Book Review ; A Fortunate Life - The Autobiography of Paddy Ashdown (2009); Read 3 October 2015

It is purely accidental that I once again found myself reading another Sunday Times top 10 best seller this year, but I have owned this book for a while now, and am familiar with Paddy Ashdown's excellent factual recounting of the 'cockleshell' raid of WW2 recounted in 'A Brilliant Little Operation', so took the chance of a long flight to Johannesburg to start this book, written in 2009.

In nearly 400 pages of close typed text, Paddy Ashdown chronicles what has indeed been an extraordinary life, particularly when compared to the manufactured politicians, most of whom have no real world experience, that we find in Britain today. The book starts, after a short prologue of Ashdown's 1st meeting o Radovan Karadic, with a potted history of the 2 sides of the Ashdown and the accidents of history that brought his mother and father together in the British India of the late 1930s. During WW2, Ashdown's father would reach the rank of Colonel fighting the Japanese and it was in one of the infrequent leave periods he obtained that Jeremy John Durham (he would get the nickname Paddy at school and it would follow him in the Royal Marines, simply because the school attended happended to provide a number of RM officer recruits) Ashdown was conceived.

Ashdown's early years were spent 1srt in India , until the end of the Raj when the family moved to the parent's ancestral pprovince of Northern Ireland. Still young, Ashdown would go along on his fathers' poaching and fishing trips. Sent away to school Ashdown was no great scholar, oddly given his later renowned linguistic skills, he was particualrly criticised for his lack of ability in languages. Unsurprisingly his key strengths were in athletic pursuts but another weakness was Maths, which he needed for selection as an RM officer. Solving this issue though had a happier outcome as his 30 yr old female private maths tutor offered the young lad more than maths tuition!

From school, Ashdown was accepted, at the 2nd attempt, for RM officer training at which he seems to have thrived. This period is easily the most interesting of the book as he covers his basic training and inital posting to Singapore, during the Indonesian confrintation. Accounts of operations are interspersed with his marriage and the learning of Malay and then onto his training in the SBS and return to Singapore. SBS operations are covered as well as the development of remarkable skills to deploy divers directly from submarines and recover them (essentially by having them fish for the sub). Also covered is his tour of his native Northern Ireland at the start of the troubles.

Ashdown, at the end of his SBS tour took a leave of abscence to learn Mandarin Chinese for a couple of years being based in Hong Kong. Before his family flew out he lived for several months with a Chinese family to help develop his knowledge of the language. As a serving British soldier, it was thought that with Mao's cultural revolution waging to the north, that Ashdown was vulnerable and a couple of incidents stick out for their level of threat but also as hilarious vignettes. For example when out with Chinese friends their group was confronted by a horde of students shouting Maoist slogans and waving copies of Mao's red book. This did not look good but Ashdown's companions told him to put his head down whilst they also started waving red books in the air, the students passed cheerily. Ironically the red books waved by Ashdowns friends were their cheque books - the ultimate capitalist symbols but exactly the same shade of red as Mao's tome.

As a now fluent Mandarin speaker, Ashdown's days in the army were numbered, as soon as the NI tour was over he was scouted by 'the Foreign Office' to act as a spy based out of UN offices in Geneva. It was whilst on leave from this job the he became interested in Liberal politics and when his tour was over he resigned (without having a job to go to) and settled in Yeovil, where he and his wife had earlier bought a home. Why Liberalism? Ashdown answers the question easily by pointing out the essential difference between Liberalism and Socialism being the Liberalism is about the equality of opportunity whereas Socialism aims for the equality of outcome (thereby lowering everybody's outcome!).

The 2nd half of the book moves on to Ashdown's political career and finally his work in Bosnia, initially as leader of the Lib Dems - essentially as an interfering British MP in the civil wars of 1992 -95 and then later as the appointed UN representative for reconstrucing the country in the 2000s (which saw his initial appointment doubled in length from 2 to 4 years)

Relying on his savings initially, Ashdown was selected as the candidate for the Liberals in Yeovil (then a safe Tory seat) in 1977. His strategy, he claims was to take the constituency party from 3rd place to second and then to overturn the Tory majority within 3 elections. One key tactic that he used was to act as if he was already the constituency MP; by holding constituency surgeries he was able to solve peoplpe's problems, usually with the then Ccnservative controlled council, just as an MP could be expected to do so. He was elected as MP at the 2nd election. The politics of this period have now moved into history but the 1983 General Election was fought with the backgroiund of the Labour meltdown under Michael Foot and the defection of Owen; Jenkins; Williams; Rodgers at el to form the SDP. Ashdown covers the increasing close relationship between the Liberals and the SDP that lead eventually to the formal merging of the parties (when David Steel astounded all by outwitting David Owen). It was at this point that Ashdown became leader and it was his task to merge the 2 parties, a task that was to prove difficult and acrimonious but ultimately successful. David Owen continued on his own path with the SDP but eventually that party was wound up. In this part of the book, Ashdown is not afraid to protray himself warts and all - admitting to the affair with his aide that let to him being called even occasionally today (more than 25 years later ) as Paddy Pants Down.

The 1992 election was looking to be a close call (in the end Kinnock's triumphalism was premature as John Major won with a tiny minority) . In the run up to the election, Ashdown considered what it would take to go into a coalition government wisely, unlike his successor in 2010 ( Nick Clegg) he always stood by the rule that in setting conditions for coalition PR was not negotiable as he recognised the weakness of the smaller party in any coalition (the book was written 2009 - Clegg should perhaps have read it!). A surprising follow up here was the possibilty of coalition with Blair's labour in 1997. Ashdown claims that Blair wanted a coalition and could be persuaded over PR. It seems that negotiotions went on for over a year after Blair's landslide victory but I cannot conceive how Blair could have, or even needed, got a coalition past his labour colleagues when he had a huge Parliamentary majority.

Unable to get Blair to commit, Ashdown took the opportunity to step aside as Leader but remained close to Blair. A result of this was his support (which he admits here was wrong) for the Iraq war; his appointment to the House of Lords and UN High Representative (effectively pro-consul) for Bosnia Herzegovina; and even a US request for hime to act as advisor to the Afghan Government of Karzai (proposed by Condoleeza Rice but which Karzai scotched).

 

 

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North Coast 500 – 2 days, 2 blokes and an MX5

It was a Facebook post entitled ‘Scotland's answer to America's Route 66’ that grabbed my attention. Apparently the route around the Northern part of Scotland, which has apparently been promoted since June 2015, has been named among the top six road coastal road trips in the world. The North Coast 500 is the brainchild of the North Highland Initiative (NHI), set up by Prince Charles to showcase the area, and is targeting car and motorbike enthusiasts, as well as cyclists and walkers wanting to take in some of the most scenic parts of Scotland.

Setting Out

Well that was tempting as Inverness, the starting point, was only an hour or so from home. The only thing that made me think twice was that this was the coldest and wettest summer in living memory (we had 197% of our usual rainfall in July and the Times later confirmed that Scotland had less than a week’s summer in 2015!). Indeed it was the weather that turned my planned 3 day trip into a 2 day one as the original plan had been to do this on a weekend when I had the Friday off but it had pi**ed down on the Friday and Saturday so instead I decided to delay a week and take Iain on the trip over the weekend of 22/23 August instead. Of course the MX5 would prove to be the ideal transport if we could put the roof down along the way and it stayed down all weekend!

More justice could be done to this route on a 4 day trip and frankly I think I will try to do that next year but for now we had but 2 days. I am going to let the photos speak for themselves as we left home in bright sunshine on Saturday morning making our way to Inverness and crossing the Kessock bridge as our starting point. Through work I am pretty familiar with the drive along the Cromarty Firth but I always find the parked Oil Rigs somewhat awesome as a statement of Human ingenuity. Continuing our drive along the Dornoch Firth we stopped eventually at Golspie to grab a cup of coffee and enjoy the view of the Duke of Sutherland’s statue on the hill above.

For some odd reason I had always assumed this monument to one of the architects of the Highland Clearances was in the North West! There was a movement a few years ago by a bunch of socialist/nationalist types to have this monument to landlordly greed demolished. Thankfully, that all seems to have died down now and this particular rogue remains cold and lonely on his plinth for birds to crap on. We didn’t go up the hill for a look, instead we went straight to the ‘Coffee Bothy’ with every good intention to just have a coffee destroyed when we noticed the all day breakfast on the menu. Sitting outside in the early afternoon sunshine we both devoured the superb, and cheap , ADB and enjoyed a pot of coffee at the same time.

Nowadays, almost all the books I buy are e-books, the exception being made when I visit charity shops and with an Alzheimer Scotland shop almost directly across the road from the ‘Coffee Bothy’ I couldn’t resist going in. This was a treasure trove and within 5 mins and for just £5, I had 5 excellent hardbacks. Shopping completed, we set off again but were soon stopped again. This time at Brora, where there seemed to be a competition for the best-dressed scarecrow with some excellent examples scattered around the town

Berriedale Braes, south of Wick, was our next stop. Here there is cemetery with a fine view towards the sea and above a hairpin bend (the only one on the East coast – the west would have many more). Intrigued by the notice that there was a Commonwealth War Grave in the cemetery we followed muddy path around the cemetery wall until we found the entrance on the north side and went in. The views out to sea would make this a fine eternal resting place and as we looked out to sea we saw 2 oil rigs in transit.

 

Wick was a fuel stop but we didn’t hang around. For now the sky was becoming overcast and this made the flat landscape of few miles north to John o Groats seem pretty bleak. Frankly these few miles are probably the least interesting of the trip. Nevertheless on arrival at JoG you do get great views across to the Isle of Stroma and Orkney and with more time available it would have been good to take the ferry from here to Orkney to explore a little more. Instead we had coffee and a rather dry scone (it was 5pm by now so probably a little late in the day) in one of the many small cafes. As we had not booked a place to stay overnight, Iain and I had a discussion about where we should stop. Thurso promised a choice of hotels but we thought Durness would be a better option. Iain googled for Hotels in Durness and found the Smoo Cave Hotel who informed us that it would take around 3 hours to get to them from JoG and that they had a room we could have and, most importantly that the restaurant would serve well into the evening. We told them we would see them in 3 hrs.

 

The route along the top of Scotland is a gem, particularly once past Thurso. We stopped off at Dunnet Head – the most northerly point of Mainland Britain, though we did not go right to the edge of the cliff! From here it was through Thurso and then a most magnificent drive passing Dounreay and getting better and better views of Ben Loyal and Ben Hope. The road was quiet and the scenary just got better and better as the A road became single track, with passing places only (though still marked in the map as an A road). All the time we had the roof down as the sky had cleared of cloud and the lowering sun made a beautiful skyscape. Midges had not bothered us all day – we were after all travelling at 60mph so we were complacent enough to stop by the roadside to get a better view of Ben Loyal. Instantly we were covered in the sods. ‘Quick back in the car’. Of course the midges were now also in the car and travelling along with us at 60mph but with a relative velocity of 0 mph! It took a good few minutes to swat the buggers.

As Loch Erribol (Loch ‘Orrible to RN sailors in days of yore) was a great sight as we neared Durness. Chancing the midges we stopped again and got away with it this time before driving the final few miles to Durness and a great welcome at the Smoo Cave Hotel just 2 ½ hours after leaving JoG. Here we found very welcoming locals, a lively bar with Real Ales and 1st class food (the local seafood is excellent). Although a restaurant area was available we decided to eat in the bar. I had Scallops and black pudding starter cooked just perfectly and then joy of joys a real steak pie (i.e.one with sides and bottom as well as a top. We had been advised on calling that no en-suite room was available but this didn’t matter as there was a huge bathroom next to our twin room.

Replete after dinner we were in bed and in the land of nod by 1030 that night having booked breakfast for 7:30. I awoke at 0630 to see just low cloud and rain from the window. Damn! Checking the MWIS forecast however I found that the overnight rain was forecast to clear quickly and that although near gale force winds would be encountered on the munroes we could expect a good day low down. The forecast was to prove spot on as by the end of the day we would both have sun burnt faces!. First though Breakfast which, like the food the night before, was very good. The freshly cooked to bacon, egg, beans, sausage was to die for and should keep us going until lunch time no bother.

If the trip along the North Coast on Saturday Evening was special then from Durness right through to Bealach na Ba that would take us from 0800 right through to 1700 on Sunday was truly amazing as the scenery was in a class of its own. At 1st we still had a little low cloud on the hill tops but this was clearing quickly. For the most part of the morning we would have a watery haze in the sky which had the odd effect of foreshortening distance, making even smaller hill look like giants. By the Afternoon, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Starting from Durness we travelled south on the single track A838 towards Scourie. Before long meeting a German motorcyclist stopped by the roadside. A quick chat ensued, the motorcyclist full of praise for the almost empty landscape. Continuing south we found the sea again at Loch Laxford, familiar to me only through John Ridgway’s ‘Floodtide’, before refuelling at the automatic fuel pump at Scourie – where fuel was cheaper than in Inverness. As we made our way further, Quinag loomed above the landscape and barred our immediate way south pointing us instead westwards towards the point of Stour along a steeply undulating B-road that we had to ourselves as far as Lochinver. This was MX5 driving country of the highest order. There are 3 Corbetts on Quinag which gives me a reason to return again next year.

The Stour Peninsula eventually throws you out on to the fast A-837 for a quick run into Ullapool. On the way though for a late morning coffee, we were greeted to fine views of Suilven looming through the haze which not only made it seem bigger than it is but made it seem incredibly atmospheric. Passing Loch Assynt we sighted the ruins of Ardvreck Castle but didn’t stop – it seemed too early in the day, though I now wish we had spent a few moments there. As one travels through the west coast of Scotland one rapidly runs out of superlatives. Ian noted that he was getting blasé with the photography (I had made him Expedition Photographer) as every look in every direction just revealed more and more great views.

 

Ullapool was quiet but open and we were able to replenish our scone and coffee reserves near the harbour before continuing south once more. Keeping to the coastal road we skirted the southern shore of loch Broom as we circumnavigated Wester Ross and caught great views of the Summer Isles (a great kayaking location – next year perhaps?) and Gruinard (where Churchill tested Anthrax as a biological weapon during WW2).

After passing Gairloch we headed east with Beinn Eighe, the 1st of the Torridon Munros soon coming into view. At the end of Loch Maree is Kinlochewe where there is a small Petrol Station. As the sun was now high in the sky and the day had turned hot we decided that as well as it being petrol time, that it was also Ice cream time so I bought a Raspberry Magnum for each of us which we devoured as we headed towards Loch Torridon. Here we were faced by the 2 magnificent Munros – Liathach and Beinn Alligin. Looking at Liathach from the east made me wonder how on Earth I had ever walked up and down her as the steepness of the mountain’s sides is exaggerated from this side. Here we stopped several time to take photographs.

From Torridon we progressed on into Applecross – a completely new experience for me – on an unclassified road which gave wonderful views to Rona and Skye through a shimmering haze. For me Applecross was the highlight of the whole trip. This peninsula is reached and left only with difficulty but it is worth the effort. It was 3pmby the time we reached Applecross itself. Here the sun was beating down, a few families were paddling in the water by the beach and we felt we deserved a fine lunch so stopped at the Applecross Walled Garden Restaurant. This walled garden is a in need of some green fingered attention but the Café was wonderful. Again a real Ale for Iain and a coke for me ( I was driving so under the SNP’s nanny statist policies could not even indulge in 1 pint for fear of being in breach of the recently introduced lower driving limit for blood alcohol). But the food was truly magnificent. Freshly caught fried fish in a massive portion – so large I could have slept even without the beer.

On leaving Applecross the road climbs rapidly to the Bealach na Ba. The road is signposted as not suitable for caravans and the reason becomes very clear when one reaches the top as the road boasts the greatest ascent of any road climb in the UK, rising from sea level at Applecross to 2054 ft (apparently this is the third highest road in Scotland) and whilst the climb is steep, the descent on hairpin road is a precipitous 25% gradient most of the way to Strathcarron, again at sea level.

For me Strathcarron really marked the end of the journey as the rest of the route through Glen Carron and on to Inverness is on a standard fast A-road and traffic returns. This part is not pleasant but after then endlessly rolling film of gorgeous scenery that had been with us since breakfast, these last miles back to Inverness were for me an anti-climax, and for Iain a chance to snooze.

So overall impressions. North and Western coasts are stunning. The whole journey provides great opportunities to see and do more than we had time for in our 2-day trip and it will be worth a re-visit, perhaps by bike next year. If you get the chance go and do it. Iain’s comment on the trip ‘The whole cost of the MX5 was repaid in that 1 trip’

Website for the route is at:

http://www.northcoast500.com/home.aspx

this has a good cyclists itinerary:

http://www.northcoast500.com/itinerary/cyclists-(1).aspx

and a better article than mine from the Gaurdian:

http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2015/aug/23/scotland-north-coast-500-road-trip

 

Posted with Blogsy

South Africa Kit List

Passport
Credit and debit cards
South African Rand
Cash - £/Euros
UK drivers licence
Hotel booking - Birchwood


4 t shirts
PJs
8 socks
8 underwear
2 x Outdoors trousers
6 L/S shirts
Jacket

Soap powder for washing clothes

Ipad and charger
iPhone & charger (S African SIM card to be used in country)
South African Travel adaptor
IPod

Books
Kindle
Guidebook

Toiletries
Imodium
Pills
Insect repellent
Sunscreen

Flying stuff

• EASA  licence
• Medical
• Logbook
• Headset + spare batteries
• Kneeboard (large & small)
• Plotter
• Electronic E6B
• Timer
• Sunglasses
• Headlamp

 

Skydemon and charger

 

Camera kit:

• EOS
• Telephoto lens
• Spare battery + charger
• Lens cases

 

Mission Completed by Air Chief Marshal Sir Basil Edward Embry GCB, KBE, DSO & Three Bars, DFC, AFC. Read 30 August 2015

This is the autobiography of Air Chief Marshal Sir Basil Embry, one of the RAF’s outstanding leaders off the 2nd World War. Perhaps his greatest belief was that commanders should lead from the front and throughout the war this is what Embry did. Whilst the war years take up most of the book, the early chapters cover Embry’s early career from joining the infant RAF in 1921, whilst the last couple of chapters take the story from 1945 to his retirement in 1956, via his roles as C in C Fighter Command and NATO.

Embry was one of the pioneers of the early RAF. On completion of flying training he served in Iraq in the air policing role, where he also helped pioneer the first Baghdad to Cairo air route (to say airline would be to overdo it) as well as the Air Ambulance role (for which he received his AFC). On return to the UK he became a senior flying instructor with the CFS and was involved (though he doesn’t take the credit) in the development of Instrument Flying instruction. After this tour he served as a Sqn Ldr on a 5 year posting to India’s NW Frontier where he was to receive the 1st of 4 DSOs.

Starting the war as a Wing Commander in the Air Ministry he quickly set about organising himself a posting to command an operational Bomber Sqn (107) equipped with Blenheims. Throughout the book it is clear that Embry put a premium upon morale which he believed to be always improved by his example of leading from the front. Additionally Embry was a pioneer of operational analysis and a successful innovator, using lessons learned and attempting to perfect performance thinking about how his crews could improve their performance and following through on these ideas, often cutting through bureaucracy to achieve his ends. An early example in the winter of 1939 being the rigging up of a practice Blenheim gun turret from a crashed aircraft and a factory supplied electrical test system that was obtained by Embry’s claiming to be acting on the order of the Air Ministry when in fact he was calling on his own behalf. Later, when AOC 2 group he would analyse the group’s average bombing performance, the result of which was to reduce the margin of error from 1800 yards to 200 yards. Also in 2 Gp he pioneered, against official wishes, the use of models to allow low level Mosquito crews to improve their navigation and target recognition which were crucial in the pinpoint attacks on targets such as Amiens gaol and the Gestapo headquarters in Aarhus and Copenhagen amongst others. Although

Embry flew a number of missions throughout the Battles of Norway, including attacking the German Heavy Cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, and France in 1940 and these are well covered in the book, though Embry is laconic with regards to his own participation. 1940 was indeed a busy year for Embry as apart from his leadership of 107 Sqn (for which he received a 2nd DSO). Told on 26 May that he was to be promoted to Group Captain, he took the opportunity to fly one more mission, after having formally handed the Sqn to his successor. It was on this mission that he was shot down by anti-aircraft fire. He and his observer Pilot Officer Whiting became POWs but the unfortunate recently married Gunner, Corporal Lang was killed. Embry was quickly captured but whilst being marched to captivity in a column of British prisoners, he and another airman made their escape when they took as a good omen a road sign ‘Embry, 3 km’ at which point they rolled down a bank unnoticed by their captors. Although both men were at once separated they both made it back to the UK. Embry would evade recapture for two months before becoming the 1st evader to return to Britain. Whilst the story is more fully covered elsewhere (‘Wingless Victory’ by Anthony Richardson) the story of the escape is well covered here also. Back in Britain, Embry spent 3 weeks at but when offered command of a night fighter wing he jumped at the chance despite reverting to the rank of wing commander. The wing disbanded in December 1940 and Embry became AOC RAF Wittering returning to the rank of Gp Capt in March 1941. As in the future Embry continued to fly operationally in the radar equipped night-fighters of No. 25 Sqn.

Embry - at right as AOC 2 Gp

In October 1941 he was seconded to the Desert Air Force as an adviser the AVM Coningham in the use of tactical bombers and he saw operation during the relief of Tobruk during operation Crusader. In early 1942 Embry returned to the UK to serve, briefly as AOC Wittering again and then on promotion to AVM as AOC 10 Group Fighter Command before transferring back to Bomber Command and taking up command of 2 Gp just before its transfer to the 2nd TAF in preparation for Overlord. It is well known that Embry’s dynamism and leadership were outstanding this command, though in this book Embry, whilst recalling a number of key developments and operations, including the attacks on V1 and V2 sites and the Overlord invasion, he is certainly not one to blow his own trumpet so one doesn’t realise just how much operational flying he continued to undertake. Even in the rank of Air Vice Marshall, Embry continued to fly on, and often lead, all of the high profile operations carried out by the group although he would fly under the pseudonym of ‘Wing Commander Smith’. It is a shame that Embry did not make more in the book of the operations that he flew during this time as many of them now are regarded as classic attacks , well planned, well led and superbly executed.

This book, which was written in 1956, on Embry’s retirement starts and finishes with discussions around what was then ‘current’ policy. Embry rails against the Treasury’s failure to deliver what operational commanders need and of the division of responsibilities within between the Air Ministry and the Ministry of Production - now both long since disappeared. It is interesting to look back at 60 years later and how the world has moved on but many of the points made ore of course no longer relevant, particularly the concerns over operating in the nuclear battlefield (itself a doctrinal casualty of NATOs switch from Tripwire to Flexible Response in the late 1960s). In addition to the issues of the day, time has also affected how one sees the style of the book. In today’s terms it is incredibly formally written. Throughout surnames are used and Embry continually refers to his wife as ‘my wife’ rather than by her name! These are minor niggles, however and this book is well worth reading.

 

 

Great News - Hill of Flinder Wind Turbine developer withdraws appeal

Developers have withdrawn their appeal against the decision to refuse the 400ft wind turbine on Hill of Flinder that would have dwarfed the nearby Dunnydeer Hill and its ancient Hillfort and Castle remains (the oldest example of its type in Scotland. I 1st mentioned it here:
http://acallow.blogspot.co.uk/…/wednesday-18-feb-2015-summe…
And here was my Letter of July this year against the Appeal - feel free to plagiarize:
The Directorate for Planning and Environmental Appeals
4 The Courtyard
Callendar Business Park
Callendar Road
Falkirk, FK1 1XR
Dear Sir/Madam
Scottish Ministers Reference: PPA-110-227
Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997
Proposal: Erection of Single 900kW Wind Turbine (Hub Height 45m, Total Height 67m), Access Track and Ancillary Infrastructure
Address: Land At, Hill Of Flinder, Insch, AB52 6YY
Grid Reference: 359088.827708
It has come to my notice that, contrary to the advice of the local planning authority the developer of the above proposal has decided to appeal . In addition to my previous comments I would reaffirm my strong opposition to this application. Whilst there are strong ethical grounds to object to the redistribution of taxpayer's and energy consumer's (many of whom are not wealthy) funds via subsidies to landowners there are a number of practical concerns that make this application unacceptable:
1. This application has already been rejected by the appropriate local authority. Surely the Scottish Government should take cognisance of the primacy of LOCAL officials in local matters.
2. Visual Impact – as I have already mentioned, Hill of Flinder is a wholly inappropriate site. The proposed turbine shall be almost 200feet tall (which is HALF the height of Dunnydeer Hill!). It will therefore be visible from a wide area; inevitably it shall dwarf the ancient 12th Century Dunnydeer Castle – the oldest of its type in Scotland and thereby despoil the stunning scenery of the area.
3. Inappropriate siting; impact to health and well-being of residents – this proposal is sited too close to dwelling houses. The construction works will expose residents to considerable noise and disruption and the completed turbine will inevitably have a visual and audible impact, detrimental to health and well-being.
4. Environmental damage - the environmental assessments presented are predictive. If incorrect the damage cannot be undone.
5. Economic argument – without taxpayer funded subsidy this development would not be considered. Furthermore a single turbine cannot possibly have a measurable effect on global climate change, though it will have a serious detrimental effect to my village.
I trust that my points shall be given careful consideration in your decision process.
Yours Faithfully
Alan Callow

Tour O The Borders 2015

On Sunday 9 August I completed my 1st ever sportive the 2015 ‘Tour o The Borders’ which started and finished in Peebles. The route was a 120km (74.6 miles) with 4722ft of ascent. My Official race time was 6hrs 35 though my moving time for the event was 5hrs 21 the difference being due to an hour and 15 minute delay due to an accident when two of the leading riders crashed within minutes of each other on the descent form Talla. Most riders were then unable to progress and spent a very cold 1 hr 20 on the Talla summit in strongish winds and showers waiting for the road to be re-opened.

Whilst this was an inconvenience the sight of the Air Ambulance collecting one of the injured riders was a sobering one and a reminder that one’s own inconveniencing was nothing compared to those who were injured.

I had journeyed down to Peebles with Alex, who would be starting in the 1st wave, on the Saturday as Registration was open from 10am-8pm on Saturday only on Peebles Tweed Green. Here we collected out race chips and I moved my start wave from 12 to 7 based on the improved time I now expected, having been in training since May. I had booked accommodation in plenty of time at Innerleithen but with just 3 weeks to go this provider cancelled our booking due to a cock up on their booking system so at the last minute we ended up in Hawick at the very friendly North Bridge Street B&B (but 1 hour away) where we were welcome to put our bikes indoors overnight. Sadly we couldn’t wait for breakfast as we needed to be on the road back to Peebles at 0430.

The 1st wave of riders was off at 0645 and I got going at 06:59. After 1:15 hrs my Garmin Edge froze so all other timing was done by Strava on the iPhone which turned out to be lifesaver with its autopause function. The course is an interesting one, pretty hilly all round with the 2nd main hill - Talla - being the Beast of a 1 in 20! It was here that we were all delayed on reaching the top. From Talla to the food stop at the Gordon Arms it was possible to really fly and overtook a large number of riders. There are plenty of food stops though I only stopped twice – when passing the old Gordon Arms Hotel for Jelly Babies and Macaroni pies.

Two big hills come on the 32km loop that the 120km course riders were doing that starts and ends at the Gordon Arms. The first of these was directly into the strong SW wind whilst the second ‘Whichyknowe’ had the timed climb (11min 55.57 secs for me). Just before ‘Whichyknowe’ another rider pointed out that my rear wheel was wobbling badly. I couldn’t see it myself at first but when climbing Paddy Slacks another rider called me to stop the wheel was really wobbly. On inspection almost all the spokes were loose. With no mechanics close by and no phone signal I was now stopping often to tighten spokes with my fingers and going reasonably slow downhills as I didn’t want the wheel to collapse. I reckon this problem probably lost me 10-15 minutes on the final time.

My Final position was 1132 out of 1403 finishers on the 120km course (228th in the M50-59 Category out of 282). Cash raised for the Matt Hampson foundation (so far) £495

Lessons Learned

1 – Get an early start, this will help with parking, preparing the bike and get you into the loo with plenty of time to spare

2 – Try to get accommodation nearer to the race (not always easy given 2000 entries)

3 – Check over the bike again – I reckon my loose spokes cost me around 20 minutes as I nursed the back wheel home for the last 30km or so.

4 – Carry a lightweight poncho or similar, my teeth were chattering on top of Talla when the race was delayed

 

 

DVD review. Kayaking the Aleutians - Justine Curgenven

Awesome as a word is overused these days but it is a word that accurately describes the Expedition recorded by Justine Curgenven's superb film.   Justine is of course the doyen of Sea Kayaking film production most famous for her 'This is The Sea' series.  Nevertheless this film surpasses even her earlier work.  The filmwork is superb and the expedition it records is an epic. 

For 101 days Justine and Sarah Outen kayaked the 2500km length of the Aleutian Island chain, spending up to 15 hours at a time in their Kayaks.  To set the scene on needs to start at the beginning of the tale and this is Sarah's epic self-powered round the world trip which she commenced in April 2011 and is due to complete sometime towards the end of 2015 (for details visit her website http://www.sarahouten.com/ ).  Having rowed solo across the Pacific in 2013 from Japan to Adak Island in the Aleutian Islands she was forced to abandon her trip in her row boat but determined to return to continue from where she left off in 2014 this time by Kayak. 

This DVD tells the story of that continuation this time in Sea Kayaks and with the expert aid of Justine.  The early part of the DVD covers Justine's training of Sarah over the winter of 2013 (Sarah was a relative novice Kayaker – I say relative that is to Justine as  she's a damned sight better than most from what I can tell!) .  This is a truly epic journey.  It is inspirational to see what can be done by a relative novice (Sarah admitted to being scared on many an occasion) if one just gets out there and does it.  

The Aleutian chain provides a stunning backdrop as the women progress through their journey, encountering uncharted tidal conditions, poor weather, fog and even Grizzly Bears but also the local hospitality on those islands that are inhabited.  This far North the weather changes rapidly and it is a tribute to the skills of these explorers that they thrive in these conditions whilst still producing such a superb film.  The physical challenges of sitting for hours in Kayaks day after day can only be marvelled at.  This DVD is a must for anyone interested in adventure, whether they are into Kayaking or not.