Archev's adventures in the Berlingo

[Archev]

And getting better

 

[Gomev]

Mr @Archev and any others in your area can I ask for some tourist advice please. There is a possibility that my wife and I may pop up to the Falkirk area for a few days in July. Main reason for this is because we both want to see and possibly ride the Falkirk Wheel and have a nosey at the Kelpies.
My wife particularly doesn't think she wants to venture further towards the midge army, she has a real aversion to them directly in proportion to the love they have for her.
Looking for other places to visit locally or further afield*, and even locations best to stay. We are more guest house/hotel types these days rather than camping.

*distance from Falkirk not a problem so long as distance from the midges is maintained as best as possible

 

[Susanna]

@Gomev - I am not from Scotland, but I took a coach excursion to Edinburgh and surroundings in June 23. We ‘did’ the Falkirk Wheel, The Kelpies, the bridges cruise, Edinburgh itself, and The Royal Yacht Britannia. All were excellent, and definitely recommended, and we never had an issue with midges. However, we didn’t really venture into midge territory!

I can’t remember the name of our hotel - it was a beautiful old building in huge grounds, but my friend and I were both put into rooms overlooking the kitchen bins, and the horrendously loud cold storage trailers. That’s the penalty built into the single person supplement……!

 

[Archev]

Mr @Archev and any others in your area can I ask for some tourist advice please. There is a possibility that my wife and I may pop up to the Falkirk area for a few days in July. Main reason for this is because we both want to see and possibly ride the Falkirk Wheel and have a nosey at the Kelpies.
My wife particularly doesn't think she wants to venture further towards the midge army, she has a real aversion to them directly in proportion to the love they have for her.
Looking for other places to visit locally or further afield*, and even locations best to stay. We are more guest house/hotel types these days rather than camping.

*distance from Falkirk not a problem so long as distance from the midges is maintained as best as possible

I’m not often / ever looking for accommodation around Falkirk but I’ll ask around and think about anywhere else. Susanna gives some good ideas and I’ll check later.

 

[Archev]

Lovely sunny night so why not use it to cook my liver and onions with carrots

 

[Archev]

Couldn’t quite get home from Mossyard so I stopped in castle Douglas for a wee plug in whilst I had scrambled eggs on toast at a cafe then bought a couple of slices of liver at the butcher next door
The assembled dish out on the lawn

 

[salty]

View attachment 37577

Lovely sunny night so why not use it to cook my liver and onions with carrots

With a nice, Chianti.

 

[Archev]

With a nice, Chianti.

No, it was actually a fine wee drop of Ribena blended with Deeside water from the exclusive Pananach wells on the banks of the river Dee. This water has magical curative properties to help with various issues with muscles and joints. I’ve been drinking it for years and hope it kicks in soon before arthritis robs any remaining movement I can muster without agony

 

[Gomev]

@Gomev - I am not from Scotland, but I took a coach excursion to Edinburgh and surroundings in June 23. We ‘did’ the Falkirk Wheel, The Kelpies, the bridges cruise, Edinburgh itself, and The Royal Yacht Britannia. All were excellent, and definitely recommended, and we never had an issue with midges. However, we didn’t really venture into midge territory!

I can’t remember the name of our hotel - it was a beautiful old building in huge grounds, but my friend and I were both put into rooms overlooking the kitchen bins, and the horrendously loud cold storage trailers. That’s the penalty built into the single person supplement……!

Thank you, particularly for the midge info and Falkirk stuff, that's what we'll be going for.
We've been to Edinburgh before, lovely, and in fact I even worked there, on Lothian Road near Princes Street, for about 6 months so not too bothered about visiting there on this occasion.

 

[Gomev]

With a nice, Chianti.

Was that a sly reference to a well known film.......

 

[salty]

Was that a sly reference to a well known film.......

It was.

 

[Gomev]

I’m not often / ever looking for accommodation around Falkirk but I’ll ask around and think about anywhere else. Susanna gives some good ideas and I’ll check later.

Indeed. Trivago, Booking.com etc usually see us for accommodation but if you do hear of anywhere with that unique 'je ne sais quoi' then please do tell. Info more in the line of midge-less places to see/visit would be very useful if you think of anything as a good starting point for us as we may as well make use of the nearly 500 mile round trip to get there and back and add a few more miles

 

[Archev]

Mr @Archev and any others in your area can I ask for some tourist advice please. There is a possibility that my wife and I may pop up to the Falkirk area for a few days in July. Main reason for this is because we both want to see and possibly ride the Falkirk Wheel and have a nosey at the Kelpies.
My wife particularly doesn't think she wants to venture further towards the midge army, she has a real aversion to them directly in proportion to the love they have for her.
Looking for other places to visit locally or further afield*, and even locations best to stay. We are more guest house/hotel types these days rather than camping.

*distance from Falkirk not a problem so long as distance from the midges is maintained as best as possible

For guaranteed midge free accommodation I believe the Eagle lander is vacant just now but have you got that kind of range ?
Seriously the places I know are further away from the home patch which necessitates booking them during the midge trades holiday season and if you can work that out you’d be able to make a fortune
As for ideas of places to visit and things to do -
What Susanna said - plus :-
Edinburg, Stirling and Glamis castles.
Linlithgow palace
Glamis Extravaganza vintage car show
Riverside museum and the Tall ship
Bo’ness heritage railway
The Burrell collection in Glasgow
New Lanark heritage miseum
Bridges on the river Forth - view them - walk, drive or train ride over them. They built a viewing platform on the original (red) bridge but I’m not sure if or how it can be booked.
Surgeons Hall medical museum in Edinburgh if you like(?) medical history

I’lll add any others as and when (and if) the brain works

 

[Archev]

Thank you, particularly for the midge info and Falkirk stuff, that's what we'll be going for.
We've been to Edinburgh before, lovely, and in fact I even worked there, on Lothian Road near Princes Street, for about 6 months so not too bothered about visiting there on this occasion.

Ahh Lothian road where I bought my BSA 650cc A65 motorcycle from the dealer whose name I forget but who no longer exists so it really matters not one jot.

 

[Archev]

Couldn’t quite get home from Mossyard so I stopped in castle Douglas for a wee plug in whilst I had scrambled eggs on toast at a cafe then bought a couple of slices of liver at the butcher next door
The assembled dish out on the lawn

View attachment 37579

I think my presentation skills need a wee bit of honing but the taste was OOTW

 

[Archev]

Granddaughter and I had a Glasgow adventure yesterday

we went to the Riverside transport museum,the tall ship Glenlee and the new Govan Footbridge built by my Daughter (well she was the site secretary )

Then we crossed the river via the “Squinty Bridge” and spent an hour or two in the Science Museum.

 

[Rolfe]

I often go to the Imax there, but I've never been round the museum.

 

[Archev]

I often go to the Imax there, but I've never been round the museum.

Well I’ve been to the museum and the Glenlee loads of times but never to the imax. The museum has a pretty good cafe and my Daughter and I met there for lunch a number of times and I had a grand wander round when she went back to her site office next door

 

[Archev]

Monumental quest undertaken yesterday. I had the Berlingo primed and fettled. There was 85% of its maximum energy availability so I thought I might make it without a charge out in the wilds. Anyway I threw caution to the pleasant breeze, turned the key in what was called the ignition switch in the archaic versions of this vehicle (I like that idea because it gives me a positive place to store the key whilst driving)
I set drive, eco and finally stage three regen all in a bid to ensure I could complete this entire journey within the confines of my seven penny octo unit’s worth of motion.
And so began my weekly porridge forage across the hills known locally as the Flints. It’s a climb which half way over becomes a grand decent. At that point the power meter momentarily becomes a blue dotted line at the crest of the hill. Then all the blue vanishes and the green pictogram shows that the wee watt·hours are being scraped off the road and forced back into the battery, deep joy !
After some 3000 metres of this up and down journey I was at last able to seek refuge in the midst of other vehicles and was aware that I was becoming less alone in that traveller’s refuge. From where I was parked I saw four other green striped number plates.
I took the path by the loch and past the double charger in the next car park. Here, unusually, there were no ice mobiles, a couple green stripes were feeding contentedly.
And then I came to a parting in the beautiful green canopy:-

Linlithgow palace in all its glory.

I returned with a week’s supply of pinhead or steelcut oats for my porridge and granary flour to make bread (in a machine, I’m no Hollywood)
And I made it home from this adventure 156 miles before any sort of worry and anguish had a chance to set in other than when’s the pension dropped into the account??

 

[Archev]

Wonderful big adventure starts at 08:00. The Berlingo is currently vying for juice with the immersion and the power bank to chase the cheap octopi. I’ve only requested a 15% top up for the car as that’ll make it up to 80% which will easily get me over to Hamilton and back.
My favourite San Diego softball league player Granddaughter and I shall then sneak away quietly when Citroen’s not looking and catch a bus to Glasgow. She assures me she has worked out a bus route and times to get us to Kelvigrove Art Gallery. She’s certain we’ll be in plenty of time to collect a coffee and a scone. Then we hope to be seated in the hallway cafe area in time to catch the daily one o’clock organ recital. We’ll follow that with a tour of some of the art works.
We could get a bit soggy thereafter as thundery showers are forecast but hey it’ll be fun watching how a Californian reacts to stair rods of precipitation (must check the garage before I go - haven’t seen either of my umbrellas since the storm destroyed the roof - you haven’t seen one float by over your way have you ? ️)