Apr 29th Its Friday its beer time

After a wild breezy coastal cycle from Ardrossan to Largs and back I deserve a beer. My choice is another Skye Breweries Ale, a special in conjunction with Tom Kitchen. Its nice but it doesn't deserve its Michelin chef price tag, tried it, liked it but not too often at the price, there are a lot more good ales out there giving better value.

Apr 28th Arran it is almost May

It was one of those days where you either stay in or get on the waterproofs and venture out, I chose the latter. When the hailstones hit it really stung my face but on occasion the sun came out and it was ok. During one of these breaks I snapped Arran looking more like a December shot than almost May. For years now the weather here has been inconsistent but over the last 18 months it appears to have more bad than good days.

Arran almost May?

Apr 27th Glad to be back...err no.

The weather might not have been typical in Tenerife but it was a lot better than back in Troon today. Walking to the town I realised that I was about to be engulfed in this weather system blowing down from the north hiding Arran from view. True enough hailstones started stinging my face and bouncing all around. It is almost May!! Great to be back, I don't think so.

April snow storm sweeps in

Apr 26th Yellow is the colour

The walkway from our apartment through to Los Gigantes around the tennis courts are surrounded by these wonderfully large flowers. In the evenings there is a pleasant scent from them. Inside the stamens look welcoming to an insect but is it the call of death? Sadly my typical lack of knowledge of flowers means its identification remains a secret to me, only its beauty is known.

Apr 25th Historical chapel

There is so much more to Tenerife than the coastal bars and beaches. The island has a fascinating history as this snap shows. When walking in a remote valley we came across a chapel which as the plaque in this shot indicates its history is from 1503. It is humbling to be standing in such a place wondering at its origin and who stood here then in the Valle De Santiago.

Apr 24th Poppy field

The colours were bursting out everywhere around us during our walk around Santiago del Teide. Most tourists rarely see the beauty of the rugged wild landscape when it blooms in the mountains at this time of year. Mostly wild and uncultured including herbs, cactus and wild flora like this, a huge field of wild poppies, a fine colourful sight.

Field of poppies

Apr 23rd Armenime hidden art

My good lady wanted to shop at Tenerife Pearl outfit in Armenime so I decided to wander around the small village. I have driven through the main road many times but this was my first walk. A short hike uphill brought me to the village square and I was amazed at the modern mural artwork decorating two sides with the history of the village, part of which is shown below. A delightful and surprising find.

Armenime mural

Apr 22nd Playa San Juan squid diver

The shoreline around the town of Playa San Juan is very rocky with steep cliffs where the crashing waves can do serious harm to a swimmer, but there are some bays where the locals can go snorkelling just to enjoy the fish or as in this case diving into the rocks to try and catch a squid for dinner.

Squid diver

Apr 21st Los Gigantes pirate

Down at the harbour there are many and varied the boats that take the tourists out to see the whales and dolphins. Possibly the most tourist tacky is the Flipper Uno which as you can see from the rear is designed for the masses.

Flipper Uno 

Apr 20th Cactus blooming

The variety of cactus on Tenerife is truly amazing and the flowering plants are so colourful particularly up in the hills. Here is a nice one no idea of variety but pretty.

Flowering cactus

Apr19th. Pool saga continues.

The work to refurbish the pool has been constantly noisy but particularly dirty. You can see from the image the dust layers settling on the ground. For 4 days all doors remain closed and all balconies with nothing left on them between 8 & 5 pm, the joys.

Apr 18th. Tonight's fine dining El Rincon

Tonight getting another opportunity to sample the Michelen star food of Juan Carlos at the restaurant El Rincon. Looking forward to another gourmet meal.

Apr 17th Landscape Tenerife style

Just outside Santiago del Teide the landscape is hard going, arid but quite spectacular in its own right. Most tourists don't get to really see the interior on foot, a mistake as it's worth it.

Apr 16th. Graveyard Spanish style

Up in the hills doing some remote walking and came across this small but very well maintained graveyard, El Rosario. All the crypts stacked on top of each other.

Apr 15th. Where has the water gone

Woke up after a disturbed sleep but feeling a lot better about 75% of normal but no walk this morning. Instead looking out from the balcony something was not right and I realised all the water had Ben drained from the pool and security tape on the gates. No crimes but a month work of maintainance. Just as well the other block has a similar pool.

Apr 14th. Wiped out

This uninspiring snap is of my bed which I spent the best part of 24 hours in and will remain a bad memory of the year. Just finished my usual 4 mile early morning sports walk here, having breakfast then whoop I don't feel well and end up shattered sleeping on and off for a full day, how quickly a germ or bug can floor you. No wonder people fear germ warfare.

Apr 13th Black sand

My morning walk takes me past the beach at Playa de la Arena. As you can see this is a volcanic ash black beach, not my favourite as you do get extremely messy and the sand gets everywhere. This can be a very dangerous beach at it slopes steeply with high waves crashing in easily knock bathers off their feet.

Beach Playa de la Arena

Apr 11th Bike wash day with helpers

It is a nice Sunday and time to give all the bikes a good scrub. The kids arrived and they are always delighted to help which was good fun although the enthusiasm did not last for long, just like mine when it comes to cleaning bikes.

Bike wash day

Apr 11th Ailsa Craig

A beautiful blue sky morning so had to be a cycle. When out of the wind it was superb and early morning this tranquil scene reminds me of the pleasure of staying by the coast. A calm sea, Ailsa Craig and the coal tanker stand out.

Ailsa Craig from Troon

Apr 10th Let the Open begin

The Open golf championship is taking place at Royal Troon in July and the work has now started on the first spectator grandstands. This one in the snap is at the 18th green with the clubhouse in the snap as well.

Royal Troon

Apr 8th Green fields of Ayrshire

My circular outing today took me over Corraith and here I was going towards Troon. At the top I was rewarded with this fine view over the green fields with Troon and Barassie in shot and Arran in the distance. Blue skies but a chilly south westerly wind.

Green fields of Ayrshire

Apr 7th Bullrushes at Shewalton

We went for a walk round Shewalton woods which also is a small wetland area and at this time of the year the Bulrushes are shedding last years growth in preparation for the new season. Hopefully will soon see the reed warblers perched on these plants long stems, then I will know spring has arrived.

Bullrushes Shewalton woods

Apr 6th Colour in an otherwise drab day

What a year of rain again. From start to finish heavy rain and snow topped peaks on Arran once again. Amongst the doom and gloom one reminder of spring is the bright yellow of a rain soaked daffodil.

Apr 5th Swans help release a trout

I was fishing up at Collenan today and after a blank hour I finally caught and released a good sized rainbow trout. The commotion brought these 3 immature swans across for a look. I decided to retrieve my line from in front of them when low and behold the line tightened a fish was on. The swans had now closed in and I was concerned the trout would leap amongst them and possibly entangle at least one, not worth thinking about. The slack line worked and the trout freed itself, for once glad not to land a fish.

Swans Collenan

Apr 4th Little Grebe

When I was out my walk today I spent a good 10minutes watching the antics of this beautiful little bird. Constantly diving into the depths only surfacing for about 10 seconds each time. Enchanting.

Little Grebe

Apr 3rd Sunset over Arran a variation

I was playing around with my old Photoshop programme on the computer. I really do not use it very often as frankly don't know how so maybe an evening class in the offing if such a thing exists. I managed to create this image in a short time so no doubt the potential is huge, just need to know how.

Sunset over Arran

Apr 2nd Penwhapple a cracking day

The first group outing of the season was a top outing to a great club water. For a change all the guys caught at least one fish which can be a rare event. Colin and I took the boat and caught 18 between us, 10 to Colin. My 8 were a perfect split of 4 brown and 4 rainbow trout. A full report will appear on my blog Desmondo's Anglings. The snap is of one of the fin perfect fighting brownies before it was returned.

Penwhapple Brownie

Apr 1st A new month, a new storm, no fool!

it is the 1st of the month and we are about to get battered by yet another storm, the clouds were gathering with menace and the prediction is a full day of rain and near gale force winds. Our first group fishing outing is tomorrow I hope this clears.

Mar 31st The fishing season has begun Collenan

My local Stillwater fishery, Collenan, Troon Angling Club opened its season last Saturday. I do not go on opening day as I dislike the format whereby there is no catch and release and as soon as you have caught and landed 2 fish you must leave, outdated. So my season started today and there were 4 others on the far bank. It was very cold and very windy and the fish stayed well done. One rainbow caught and released so the season is up and running.

Collenan Troon

Mar 30th Blustery day for a walk

A few weeks ago we had those glorious few days which now seem like a distant memory. Was out along the beach to Irvine today but as you can see from the snap it is a wild old day, few people around. Taken from the Dragons Teeth.

Irvine bay