Heading South

Well that's it. Pickfords arrive tomorrow and we drive south as soon as the house contents are packed up and we've dropped the keys off at the estate agents. Norfolk and Suffolk are very different to Glasgow and I wouldn't have missed our year up here. But there is a six foot swell forecast for the Norfolk Coast this weekend and my dry suit is about to be ordered...

Last weekend in Laurieston

Final weekend on call in Laurieston just outside Falkirk. This was marked as a weir on the OS map and is pretty well in the middle of a rather grey housing estate. It's nice.



There are paths and a bit of parkland above the gorge giving easy access. A path lets you down to the plunge pool.



and you can scramble over the rocks to the side of the drop



Then went and had a look at the viaduct near Linlithgow.



Lovely late summer sky, could have been Glasgow. There was heavy rain overnight, but not today...

Loch Ardinning

Pictures from a few weeks ago, just downloaded from Daniel's camera.

Loch Ardinning is another local wildlife reserve. You head along the gravel path clockwise around the loch from a layby on the Strathblane road.



The path deteriorates in to a narrow moorland footpath about half way round the loch, but still very obvious. There is even a set of steps to lure you on. It was windy by the way!



After that the path is lost in meadowland,



with plenty of Ragged Robin



and a small stile leads you in to near trackless boggy woodland. This is fine as we'd been mostly looking for toadstools, which Daniel is fascinated by, and there were plenty in the wood.



Obviously, being a wildlife reserve, for wildlife, the track then completely disappears and the last kilometre involves carrying Daniel by piggy back through dense marshland wood. Luckily I was the only one bitten by a mossy (part of the wildlife) and it has just about stopped itching now. We found the car.

Bog Asphodel



and the Common Spotted Orchids are, err, common

The cave with the face near Kilsyth

We walked up the Garrell Burn above Kilsyth, where there is a cave



with a rather nice carved face:



Here it is in close up.



Then we scrambled up out of the deep valley and over the moor through the cattle

Mugdock Park

Greater Butterfly Orchid on heathland at Mugdock Park



and Yellow Rattle



A grassy clearing in the otherwise dense woodland, there are tracks to it but they're virtually unused and half overgrown.



The only flowers here so far are a few Common Spotted Orchids and they are soooo common, just about everywhere at the moment, that I skipped the pictures. The Scots love outdoor fires, there's a large fire place, complete with seating arrangements and probably was used to burn the trees to make the clearing...

Mill Glen in the Ochils

The quarry on the west of Mill Glen. I rather like these disused industrial landscapes.



More distant view on the way back down



The burn is very steep with lots of waterfalls



and water slides



The footpath is well made up, has lots of steps and only in the highest parts of the valley abandons hand rails!



The valley of the Daiglen Burn looks much less accessible...

Bo'ness orchids

Having had a look round, these seem to be the only easily located Common Spotted Orchids around Bo'ness







Perhaps the gas flares at the BP works keep them warm...