turning on the car radio, I forgot that there was no Radio 4 reception until outside Braemar. Jings, it was the drone o’ the pipes on NECR as I got changed and then dove (almost uneventfully) back to Aberdeen. 15 1/2 miles. 0930-1825. 3 blisters. I'll do better next time.
