Kilmartin Glen

One of the most interesting and enigmatic Historic Sites in Scotland is Kilmartin Glen. Predating the Pyramids of Egypt, there are over 350 Ancient Monuments  including burial cairns, rock carvings, and standing stones within 6 miles of Kilmartin Village, where you will find Kilmartin House Museum, located in an old manse in the village. Some of the monuments can be seen without much dificulty, and without too much walking, as one mile south of the village is the Kilmartin Glen Visitors Car Park, and adjacent to it are the Nether Largie Stones,a group of standing stones,  however it is well worth venturing further to appreciate the scale of the Settlements at Kilmartin Glen.

I have taken several Tour Groups to Kilmartin Glen over the past few years.

Kilmartin Glen is situated on the Oban to Lochgilphead Road (A816) about 45 minutes south of Oban.

Further information can be found at  http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/kilmartin/kilmartinglen/

Meikle Reive Iron Age Fort.

                                         Meikle Reive Iron Age Fort 

Within 5 miles of our house are a number of Historical Sites including Barr Hill Roman Fort, mentioned in one of my previous blogs. Another interesting site is Meikle Reive Iron Age Fort near Lennoxtown.

The Fort is situated on the south facing slopes of the Campsies approximayely 1lm to the North East of Bencloich Mains Farm. The fort comprises a system of circular embankments, outside the wall there is a terrace approximayely 14 ft wide. There is also a circular depression about 30 ft in diameter, which is often filled with water.

Further information can be found at  http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/45194/details/meikle+reive/
and  http://www.welcometolennoxtown.co.uk/campsies.htm#The Meikle Reive

Was Gagarin the First Man in Space?

                                        Vladimir Sergeyevich Ilyushin 

It has long been believed that Yuri Gagarin was not the first man to go into space and return to Earfh, but many believe it was Vladimir Sergeyevich Ilyushin the son of the head of the Ilyushin design bureau.

Also Aleksei Ledovsky is aledged to have been the first man in Space but perished during the flight.

Vladimir Ilyushin, son of Soviet airplane designer Sergey Ilyushin, was a Soviet pilot and is purported to have been a cosmonaut, alleged by some to have actually been the first man in space on April 7, 1961—an honor generally attributed to Yuri Gagarin on April 12, 1961.

The theories surrounding this alleged orbital flight are that a failure aboard the spacecraft caused controllers to bring the descending capsule down several orbits earlier than intended, resulting in its landing in the People's Republic of China. The pilot was then held by Chinese authorities for a year before being returned to the Soviet Union. The international embarrassment that would have resulted from such an incident is cited as the Soviets' reason for not publicizing this flight—they reportedly focused their publicizing efforts on the subsequent successful flight of Yuri Gagarin instead. This event was the subject of a recent TV Documentary.

Vladimir Ilyushin died in 2010.

For further information see  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Cosmonauts

Scotland's Drowned Village

A few years ago I was asked by a group of Americans staying at a Glasgow Hotel to see if I could take them on a tour of Bothwellhaugh, where their family came from, I was intrigued and did some research, and found that Bothwellhaugh no longer existed, and only the Cemetary still exists.

The village was built between 1880 and 1900 to house workers at the Hamilton Palace Colliery. The mine was decommisioned in the late 1950's and th village demolished, and is now buried beneath a lake in Strathclyde Country Park. I have merories of seeing the village from a car travelling on the carlisle Road in the 1960's, the vilage then looked very dilapidated.

Here is a link  to a video TheLost Village of Bothwellhaugh -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3CWTi63EsM

More information about Bothwellhaugh can be found at  http://www.iwitness.btinternet.co.uk/bothwellhaugh/contents.htm

Who designed the VW Beetle?

Who designed the VW Beetle?

Ferdinand Porsche? Wrong!

The Beetle was actaually designed by Hans Ledwinka a Czechoslovakian designer with Tatra as the

Tatra 97.

Tatra sued VW but this was set aside when Nazi Germany invaded Czechoslovakia, but the law suit was sucessfully reopened in the 1960's and  Tatra were awarded 3M DM.

Here is an extact from Wikipedia:

Resemblance to KdF-Wagen / Volkswagen Beetle

Both the streamlined design and the technical specifications, especially the air-cooled flat-four engine mounted in the back, give the T97 a striking resemblance to the KdF-Wagen or Volkswagen, the later Beetle. It is believed that Porsche used Tatra's designs since he was under huge pressure to design the Volkswagen quickly and cheaply^[2]
. According to the books Tatra - The Legacy of Hans Ledwinka and Car Wars, Adolf Hitler called the Tatra 'this is the car for my roads'.^[3][2] Ferdinand Porsche later admitted 'to have looked over Ledwinka's shoulders' while designing the Volkswagen.^[4][2]
Tatra sued Porsche for damages, and Porsche was willing to settle. However, Hitler canceled this, saying he 'would settle the matter.' ^[5] When Czechoslovakia was invaded by the Nazis, the production of the T97 was immediately halted, and the lawsuit dropped. After the war, Tatra reopened the lawsuit against Volkswagen. In 1967, the matter was settled when Volkswagen paid Tatra 3,000,000 Deutsche Mark in compensation.

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatra_T97
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Ledwinka#cite_note-wilson-0

So if you're asked the question on Masternind or Eggheads you know the real answer.

The storm in Kirkintilloch

This week we had a storm in Kirkintilloch, when winds reached around 80 mph for a whole day. This was the biggest Blaw since the "Twechar Tornado" a few years ago.

Hre is a report from the kirkintilloch Herald: 

Warning as storms set to move south

Published on Sunday 11 December 2011 10:05

Stormy conditions that brought havoc to Scotland are expected to return to other parts of the UK this week, forecasters said.

Wind speeds up to 165mph were recorded during the worst of the storm that hit parts of Scotland and northern England, bringing down trees and power lines, causing disruption to roads and closing schools.
As Scotland and northern England recovered from the wind damage, there were more warnings of storms further south - with forecasters saying wind speeds could reach 100mph later in the week.
Strong winds are forecast to return to the UK in the next few days, but not at the force experienced last Thursday.
The Met Office has issued yellow warnings for strong winds and heavy rain on Monday night for most of England, with the South East expected to be hit hard.

Windy weather is expected to continue into Tuesday, with the potential for "severe gales" or storm-force winds across Northern Ireland and the southern half of Britain. There could also be frequent, heavy showers, bringing the risk of surface water flooding.
Aisling Creevey, a forecaster with MeteoGroup, the weather forecasting arm of the Press Association, said it was too early to tell where the winds would hit.
She said the country could expect winds of between 80mph and 100mph.
A Met Office spokesman said: "Strong winds on Monday evening have the potential to cause some disruption, especially in areas exposed to the south. In addition, rain will turn persistent and heavy, bringing the risk of surface water flooding over south-west England and Wales."
Engineers are still battling to restore power to hundreds of homes in Scotland, as freezing temperatures hit. Scottish Hydro said huge efforts were made, particularly in Tayside and central areas of Scotland, to bring the number down from about 29,000 on Friday - and from about 105,000 at its peak.

http://www.kirkintilloch-herald.co.uk/news/warning_as_storms_set_to_move_south_1_2003505

The storm blew down a 6ft high pine fence between our garden and a meighbours.

Why Haven't I been Blogging Lately?

Sorry for the lack of blogging over the past few months..........

Not much has been happening lately, and I'm not chaffeuring at the moment ..... in fact I've been working part time at the Car Auctions in Glasgow .... I'm still driving a lot though, about 60-70 cars a day, all kinds. from silly wee Peugeots and Rovers to Mercedes, Lexus, Lotus.

What are the worst cars I've driven? .... I don't like Smart cars or the Range Rover Discovery, and I find it difficult getting into a Lotus these days .... the best cars (surprisingly) the SsangYong Rodius .... which is also arguably the ugliest car in the World.

The other reason I haven't blogged? ........... I forgot my log-in details....... auld age catching up with me ....

Look out for more Updates from me soon  .........