Blogs from Perthshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe - page 13

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Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Perthshire » Pitlochry October 1st 2008

OK....I apologize for the erraticness of the following couple entries, I can't totally piece together everything...please ask me if you have any questions!... read more
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Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Perthshire » Pitlochry October 1st 2008

Well, I said last year that I left my heart in the highlands.....and here I am, back at the very beginning, where the landscape changes every couple of minutes....but my pics are still of Edinburgh, so bear with me...am in Pitlochry at the moment, on the verge of climbing some mountains and hanging out on the edges of lakes.....this life is amazing. Backpackers have a common thread, and no matter where you go, you have an instant family of people who are willing to help you regardless of geography, language or race....this is what I've been waiting for the whole of 2008.... read more
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Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Perthshire » Pitlochry October 1st 2008

Sorry about the catch-up, but I haven't had the resources to upload many pics at a time. ... read more
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Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Perthshire » Aberfeldy September 22nd 2008

With the occupants of the Farmhouse and the Manse away, Willy was looking after 3 cats, two dogs and 4 ducks. The ducks see him as a dangerous intruder and run away from him, which makes it difficult to get them back into their duck house at night. Meanwhile back on the building site, they finished the west gable cladding - apart from the cills which were to be delivered at the end of the week, only Rembrand's lorry broke down at Kenmore, so window cills didn't happen. There was also a tiny wee bit of cladding on the south wall, which was completed, with the end timber beautifully shaped to fit in with the plaster. Meanwhile, back in civilisation, I've been doing a project plan for Phase 2, which Willy will pull to pieces over ... read more
Cladding detail
 View from the living room
View from the east

Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Perthshire » Aberfeldy September 16th 2008

Monday - Hardly seemed to be there then back up the road after calling in at screwfix in Livingston. Delays all the way, either roadworks or slow traffic took over 2 hours so Ewan made a temporary door while he waited for me to turn up. Ended up spending evening with Tober and a bottle of wine. By Wednesday the top half of the gable was clad and from the west the house resembles a Swiss chalet. It was the last night at Tombreck for Lea and Christine, our German woofers, so we went for dinner at the Ben Lawers Hotel then back to the manse for a small farewell party with Ewan, Marieke, Marcus and Tober - ending up as yet another late night with Tober. Thursday I ran the girls into Killin to catch ... read more
half clad
emma stuffing wool
No scaffolding!

Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Perthshire » Aberfeldy September 11th 2008

After last week's lime work, Willy decided to have a few days off. We spent Saturday doing ordinary weekend things like going for a walk in the grounds of Hopetoun House, which we haven't managed for ages and doing housework. On Sunday Willy decided that we'd go up and look at the house and maybe do a bit of cleaning. So we did a bit of cleaning and I took some photos, but left the camera in the house, so no pics till later. I also lost a contact lens - first time for about 10 years. Wow! It really looks like a house now - the plaster has made an incredible difference and it looks absolutely fantastic. It's an absolute transformation and in such a short time. This is definitely the way forward for plastering ... read more
Plaster on the north wall
Ready to go
Lime crew

Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Perthshire » Aberfeldy September 5th 2008

The English language has such a wonderful selection of idioms describing the consumption of alcohol to excess and perhaps. on occasion, alcohol has indeed been consumed to excess in the straw bale house after a hard day's work, but I shall leave such occasions to your imagination. This entry describes the frenetic burst of activity required to achieve weather-tightness before the first frosts and co-incidentally before a spell of very wet weather hits the UK. This wet weather is related to the hurricanes threatening the Caribbean... but you didn't log on for a metereology lecture did you?. On Sunday, I came home from my holiday on the building site ready for a week of sitting in front of a PC resting those aching muscles. On Monday, Dean and John arrived with the Infernal Sprayer. The Infernal ... read more
The first little bit
Willy and the Infernal Sprayer
 North wall done: east still straw

Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Perthshire » Aberfeldy August 31st 2008

Well things moved on apace windows and door fitted by close of play Weds. It should have been an excuse for a party but it had been a long hard couple of days, so settled for a quiet night in our new windowed house and an early night (first night in our new abode but bales aren't as comfortable as you might think). Thursday - Ewan was in Edinburgh for a couple of days, Graham, Rachel, Theo and Rory arrived so went for walk down to loch. Both Theo and Rory got their socks wet (too deep for their wellies) so lit a fire to dry out wet socks. Spent rest of day pottering about not really achieving much - feeling listless, Wendy continued checking the walls and stuffing and covering straps with hessian to try ... read more
First sample of lime
The house from the south west
Cutting corners

Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Perthshire » Pitlochry August 22nd 2008

Day one of the three day highland romp bus tour and I am back to really enjoying myself. It was up early this morning to make sure I made my bus on time because the hostel I have been staying at in Edinburgh is a ways out of the city center. Yesterday I had a good Scottish day that started of with a sampling of haggis, which was dddddelicious! After I walked around and made sure I knew where my tour bus was leaving from and dropped in on another comedy show. I stopped in on the Scottish National Gallery (at the recommendation of my sister) which was absolutely impressive, and totally free! It was a fairly calm night at the hostel, but I met three friends and talked till about midnight while getting totally smashed ... read more
Our tour guide
Ewan leads the way
The footprint and bowl

Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Perthshire » Aberfeldy August 17th 2008

Ewan tok a few days off so we hoped to concentrate on straw but the ever unsettled weather made that difficult and somewhat frustrating. Franck and Alison got on with stuffing the wool into the roof while I dashed out between showers to trim and stuff (and trim and restuff and trim and ..... ) the outside of the walls Found it difficult in explaining to Franck that we would keep doing it till we, ie Wendy and I, were satisfied that all the holes that could be filled had been filled. After all - that straw plus a bit of clay and lime will be all that's between us and the winter gales. Early in the week, the roofers came back to fit the ridge pole and do the last few rows of slates. So ... read more
East gable and a bit of the north wall
Wool in the rafters
Wool stuffing cakes




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