On "irresponsibility, setting a bad example and endangering the lives of others" - and on choice.......

In recent posts on our blogs, Douglas and I have mentioned that we sometimes enjoy a small dram of malt whisky with luncheon during our sea kayaking trips (but never with second breakfasts!).  We also sometimes enjoy a pint of frothing "sports recovery drink" - for which read beer- with our evening meals.

We have both received comments on our posts (here and here) from "Responsible Seakayaker" who is clearly very unhappy about this.  He or she - the contributor has chosen to remain anonymous - placed identical comments:


"I am a responsible sea kayaker and I strongly object to your repeated glorification of the consumption of alcohol on your sea kayaking trips. Have you no insight into the bad example you are setting to impressionable sea kayakers whose lives are endangered by your irresponsibility? You should be ashamed of yourself."



"RSK" is of course entitled to his or her opinion, and for that reason I've chosen not to delete the comment.  I do however feel that some context might be helpful.


We both live healthy and active lifestyles.  The measures we sometimes imbibe at our luncheon stops are tiny.  There is no risk of our getting anywhere near the revised Scottish BAC limit for driving.  Should conditions on the water be at all difficult we choose not to take any alcohol.  During the evening and when safely off the water for the day, we may choose to enjoy a more liberal dram, or a beer, but not to excess. We may very well choose to have a hot chocolate drink or a cup of tea instead......

Malt whisky is in a very literal sense the distilled form of its place and the elements which combine to produce the spirit; in moderation we choose to consider it one of life's small pleasures.


Each and every sea kayaker I've met has been capable of making their own choices and decisions - the very antithesis of "impressionable".  Some of the folk I paddle and walk the mountains with enjoy a small dram, others choose not to. To imply that sea kayakers are so impressionable that lives will be placed in danger by our "irresponsibility" is, I believe, stretching credibility and perhaps mildy disrespectful. 



But, for the avoidance of doubt:


"Alcohol can impair your judgement, affect your coordination, make you more liable to exposure and if you are male, make you impotent. Excessive consumption and misuse of alcohol damages health and ruins lives."


We all have choices and the choices we make shape us and determine the paths our lives take.  "RSK" will very probably choose to disagree with much of this post - and that's fine.  He or she has that choice and many other choices too.





These pages will continue to portray, to celebrate and hopefully even to glorify the Scottish outdoors and the wonderful locations and experiences we are fortunate to share as part of a healthy lifestyle.  This may very well include the mention of an occasional dram...... 



And I'm not the tiniest bit ashamed of that.


Slàinte mhath!  (good health!)   :o)

    Spring evening at a camp on the Kilbrannan Sound - "irresponsible, a bad example and a danger to the lives of others" ?

An adventure of a different kind!

This blog usually features adventures in Scotland's great outdoors whether on the hill or in a kayak on the sea or just the beauty of the natural environmnent. Recently though, we've been making items for an adventure of a completely different kind!

For our first attempt to sell some of the things we've made we chose a Christmas Fayre orgainsed by the Parent-Teacher Association at Craigclowan School in Perth where we have a connection through a family member.  We arrived the evening before the fair and quickly realised that we needed lots of space!  The co-ordinator of the event kindly arranged a bit of extra space by forming a corner which worked really well for us.

Although we'd tried out a table plan at home there were some changes needed, but eventually we were set up with tealight holders made from whisky barrel staves at one end along with prints and cards....

                                .....more whisky barrel items and some clocks in the middle....

......and driftwood items at the other end.  The evening had a sense of relief that we'd got this far, but quite a bit of apprehension as to how things would go on the day.

The Christmas Fayre was really well supported by the school and the wider community and was very busy with folk. As well as stalls the event featured choral singing, music, a fashion display and a demonstration of how to make the perfect Christmas table centre.  There were lots of activities to keep children entertained and of course an opportunity for little ones to get their wish-list to Father Christmas when he visited along with a rather dashing Pony.

There were a good range of stalls with a wide variety of really nice items - we were at risk of spending more than we'd make!

So, how did we do?  Well, we had a great time and exceeded our hopes for how things might be received and sell.  Certainly we've been encouraged enough to continue the adventure and develop things further.

We'd like to extend our heartfelt thanks to the Head Teacher, staff, PTA and pupils of Craigclowan School for making us so welcome - it really was appreciated and we hope to return next year.  Also of course to those folk who liked what we'd done enough to purchase items - we hope that you enjoy them!

The ticking of clocks, the lighting of lamps and the raising of glasses.....

For a good while, we've toyed with the idea of making some hand-crafted pieces for sale. We've made some items for family and some for ourselves, and finally we've taken the plunge. Booking a place back in August for a Christmas Craft Fair in Perthshire this weekend gave us the push we needed and the last few months have seen full production! Along with the items themselves, there have been all the little things we didn't originally consider, like hand-stamped gift tags, bags and a host of other small items which all add up.

The ticking of clocks.....

...with some made from pieces of driftwood collected over a period of years on sea kayak and walking trips....

                                        Others made from pieces of tree bark found in odd places.....

...and some made from oak whisky cask staves.  We get the staves from a cooperage in Speyside; they start out black, wet and dirty, needing quite a bit of work to bring back the character of the oak wood.  It's a marvellous material to work with though; every cut or hole made in the wood releases a beautiful whisky aroma!  :o)

                                Whisky cask staves also go towards the lighting of lamps........

                      Tealight holders of various sizes and configurations; some straightforward.....

                                   ....others requiring a bit of thought to get the balance right.

                                            The barrel chines can sometimes come in useful!.....

...and there are even some unusual woods - this oak stave seems not to have been used for whisky at all; it's very blonde and had an aroma of (perhaps) cognac.


Driftwood used here too.....

                                                A Gorse root bleached by sea and wind.....

                                            ...and a piece of trunk beautifully polished by the sea.


                   For the whisky drinker, the barrel staves can be put to a very satisfying use.......

                                                            .....whether for oneself.....

                                                  .......or to raise a glass with friends.


We've also got some prints and greeting cards featuring images which have appeared on the blog, so a bit of a variety of items. It's hard to know whether the things we've made will be good enough to sell, but unless we dip our toes in the water, we'll not know either way  :o)

There's a distinct possibility that we'll sell very little, in which case all our family's Christmas presents are sorted for several years to come!

The Enchanted Forest 2013

In what has become something of an annual family tradition, we visited The Enchanted Forest event last weekend as a group of six adults and five little ones aged between 2 and 8 years. Held each October at Faskally near Pitlochry in Perthshire, the event fuses light and sound effects to create a unique experience in a woodland setting around a small loch.

Each year has a different theme and arrangement, which must be challenging for the designers.  This years theme is "absorb" with the emphasis on the "Orb", featuring circles and globes as a linking theme.  That could range from the literal circle or globe to the circle of life and beyond!  Once again, the whole event lived up to high expectation.

Visitors are taken to the site by bus, a five minute journey from Pitlochry, and are then met at the entrance and shown the start of the path.  Once in the site, you can stay as long as you wish with bus departures back to Pitlochry every ten minutes or so through the evening.  The fun starts with a large orb overhanging a circular area - useful for family photos!

We were fortunate to get a dry, clear evening this year, though in truth the weather isn't a major factor in the enjoyment of the event.  In fact sometimes rain and mist can enhance the effects.  The path is well surfaced as ist's normally a popular Forest Enterprise walk.

There are eight main areas to the display, one of which stood out as truly exceptional - an orchestral piece with a stunning lightshow.  The lighting is superb, but really it's the combination with the forest and the loch, the utilisation and blending with natural elements which makes the whole event work so well.

The subtlety of some of the effects this year was a real highlight (if you'll excuse the pun!) .  Aside from the main displays, there are rocks from which mist and light appear to emanate, groups of small blinking eyes watching visitors watching back and much, much more.

A central bridge which last year was lit in ultraviolet shades with water cascading from it was transformed into a shimmering path of light visible from most of the site.  Along the way is a large  Yurt (tent) where a storyteller is in residence, regular sessions are given through the evening at a very nominal additional charge of £1.

The loch itself forms the setting for one of the main displays with globes appearing to float over their own reflections and respond to music and sound, changing colours and pulsing with light.

Away from the main displays, colour and light continually shifts through the trees whilst individual trees are lit around the paths to provide both light and a striking effect.

The route around the site feels like a proper journey but is short enough that little ones can manage it comfortably.  Many folk go around more than once, as we did with the eldest little one.

The Enchanted Forest runs until 27th October this year.  If you have children, grandchildren or simply a bit of child-like wonder, it's highly recommnded!

The Enchanted Forest 2012

I've blogged about it previously , and we visited The Enchanted Forest again earlier this week with our daughter and two of our grandchildren. This year the theme is "Flow", based around the elements.  Symbols and names for trees in runes, symbols and ancient scripts are at various places around the Faskally Wood.

Met by "Druids", we were taken as a group to the start of the path around the lochan, then visitors can move at their own pace, and are welcome to walk around as many times as they like.  The audio and visual effects are once again of very high quality

And in some places absolutely stunning.  On the evening we visited it was raining quite heavily and misty, which if anything added to the effects.  Wellies and waterproofs enabled even two and three year olds to walk around the whole site and still want more.

Children of all ages were fascinated by the flow of brightly lit water from the top of the bridge over the lochan - it took some time before most could be persuaded to move on!

This unusual display was placed in trees above and around the path, creating a 3D space as the path twists down a short incline.  This year there was also a storyteller in a Yurt along the route (with a magical Unicorn to point the way)

For 2011 the event moved to another site in Pitlochry, but is back "home" at Faskally this year - the tenth event.  In truth, this site would be very hard to surpass - the combination of water, woods and a route of just the right length combine to superb effect.  It's a real community effort and supported by government bodies such as Forest Enterprise and Creative Scotland as well as the town of Pitlochry.

Once again we thoroughly enjoyed our visit, and as ever it was especially magical to experience it through the eyes of little ones.  Whether or not you have children with you, the Enchanted Forest is a great evening out in Scotland's elements.

Rock art, Loch Nevis

Whilst collecting firewood during a recent trip near the head of Loch Nevis, Dave and I came across an outcrop of rock on the shore which had bee smoothed by wave action. I went back early the following morning to see if I could capture some of the graceful patterns.

I'm not sure of the rock type, it's mainly a grey crystalline rock which has been polished by wave action like a huge pebble.  The whole outcrop had folded strata of paler and darker rocks running through it.  These strata were often just a few millimetres thick and formed swooping patterns where they'd been exposed.

Formed, I'm guessing, by heat, folded by immense pressure then sculpted by water.  Random elements, but the result was truly striking and graceful.

A quieter place

I read this poem by Nan Shepherd recently.  Her imagery of absorption into the land and seascape struck a chord; especially since I'm working in one of the most densely populated parts of the UK where the soundtrack is relentless traffic noise.

                                                                                            Summer Isles from Little Loch Broom


Achiltibuie

Here on the edge of Europe I stand on the edge of being.
Floating on light, isle after isle takes wing.
Burning blue are the peaks, rock that is older than thought,
And the sea burns blue - or is it the air between?-
They merge, they take one another upon them,
I have fallen through time and found the enchanted world,
Where all is beginning.  The obstinate rocks
Are a fire of blue, a pulse of power, a beat
In energy, the sea dissolves,
And I too melt, am timeless, a pulse of light.


Nan Shepherd, October 1950

Pebbles on a beach

It's a simple, everyday sort of thing; a pebble beach below a cliff.  The beach is near Hopeman on the Moray Firth, and I've taken pictures here before.

Landing here can be tricky in any swell but on a recent paddle there was the rare experience of a flat calm Moray Firth.  Once on the beach, I spent a good hour just looking at the pebbles as they emerged from the ebbing tide.

The cliff above is a soft sandstone which doesn't form pebbles although there are strata of pebbles within it in places, evidence that there was an ancient river here.

Mst of these pebbles seem to be granites, perhaps washed from the high Cairngorms by the powerful rivers of the Spey and Findhorn which both empty to the sea along this coast.  The rich colours of the wet stones simply shone in the diffuse light

The variety of colour and form kept me fascinated in this pebble collectors paradise

The end of autumn?

     It feels as if autumn is coming to an end here in the north east of Scotland.

                           The weather has been very mixed, with the first gales some weeks ago bringing rain and hail.

The leaves added a blaze of colour to the landscape before a particularly strong gale thrashed most of them off the trees

The higher hills have now had a covering of snow for nearly two weeks; this is Corryhabbie hill from Carn Daimh (Stag Cairn) in Speyside.

The trees look bare now, and the lower ground is wet.  The tatties are "howked" and the barley stubble is waiting to be ploughed in to restart the cycle, only the neeps (turnips) are still in the ground.  It really feels like the beginning of winter.

The Enchanted Forest

This year's Enchanted Forest event in Perthshire is underway, running until 7th November.

The theme this year is "Force of Nature", with trees, water, light, sound and fire all playing their part.

The sound quality is much improved over last year, and it has been used to great effect in combination with the lighting.
The features of the wood at Loch Faskally have been incorporated too.  The lighting of the tiny boathouse made a dramatic start to the walk around the loch.

From the bridge near the end of the loch, the light constantly changes, sometimes in a subtle way and sometimes with sudden, dramatic effect.

It's too easy to dismiss Pitlochry as a hackneyed tourist trap aiming for coach-bound visitors, but the town has really got behind this event and the Highland Perthshire Autumn Festival.  There's music, street theatre, storytelling and a Autumn/Hallowe'en theme throughout.

It's also easy to dismiss The Enchanted forest as a gimmick - but a visit with children on a still, clear night as when we visited is a magical experience for all.  Recommended!

The Road To Nowhere?

This road sign can be found in a quiet part of Aberdeenshire. It's particularly well secured to the post because, unsurprisingly, it occasionally goes missing. The road leads to an art gallery, then peters out to a track.

I'd like to be able to write something meaningful about this photo, but all I can say is that the road sign makes me smile every time I see it!