Rambling Russells

Warning! This account may go on for some time ... remember you can just look at the photos if you click on them! Day 1  (Fri) of our holiday finally dawned - looking bright and sunny. The first rendezvous point with the friends who were coming with us was in the cafe of the Vanishing Willows Garden Centre by the Erskine Bridge, Glasgow. As always the cafe delivered with good food and service. Refreshments over we set off in tandem ... (no pun intended but you will see why I say that later!) ... crossing over the bridge and heading for Loch Lomond. She looked  serene and idyllic as we drove along the shore, negotiating the bends and oncoming traffic. We were making good time until just before Crianlarich when we began to notice signs in the verge announcing a cycle race today. No problem you might think but the ride that day was travelling via Crianlarich and Glencoe to Fort William - just as we were planning to do!! We soon began to meet cyclists - it is quite a wide road ...

A new experience for us today! Two of our grandchildren go to karate every week and were this weekend in a tournament in Scotland. The KKO (Kyokushin Karate Organisation) Open Karate Championship was to be held in Motherwell  - on the site of what used to be the Ravenscraig Steelworks. The plant closed in 1992 and the cooling towers and gas-holders were demolished in 1996, before a world-class sports centre was built and opened to the public in 2010. The Ravenscraig Regional Sports Facility was built to cater for everyone, whatever their level. The sports halls, gym, dance studios,indoor athletics and pitch facilities and outdoor pitches are world-renowned. There is also a jogging track that goes around the whole building and connects with cycling and jogging paths throughout Ravenscraig. Hundreds of athletes trained here before the 2014 Commonwealth Games. The karate championship came here for the first time last year but we were told that the number of competitors...

Tickets at the ready we set off for Ayr on a dry but cloudy morning. Arriving in Ayr we headed for  the VIP parking area! Unfortunately the weather had begun to worsen as we walked towards the show - as the weatherman had actually forecast! We finally found our way into the VIP area as the rain came down rather heavier. We were too late for the bacon/sausage butties - (would need to get there earlier next time!) but we managed to find space at one of the tables for coffee. Souvenir programmes were available on the tables, which included guides to the aircraft, timetable of events and a map of the area. The ground exhibition covered a very large area and included trade stalls, a family zone and funfairs. Certainly something for everyone! We were also pleased to see litter pickers at work all over the site throughout the day. Although we had a display schedule we were advised that flight times and even flights themselves could change at the last moment if the weather conditions det...