The Lemon Fool

Pro tip is to take boots and socks off, put boots back on bare feet, wade across, drain boots then put dry socks back on.

Scott.

swill453 wrote:Little known fact: Tennent's Super Lager (the purple can) is considered a sophisticated drink in Italy.
Scott.

Doesn't surprise me. I mean if you actually know any Italians, or gawd forbid have them as neighbours, they're [cough] hardly sophisticated people.

swill453 wrote:Pro tip is to take boots and socks off, put boots back on bare feet, wade across, drain boots then put dry socks back on.
Scott.

Hmmm well. From fording many shallow but wide rivers and tributaries on foot between point to point (HQ/base and forward camps in the boonies) my advice is a parallel. Get down to self-draining jungle boots. And have a reliable completely waterproof bag for socks, trousers and any uppers if they risk getting wet. Bag the lot up and keep it dry. Have a solid walking pole to probe ahead and take it slowly. Wear under-pants for modesty if you have to otherwise keep them dry too - you'll be grateful for anything dry on the other side.

We were off walking at Crieff today - along Lady Mary's Walk beside the River Earn. Its one of our favourite strolls when the Beech tree leaves are taking on their Autumn colours. The route was named after Lady Mary Murray whose family were local landowners in the early 19th century.



The Sweet Chestnut trees on the river bank have already lost their leaves, and contribute to the orange-red carpet

scotia wrote:The Sweet Chestnut trees on the river bank have already lost their leaves, and contribute to the orange-red carpet

Mmmm. That takes me back.

If you have sweet chestnuts, do you (or people more generally) gather them for the kitchen? This time of year in my time in Italy I'd've been up in the woods collecting delicious chestnuts and shredding the hands

UncleEbenezer wrote:

scotia wrote:The Sweet Chestnut trees on the river bank have already lost their leaves, and contribute to the orange-red carpet

Mmmm. That takes me back.

If you have sweet chestnuts, do you (or people more generally) gather them for the kitchen? This time of year in my time in Italy I'd've been up in the woods collecting delicious chestnuts and shredding the hands

Sweet Chestnuts are a rarity in Scotland - so we would have no idea what to do with them. .
I believe they are a native of Southern Europe, and were introduced into England, possibly by the Romans, or even later. The specimens alongside the River Earn are in a sheltered valley, and may have been planted as part of the avenue of trees along the walk. The walk was opened to the public in 1825, so it seems possible that some of the trees may be around 200 years old.

scotia wrote:Sweet Chestnuts are a rarity in Scotland - so we would have no idea what to do with them. .
I believe they are a native of Southern Europe, and were introduced into England, possibly by the Romans, or even later. The specimens alongside the River Earn are in a sheltered valley, and may have been planted as part of the avenue of trees along the walk. The walk was opened to the public in 1825, so it seems possible that some of the trees may be around 200 years old.

Surely everyone knows roast chestnuts? Popular seasonal street food in Rome.

When I had them in abundance I'd widen the culinary repertoire - and they serve well in both savoury and sweet dishes. For example, they go nicely into a stir fry, or ground up they can be used in a baking mix. One or two dishes used them with strong spirits

UncleEbenezer wrote:

scotia wrote:Sweet Chestnuts are a rarity in Scotland - so we would have no idea what to do with them. .
I believe they are a native of Southern Europe, and were introduced into England, possibly by the Romans, or even later. The specimens alongside the River Earn are in a sheltered valley, and may have been planted as part of the avenue of trees along the walk. The walk was opened to the public in 1825, so it seems possible that some of the trees may be around 200 years old.

Surely everyone knows roast chestnuts? Popular seasonal street food in Rome.

When I had them in abundance I'd widen the culinary repertoire - and they serve well in both savoury and sweet dishes. For example, they go nicely into a stir fry, or ground up they can be used in a baking mix. One or two dishes used them with strong spirits

Does everyone know the importance of scoring them deeply before roasting?

servodude wrote:

UncleEbenezer wrote:

scotia wrote:Sweet Chestnuts are a rarity in Scotland - so we would have no idea what to do with them. .
I believe they are a native of Southern Europe, and were introduced into England, possibly by the Romans, or even later. The specimens alongside the River Earn are in a sheltered valley, and may have been planted as part of the avenue of trees along the walk. The walk was opened to the public in 1825, so it seems possible that some of the trees may be around 200 years old.

Surely everyone knows roast chestnuts? Popular seasonal street food in Rome.

When I had them in abundance I'd widen the culinary repertoire - and they serve well in both savoury and sweet dishes. For example, they go nicely into a stir fry, or ground up they can be used in a baking mix. One or two dishes used them with strong spirits

Does everyone know the importance of scoring them deeply before roasting?

In my experience of running a chestnut stall most Britons have forgotten that they are edible, get them confused with Horse Chestnuts, and don’t realise you have to score each side otherwise they will explode on roasting.
I have never seen fat chestnuts from British trees. All the bought ones come from Southern Europe. Italian are best in my view.

We took advantage of what was almost like a summer's day yesterday to visit one of my favourite locations on Earth, Arnside, where the River Kent runs unto Morecambe Bay.

The combination of sky, sea and light there is a source of never ending fascination, and it's a Paradise for wading birds - you can see them as little black dots on the shallow water and on the sand. We've started seeing egrets there recently, apparently another result of global warming.

These were a few photos that I took in the course of our walk along the coast (unfortunately the egrets were too far away to get a decent photo):

Nimrod103 wrote:

servodude wrote:

UncleEbenezer wrote:

scotia wrote:Sweet Chestnuts are a rarity in Scotland - so we would have no idea what to do with them. .
I believe they are a native of Southern Europe, and were introduced into England, possibly by the Romans, or even later. The specimens alongside the River Earn are in a sheltered valley, and may have been planted as part of the avenue of trees along the walk. The walk was opened to the public in 1825, so it seems possible that some of the trees may be around 200 years old.

Surely everyone knows roast chestnuts? Popular seasonal street food in Rome.

When I had them in abundance I'd widen the culinary repertoire - and they serve well in both savoury and sweet dishes. For example, they go nicely into a stir fry, or ground up they can be used in a baking mix. One or two dishes used them with strong spirits

Does everyone know the importance of scoring them deeply before roasting?

In my experience of running a chestnut stall most Britons have forgotten that they are edible, get them confused with Horse Chestnuts, and don’t realise you have to score each side otherwise they will explode on roasting.
I have never seen fat chestnuts from British trees. All the bought ones come from Southern Europe. Italian are best in my view.

Looking at this again, I am reminded that if you leave one chestnut unscored, when it explodes, it tells you the others are cooked.

Nimrod103 wrote:

Nimrod103 wrote:

servodude wrote:

UncleEbenezer wrote:

scotia wrote:Sweet Chestnuts are a rarity in Scotland - so we would have no idea what to do with them. .
I believe they are a native of Southern Europe, and were introduced into England, possibly by the Romans, or even later. The specimens alongside the River Earn are in a sheltered valley, and may have been planted as part of the avenue of trees along the walk. The walk was opened to the public in 1825, so it seems possible that some of the trees may be around 200 years old.

Surely everyone knows roast chestnuts? Popular seasonal street food in Rome.

When I had them in abundance I'd widen the culinary repertoire - and they serve well in both savoury and sweet dishes. For example, they go nicely into a stir fry, or ground up they can be used in a baking mix. One or two dishes used them with strong spirits

Does everyone know the importance of scoring them deeply before roasting?

In my experience of running a chestnut stall most Britons have forgotten that they are edible, get them confused with Horse Chestnuts, and don’t realise you have to score each side otherwise they will explode on roasting.
I have never seen fat chestnuts from British trees. All the bought ones come from Southern Europe. Italian are best in my view.

Looking at this again, I am reminded that if you leave one chestnut unscored, when it explodes, it tells you the others are cooked.

Yes they do tend to resemble an enfilade should one forget

Snorvey wrote:A wee bit windier today...

Wonderful colours you've got there!

I saw similar on the Atlantic coast of North Cornwall (Bude) today: the Atlantic breakers forming a bright line between grey sea and grey sky. But nothing to rival your pic.

Snorvey wrote:As I was walking away on the other side of that wall a big wave came over the top. It fell short of me, but it was close. Honestly though if it had hit me, I'd have been absolutely drookit in a fraction of a second.

Once took the weans down to Largs to show them what a REAL beach looked like! (and to be honest I wanted some ice-cream)

none of this sunny, sandy, surfing nonsense!



the best bit is how those drenching waves can come out of nothing

servodude wrote:
Once took the weans down to Largs to show them what a REAL beach looked like! (and to be honest I wanted some ice-cream)

none of this sunny, sandy, surfing nonsense!

the best bit is how those drenching waves can come out of nothing

Looks like those pictures were taken in summer. Don't you have any pictures with some real weather in winter?

--kiloran

kiloran wrote:

servodude wrote:
Once took the weans down to Largs to show them what a REAL beach looked like! (and to be honest I wanted some ice-cream)

none of this sunny, sandy, surfing nonsense!

the best bit is how those drenching waves can come out of nothing

Looks like those pictures were taken in summer. Don't you have any pictures with some real weather in winter?

--kiloran

You know they're in colour too
I'm not saying Largs is drab - but sheesh!

Snorvey wrote:

servodude wrote:

kiloran wrote:

servodude wrote:
Once took the weans down to Largs to show them what a REAL beach looked like! (and to be honest I wanted some ice-cream)

none of this sunny, sandy, surfing nonsense!

the best bit is how those drenching waves can come out of nothing

Looks like those pictures were taken in summer. Don't you have any pictures with some real weather in winter?

--kiloran

You know they're in colour too
I'm not saying Largs is drab - but sheesh!

Scotland's Riviera

Yeah very "Nice"
- the biscuit not the fancy French place

That's our Christmas cards sorted for this year due a local professional photographer. Very pleased with the results.

Newly colourised images capture the progress of Captain Robert Falcon Scott's doomed Terra Nova expedition to the South Pole in new clarity.

The team, whose voyage was officially named the British Antarctic Expedition, set out from Cardiff in June 1910 with the goal of becoming the first group to reach the South Pole and secure it for the British Empire.

However, their dreams were dashed when Roald Amundsen, a Norwegian explorer, beat the British contingent to the pole by 34 days.

Captain Scott's team of five subsequently died on the return journey, perishing through frostbite, injury and hunger.

Some of their bodies, along with journals and personal belongings, were discovered by a search party eight months later in November 1912.



Source - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/11/24/pictured-captain-scotts-doomed-expedition-south-pole-revealed/


Reading the above article this morning, what struck me most was actually a reader-comment underneath the piece, which I think benefits the most from simply reading it -

From Alex Walker -

My wife is related to Henry Robertson "Birdie" Bowers - Lieutenant (1883 - 1912), who was found dead with Captain Scott.

Here is a copy of a letter that he wrote to Henry’s wife as they spent their final hours. It was found on Captain Scott by the search party.

I guess they broke the moulds when these brave souls were born.

MY DEAR MRS. BOWERS,

I am afraid this will reach you after one of the heaviest blows of your life.

I write when we are very near the end of our journey, and I am finishing it in company with two gallant, noble gentlemen.

One of these is your son. He had come to be one of my closest and soundest friends, and I appreciate his wonderful upright nature, his ability and energy.

As the troubles have thickened his dauntless spirit ever shone brighter and he has remained cheerful, hopeful, and indomitable to the end.

The ways of Providence are inscrutable, but there must be some reason why such a young, vigorous and promising life is taken.

My whole heart goes out in pity for you.

Yours,

R. SCOTT.

To the end he has talked of you and his sisters. One sees what a happy home he must have had and perhaps it is well to look back on nothing but happiness.

He remains unselfish, self-reliant and splendidly hopeful to the end, believing in God's mercy to you.

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

The "colourisation" seems to have brought the photograph to life and it is hard to believe it was taken a century ago! The faces of the men seem to be captured clearly and jump out of the picture.