Glasgow, Scotland, UK: 16 May 2009

Party Glasgow

i like the people in Glasgow, i think even in a big city like this, people are still the friendly Scottish. However i do not really enjoy the famous pub scenes here, likely to because of we are non-drinker. There are just one pub every ten steps in the city centre and people started to drink and get drunk since mid-day.



The pedestrians walking street is one of the heavens for shopaholic in Glasgow. Glasgow is said to be the UK's largest retail contingency outside London.



Gallery of Modern Art have its focal point in the social issues. It can be interesting to see some thought-provoking artistic interpretations of the more marginalised people in today's society.



George Square and the beautiful historical city council.



We get the impression that, after Merchant City, the East end of the city is kind of more run-down.



The Barras, Glasgow's flea market. It closes around mid-day. We were there a bit too late. What we saw was just the empty street full with rubbish, some drunk men and a few patrol policemen. We don't feel particular safe here.



Glasgow Green, near to the rejuvenated River Clyde.

Tillicoultry, Clackmannanshire, Scotland: Summer 2009

Water, Forest, Cold ...

Tillicoultry

It rained continuously for 6 days on/off when we just moved to Scotland. It was cold and wet all the time. Somehow, we were lucky to find a flat by ourselves for short term, near to Stirling, below the Orchil Hills, in a small peaceful village called Tillicoultry.



This is our neighbourhood. We could just hike up to the hills as we want. The foot path to go up is 5 minutes from our house.



There are hills and of course there is a river!
The river is just right beside of the road after the first left/right turns to our house.



The small park just below of the hills.
This place is so quiet that, there is even no wireless internet around the areas.
If i switch on my macbook in Cardiff or Brighton, it can detect at least 10 wireless networks.
Overhere, we are the only house where there is internet connection.


Callander, Scotland: 10 May 2008

When KY and KL came to visit us, they told us that, their tour guide said, Callander is a place for old people. May be that is true. The town is of medium size, with mountains for easy hike and water falls / rivers to chill out.



From the small village that we stay, we drove by Bridge of Allan and Doune to go to Callander. It took around 1 hour. On the way, there is a wind field. It seems like there are quite a few wind fields around Scotland. We normally see it along the highway.



Unlike the other part of UK, there is forest in Scotland. It was so pleasant to just walk in the fresh cold air in the forest. The walk was straight forward and easy.



We arrived at Bracklinn falls with our swimming wears in the beg, wanted to brave the cold water at this time. However, there were no way to go down to the falls. The hike stopped above at the falls where we could only look and not able to touch the water at all.



A pool which could be just nice to swim, but couldn't go down there! We ended up just picnic.

Snowdonia, Wales, UK: 11-12 April 2009

Eryri (Snowdonia in Welsh) - Eryr (Eagle) or Highlands

The English name for Snowdonia derives from Snowdon, which is the highest mountain in Wales and England at 1,085 metres (3,560 ft). Many of the hikers in the area concentrate on Snowdon itself. It is regarded as a fine mountain, but can become quite crowded, particularly with the Snowdon Mountain Railway running to the summit. There are many path from easy to difficult, which takes from 5-8 hours return for the hikers to walk up to the summit. Unfortunately, i wasn't well on that day and the railway had too many people, so we did not go to the summit.



We did camping at one of the camp sites at Llanberis. At this time of the year, it is still quite cold and the camp sites had suprisingly many campers. At night, it was very very very cold. We had to bury ourselves in the blanket totally. The camp ground we got was not flat and sleeping on a slope wasn't that comfortable as well. But the views were good.



Snowdon Mountain Railway on the way to the summit. But in fact, at this time of the year, the steam train did not go to the summit, it stopped a few miles below. Some hikers think the rail track and train spoiled the natural views, but i think this is actually a good way for some people who aren't fit to walk up all the way, to enjoy the view and the feelings of "top of the world".



A small walk to some of the smaller hills could provide quite a good views of the surrounding as well.



Snowdonia used to be a mining place for slate. The slate mining closed down due to the running cost. It is said, the slate from this region can last as long as 200 years. The slate museum provides interesting displays of the tools and technologies people used years ago in the mining. The museum staff, an ex-miner, showed the visitor how the miner separates or cut the slate.



People holding advanced diving license can don into the lake to explore the old mining facilities now hidden under the water.



Snowdonia was our last tourist stop before we moved away from Wales. I was a bit disappointed with the views. In my mind, i always imagining trees on the mountain, but for almost all mountains or hills that we had been in England or Wales, there are basically no trees, just grassland for sheep or cows grazing. Even at the cold North East of Canada, there are still many trees on the mountains. So i suspected that, weather is not an issue. All the trees here probably had been chopped down long time ago to support the energy needs of the mining industries.