~A Weekend Away!~
3rd - 5th December 2011
Look away now if you're expecting photos of fells. Mind you, there is one in here somewhere. No, this page contains a few photos from a short trip to Central Scotland. My excuse for publishing them is that I have nothing else to offer just now and long evenings leave me a little under-employed, so time is on my side.
Charity Gig
Scroll down for photos and a description of the adventure....
Rainbow in Cumbria
We travelled from Preston to Glasgow by train. Virgin were offering Advance Fares of £9 per person, each way - so £36 altogether. This run is a pleasure for the rail traveller, fine scenery nearly all the way.
Class 87 Electric Locomotive at Carlisle
This took me by surprise, 87002 is the only preserved one of its class that is ready to run on the main line. The problem with the forgotten classes of electric locos is that they cannot run on preserved lines, whereas diesel and steam locos can. These locos used to pull the West Coast Main Line Inter-City trains from Euston to Glasgow Central.
Tinto
This is the "hill" photo. Tinto climbs to 2,334ft asl from an already elevated position, close to Biggar and closer to Thankerton. First viewer to the top wins a small prize. Taking photographs from moving trains is not easy, you know.
Glasgow Central Station
Here we are and it's not raining very much. We enter at Platform 2, Platform 1 is currently out of action - chaps in hi-vis jackets and hard hats are doing lots of stuff. I told Karen that were going to see a "band" for her birthday treat, the excitement was growing.
The "Band"
Karen was mildly disappointed as I led her down Sauchiehall Street to the live performance by the Salvation Army. It's raining steadily and we go for a Saturday afternoon shopping trip. I successfully bought nowt.
Glasgow Christmas Fayre
Time to head for the hotel and get ready for the main event ...
Coldplay at the SECC
Look away again if this ain't your scene. I count myself as fortunate, I've been to quite a few rock concerts. My first was The Clash, followed by The Stranglers. I'm also happy to admit to being on the scene when Blondie came to Manchester; when UB40 did likewise, ditto Mike Oldfield and even Status Quo. Ahh..The Ramones!!! - and does anyone remember Split Enz? They changed costumes and became Crowded House. We've seen Coldplay on two previous occasions at MEN Manchester.
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The Concert
Supported by Emili Sande, watch out for her. 20 songs over 90 minutes or so. Can't quite understand why they performed "Daylight" for the first time in over four years and left out Speed of Sound. But, so be it. The audience wer supplied with radio-controlled LED wrist-bands, so when someone decided, our wrists lit up. This helped to make the atmosphere extra special on a couple of songs, notably Charlie Brown and the last one Every Tear...
Argyll Hotel, Sauchiehall Street
The green-signed hotel was our accommodation for two nights. We had to walk back after the concert, about 0.7 of a mile and it poured down. One of us had a non-waterproof jacket and the other a proper coat and an umbrella. Silly me!
John Lewis
Looked more like the late Donald Dewar to me. I like Glasgow, it has depth and history; its people have faces to match. It's Sunday and we're heading for Queen Street Station.
Waverley Station, Edinburgh
Arriving in Edinburgh at 11:30 for another opportunity to do some shopping.
Waverley Station
Another view of the railway station - it's huge!
Princes Street, Edinburgh
I decided that there was not enough time for a walk around the historic parts of the city, so Karen shopped and I loitered.
Shelter Charity Gig
Musicians were entertaining the crowd in aid of Shelter. He's a one man band.
Edinburgh Christmas Fayre
These Christmas Fayres are very popular at this time of year. Time moved on and we caught the 16:30 back to Glasgow. These city-to-city trains were packed each way, it seems the residents swop places on Sundays.
Zizzi's Restaurant, Glasgow
In Edinburgh we went to The Living Room for lunch and it was the worst eating experience I have ever had! The matter is, kind of, in the balance - I'm waiting to hear from the manager, so I'll leave it at that for now.
Princes Square, Glasgow
Princes Square hosts more than one eatery and is a charming place to be, just off Buchanan Street.
Gallowgate
Monday morning and Karen went shopping, I went for a walk up Gallowgate to see a customer (not in view). It was snowing, needless to say.
Drumlins!
Glasgow is built on glacial deposits, notably drumlins. I don't suppose many Weegies know that, or would be all that bothered if word got around. The train out of Glasgow Central left at 14:40.
Beattock Summit
Most snow had fallen in Lanarkshire, here we pass the high point of the west coast main line, Beattock Summit at 1016ft asl.
We got a connecting train back to Burnley from Preston.
That was good fun!! I feared a complete washout but it wasn't that bad. Of the Coldplay photos, those with the right browser might be able to see the full list of songs in the set, others, like me can use this link: Coldplay SECC.
Not claiming copyright for the concert photos cuz your not supposed to take pics. But everyone was.
Take me back to the start ....