Dunblane

Last Friday I bid farewell to my Mazda 6. I bought the car in 2008, at which time it had 16000 miles on the clock.
It has given me 82000 miles of pleasant motoring. I looked after it extremely well. Until this year had cost me little in repairs, but in the last few months it was beginning to cost me money, so I decided that if there was something suitable, I would make the change.
And last week I found a car which ticked all the boxes. I am now the proud owner of a 7 seater Renault Grand Scenic TomTom Privilege people carrier.

It is a diesel engine, my first. So the annual road tax is half of that of the Mazda. The diesel engine is very frugal, and I am looking at 55mph, twice the Mazda range. it is a1.5 engine compared to the Mazda's 2 litre.  It has a 6 speed gearbox.All in all outgoings will be considerably reduced.

The Renault does have a few quirks. It is a keyless system. the car unlocks as you approach and locks as you walk away. There is built in SatNav, but it only works when the radio is on. Not the best of design. And there is no spare wheel, rather a sealing system with an electric pump.

So on Monday as we had an errand to run, it was the first chance to try it out on the road to Dunblane.

Dunblane will for ever be remembered as a result of the massacre at the local primary school, where a deranged gunman entered the school on the 13th March 1996 and shot dead 16 five year old children and their teacher before killing himself.

I was teaching in Glasgow at the time and still remember the sense of horror and shock that spread throughout the country.
It changed forever the way schools were viewed, and brought an  end to the open door policy which had existed till then.

Dunblane of course is also the home town of Andy Murray, the great tennis player.

It is a pretty little town, with a large cathedral and some interesting buildings. It lies just off the main road between Stirling and Perth.

Some photos I took today in Dunblane.

Portpatrick

We are not long returned from 5 days in the South West of Scotland, staying in a pretty little village called Port Patrick.

The village is picturesque and lies not far from the 2 main ports of Cairnryan and Stranraer which serve as the ferry terminals for traffic between Scotland and Ireland. P&O sail from Stranraer, while Stenna sail from Cairnryan.

It was noticeable how many Northern Ireland accents were to be heard amongst shopkeepers, hotel staff and among passers by in nearby towns and villages.
Our Hotel overlooked the harbour, and we had been upgraded to a sea view room. It was indeed a pretty view as you will see from the photographs.

With the window open, you could hear the waves against the rocks, quite loud on a stormy night.
The downside was the bathroom was very cold as it was unheated and the single glazed window was very draughty.

Apart from that the hotel was very pleasant and the food very acceptable, though service was sometimes a bit on the slow side.

We were able to visit a number of the towns in the surrounding areas, including Stranraer, Newton Stewart and Kirkudbright.

There were some old ruins to look at, though this late in the season, many were closed so no access was possible.

Some views of Portpatrick.