Cycling the Great Glen Way

We decided to cross Scotland from west to east on bicycle via the Great Glen Way which goes from Fort William on the west to Inverness on the east - about 80 miles, a lot of it along a very old canal built in the 1830s which is still used for boats today. Bicycles seemed a better option than walking along the canal for miles. We took three days to do it, and had some great moments flying down hills - the cycle track detoured off into the nearby mountains and used forestry tracks whenever the opportunity arose. Some of the memorable moments:

The deer in the ditch - still alive and alert. We assume it had been hit by a car and we rang national parks who were going out to check it - I still wonder what the outcome was
The traffic on the main roads - no shoulder on scottish roads so absolutely scary to cycle
The steep hills to push the bike up - sometimes a 60 degree slope
The exhilaration of the downhill runs which went for kilometers - and getting scared at the speed - jamming the brakes on and hoping they hold
The ness islands on the outskirts of Inverness -

However it was really hard work - not sure that I see myself as a cyclist with a future. I prefer a bit more luxury

Scotland - the west highlands

Digby and I have just walked from Glasgow to Fort William along the West Highland Way - 153 kilometres over 8 days. We averaged 15 - 20 kilometres a day - a slow pace compared to other walkers. I like to think that we were savouring the experience! What things stand out?

The sheep/lamb/dog thing
All the sheep are lambing in May and the newborn lambs were endlessly entertaining. We watched a farmer use two sheep dogs to shift new lambs and mothers into an adjacent paddock. He used separate whistle commands for each dog. As all the lambs panicked and lost their mothers it seemed like pandemonium. They were very small only a week old - but each had a number on their back - which matched to their mother. We spoke to the farmer after the shift as all the lambs were bleating to relocate their mothers. "I'll give them half an hour to 'mother-up' and then I'll go and sort them out"- which meant matching numbers

Digby is famous
We found the warden at the YHA hostel at Rowardennan had been to Cape Trib two years before and done the fruit tasting - he recognised digby - small world isnt it.

Rannoch Moor
The walking on day 5 was superb - surrounded by mountains covered in snow, wide open spaces and no vehicle noise - we walked across the moor and into Glen Coe to stay at the Kingshouse, a hotel which has been there since the 1500s. It still looks the same landscape - large glacial U shaped valleys - high rounded mountain tops on all sides and no other houses.

Companionship of other walkers
We walked over several days with Bill and Stacey, on their honeymoon from Colorado, and Roger and Wendy from Cornwall - we all travelled at basically the same pace and kept meeting up each night. The comaraderie was great. At the end of the walk in the middle of downtown Fort William, Wendy and Roger had arrived first and were waiting for us to stagger in and appeared with whisky and glasses to toast the end of the walk, at the 'end' sign. This seemed surreal, surrounded by traffic, pedestrians, and all the other bits of civilisation.

Walking across England

18 days and 205 miles later Digby and I staggered into Robin Hood's bay on the east coast of England. We have walked the whole way from St. Bee's on the west coast through Cumbria and the Lakes District on to Yorkshire through the Moors to the coast.

Staying at B&Bs most nights has given us some interesting insights into the business. In general English B&Bs quarantine you from the family into a separate part of the house - you dont meet the family - the husband is usually never seen. There are exceptions and these are the places which we will remember the most: watching the grand national steeplechase in front of the fire with a local sheep farmer; talking about the long distance walk with the host who has also completed it. The B&B breakfasts are usually 'full' english breakfast which includes a huge fry up of eggs, bacon, sausages, mushrooms, tomatoes, baked beans, fried bread and black pudding. Not much fruit to be had - and usually out of a tin - stewed prunes, grapefruit. The highligh of fresh mango this morning for breakfast - the last thing we expected!

Cyclone Larry gives us a miss

Cyclone Larry crossed the Queensland coast in the early hours of Monday 20th March, between Innisfail and Mission Beach, 2 hours south of Cairns. It was a category 5 cyclone with wind gusts over 280 kms per hour.

Our farm is two hours north of Cairns at Cape Tribulation, and we breathed a sigh of relief as the cyclone headed south, away from us. We were on the very edge of the cyclone and suffered destructive winds, less than 150 km per hour, which started at about 3.00 am and lasted about 4 hours. We sat on the verandah in the moonlight, watching the trees bending and whipping with the wind, and listening to the roar. It is the sound that frightens you.

We had two German guests staying with us in the bed and breakfast. The night before the cyclone they had asked about going out on the reef. By this time, the dive boat was heading for safe harbour in Cooktown. By 9.00 am the next morning, the road was open and they headed out to Cairns hoping to catch an international flight the following day.

A farm tour of inspection showed that damage to our orchard was minimal. About 6 fruit trees had fallen over and snapped off. And that was it! So different to the previous cyclone - Cyclone Rona which had scored a direct hit on the farm in 1999, and created 6 months of clean up work.

As we listened to the radio, we heard the damage reports coming in further south. We had been in Innisfail the day before for the Annual General Meeting of the Rare Fruit Council of Australia. The motel we had stayed at on Saturday night, lost its roof in the early hours of Monday morning. The annual feast of the senses held on sunday in the main street of Innisfail had been fantastic - a great display of rare fruit and vegetables of the local area. And now all those farms destroyed.


This link below - Serious Weather Events - Bureau of Meteorology will provide the summary of the event, once they get round to putting it up.
http://www.bom.gov.au/announcements/sevwx/

First Taste of a Velvet Apple

This fruit looks and feels magnificent - it really does feel like velvet, deep rich red velvet, which is a rough velvet rather than the smooth nap we are used to.

Our tree had produced its very first fruit and I had never tasted it before, so a great sense of anticipation. Cut a wedge - smooth texture like a firm avocado, with a smell similar to rockmelon. And the taste?
Well at first sensation you think of apple but it is much smoother and waxier than an apple, then the rockmelon flavour cuts in.

Finally a taste which you can't quite put your finger on - not that pleasant either - perhaps a tang of cleaning fluid or something similar. It is this final part of the taste which makes you realise why there are not thousands of hectares under cultivation. An interesting fruit to grow and to have and to eat on the odd occasion, but not one that you would rave about.

Oh well - it will be great to have on the fruit tasting anyway, just for the texture and the rich red colour.

Driest December in three decades

"This has been the driest December since 1972, which was also a 31 mm month. But this has not broken the December 1950 record, when 9 mm fell."

This quote is from the Cairns Post, December 30th 2005.

The big dry broke on December 23, when our farm received 165 mm over 24 hours.

Rain finally arrives two days before Christmas

What a great relief and a wonderful Christmas present.

We have suffered severe drought for the last four months with virtually no rainfall even though the average is around 100 ml a month in the dry months. We received nothing. The Mangosteens are dying- these are 18 year old trees that I am very attached too - we went to Bangkok to collect the seeds, and then nurse them in the nursery for two years and then plant out into the orchard. At 18 years old, they should be providing us with at least 100 kg of fruit. Instead there has been no crop as the trees are too stressed. There are 20 trees which loook like potato crisps - dead brown leaves - and unlikely to recover even with the rain.

It started raining last night and now we have had 50 mls or two inches with lots more on the way from the look on the radar screen. A great website to view the actual rain storms approaching at http://www.bom.gov.au/weather/qld/cairns. Select Observations and scroll down to radar images - Cairns region - to see the storms approaching Cape Tribulation.

I feel like a drowned rat - working in the rain spreading mulch all day - so that the moisture can be trapped under the mulch once the heat returns.