Criffel, with a dusting with snow, viewed from upstream of the harbour. This was the last photo taken before the 'slip, crack, pain and ouch' posted earlier (EASTER BREAK). I'll give a progress report in a few days. 
Showing posts with label 23/03/2008 - Easter Walk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 23/03/2008 - Easter Walk. Show all posts
Wednesday, 2 April 2008
Criffel Again
Criffel, with a dusting with snow, viewed from upstream of the harbour. This was the last photo taken before the 'slip, crack, pain and ouch' posted earlier (EASTER BREAK). I'll give a progress report in a few days. 
Local Harbour
View of local harbour, white buildings from a post in this series are to the left of the building. It is in a state of disrepair. The Local Council have been approached but they say the harbour is not their responsibility. The boat in the foreground is a wreck and sunk. No-one knows who the owner is. Again the Council say it is not their responsibility. The other boats (and there are more behind the building on the left) are moored free of charge. A local Councillor (we only had one before Constituency Re-orgnisation and now have four) has taken up the case. Someone has to be responsible for the up-keep as well as mooring charges. The Councillor has a colleague in Edinburgh who is taking these issue up at the Scottish Parliament. The harbour could be a local tourist attraction. A hotel , The Swan Hotel, is only thirty yards away and has great Bar Meals. The mooring bollard in the foreground is the one mention in the series 'Tidal Nith' posted earlier. Local Developments
The buildings and houses (not the bungalow on the right or harbour buildings on left) are due to be demolished to make way for some luxury flats/apartments with parking. As part of the development a Flood Barrier is also being constructed. At one time our local area was just like a small village, now it is more like a small town easing its way towards Dumfries. A lot of the local character has disappeared. Hopefully much of the wildlife will stay but I wouldn't hold my breath. Criffel
A local landmark called Criffel. The RAF use it as a turning point during low flying exercises. After this pic I started back upstream to go above the harbour. From the harbour for about 3/4 mile there is a tarmac walk along the riverbank. Snow on Them Thar Hills
Looking upstream towards the town, snow can be seen on the hills in the distance. The hills have quite a covering of snow and are around Thornhill and Sanquhar in Dumfries and Galloway. Local Harbour from Downstream
Looking back upstream part of the local harbour comes into view. The white buildings on the right are now used by local businesses. Looking Downstream at Low Tide
This is a view of a previous post called 'Looking Downstream' and this is a photo of the same spot at low tide. After taking this shot I headed downstream to see what else was of interest that I could photograph.
Sunday, 30 March 2008
Easter Break
‘Twas just after 9am on Easter morning when I decided to go for a walk. I was on holiday from work from Monday 17 March through to Tuesday 25 March. The FW was writing essays for her Advanced Nurse Practitioner Degree so I thought I’d go out and let her get on with her writing in peace.
The day was over-cast, slightly breezy and a bit chilly. I wrapped up warm, collected the binoculars and digital camera and set off. The wildlife along the local river is interesting and there is always something to see. On reaching the river I decided to go down-stream first. There is a footpath along the riverbank about 10-20 feet from the river. Taking the binoculars out of their case I started down-stream.
There were plenty of birds around. Grey Heron preening itself on the far bank, Mallards swimming up and down-stream and a few Goldeneye. Unfortunately they were all on the opposite side of the river and not within range of the digital camera (even with zoom) to make a decent photograph. The view through he binocular was fantastic.
I ventured father down the river. A local hill, Criffel, a hill to the south-west is used by the RAF uses as a navigation point during low flying exercises. There was some snow on Criffel that had fallen the night before. Not a great deal but a slight dusting. I decided to take a photograph. In the fore-ground was gravel, the river, panning off to Criffel in the distance. I wouldn’t really know until I downloaded the image onto the computer if it was going to be any good or not. Preview on the camera looked OK.
After a while I re-traced my steps and decided to go up-stream from where I started. I took some photographs of the local harbour (dilapidated), buildings and snow-covered hills up river. Going up-stream from the harbour would be easier as the footpath was man-made, 20 feet from and higher than the riverbank. All was going well, more Grey herons, Mallards and Goldeneye. This time the Goldeneye were 10 feet from the near bank. Getting the camera back out, I thought I would ease down the slope onto the riverbank and try to get closer to the Goldeneye for a better photograph. Last thing I thought before starting down the slope was ‘watch you don’t slip.’ I went down sideways, right leg first, then the left, the right and...... Left leg slipped, went over on right ankle, loud ‘Crack’ and some pain. ‘Ouch!!! I thought.’ I eased my way back up the slope to the footpath on my hands and knees. The footpath was deserted, nobody in sight, not even any joggers that use the footpath very frequently. I managed to stand up and tried my right foot on the ground, it was sore but as long as I kept the heel flat I was able to hobble along. It took more than half an hour to get home.
On arriving home I took off my shoe and sock and the ankle was twice the size it should have been. A trip to the ED confirmed that the ankle was broken.A temporary cast was put on and I was given an appointment for the Trauma Clinic the next day for a check X-ray and change of cast. At the clinic, X-ray, another confirmed the ankle was broken but didn’t need manipulation. Even through there was some displacement, the alignment of the bone was OK and could be dealt with in plaster as long as the fracture didn’t shift. It’s not plaster but a resin based bandage that sets hard. That’s me now for at least six weeks if all goes well. I’m going to the Orthopaedic Fracture Clinic on Wednesday 2 April. Hopefully, X-ray then will confirm the fracture hasn’t moved otherwise it could be a knife job. Here’s hoping.
This was one EASTER BREAK I didn’t expect.
The day was over-cast, slightly breezy and a bit chilly. I wrapped up warm, collected the binoculars and digital camera and set off. The wildlife along the local river is interesting and there is always something to see. On reaching the river I decided to go down-stream first. There is a footpath along the riverbank about 10-20 feet from the river. Taking the binoculars out of their case I started down-stream.
There were plenty of birds around. Grey Heron preening itself on the far bank, Mallards swimming up and down-stream and a few Goldeneye. Unfortunately they were all on the opposite side of the river and not within range of the digital camera (even with zoom) to make a decent photograph. The view through he binocular was fantastic.
I ventured father down the river. A local hill, Criffel, a hill to the south-west is used by the RAF uses as a navigation point during low flying exercises. There was some snow on Criffel that had fallen the night before. Not a great deal but a slight dusting. I decided to take a photograph. In the fore-ground was gravel, the river, panning off to Criffel in the distance. I wouldn’t really know until I downloaded the image onto the computer if it was going to be any good or not. Preview on the camera looked OK.
After a while I re-traced my steps and decided to go up-stream from where I started. I took some photographs of the local harbour (dilapidated), buildings and snow-covered hills up river. Going up-stream from the harbour would be easier as the footpath was man-made, 20 feet from and higher than the riverbank. All was going well, more Grey herons, Mallards and Goldeneye. This time the Goldeneye were 10 feet from the near bank. Getting the camera back out, I thought I would ease down the slope onto the riverbank and try to get closer to the Goldeneye for a better photograph. Last thing I thought before starting down the slope was ‘watch you don’t slip.’ I went down sideways, right leg first, then the left, the right and...... Left leg slipped, went over on right ankle, loud ‘Crack’ and some pain. ‘Ouch!!! I thought.’ I eased my way back up the slope to the footpath on my hands and knees. The footpath was deserted, nobody in sight, not even any joggers that use the footpath very frequently. I managed to stand up and tried my right foot on the ground, it was sore but as long as I kept the heel flat I was able to hobble along. It took more than half an hour to get home.
On arriving home I took off my shoe and sock and the ankle was twice the size it should have been. A trip to the ED confirmed that the ankle was broken.A temporary cast was put on and I was given an appointment for the Trauma Clinic the next day for a check X-ray and change of cast. At the clinic, X-ray, another confirmed the ankle was broken but didn’t need manipulation. Even through there was some displacement, the alignment of the bone was OK and could be dealt with in plaster as long as the fracture didn’t shift. It’s not plaster but a resin based bandage that sets hard. That’s me now for at least six weeks if all goes well. I’m going to the Orthopaedic Fracture Clinic on Wednesday 2 April. Hopefully, X-ray then will confirm the fracture hasn’t moved otherwise it could be a knife job. Here’s hoping.
This was one EASTER BREAK I didn’t expect.
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