Arbroath to The Midlands

Devon Finney of Hopwood Tree Services at the top of our eucalyptus tree as he cuts it down

Back in the Midlands and it’s all go, I can barely hear myself think as the tree surgeons are in (Hopwood Tree Services), the 40 (or 50 if Brian has had a pint) foot eucalyptus tree, and the ingrowing leylandii from the house behind are going, and possibly the buddleia tree, that obviously shouldn’t be a tree anyway. I’m going to have to fight to keep the hawthorn and lilac, but will do my best! There’s chainsaw noise out the back and the chipper out the front, but fortunately not all the time for any of it! I do love a chipper though, I think it’s magic. I’m not sure that the trailer is going to be big enough though.

He took this amazing video from that position up the tree

We finished our time in Arbroath with a trip to the signal museum which we can’t believe we haven’t been to before, a very interesting movie about the building of the Bell Rock Lighthouse which is the world’s oldest surviving sea washed lighthouse, and one of the seven wonders of the Industrial Age. Finished after three years in 1811 and still working to this day. Although three years sounds like a long time they could only work for two summer months, and the rock is only uncovered by the sea for 4 hours a day. It was not easy! We followed this by lunch at the Old Boatyard restaurant which we had also not been to, something about it just hadn’t called, though we did have a very nice meal.

This is the Signal Tower museum in Arbroath. Free entry, it details the history of the Bell Rock lighthouse, 11 miles out to sea and how this was its only link to land for the three lighthouse crew via lights and flag communication 

Friday was going to be our last chilling and cleaning day, but after another WhatsApp from Colin extolling the virtues of St Andrews we decided to go for a day trip. Very glad we did, can thoroughly recommend it and are very jealous of Anneka who is at university there.

I put this in only because we were amazed at the complexity of the Bell Rock lighthouse construction 11 miles out at sea. The circle in the bottom left shows how the granite stones were all individually cut to interlock and provide the strength against North Sea storms. Clever design by Robert Stephenson. It was obviously done well as its still standing 212 years later

Saturday dawned, we took Angus for a little saunter before the family arrived home. They looked slightly phased after an overnight flight, but revived slightly after lunch which was lovely to share with them. Angus was pleased to see them, of that there is no doubt, but didn’t immediately turn his back on us which makes us feel loved too. We headed off to Dundee where we were spending the night before returning home. It has some great looking buildings, though everywhere looks good in the sunshine. We had a look round the V&A which hasn’t been open on our previous visits, and had a good Thai meal at Rama. Unbelievably the only seafood restaurant is the Tailend, a very good, but only a glorified fish and chip shop, and we’d eaten in their other branch, in St. Andrews on Friday.

When we took Angus out for his last pee before bed it was dark, Wandering through the grass, trees and little lochans of the old golf course armed with a torch (and a dog poo bag just in case!) was very peaceful and, at the end of August we witnessed the moonrise of a Super Blue Moon, a very rare occurrence.  There won't be another one until March 2037 

A busier than expected drive home on Sunday and we were unloaded, unpacked and in The New Dilshad Indian restaurant, with John by 18.30. To the Weighbridge for Sunday Club and smokie delivery, three pairs to various people, and chill. Yesterday we managed to shop and pop over to Alex and Rob for a catch up. We can now relax a little, we thought we were going to Bristol on Thursday to sit for Bev and Iain, but poor Bev has come down with Covid so they’ve pushed their trip by a week. We can’t now go and sit, but it’s good for them that hopefully they can actually enjoy their trip away.

And here it is. Actually, sharp eyed people will not that its not totally full, there's a slight shadow on the right. I took this on August 31st, the day after. But its still very impressive 

We took Angus for a walk along and old railway track in Brechin and stopped at a cafe in an old railway station. You can see the walk in this short Relive video of our route, which also has more photos: click here

The had Thomas the Tank Engine there (at least I hope that's Thomas, I never actually watched the TV series)

This might be Thomas. I'm sure there are people who know these things, clearly I don't!

Meanwhile Hector stays at home and sleeps it off!

Our day in Dundee after we'd finished our housesit in Arbroath was really good. Not only was the weather blue sky (as you can see) but we managed to see quite a bit. This is the new V&A museum in which we had a whistlestop tour.

This is inside the V&A on a balcony looking down

And this is on a viewing platform overlooking the very impressive Tay Bridge

Next door is the Discovery, the ship that took Scott and Shackleton to Antarctica in 1901. We'd toured that 6 years ago on our last visit here (although we had forgotten and had to refresh our memories by looking back through this blog!)

You can actually walk through the V&A museum, so we had to do it! It leads to a very nice waterfront walk

This is a very old and sad light ship, awaiting for funds to be raised for its renovation. There are very few of these left, we visited one in Bristol a year ago that is in the process of renovation, but there are few others still existing

This is the DC Thompson HQ, a major journalist in Dundee. They used to produce the Beano, Dandy and Topper comics I remember as a child, now they produce local journals, but it is still in the Thompson family ownership.  

The town is full of statues from the comics

Brewdog are very big here too having started in business near here

Slightly out of order, I forgot to put photos of our walk round St Andrews, a very pretty and historic town

Standing at the end of the harbour in St Andrews you can see the old Abbey, the largest in Scotland and, to the right St Andrews castle

Walking into the grounds of St Andrews university, a fabulous collection of buildings and an immaculate lawn

Walking into the equally impressive St Marys, also part of St Andrews university

Not forgetting one of the sights the town is famous for, St Andrews golf course. The Walker Cup was about to start so there were lots of road closures and extra pavilions ready for that

That beach over there is, apparently where the slow running beach scene in Chariots of Fire was filmed. Its alongside the golf course, but difficult to get too due to road closures for the Walker Cup and we were running short on time by now, so this is the closest we got

So back to today and the tree surgery undertaken today. This was this morning before they started...

And this was an after photo. Looks a bit better we think, but we bet Jackies mum would have hated it!

They took everything away, dragging it out the front and shredding it in their giant chipper

Devon is obviously pretty comfortable doing this work. Here is is with his spiked shoes at the top of the tree chopping lumps off. It's all gone now, including the root which he ground out. What a great job!