Walking sticks project

I finally got round to straightening some walkng stick shafts I had cut a couple of years back and turning them into walking sticks.
The first one I made was the cherrywood handle with hawthorn shaft.
Next came the thumb stick on ash shaft.
The third was a lady's walking stick with a deer antler/teak handle on a thin hawthorn shaft.
Fourth came the deerantler/cherry handle on a hazel shaft and last , but not least, was the deer antler/teak handle on the stripped ash shaft with pyrography decor - my favourite.

I can make similar at a cost to the buyer of approx. £40 depending on availability and quality of materials.

Summer sailing in the Mediterranean on Explosion

On the 10th of June 2010 I flew from Prestwick to Alicante to join the crew of Explosion on its summer sailing trip from Cadiz to Marseilles via the Balearic islands. Bonno Hylkema is the owner/skipper and I met Bonnno on the yacht delivery I documented at Orust's trip.

The embedded slideshow below is of the photos I took on my trip from Alicante to Ibiza and then Mallorca. The photos of the girls in local costumes were taken at the Fogueres Fiesta in Alicante.

Explosion is a Dynamic 37, built in Denmark and a fast cruiser/racer. Her speciality is closehauled upwind sailing where she excels. The running backstays took getting used to when we tacked but she took us safely through an electric storm on the way to Ibiza and tuna trawlers on the way to Palma. The AIS intergrated with the chart plotter was very useful for the overnight sails to Ibiza and Palma.

The crew comprised Bonno, Folkert, Jaap (to Altea), Robert who were all Dutch and myself - the only Scotsman.
Places we visited after leaving Alicante we sailed past Benidorm and stayed overnight at Altea on the Costa Blanca where we were hosted by Astrid and Folkert for a tapas supper then a tour of the old town and a beer. We left Altea next morning and sailed up the coast to Cabo de la Nao then across to Ibiza where we stayed at the "expensive- €240 per night" Ibiza Marina. We toured the island next day on motobike lunching at Cala d'en Serra. The following morning we headed up the coast to Santa Eularia where we topped up the diesel tanks before heading across to Palma on Mallorca. While in Palma we met Angel Juncosa, who owns a Moody Halberdier like myself, and had an excellent lunch with Angel at the Real Club Nautico de Palma.

I flew home from Palma on the 19th direct to Prestwick.

A wee break in the Highlands

It was my wife's 60th birthday in March so we booked a house at Coylumbridge to take the family and friends away for a week-long party. The house was fabulous with 7 - yes 7 - bathrooms/shower rooms. It also had a sauna for 10 people and log fires in all three lounges. I'd recommend this house for parties of 10 or 12 especially in the skiing season as the house is almost the last house on the road to the Cairngorm ski centre. Have a look at the photos to see some of the pictures I took. We had wonderful day with our grandchildren at the Landmak centre at Carrbridge - there's one of Helen and Rowan on the waterslide. Another photo is of me and Rob on the climbing wall.

Orust en Voyage - June 2009

Delivery of the Malö 36 - ORUST - from Holland to the South of France in June of 2009.
See the following link for the web site I created from the voyage.