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For me the Firth of Clyde and its cluster of magical islands have always meant access to paradise on my doorstep. Sure Mull, Skye, The Hebrides, Islay, Jura and all the other Scottish islands are great in good weather, when I like to visit them, but it usually takes some planning and intention to go there and by the time you arrive the weather might have changed. Scotland in drizzle, clag or wet weather is not for me as I like technicolor scenery not grey and black despair. Pastel landscape I might settle for at a push but I don't do rain these days. Not a raindrop for the last 10 years. Just like Elphaba in Wicked.
Also £40- £100 or more in petrol and campsite fees is a deciding factor on an always tight budget as I'd hate to shell out good money for a soggy weekend.
With some decent weather predicted in early March and the mountains plastered with fresh snow I decided a visit to the island of Great Cumbrae in the sparkling Firth of Clyde was a good idea. The Firth of Clyde islands are magical places at any time of year but in early spring sunshine they offer world class views. 30 mins to one hour's drive from Glasgow and the central belt towns yet it's always a surprise to me how quiet and peaceful they are. Fashion is everything these days and they are obviously not fashionable... which suits me just fine. Looking at some of the buildings and outlying benches however they could do with some maintenance in an era of endless council cut backs and a few more tourists might provide some extra revue for local shops and infrastructure. It's a hard balancing act to pull off as many popular destinations get trashed by too many visitors and that in turn can ruin the charm and special magic of areas that attracted and enthralled tourists in the first place. (Certain over frequented bothies spring to mind here)
Anyway, off I toddled down to Largs, wondering if the peaks of Arran would have any snow on them and half an hour later I was delighted to find they did. Parking free on a shoreline street with great views over the Firth of Clyde I locked my car and set off for the nearby Largs to Great Cumbrae ferry. A ten minute hop across the water for £3:20 pence return delivers you to this island where you can either get a bus into Millport, connecting with each ferry, or walk across the island into its only town on foot or bike by a number of different routes.
I opted for the cross country version and said goodbye to the bus and most of the ferry folk as soon as I stepped off the slipway. From here minor roads or tracks take you over the island via the Glaid Stone Summit at 127 metres, or alternatively, you can follow the coast road in either direction. Great views open up right from the off. This is looking across at the upland hills above Largs.
Largs again. This time the town and the wonderful Brisbane Glen minor road leading up through the woods to the high moors behind, which takes you the adventurous way over the uplands to Greenock/Gourock and my Queens of the Stone Age in the last post who still live there.
Might as well plug my photographic guide books here as they are two of the most colourful and comprehensive books on Scotland, away from the Munros, in modern times. A glossy paper published equivalent of these guide books would easily set you back £20 to £30 so a couple of quid on kindle is very good value. First few chapters free to read in here. Loads of ideas for exciting trips at any level. By bike and foot. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Guide-Walking-Cycling-around-River-Clyde-ebook/dp/B00P1IO2SM/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1457805572&sr=1-1-spell&keywords=A+gude+to+the+Firth+of+Clyde.+Bob+Law
Once you get a bit higher the snow covered peaks of Arran (Winter or early spring if you are lucky) dominate the views as you summit out at the trig then walk downhill into Millport. This is heaven on earth for me. It doesn't get any better than this. The dark volcanic lava flows on the Garroch Head peninsula on neighbouring Bute show up well in this photo.
A close up zoom of the Arran Ridge. The ridge walk over these granite summits and serrated towers can be a serious undertaking in full winter conditions requiring a good level of skill, ice axe and crampons. From Garroch Head on Bute or Great Cumbrae however you can experience all the grandeur, passion and majesty with none of the perils or freezing conditions. For instance...half the time, being much higher, the Arran peaks were in shivery dark shade while I basked in my usual tropical climate for a full 6 hours on the magic island. T shirt time in early March. This boy's no fool and bakes like a bun at every opportunity.
A view looking over the town reservoirs to Garroch Head, Kilchattan Bay and Bute. Bute and Rothesay are also great cheap places to visit for a day trip in fine weather. Also covered in this blog and in the Firth of Clyde book which describes many fine walks and bike rides on the islands and along the Clyde coast in one handy volume.
Another of Arran's magnificent summits.
Even in Millport itself the mountains on this neighbouring jaggy island create a fantastic backdrop to almost every view. It is a magic island. It even has crocodiles in the sea to match its palm tree climate.
And wonderful seascapes like this one. A dream destination for boat lovers, island baggers, cyclists, tourists and walkers.You can hire bikes in Millport at the cycle shop to tour the island, a favourite pastime for generations and they have family bikes for all ages here including individual enclosed toddler carriages attached to the back if memory serves. Traffic on Millport and Bute is still very light as soon as you leave the town centre and even there it is rarely a problem.
Two young cyclists on the pavement which rarely sees pedestrians walking along it outside of town limits so is suitable for multi use activity like this as it's easy to step aside.
Kelburn Castle Gorge in the distance.
The shoreline path into Millport.
Cathedral of the Isles. (open to the public.)
The Costa Del Clyde. Downtown Millport. With cabbage palms.
Tee shirt time for Bobby, having lunch in a sheltered sunny nook. I have an unfortunate affinity with certain animals. They cant leave me alone. Must be my witch/ warlock side coming out. Intelligent creatures can tell when you like them and they like you back in turn.
This was acceptable behaviour but they had to push it further. They always do.
Now it was more like the film "The Birds." They were starting to draw attention to me so I had to will them away after a while as fifty jackdaws might be good in a pie but when they are following you around a small island town it's not normal behaviour for most humans. I try to blend in with humanity as much as possible but they were spoiling my cover. Every rock around me had a tapestry of jackdaws on it.
On the way back I picked the coast road. Still plenty to see here.
The Lion Rock. (from this angle it looks most like a stone lion, stalking its prey) and two cyclists.
Hardly any money spent. A great cheap day out and only 4 to 8 hours total trip depending on speed, mode of island transport and inclination. Pick a nice day for it, like here, and it is truly magical. My golden ticket island.
I've always loved the colourful, the wonderful, clever visual entertainment, and the bizarre so this seems fitting somehow. My very last Bioshock indulgence from the early period. Boo... Shame.
Ah, to find another world half as intriguing, unexpected, and enjoyable as this one over the last fun filled year. And I've always agreed with the words of this great song from W.W.
Beauty is created from within and it's so easy to do. It is pure imagination and it can brighten many a dull day in the real world we all live in. Wish more people used it more often but sadly it's squeezed out or smothered at birth in some :o) Retain that inner child and the world is a sunnier, brighter place.
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A few weeks ago on a hunt for new areas and districts to explore a few things caught my attention around Charing Cross on the north west corner of Glasgow City Centre. This is a thriving business, commercial and residential district I'm very familiar with as various buses I get pass along the main road into Glasgow's heart. On a whim however I jumped off the bus just before it, at St Vincent Street, maybe because I'd been watching "Back in time for the weekend" a nostalgia flavoured look at how technological innovations, fashion trends, music, food and cultural attitudes have shaped our lives over the past five decades. This is Anderston district, above, in 2016, an old inner city ward originally of overcrowded working class tenements next to the factories and shipyards on the nearby River Clyde.
Anderston. St Vincent Terrace flats. Taken around early 2000s
During the 1960s a major transformation took place in Glasgow and much of this old tenement district was flattened to make way for the new M8 motorway, which carves a wide path through the southern edge of Govan, Cessnock, Kinning Park and Kingston. This was a blessing for me earlier,in 1957/ 1958 as my family moved from inner district Kinning Park to leafy Pollok during the initial slum clearances, like many others to new built outer large estates, holding between 20,000 to 50,000 inmates/families in each of them. Most but not all of the Pollok folk came from Govan, Kinning Park, The Gorbals etc on the inner south side.The other three large estates of Drumchapel, Castlemilk and Easterhouse took in displaced folk from inner city districts nearer their own inner quarter of the city. Massive schemes or council estates which became known as the "Big Four" one at each corner of the ever growing city built on ground which had been fields and farms. Glasgow, like many other cities in the UK and abroad found itself swamped with economic migrants from the impoverished Scottish Highlands and Ireland looking for a better life and job prospects. Very similar in fact to the situation facing European countries today. During the late 1880s and early 1900s Glasgow doubled in population nearly every decade, causing massive overcrowding and social problems and was the 4th city in Europe after London, Paris and Berlin to exceed one million citizens. The legacy of that is still going on in cities UK wide as the solution then seemed to be to adopt Le Corbusier's dream of "Cities in the Sky." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Corbusier
He was undoubtedly a talented visionary, years ahead of his time, but when his visions were scaled up and people, especially families, were added to the mix, this Utopian dream was found to be flawed. Of all the cities in the UK Glasgow seemed to embrace it wholeheartedly and despite numerous hi rise clearances in the last 30 years still has considerable numbers of these "sky cities" left.
The same blocks of flats in Anderston today 2016, given a makeover. The highest blocks in this long line running along St Vincent Street have recently been demolished but maybe they could have been shipped to America instead as they would have been perfect for Mr Trump's high wall along the border. That'll keep them out and Glasgow still has loads of similar concrete structures, enough to make a good start on the wall anyway.
Enough history. Nostalgia next. During my early teenage years, 16 to 19 years old, I knew people my own age in Anderston and used to meet them off the bus then walk around these flats in the days when you could explore the upper levels easily without door entry systems or CCTV watching your every move. I have to say I loved these newly built "cities in the sky" but only as a playground. We never caused any trouble or vandalized anything, it was just plain curiosity and a teenage love of anything new and exiting to explore on our doorstep. This was a real Emerald Kingdom and it was a fantastic time to be young.
We were all heavily into music, architecture,1960s books, films and pop art at that time as the swinging 60s never really happened away from a small part of London, maybe Liverpool, and a few American cities. It eventually reached here by the early 1970s and we got a taste of it as well. Like most young folk in the provinces we couldn't wait to embrace it and be simultaneously cool, part of a wider movement yet also outsider rebels. A stance with a great deal of irony as anyone truly apart is usually shunned by society and struggles to fit in with any group as they have completely different thought processes and standards that in general only become accepted as genius quality once they are completely mad, tamed or dead. Only when they can no longer embarrass or irritate with improbable leaps in every direction and are safety contained where they can be elevated without ruining it with their own contrary behavior are they given full respect and myth status. Always better than the real, sometimes inexplicably rude or unpredictable, irascible, unlikable personality in the flesh.
This is a pedestrian bridge across the M8 motorway in the photo above that cuts up through the Charing Cross district on the western edge of Glasgow City Centre. For 40 years it stayed uncompleted, "the bridge to nowhere" as it hung forlornly above the motorway as a complete mid air dead end. A similar road bridge nearby did the same thing but was eventually topped off by modern office space. (Tay House)
Hilton Hotel above, a 20 floor, five star gleaming tower built in 1992 dominates the skyline here. This elevated wide walkway was funded by Sustrans a couple of years ago and makes a great walking or cycling excursion into the city centre via Anderston. It also finally links the two sections of modern Anderston together as the original 1970s design intended.
As it was a cracking blue sky day for my visit I enjoyed this walk immensely. A new walkway for me to bag and an urban adventure as I always enjoy the thrill of new city views as much as the best mountain days. Also a photographer's dream here to show the skyline of Glasgow from a different angle. A small group of us in the early to mid 1970s would meet in Anderson or at the 23rd precinct ( a popular basement floor record shop in Bath Street), browse the album racks inside then invariably head back towards the Anderston Centre to hang around in and explore.
The Anderston Centre at that time was something else. Completed in 1974 it was one of the largest integrated city centre development complexes in the UK outside of London with a mixture of hi rise apartments, shops, offices, underground and elevated walkways, escalators, car parks, and even a short dog leg road and warren of mini tunnels running under the structure. Built as a true self contained city in the sky it was a fantastic unintended playground for teenagers to explore and I have many happy memories of doing just that.
Even in 2016, after a gap of 30 odd years I found it just as amazing as before. This walkway across Waterloo Street used to lead past the old Albany Hotel (then renamed Holiday Inn) and in the days before CCTV this was where we used to practice night time shenanigans and teenage feats of strength like climbing up the various balconies, under-arming the bridges, balancing on top of assorted railings before jumping across them or back and footing up between tightly placed buildings until our nerve gave out. We didn't do it all the time of course and were always careful to pack it in if anyone noticed but it was a serious addiction for a while. David Bowie released Aladdin Sane in 1974, a sprawling masterpiece of a collapsing hi rise society inspired by his first real tour across America and us eager teens, into anything decadent, exciting, dangerous, and new, thought of the Anderston Centre then as our very own mini mega city. "Streets in the sky" Just like that album and most of the lyrics to the songs on it could have been written about here... or so it seemed to us back then . Like many things across the UK, then and now, heavily influenced by American ideas... just on a smaller scale. Back in those days it was access all areas if you didn't misbehave and there is hardly an inch of this magnificent complex we didn't explore as we had several friends in our informal group who knew folk living in the hi rise blocks. We were very well behaved as usual, realizing early on that it could get you into places you wanted to go much better if you stayed under the radar in twos and threes when entering buildings. The views from the upper floors across the city at night I still remember to this day.
Even in 2016 it was a thrill and a privilege to wander through here remembering the scattered collection of weird specialist shops in odd corners. The Pot Black, and the numerous dead end walkways and cul de sacs. Cumbernauld Town Centre was built to a similar design and countless other shopping centres and concrete new towns had the same architecture. Sadly, many deck access and tower block estates soon became notorious free for all's like the Divis Flats in Belfast, Hulme Crescents in Manchester, South Gate in Runcorn, Broomhall in Sheffield, and countless others world wide. Despite arriving on a wave of optimism that this was the future many of these "sky lands" lasted 20 years or less before they were demolished or drastically revamped. The ones that survive are usually redesigned as here, to appeal to young city professionals wishing to live close to the beating heart of the metropolis and all its delights, close to where they work in adjacent business towers. Glasgow's gleaming glass and steel financial district is close by but it's not a world I'm familiar with or one that appeals apart from viewing the architecture. I like living on the outskirts but coming in occasionally to gawp at the changes every few years and shake my head before departing back to the low level suburbs.
It is exciting even today but just for a short while at my advanced age and cynicism. Living in tenement land Nitshill during my teens the red SMT western buses ran past my street taking me into town and the heart of The Anderston Centre as the lower street level contained a bus station from the mid 1970s to the mid 1990s. This "sky city" was originally designed as a much larger project stretching across both sides of the motorway with a connecting bridge across to other hi rise towers, shops and offices. Thankfully, this didn't happen as unforeseen events took over in the late 1970s and 1980s to change the nature and reputation of this mega structure.
Full details in this interesting link under Decline and Demise. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anderston_Centre
And a small taste of the complex and bus station from its hey day around 1985. This short segment here and film is not in the same class as Gregory's Girl, Local Hero, or Dear Frankie but it was filmed around Glasgow and Edinburgh providing a good snapshot of 1980s nostalgic charm and optimism. It's supposed to be Edinburgh hence the confusing Princes Street sign but it's most definitely Glasgow's long defunct bus depot. I don't remember it ever being this warm, light or busy when I used it however as it was all open plan, very drafty, dark and cold most of the year. It was never as crowded as this any time we were there which was a large part of its appeal...for us teens and then the sad angels of the shadows that followed our lead as a place to attract moths with pockets away from prying eyes.
It still looks a remarkable place but with the demise of the bus station I no longer had a reason to end up there after a shopping trip and out of town shopping centres and retail parks in the late 1990s soon changed my habits as it was more convenient and cheaper nearer home. I'd almost completely forgotten about this place until this visit which is an increasing danger we all face as technology changes our habits in an instant. City centers have been under threat for decades now and smart phones and online shopping can only add to that in profound ways with the recent news that 900,000 retail jobs may disappear over the next decade in the UK alone. Major UK brands like BHS are struggling in a very competitive market place and its frightening how things just disappear overnight, almost without notice, until you look back years later and wonder where they went.
Amazingly, parts of this complex seemed like a time warp and hadn't changed at all. I was close to two sisters back then in that teenage group ( my own Queens of the Stone Age) and when they moved to Gourock on the west Clyde Coast I followed them down at weekends and continued our adventures by the sea.
A dark cul de sac on the upper levels. Once it started to get a tad rough around here in the late 1980s and early 1990s it could not have been much fun for residents in the towers or office girls as during the early winter nights there was always a chance of being mistaken for a different kind of working girl.
Bumping into random strangers around corners meant it was not for the fainthearted after dark. A council scheme or suburb on the outskirts where you can usually spot or hear trouble coming from a distance, and avoid if need be, represents natural surroundings I'm more comfortable with. Like many deck access estates built during that period the residents swapped a close knit tenement community for a more isolated open plan wasteland which was not a very friendly or productive environment for bringing up children or keeping pets that required exercise outside.
Looking in the direction of Charing Cross from the elevated walkway. I still find these streets in the sky appealing but only as a curious visitor reliving his past.
The underground car park. Now gated and patrolled this used to be open plan and a drive through affair, dimly lit in places and a haven for red light girls. An education into a dark, very dangerous sub culture that fitted perfectly with the street poetry of Lou Reed, The Velvet Underground, Iggy and the Stooges and Marc Bolan. Even today King Tut's Wah Wah hut is just around the corner for a modern generation of music lovers. Maybe it's just me but I still never use underground or multi level car parking if I can help it, especially at night.
The old Habitat/ Pinnacle building on Bothwell Street getting a renovation next door to the Anderston Centre and the Alexander "Greek" Thomson Church. This part of Glasgow has also been transformed in the last few years. Never went into the shop but I remember the concrete waterfall underneath, a design feature of its day that neatly summed up the whole concept of brutalist fashion. Completely stripped and bare of any vegetation or natural beauty as it poured over a straight drop into a tiny concrete garden. Very expensive, trendy, but ultimately shallow. The architecture that is.
The Argyle Building. Modern apartments built in 2008 as an addition to the Anderston Centre. It does look eye-catching and at 21 floors, over 200 feet, is one of the highest towers in the city centre district for young professional types. Outstanding views I'd imagine. Glasgow's City Centre only rises 10 to 20 floors as a general rule for buildings and no one has dared climb higher yet, probably due to criticism, traditional expectations as regards the historic skyline of old listed buildings and past failures going high... plus the very real risk of committing up front major investment then hoping enough clients move in to take up the completed units. Elpinstone Tower, a proposed skyscraper at Charing Cross a few years ago would have reached 39 floors making it the tallest in Scotland by some margin but the recession and the usual conservative public concerns means a 14 floor building in its place by different developers. Just from a purely personal angle I was looking forward to seeing it soar above the city (with hopefully a public viewing gallery) but sadly it seems to be another pipe dream on the back burner.
I hope folk outside Glasgow will have enjoyed this post as much as I have. In my last post I featured Bioshock Infinite as a video, mainly because the floating city of Columbia in that reminded me so much of my teenage times here. Happy days spent among the residents, prostitutes, and assorted fascinating characters of the "Sky City." I loved it here in the 1970s, the 1980s, and even the 1990s and I like the new posher version now. It's still an exciting place to be. A Lad Insane indeed.
A time warp and a new regeneration side by side.
It's well worth a wander through here.
An excellent short visual history of the M8 construction and the building of the Anderston Centre in the early 1970s. Kingston Bridge over the River Clyde opened by the Queen Mother.
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Another beach walk as the forecast at the weekend around a month ago was dull with showers inland, but a chance of seeing blue skies and sunshine at the Ayrshire coast. So it proved once again. I used to get this beach walk to myself 10 or more years ago but the internet has changed many walks where you would see an occasional beach walker or dog lover into a fashionable outing taken up by hundreds. Being a nice winters day it was a busy walk across the sands from Troon car park to Irvine via Barassie. It's a classic of its kind.
This is us heading for the massive Ballast Bank, seen here, a natural curving arm-like protection for Troon harbour that was raised and extended to form a sheltering buffer against the often fierce winter storms. Great panoramic views from this raised embankment over the harbour and the seas around. A large ship was just passing on its way towards the Firth of Clyde, heading north.
This is it here. Not close enough to read the name but a large one. If you can read the name you can look it up on Ship Finder.
The top of the Ballast Bank returning in the direction of Troon. On this walk you can visit this panoramic viewpoint then retrace your steps slightly to the bottom of the slope at Troon, cutting up into the busy main street and rows of shops to reach Barassie on the other side where you pick up another expanse of beach again ( You can park on the shore front grass in Barassie if you want a shorter walk ( 8 km one way from here to Irvine Train Station or return along the dunes path for a higher level return instead of the beach you came along.
A beautiful sunny day again with miles of sand exposed at low tide. Very popular and pleasant walk this one and my companion Alan and his faithful hound really seemed to enjoy it. Fresh air, the tang of sea breezes laced with sailors spit and flat stunning horizons The Ardeer Peninsula walk we did half a dozen posts ago is not as popular, being isolated, semi industrial in places and rather spooky, unless you are brave or have a large capable dog as a companion. It lies 10 km further north, just across the River Irvine.
Birdlife at Barassie beach. Oystercatchers, curlews and various gulls in an I.D. line up here.
Curlew, or possibly a large whimbrel. My bird book has disappeared again :o(
More beach folk making nice silhouettes. I like the LS Lowry effect here and in the top photo.
Wide Horizons.
Low tide satisfaction. Easy walking on a firm surface.
Looking back from Puff the Magic Dragon ( stone sculpture of a dragon in Magnum Centre Beach Park) in the direction of Troon. It's around a 12 km walk in total one way from Troon to Irvine train Station with loads of variety and highlights. Looks a long hike here back to Troon in this photograph. Train takes you back in two stops in under 10 minutes for a couple of quid. Around a 4 to 6 hour day at an easy pace, depending on stops.
On the way to Irvine we passed this. There is always some rubbish lying in the dunes along this stretch but with the number of large storms we have experienced this winter the problem was magnified and someone had turned it into a modern sculpture statement on our throwaway, junk addicted society.
As modern art goes this hit the nail right on the head and it was impossible to ignore as every beach walker had to pass it. Well done that artist. A Turner Prize exhibit and none so worthy. As well as junk from ships and fishing gear, numerous throwaway plastic holiday stuff left by the general public was on view. The drawback of producing items very cheaply is that they are not valued and are quickly abandoned for various reasons, (heavy rain coming on suddenly, strong wind blowing, children dropping items or throwing them into the sea)
This I can understand but the photo below I can never get my head around despite seeing it everywhere on walks.
This was the sight that greeted us walking up off the beach sands and dune system into Irvine Beach Park. A place that tourists visit and little children play in the nearby meadows of short grass. It's mainly dog poo in individual plastic bags around an overflowing small bin. I don't have a dog but if I had one, and had taken the trouble to bag its natural waste, I certainly wouldn't leaving it lying here scattered around an overflowing bin for animals or young children to discover. Instead, I'd carry it to an empty one further on as there are numerous bins around the nearby car park. This is a personal issue for me on country walks nowadays as I see it all the time now, little bags of shit hanging off branches beside paths and trails or left abandoned on the ground beside any item of street furniture, post boxes, telephone kiosks, etc...
Who do they think is going to pick it up from there? The magical shit fairy? What an advert for Scotland in 2016.
No wonder this goose was angry.Up close and personnel. Made me even more annoyed than watching " How the Rich Avoid Paying Tax." A recent TV programme highlighting the scandal of the rich elite and how they exploit numerous loopholes in the law to avoid paying any tax on their millions while the rest of us are grabbed by the balls and squeezed hard for any pitiful earnings we might acquire. Politicians could close these tax gaps easily enough but will not do anything to hurt the well off so it's up to the "hard working tax paying" suckers on the bottom rungs to bail out the richest in society yet again. They meanwhile, use their " moral compass" to decide what level of tax they wish to contribute ... zero or maybe just a little so as not to feel too guilty when eating their 500 quid lunches. No wonder they call us "Plebs."
We deserve it.
I'm not politically motivated in the slightest and I.m also content with my lot and have never been money hungry, driven, or ambitious at any time where work is concerned as I live for weekends like most people and do not require a large income. I could keep this blog all picture postcard, light and airy but when I see or hear something that is blatantly unfair and gets me angry I will mention it. Like This. Another example of the "moral compass" perhaps. Better not use this one up in the mountains then as it seems to be faulty. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2118669/George-Osborne-Im-wealthy-pay-50p-tax-rate.html
Meanwhile, in an elegant street not that far away, we wandered through a lovely part of Irvine Harbour. Well worth a visit to this regenerated waterfront which can be combined with the nearby Scottish Maritime Museum. Part of Irvine Harbour below.
This is a large estuary and usually full of geese, swans and other wildfowl. A couple of nice pubs can be found along the seafront here. Irvine Harbour was once a major Scottish port and very busy with arriving and departing boats. It's mainly small pleasure craft now and a large open car park for the shoreline, dunes, park and beach. The Magnum Centre is also nearby.
Man and his faithful horse.
The Big Idea ( now closed up and abandoned so not that important an idea seemingly.) This modern building lies across the river in the Ardeer Peninsula.
Part of the Scottish Maritime Museum, part open air machinery, part indoor historical attractions and several old boats.
After a quick visit here we caught the train back to Troon and the waiting car. Another cracking day out.
Video this week is a visual feast for the eyes. For me nothing compares to the concept of Bioshock as a potential film rather than a game. There's more exhilarating ideas, intrigue and subtlety in this excellent five minute video than Jericho,(started out with promise but petered into a soap western) The new X Files (disappointing crap) and the woeful Beowulf:Return to the Shieldlands (strictly for children under five) combined. For instance... Why is the noose so slack? What keeps him from falling past the red roses? Who is getting drowned in the fish tank? Deliberate clues to be understood. There is so much going on unsaid during this or on the edge of vision it's joyful. And a great driving song to boot. Best watched full screen. For me personally this is "Modern Art"in its truest sense.
