Saturday Morning Bike Ride.

Again, reluctant, then the sun shone through the window. Off about 8:30am.

Tree silhouette perched above the fields.

Handpainted farm sign.

One of their cows.

Farm and gate.

More lovely old farm buildings, I especially like the little four paned windows (though in reality they probably make things a little dark inside)

A little patchwork of fields. I've just come down the road on the right.

On a whim I decide to head up to the country park. 3 miles to go...

Brambles. Not quite ready yet. Must remember to take my tub next week.

Zingy red bramble leaves.

Swallows. Still here, nice to see.

2 miles to go...

The glen is starting to narrow and we are reaching the higher hills. It's very pretty, I love this kind of landscape - a little wilder than my usual terrain.

Nice old forged gate.

I find it very impressive that someone has at some time taken the trouble to build stone walls up to the tops of some of the hills along the glen. Hard work I would think.

Pretty cottage, tiny window.

Twisty road.

1 mile to go...

I find a little patch of heather.

This week's umbellifer picture.

Wonky fence posts.

Onwards...

...pausing to take a close up of the post on the left first.

Passing place.

Fence detail.

Just before the entrance to the country park is a little collection of tumbledown buildings. I think there used to be a gate or something that always dissuaded me from taking a closer look, this time the little lane was open so up I went. I took loads of photos, here are just a select few...

I love poking about old ruins. I wish I knew more about these ones though. I wonder when it was abandoned. There is still the remains of an old door which was unexpected. Some of the rooms were full of nettles and so I didn't go into them. It was rather an odd layout overall. Most intriguing.

I almost don't bother going into the park, then I remember that there is a large horse chestnut next to the visitor centre which always looks most impressive in its Autumn colours...

...a little early yet, but it's starting to turn.

Since I've gone this far I decide to go a little further and venture up the tracks to the mines and moor. There is no more road.

Lots of large loose stones, not great for cycling.

This sign is new. I've cycled along the left hand track up to the mines before and there's not much left of them to see. I decide to head along the moor path a little. I'd heard of the railway track that used to be here - I find it quite amazing that one was built (it's pretty much the middle of nowhere!) just for shooting parties to be transported to the grouse moors.

I don't get very far. The track starts to look very much like the river and I don't really fancy off-roading. Time to turn back.

More lovely rowan berries this week.

Finally I get a photo of some sheep who don't run away (they're thinking about it though).

From here is back downhill for the three miles till the road junction. At the junction I can go straight on downhill for a couple more miles to join the cycle path for a few more easy flat miles home. Boring! I decide to turn left and stay on the back roads. The only thing is, it involves going past a farm with a scary dog. I haven't been past it for probably about two years as the last time the dog came far too close for comfort, I'm sure he'd have bitten me if he'd been a few inches closer. Well, I'm prepared, I'll make sure I'm ready to cycle past as quick as I can...

...but when I get there there is no dog.

Nothing. The farm is empty and looks like it's in the process of being renovated. I'm almost sad not to see the dog, it feels soulless now somehow. On the other hand I now know this road is safe to use again.

One last pretty view. I decide I've enough photos for this trip so am able to enjoy cycling the rest of the journey home without any photo stops. Though I am tempted once or twice...

Bits of This and That.

Hmmm, this was going to be a quick, ordered zoom through some photos from the end of August till now but Blogger has mixed up some of the images. I don't have time to faff around reloading, so here goes...

Off to a party at the end of Aug. For once I manage to persuade N to wear sandals instead of wellies. Shortly after this it rains, heavily. Just shows, you should never be without your wellies in the West of Scotland!

Still from the end of Aug, we went for a little family bike ride to the loch one Sunday afternoon.

Hubby in yellow with N in the trailer, A in orange.

Dragonfly carving at the loch. I've yet to see a real one here.

Loch view.

View over the wildfowers to a cottage on the hill.

Coming home we get caught in a heavy rain shower and shelter in the tunnel for a little while.

Now to a late evening. The moon was looking big and bright. I attempted to  photograph it...

Street lamp on the left, moon on the right. Camera in night photo mode and swirl away!

Spooky ghost cat appears.

August is our best time of year for butterflies...

 

These two photos are of painted ladies. They were what we had in our butterfly nursery net and we successfully managed to release all five.

Now two photos of small tortoiseshells, probably our most common butterfly here.

And two photos of my favourites - peacock butterflies.

I notice the one in the photo above is looking a little ragged round the tips of it's wings. I wonder if it's one the pesky cat has managed to catch.

Yes, you! I've rescued a few butterflies from her already, grrrr!

Oh look, we must have had blue sky one day. The week or so of warm settled weather experience by the southern part of the UK never reached us. Another grrrr!

I like the cobwebs on the rusting birdie on the shed. When we get some dry weather (for longer than a few hours!) I will be painting the sheds again, hopefully before winter this year!

I've started some C******* crafting. Spare time is limited so best to start early.

Now we jump to a recent charity shop purchase....

Can you gues what it is?

It's a lovely little wooden set of skittles. Mine for £1. Pleased!

Right, we're catching up fast . We've arrived at  last weekend which was an Open Doors event. We were a bit last minute about it all but still managed to visit five properties. Some random, favourite images...

 

 

 

 

Now back to the garden...

Two bumblebees and a hoverfly.

A penguin hung out to dry (though he actually just got even wetter as it rained (again), then had to be taken in, re-spun and dried on the radiators, more grrrrs!)

Aaaargh, the name has just escaped me. Remembered - osteospermum. Phew.

A second attempt at a crocheted thingmyjig. An hour or so later it was frogged. However, my third attempt is successful and it's now complete. Will post photos later.

Woohoo, my sweet peas are finally flowering. They're grown from seed which I was late to sow. Plus the weather this summer has been crap (as I expect you all know!) which hasn't helped.

I'm finishing up with two shots from this morning taken just half an hour apart. There is a rainbow in the first one and the light was all strange and purply. In the second one, the sun is up and the sky is blue! Didn't last long...

I'm afraid I don't have much spare time for blogging at the moment. As this my final year in being involved with the nursery (N will start school next year) I  have taken on a bigger role on the committee. This is taking up a surprisingly large amount of time so far.I plonked N in front of cbeebies to write this which was a little naughty (though he's quite happy). Off now to make more constructive use of our time...