Some video of Braemar
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Day 3 of biking
Biking day 2
This was our biking route yesterday, our first day of biking:
We have two guides, and there are eight of us. Three of us — including Ellen and me — are using regular bikes, and five are using e-bikes.
Ellen was a champ yesterday! She made it up the biggest hill without stopping. 🚴♀️
Here she is when we got back to our hotel:
Here is today’s route, Including two ferry trips, So we didn’t actually bike 63 miles.
I’ll post more about today’s activity later.
I know that e-bikes fill a valuable role, such as in place of cars for commuting, but you and that third guy must feel a real sense of accomplishment at the end of each foot pedal-powered ride.
A little sea bathing will set us up forever
Ellen and I had a goal to take a swim in the ocean before the summer ended. Yesterday that box was ticked when Ellen and I crossed the road in front of our accommodation, the Glenisle Hotel, walked across the rocky, sandy, seaweedy beach and took a dip in Lamlash Bay. The video evidence is here (link).
Bonus points if you recognize the quote 
Starting the bike trip
This morning we took the train from Glasgow Central to Ardrossan Harbour in order to take the ferry to the Isle of Arran. Here's Ellen chatting with the ticket examiner in the train as we left Glasgow (link).
Here's the Ardrossan Harbour ScotRail station (link).
Here's another view of Ardrossan Harbour. Notice the wind turbines in the background:
However the ferry had a mechanical issue. Here's the ferry with its hood up so that it could be serviced:
We took a short bus ride to Troon, where we boarded another ferry:
Cobie likes this.
Pics from train trip and Glasgow
We were able to move to seats with a window. Here's a scene near the Lake District. If you look closely enough, you'll see sheep.
A look up and down the carriage of the Avanti West Coast train that brought us from London to Glasgow. We were pulling into Glasgow and people were getting ready to disembark.
Video of Glasgow Central Station.
Ignore the guy's rear end. I took the photo because of the wonderful variety of fish sold here. Not something a guy raised in the US midwest is used to seeing.
Ellen at the Main Gate to University of Glasgow. Very impressive old buildings!
We're going to the Isle of Arran and will definitely have some of this ice cream.
Video of one of the quads at the University of Glasgow.
Still at the University of Glasgow. Good for them!
More U. of Glasgow.
Glasgow street scene.
On the way back to our hotel from U. of Glasgow, we stopped for some fish & chips. Ellen took a silly photo of me.
Fantastic! So glad you had clear weather, although it looks a bit cool. But that'll be wonderful for biking!
And I love the "Managed for Wildlife" approach of Scotland's "Pollinator Strategy!"
US politics
I know I'm stepping into a minefield here, but I want to give a shout-out to a voice of reason in US politics: Heather Cox Richardson. She describes herself as "a history professor interested in the contrast between image and reality in American politics. I believe in American democracy, despite its frequent failures."
She publishes a daily newsletter "about the history behind today's politics." You can see her latest posts, and sign up to get the newsletter in email form for free on Substack.
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Watching the Olympic men's biking road race in Paris, 2
- The peloton's first two passes of our location
- The 3rd pass
Two questions
Hi !Friendica Support,
I've only been able to upload 1 photo at a time to Friendica. Is bulk upload available?
The thumbnail that is shown with a link is confusing at best because it is blurred. Is there any way to show a thumbnail that is not blurred?
Thank you!
I'm running on Friendica version 2024.03. The database version is 1557/1557. The post update version is 1544/1550.
Two questions
Hi !Friendica Support,
I've only been able to upload 1 photo at a time to Friendica. Is bulk upload available?
The thumbnail that is shown with a link is confusing at best because it is blurred. Is there any way to unblur it?
Thank you!
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Trip to Paris
We made a day trip to Paris to fulfill a longtime wish of Ellen's: to see the Olympics. We took Eurostar from London to Paris. For more info on that, see the previous post. It was the first trip to Paris for both of us. We saw a few sights, and also caught some of the men's bike road race. The weather was great and we had a blast!
Boarding the train in London
Nous sommes arrivée!
The Eiffel Tower
Enjoying a crêpe for lunch
The Seine
A Parisian Métro car
In Gare du Nord, waiting for the train home
Train to Paris
It's been a dream of Ellen's to go to the Olympics. With us in the UK and the Olympics in Paris, this was a golden opportunity. We weren't ready to take a multi-day trip at such a late date, so Ellen suggested a 1-day Saturday trip to watch the men's road bike race. We decided to go by train. On Eurostar, the trip between London and Paris, through the Channel Tunnel, takes about 2.5 hours, which gave us enough time to get to the race, and maybe see some sites.
In the UK, the train got up to about 150 kilometers per hour (about 93 miles per hour). In France, it got up to about 300 kph (about 186 mph). Apparently, the tracks in the UK aren't built for anything faster.
Going through the Channel Tunnel was just like any other train tunnel, i.e. dark, with nothing to see, unfortunately.
For my friends who like trains, here is a compilation of the videos taken during the trip:
Stanley Kubrick and St. Albans
Several weeks ago, we biked down to St. Albans for their Saturday morning market. On the way, we passed a manor house:
I looked it up when we got home, and it's Childwickbury Manor. According to its Wikipedia page, American film directory Stanley Kubrick bought it in 1978, and lived there until his death in 1999. His widow lives there still, and gives art lessons.
That's St. Albans Cathedral in the distance..
We went up in the St. Albans clock tower while we were there.
Some interesting facts about the clock tower:
- It was finished by 1405
- Its bell was used during the Wars of the Roses in 1455
- During the Napoleonic wars, the roof was used as a semaphore station. "The shutter telegraph style semaphore was part of the 16 station London to Great Yarmouth line, along which a message could be sent within 5 minutes" (from Wikipedia). London and Great Yarmouth are about 130 miles apart.
- It is thought to be the only remaining medieval town belfry in England.
Do bikers ride with the traffic in England or facing it? Right side or left side of the road?
That's incredible that a 1405 clock tower is still structurally sound and open to the public! Accuracy must have been absolutely crucial for those semaphore operators, to relay a correct message through 16 stations in 5 minutes!
@Lany Bikers here ride with the traffic, at least that's what I've seen. We went back to St. Albans last weekend and the clock tower was encased in scaffolding, so they're working on it. But I don't think any structural work is being done; I think it is just regular upkeep.
The semaphore only worked during daylight hours, and if the weather was right, but still, it must have been an incredible step forward. They were probably saying to each other "Will wonders never cease?"
Photos taken during bike rides
As I've said, we like to ride our bikes in the area northeast of Harpenden. Here are photos taken during some of these rides.
This is Shaw's Corner, George Bernard Shaw's country home, Shaw's Corner, now owned by the National Trust and open to the public, though it was closed for the day by the time I rode by.
An old church near Shaw's Corner in Ayot St. Lawrence:
The village well and a church in Great Offley.
The area is crisscrossed by footpaths and bridleways (bikes are allowed on the latter but not the former). The UK gives people the "right to roam", but I'm not sure if the footpaths are because of the right to roam or in addition to it. Here's a map showing the footpaths in the area. A day hiker has plenty of paths to choose from. Here's one of them:
The rural lines are mostly one-car wide. This truck stopped traffic while it unloaded sheep.
Cobie
in reply to Dirk • • •Dirk
in reply to Dirk • •@Lany Can you see the photos?
Dirk
in reply to Dirk • •Lany
in reply to Dirk • • •Lany
in reply to Dirk • • •