The Spectacular Firth of Clyde. A Day Gallery. Act One.

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A compilation gallery of three different trips around the Firth of Clyde Estuary, coastal towns and villages over the winter period. Two undertaken by myself solo and one more recently with friends Anne and Belinda. As Easter just past was something of a washout- cold, windy, rain and snow- and they didn't bother going anywhere I decided to show them some of the best highlights the Firth of Clyde has to offer as a consolation prize- turning their trip into a scenic extravaganza of well known spots but also some secret places. This is Dumbarton Rock and Castle with yellow gorse in full spring bloom. A closer inspection however reveals a black dragon lurking on the rock- which I can only assume is some kind of wayward tarpaulin as they have had scaffolding up here all year to do repairs. That's the obvious simple answer as dragons don't exist in Scotland, not around the River Clyde anyway. A logical explanation every time.

A small lighthouse near Port Glasgow and an even smaller low tide island. In a new budget strapped reality TV programme two groups of unlucky/plucky individuals may be stranded here- one party from a local run down council housing estate and one from a posh neighborhood forced to fend for themselves, live off the land, hunt animals, and explore the surroundings working together as a team. Too far fetched an idea?

A beautiful and brightly coloured Shelduck nearby, one of the UK's largest ducks and my favourite meal along with oven chips. Even stranded on a tiny island food can be had. The sea will provide.

The equally beautiful Eider ducks- very tasty in thin slices- both species having feathers and colours  resembling painted silk on the plate, up close and personal. Good eating in a duck I'm told if you can hunt one down dressed in a loincloth and carrying a makeshift spear.

Harder to catch but a meaty mouthful all the same- Sandpipers and a lone Redshank. On reflection maybe it's better sending the stranded group to a tropical island instead to eat the wildlife there for entertainment purposes as it's exotic and no-one will complain as much. Nature is after all there for our entertainment, apparently. It's a funny old world at times. I mention this as I wonder how we will look back on this decade 35 years from now as we currently compare the strange old, quaintly dated, 1980s programmes on TV recently with the much more enlightened TV version today? During the 1980s it just felt completely normal, mostly, living through it... or in modern parlance- "it was what it was" back then. Now that we are living in a far more enlightened, supposedly equal environment era, we would never screen a period middle ages drama (competing with the internet mainly- TV's major threat these days) where most of the women portrayed in it routinely strip down naked almost every episode apart from an old women and a young girl while the male actors get to keep their clothes on mostly. You couldn't possibly get away with that sort of rampant gender inequality today without complete outrage happening surely :o)
What? It's an extremely popular show worldwide !? Who would have guessed that!

Meanwhile, the Cowal and Argyll hills unfold in full winter splendour...demurely covered up.

Seen after heavy snowfalls over the mountains just past the Easter break.

A container ship in the Firth of Clyde off Greenock.

Glasgow tower blocks seen from Greenock. The red and white one -possibly Anniesland Tower.
 It seems to me that we are fighting wars on all fronts at the moment- not only a new, fast evolving, cold war but technology and innovation wars and what they will bring to society... the various complex internet addictions plaguing humankind, introduced fairly recently...leading to potential cyborgs in a few decades time once internal IT implants develop fully?.... increased narcissism/ and loss of self directly related to number of likes/ dislikes/notion of  self-worth online etc /.... identity and complete personality theft via modern 3D graphics, home control gadgets, and data advances in the near future...where you could potentially copy anyone with perfect recognizable mannerisms and looks as already seen in certain games today... increasingly unstoppable fake news with the death of conventional media outlets...artificially manufactured wars to make the super rich even richer, get rid of overcrowding problems, or grab vital assets like oil reserves and minerals... the ever growing divide between rich and poor worldwide...blah, blah blah.....ah, these are always exciting times to be alive in----usually looking back in nostalgic hindsight- Hey...just like the 1960s were....and with all that distraction going on who can be bothered with boring wildlife, leaving the EU, and general planet health I wonder?

Gourock in mid-winter. I was pulling out all the stops on this trip for scenic delights. Always seize the day by the throat is my motto and squeeze really hard! Fiddle merrily away while Rome burns regardless.  Hedonism above virtue and self sacrifice! :o)  A and B usually visit these places in summer so a deep midwinter trip was a complete novelty for them- as were the ribbons of mist hanging over the mountains.

Evening sunlight hits Brucehill in Dumbarton with the Lang Crags behind.

Football match observed from Lyle Hill.

Gourock as night descends over the town.

Two forms of flight. We invented it of course- birds just copied us- a well known, well documented fact in 2040 in an era after paper news has ceased altogether and we really lose the plot.

Sea kayakers off Gourock. Hardy people given the freezing conditions and the inevitable wave spray in choppy seas.

A ship in the Firth.

Dumbuck Quarry and Rock. Like Dumbarton Castle rock another volcanic plug in a hot bed area with over 50 other examples of volcanic ancient eruptions existing between here and Edinburgh to a geologists experienced eye.

 Dumbarton again in this one with Doughnot hill 374 metres, under snow. A volcanic lava escarpment frozen in time. It makes perfect sense for me nowadays to use the car less and take the bus more as I can save between £10 to £30 in petrol each time by doing so but it's also nice on trips to stop anywhere that takes your fancy so all three of us thoroughly enjoyed this scenic car ride... and the best was yet to come.... to be continued.

A cracker of a video now. The first mountain we climbed on our backpacking trip across the French/ Spanish Pyrenees many years ago, the 11,000 foot high mountain chain creating a physical and geographical border between these two countries was a holiday to remember and it gets a full chapter in my novel 'Autohighography'.
 The Pic du Midi D' Ossau was the first major rock peak we climbed on that trip, - a 2884 metre, 9461 foot soaring spire with the easiest line being an entertaining scramble not unlike Curved Ridge on the Buachaille Etive Mor, 1022 metres- only higher. We had a rope with us but never used it once as we had been intensively scrambling and rock-climbing in Scotland beforehand in preparation for this trip. I must have been not too shabby then in my prime as I wouldn't attempt it today without a rope I don't think..Camped at the Pombie Hut on the first day, then experienced a full scale biblical thunderstorm, sheet lightning, and floods overnight then climbed the peak in the morning as the mists cleared and the vultures took to the skies. A good link here to a superb video giving you a real taste of what the Pyrenees have to offer the adventurous visitor.  Professionally put together, gripping stuff and better than most things on mainstream TV recently, although I did like the history prog shown a few days ago about Jesus' Female Disciples: The New Evidence-  key woman getting erased from history (nothing new there)  in a now male dominated church. Well worth seeing.