Sunday 23.02.2020

After the fleshpots of Glasgow - not to mention the torrentials - of which more in a bit, this morning on Bennachie rebooted the system.

Blowing a hooley but clear and bright. The path up from Rowantree afforded some shelter at first

but once out in the open we were at the mercy of the wind, the force of which increased as we neared the top of Mither Tap, the remains of yesterday`s sleet showers frozen into the rocks so at times it felt like we were climbing a stairway to heaven (cue song).

Nearly blown away at the top but keeping our heads down we managed a few pics

before heading down, fireside and a wee dram beckoning.

Couldn`t have been more different to Glasgow weatherwise which was wind and rain of Noah`s Ark proportions but nevertheless we enjoyed:
- an excellent gig at the 02Academy viz: Noble Jacks (a revelation) & The Dead South (brilliant and funny)

- a visit to the Glasgow Print Studio to see an exhibition about Alasdair Gray, to discover for the first time (for me) photographer Oscar Marzaroli plus a tour of the Sharmanka Kinetic Theatre where we arrived just in time for one of their shows - weird and wonderful.

- a brief call in at GoMA (The Gallery of Modern Art)

- various food/coffee/alcohol stops including The Scotia pub,The Glasvegan, Cafe Gandolfi and, as a finale,Sarti on Renfield Street
for the best Spaghetti Carbonara I have ever eaten.

In between, much conversation, discussion and random encounters with one of our company`s long lost friends.

All in all a weekend well spent. :)

Tuesday 18/02/2020

The sun rose above the horizon just as I got to the top of our hill this morning,sending long,thin shadows shooting out across the grass. Up above a lark simultaneously heralded the arrival of the new day....not a bad way to start it.

Another blustery one but bright blue and white again and much quieter in the woods at lunchtime, the birdsong audible over the gentler soughing of the trees.

The kind of day that encourages deep breathing, long strides and,just for a while, the banishment of any and all woes, worries and befuddlements..

Sunday 16.2.2020

Out three times today: this morning round the bounds, the wind blowing hard; tonight, in the gloaming, the wind blowing harder, sheep in the neighbouring field hunkered down in the lee of the gorse and a solitary star hanging in the slowly darkening sky; and, late morning, an hour in the woods on a beautiful bright blue day, the sun battling for supremacy with Storm Dennis who has wreaked more havoc down south than here but still tried to whip us off our feet.
(What`s with this Dennis business anyway - wouldn`t Hildegard or Thor reflect the ferocity of these storms a little better?)

The woods were wild and noisy, the trees being tossed about, crows surfing the wind,branches clattering and in some cases newly fallen.

Beautiful light

and a long cry from a dry if also windy Glasgow though the band at the Friday night gig would doubtless dismiss our winds as pretty puny seeing as how they hail from Mongolia.......The Hu - absolutely spectacular stuff.

https://www.thehuofficial.com