Pics 1-3 are by John Patton, who blogs at phototilly.eu
Pic 1
Pic 2
Pic 3
Pic 1.
“Munro bagging is a sport known to many climbing enthusiasts and they come from all over the World to pursue their hobby. The Munros were first listed by Sir Hugh Munro (1856 – 1919) in his ‘Munros Tables’, published in the Journal of the Scottish Mountaineering Club (SMC) in 1891. Sir Hugh divided the summits into 283 separate mountains (now known as the Munros), whilst 255 further summits over 3000 feet were considered to be only subsidiary ‘Tops’. His list caused quite a stir at the time, as it had previously been thought that there were only around 30 mountains of that height. Buachaill Etive Mór in the Western Highlands is over a 1000m and one of the most attractive peaks in a haunting landscape. This year , snow has been scarce as you can see when I visited the area last month.”
“Pic 2 and Pic 3 were taken last month in Glen Etive , considered by many to be one of the most spectacular glens in Scotland and a great favourite for film makers; it is a much featured location in the Bond franchise. The river Etive forms many pools and waterfalls as it courses towards the sea. Red deer are common – the stag a few weeks back was pictured here and , if you are lucky , patient and knowledgeable, the golden eagle may be spotted.”
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Pic 4 is by Perkin Warbeck:
Pic 4
“A GOOD D’AY in D’………..(from ‘CEAD MILE MALTA’ ” by Perkin Warbeck)
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Pics 5 and 6 are by Jude
Pic 5
Pic 6
“Pic 5 is the Amusement section of Hyde Park in London – big and bloody awful.
Pic 6 is from the Sinn Féin launch earlier this week. One can only hope Michelle Gildernew isn’t suggesting rude words to Mary Lou…”
Some stunning pics there. Is Perkin ever coming back from Malta ?
A question one often finds oneself asking oneself, Moser, a chara.
D’thing is: it all depends if one can free this bike which one freewheeled from Valleymount down to Valletta, via France, Spain and Italy. Following faithfully the routes associated with d’Tour de France, d’Vuelta d’Espana and d’Giro d’Italia. Did it all in less than a month too.
For this is no ordinary bike. It is none other than d’bike upon which one, Wiggington Warbeck won the inaugural Tour d’Farce the predecessor of d’Ras Tailteann. That would have been one’s favourite Uncle Wiggins, as he was known in the family.
Yes, the same Uncle Wiggins who went down in the back story of the bicycle as the very first competitive cyclist to be disqualified for drug taking. Despite his protestations (strenuous) that he had taken nothing more sinister than a concoction of cod liver oil, raw eggs and milk of magnesia.
Uncle Wiggins never married; he was content to merrily pedal his way through life with Edel, as he called the bike in d’photo. When he wasn’t peddling stories of his glorious though guillotined career.
The Perkin was lucky enough to come into possession of the bike when, on his deathbed , Uncle Wiggins summonsed his favourite nephew to his side, in the bedoom he shared with Edel. And there, in a scene reminiscent of a similar situation which Woody Allen once found himself in, he sold it to one – at a thoughtfully generous discount with his very last words.
-I bought …this bike…..for ….a… penny….farthing…. but, you, Perkie, can have it…for ….a….penny.
Then, with a wheeze, a sigh and a throat rattle , d’Uncle was gone to the great Velodrome in the Sky. It was the Warbeck family doctor in attendance (Dr. Crubeen, MD) who confirmed that The Perkin’s penny was now officially irretrievable, it being in ‘a dead man’s grip’.
Thus, was the value of d’bike increased incrementally: having its practical value layered with the sentimental.
Sadly, on arrival in Malta one had one’s bike promptly impounded; on the fatuous charge that one had ‘no bell on one’s bike’.
To rub some granulation into one’s laceration, and before one had been afforded the chance to retrieve it, it was the first item to be snapped up at d’Monthly Maltese Metropolitan Police Auction for Unclaimed Items of a Confiscated, Abandoned or Lost Nature.
Imagine one’s horror therefore on stumbling upon Edel and she to be in her current unfortunate condition. Held up to the ridicule of the passing pedestrian traffic, compelled to spend her foreseeable future like a medieval prisoner in stocks, and, worst of all, welded to a misspelled sign. This is how both d’ matter and Edel stand, going neither forward nor backwards, but nowhere.
D’Uncle Wiggins must surely be turning his grave, with a brown penny clutched in his bony paw.
So, to answer your question, Moser, a chara, D’ Perkin is not returning without Edel or her two pedals. Saddled as he is with this head-addling conundrum.
Beir bua.
Beautiful photos of Scotland. I’ve been up in the highlands a few times Munro bagging in the Loch Lomond, Fortwilliam and Knoydart areas. Some of the most stunning landscapes I’ve ever seen.