Scotland the Bravest

Latest trip

2009-10-10T09:34:00.000Z

Story and photos from our latest trip can be found at Kerry's blog.

3 Peaks Challenge

2008-07-12T03:59:00.004Z

3 Peaks Challenge Video

Length= 7.5 mins, 28Mb

Packing up to go home ....

2008-02-05T01:57:00.001Z

Left mouse click on a photo to enlarge.

London, UK

2008-02-04T10:29:00.001Z

Paris, France

2008-02-03T05:19:00.002Z

Siena, Italy

2008-02-03T05:18:00.003Z

Milan, Italy

2008-02-03T05:18:00.002Z

Left mouse click on photos to enlarge.

Rome, Italy

2008-02-03T01:39:00.001Z

Scottish Panoramas

2008-02-02T20:33:00.000Z

Aviemore

2008-01-17T16:31:00.001Z

Inveraray

2008-01-16T20:33:00.000Z

Left mouse click on photos to enlarge.

Chloe Anna Sinclair

2008-01-07T17:48:00.000Z

Left mouse click on photos to enlarge.

Winter in Scotland

2008-01-07T17:34:00.000Z

Left mouse click on photos to enlarge

London

2007-06-15T09:49:00.000Z

Matt back home and resting this morning with his playstation after spending a week in hospital with pneumonia.

Paris - trains, planes and automobiles - and buses and walking!

2007-06-06T11:26:00.000Z

Our journey to Paris began on Thursday morning, when Matt and Karen's very kindly next door neighbour gave us a lift to the Railway Station at Milngavie. We caught a train to Prestwick Airport which took just over an hour. We then boarded the plane, where only an hour and a half later we landed at Beauvais Airport which was another hour and a half by bus from Paris. It was very exciting getting our first glimpse of France from the air and then seeing the countryside on the way to Paris, but nothing prepared us for the feeling of driving through the streets of Paris and seeing the Eiffel Tower for the first time!!! We had five fantastic days of seeing the sights of Paris and all the things we had only ever dreamed of seeing. On our first day in Paris, we walked for miles, Craig did very well hobbling about on his sore ankle but we knew he couldn't continue every day. We booked the L'Open Bus Tour for 2 days, and then a night cruise on the Seine and a tour of Paris by night, which was absolutely fantastic. I can't really tell you much more, I'll just let you look at the photo's. [Kerry]

Monday 28th

2007-05-29T08:18:00.000Z

Sunday 27th

2007-05-29T08:10:00.000Z

Tuesday 22nd

2007-05-22T07:58:00.000Z

The last week has been pretty quiet compared to the previous week. We picked Matt and Karen up from the airport from their week in Italy. Of course they had a great time and they both looked really well and rested.

On Sunday Matt and I thought we had better start training for the corbett climb next weekend so we walked up Queen's View which is only a few miles north of Milngavie where we are staying. The view from the top is quite spectacular. Look one way and you look over Glasgow - look the other and you look across Loch Lomond. Unfortunately, on the way down I slipped on a wet, steep section and badly strained and twisted my left ankle! The rest of the descent was taken very slowly and now it looks as though I'll miss the corbett climb.

The Western Highlands and Skye

2007-05-15T21:33:00.000Z

[Click on a picture to enlarge]

After arriving back in Milngavie (Millguy) on Saturday night - it didn't feel too late as it's getting dark after 10pm now - we decided to head north on Sunday morning. We left Milngavie and drove along the bonny banks of Loch Lomond again, this is becoming very familiar to us! We continued north via Glencoe, and then travelled through the most incredible mountains we've ever seen. The road actually goes between the mountains and not over them, making them seem even larger than they are. The scenery was incredible, as you can see in the photo's. We stayed at Fort William on Sunday night, and then up again early Monday morning and travelled on to the Isle of Skye. The scenery continued to be amazing, with incredible mountains and Lochs. We went over the Skye Bridge and drove to Portree, one of the towns on the Isle. On the way back, we stopped at Eilean Donan Castle and decided to go for a walk through. We're so glad we did as it was very much worth it. It had actually been restored inside in the late 1920's, and had been lived in so there was a lot to see, including a Banquet Hall, kitchens, guest rooms etc. There were some exhibits there including some locks of hair belonging to various monarchs, including Mary Queen of Scots and Bonnie Prince Charlie. It was very interesting and in a spectacular setting as well. We then kept going, looking for Nessie as we were driving along Loch Ness and onto Inverness for the night. This morning, we left Inverness and travelled to Laggan (another familiar name), where Monarch of the Glen was filmed and then a bit further on to see the Castle that was used in it as well. We ended up in Fort William again - Ben Nevis is here which is huge and still had a covering of snow on top- and then drove through Glencoe and the mountains again. [Kerry]

A couple of other comments ....

yes Nick, Matt and Karen's house does have double glazed windows - really effective in keeping out the cold!
Matt's mighty RAV4 diesel averaged a credible 5.7litres per 100 km or 49.3 miles per gallon over the last 5 days. Excellent figures but at nearly 1 pound per litre or $2.50 Australian a litre you can see why most cars are small with small motors. Plenty of caravans on the road all hauled by 4 cyclinder cars.
Apart from the excellent motorways most of the roads are quite narrow which can make life quite interesting at times! The top photo is a main road through a town!
Roads in Scotland are made for motorbikes. Most are in excellent condition with plenty of corners and fantastic scenery. Just make sure you bring excellent wet weather gear with you at all times. [Craig]

The Lakes District, England

2007-05-13T06:13:00.000Z

We left Glasgow early Friday morning in the Jacob's Creek mobile, courtesy of Matt, and drove down to The South via Ayre and then down and around the coast to Gretna Green, which is just on the border of England. We then went on to Carlisle, Penrith and then to Keswick. All the names sound very familiar! We stayed the night at Kendall and the following morning drove back to Keswick and then to Windemere. A lot of scenes for the movie Miss Potter were filmed around the Lakes District. There are Beatrix Potter shops and exhibitions there - Kerry's standing near one Peter Rabbit shop in the bottom photo, and it was hard to get her away from it. The mountains, lakes and winding country lanes are absolutely beautiful - the roads are edged in rhododendrens (?) just growing wild. It is a very popular place, there where people everywhere especially the walkers and push bike riders! A quick two hour drive up the Motorway was all it took to get back to Glasgow on Saturday night. [Kerry]

Wednesday 9th May

2007-05-09T18:14:00.000Z

Okay, I know I`ve been slack .... this afternoon I have finally got around to adding something to this blog.

Well, what`s happened in the last week you might ask .... Kerry still hasn`t recovered from the jet-lag. Of course, I`m okay - must be an age thing ....

On the weekend we helped Gavin (Karen`s brother) and Natalie celebrate their wedding at Glenrothes which is near St Andrews, north of Edinburgh. The wedding and reception were in the grounds at some old house and was quite good fun!

Today, Matt and Karen left for a weeks holiday in Italy - somewhere near Naples. Kerry and I dropped them at the airport and then of course took a few wrong turns but had a lovely day wandering around the beautiful Scottish countryside. [Craig]

PART 2: Wednesday 2nd May 2007

2007-05-09T17:54:00.000Z

After a break of nearly 12 months the saga continues ....

The flight over was a non-event. They`ve improved(?) the flight entertainment so that you are supposed to have 28 movies available at any one time and can start watching any one at any time - that is of course if the system was working properly. Sound familar?

We arrived at Heathrow on time and had 1 and a half hours before the Glasgow flight left - should be plenty of time you would think - however it was a nightmare. There were huge queues for everything - from getting a bus to Terminal 1 to going through security. To help things when we got near the front of the queue for the security check Kerry was informed that you could only have one piece of hand luggage - hand bags are included - so we left the queue to try and stuff a full handbag into Kerry`s carry on bag - I made it fit! Heaps of other irate customers weren`t so successful. Everyone there was in the same boat (plane?) .... they had all flown into Heathrow that morning from somewhere and had obviously been allowed to board there original flight with multiple articles only to be informed by the lovely, pleasant lady at Heathrow that only one item was allowed. It was the last thing you needed after sitting on a plane for 24+ hours ....

Our plane was due to depart at 8.30am. We joined the line for the passport check at 8.25am!!

After running all the way to the plane we were the last to board and the plane left 10 minutes late - also, we were informed minus one of our checked-in big bags (turned out to be Kerrys) .... which thankfully turned up at Matt`s later that night.

Despite the fun at Heathrow the plane landed about 5 minutes late at Glasgow and Matt and Karen were there to greet us. Both looked really good! Karen then had to leave to go and board the same plane we had just arrived on for a couple of days in France for work.

When we approached Glasgow in the plane it was covered in a thick fog - the rest of the country was clear and the temp was a brisk 8 degrees. We headed off to the hospital in Byers Road for Matt`s specialist appointment. They are going to change medication for Matt to .... can`t remember the name ... just need to get formal approval and he`ll start on that in a couple of weeks. It was abit hard to concentrate when all you wanted to do was lie down somewhere and go to sleep.

Then off to sunny Milngavie ... and I mean sunny. The fog had lifted and the sun was shining and the temperature reached around 20 degrees celsius - the hotest day I had ever encountered in my trips so far to Scotland!!

Matt and Karen`s flat/house is very nice and the whole area is very pretty. It`s amazing what a difference it makes with the trees having leaves etc. [Craig]

Tuesday 23rd May

2006-05-22T23:20:00.000Z

This should be the last entry for this web blog ....

The reason for the Sinclair family's recent visit to bonny Scotland was two-fold.

Firstly, to celebrate with our son Matt his wedding to the wonderful wee lass, Karen.

Secondly, to see first-hand how Matt was coping with being diagnosed with having chronic myeloid leukaemia last October.

The wedding was a great success in every aspect!

Matt's treatment for the leukaemia is progressing well although he still has a long way to go.
He is taking a new drug called Gleevec.

His positive outlook is quite inspirational. His web blog, which he started soon after being diagnosed, has resulted in a number of newspaper articles being published. The last being last Sunday in the UK's Sunday Observer. The text of the article can be found here.

Matt's web blog can be found here. If you haven't already read it then do so. It's worth reading!

PS there are 113 photos in this blog! They may take some time to load .....

1st and 2nd May - Singapore

2006-05-22T03:20:00.000Z

To break the long flight we decided to spend to days in Singapore.
We stayed at a very nice 5 star hotel in the centre of the main shopping plazas. We did have a look around but the weather was hot and humid and we were jet-lagged!

Saturday, 29th

2006-05-22T02:46:00.000Z

Our last day in bonny Scotland!
We had lunch with Matt, Karen, Anne and Tom at a little village pub just north of Glasgow.
After a stroll around it was time to head for the airport ....

Friday 28th

2006-05-22T02:14:00.000Z

Another trip to Edinburgh .... this time Matt, Kerry and I had a lovely lunch overlooking the Firth of Forth - between the rail and road bridges. The weather was warming up and we had a great day.

Monday 24th

2006-05-22T01:25:00.000Z

Today Kerry and I went for another walk though the streets of the West End of Glasgow. We ended up at the Transport Museum which again was interesting with a large collection of old cars, trams, trains and model ships that had been built on the Clyde.

Sunday 23rd

2006-04-23T17:45:00.000Z

Today Matt's story and photos of Matt and Karen appeared in Scotland's biggest selling Sunday newsapaper - the Sunday Mail. While we knew, of course, that there was going to be an article and maybe a photo we weren't expecting a double-page spread! Another article and photos was to appear today in the Sunday Observer but has been delayed for two weeks.

The text of today's article can be found online here.

Sunday 9th - Saturday 22nd

2006-04-23T17:31:00.000Z

I've been lazy the last two weeks not keeping this web blog up to date .....

A quick catch up ......

Tuesday 11th - Matt and Karen returned suntanned from their honeymoon in the Maldive Islands and Dubai. Of course they had a fantastic time - who wouldn't sunning themselves on their own private water villa built over a coral reef!! See here for more details of paradise!

Friday 14th - Karen, Matt, Kerry and I went for a drive along the western side of Loch Lomond. Although the weather wasn't the best, the scenery was once again spectacular. We met up with Karen's parents - Tom and Anne - at Luss.

Saturday 22nd - Kerry and I caught the train from Glasgow to Edinburgh and then a bus to the harbour where the Queen's old royal yacht - the Britannia is now kept. We did the tour of the yacht which was very interesting. I must admit for someone who isn't a royalist I have found the various tours linked with royalty extremely interesting ....
Much of the rest of the time has been spent chauffeuring Matt around so he can continue working. Unfortunately, while on his honeymoon, he injured his ankle and has continued to have trouble with it.

We have seen alot of Scottish supermarkets - and of course the country in between - particularly around Edinburgh and the east coast. A highlight was going to Perth, Dundee and St Andrews last Friday (where Matt drove).

Despite the fact that Matt doesn't like the way I drive I've managed so far not to hit anything or have anything hit me!! Although, I must admit the roundabouts here sometimes get me a little confused - three lanes, six outlets and traffic lights between each section ...... trying to remember which exit to take .....

Saturday 8th

2006-04-09T23:04:00.000Z

Our last day in London. We decided to take the Hop-on Hop-off bus tour of the city. If you are only in London for a day or so this is probably the best way of seeing most of the attractions.

As well as three different tours in open-top double decker buses, there is a ferry ride on the Thames plus a couple of walking tours. We decided to take the ferry ride and a walking tour based upon the the novel, The DaVinci Code. The walking tour, with our excellent guide, was particularly interesting.

Later that afternoon we returned to our hotel to collect our bags and made our way back to Heathrow airport by underground railway. We arrived back at the flat in Glasgow at about 10.30pm.

Friday 7th

2006-04-09T22:54:00.000Z

Our first port of call today was Harrods department store in Knightsbridge. The store includes a memorial for Princess Di and Dodi.

When then visited a couple musuems in the area before doing a tour of the underground bunkers used by Winston Churchill and his cabinet during World War 2.
The remainder of the day was spent visiting yet another railway station, some more bus rides and a walk along busy Oxford Street.

Thursday 6th

2006-04-09T22:42:00.000Z

For Kerry, a trip to London had to include a visit to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard.
This was followed by another railway station or two and then the Tower of London which holds, amongst other things, the Crown Jewels.

Wednesday 5th

2006-04-09T16:08:00.000Z

A trip to London had to include a visit to Hampstead Heath where I had lived when I was five - some thirty or so years ago .... The same No 24 bus still ran so we caught it and again sat upstairs at the front .... Although obviously alot had changed I still easily recognised where we use to live - above my grandfathers shop at 3 South End Road. The shop fronts had all changed and the residences above shop 3 and shop 5 had been converted into 5 flats. The old fountain across the road was still there as were many of the other buildings.

We walked up Pond Street, past the hospital to my old school. The big stone wall with embedded broken glass in the top was gone but the school was still there. We then walked back and along South End Road to the edge of Hampstead Heath. My continuing bout of flu stopped me going much further ....

Following our trip around Hampstead we returned to explore the city for the remainder of the day ......
This included Big Ben, a tour of Westminster Abbey (which is full of dead people!), Downing Street and a couple more railway stations.

Tuesday 4th

2006-04-09T15:51:00.000Z

This time it was Kerry and I who travelled to Glasgow airport for five days in London. Orginally, we hadn't planned to leave Scotland but with Matt and Karen away on their honeymoon it seemed like an ideal opportunity to go exploring ....

After arriving in our hotel in Kensington we dropped off our bags and went for a walk to nearby Kensington Gardens where we caught a No 10 bus for a trip across town. It soon felt like we were in a large Monopoly board as we passed Park Lane, Pall Mall, Oxford Street and ended up at Kings Cross Station where the bus terminated. We soon found another No 10 bus for the return journey. Sitting upstairs at the front of the red double-deck buses is certainly the way to travel around London!

Monday 3rd April

2006-04-09T15:50:00.000Z

It was Nick's turn to return to the waiting arms of Claire!

Friday, Saturday and Sunday

2006-04-09T15:47:00.000Z

Nick left Friday morning to visit his friends in Nottingham while Kerry and I had a quiet weekend.

Thursday 30th

2006-04-09T15:45:00.000Z

Time for Natasha to return to sunny Australia! As a parting gift she gave me a dose of the flu which was to last over a week!

Wednesday 29th

2006-03-30T11:18:00.000Z

As part of our ABC tour of Scotland (Another Bloody Castle) we stopped at Urquhart Castle on the banks of Loch Ness and later at Doune Castle (which featured in Monty Python's Holy Grail movie).

We saw lots of snow covered mountains and beautiful lochs in our trip from Fort William, Inverness, Aviemore, Laggan (the village used in the TV show 'The Monarch of the Glen'), Pitlochry (lunch), Kenmore, Killin, Doune and back to Glasgow where we had dinner in a pub at Drymen.

Tuesday 28th

2006-03-30T10:48:00.000Z

Kerry, Natasha, Nick and I set off to explore the western highlands of Scotland.

Today we went via Tarbet, Inveraray, Oban and Fort William where we spent the night. Although it rained almost all the way - the rain hasn't stopped since we arrived at the wedding reception last Saturday - the scenery was spectacular!

Monday 27th

2006-03-27T17:00:00.000Z

While Natasha caught the train to Edinburgh to spend the day with ex-Cowra girl, Nicole Wolters, Kerry, Nick and I had to return the kilts. Following that we decided to go for a wee drive. First stop was Dumbarton Castle near the mouth of the Clyde River. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't the best with showery rain. However, we all found it very interesting. After the Castle we went via Helensburgh, past the nuclear submarine base on Loch Long to Tarbet and then on to Luss - a quaint village on the banks of bonny Loch Lomond.

Sunday 26th

2006-03-26T18:59:00.000Z

The differences between an Aussie wedding and a Scottish wedding were interesting but the wedding and reception were a great success!!

Mar Hall, the location for the reception, overlooks the Clyde River just out of Glasgow and is now a 5 star small hotel. Matt and Karen had a three room suite that has been previously used by celebreties such as Elton John, Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Lou Reed and Liam Gallagher. The bathroom alone was the size of most motel suites! It even had its own fireplace and chaise lounge .....

Tomorrow they leave for 2 weeks in the Maldive Islands ..... laying on a beach in the sun is just what they need.

Saturday 25th - Wedding day

2006-03-25T09:39:00.000Z

The weather hadn't improved much, if at all, over night.

While the women went and had their heads done the rest of us watched Scotland win all the gold medals at the Commonwealth Games on TV .... well that's the way it appears from here!

When it was time for the two 7 seater Daimlers to pick us up the weather started to clear and patches of blue sky appeared.
While I'm not much on describing what everyone wore what I can say is that the bride and groom looked stunning!! A perfect couple!! I'll let the photos tell the story .....

Friday 24th

2006-03-25T09:37:00.000Z

The typical spring Glasgow weather returned today with rain and showers all day. Hopefully they will clear by midday tomorrow ......

Went for a 'quick' drive into the city. It seems it doesn't matter which city you are in the world Friday afternoon isn't the best time to be driving.

Thursday 23rd

2006-03-23T18:02:00.000Z

Only two days to the wedding!

Karen has gone to stay with her parents until wedding day and the rest of us had a pretty quiet day - except for Matt - who was interviewed at the flat by a reporter from the Observer, followed by a two hour photo session! An article will appear in the Sunday edition of the Observer on April 23rd featuring Matt's CML and the search for a donor.

The other highlight was trying on the kilts! It's been awhile since I last wore a dress (end of year staff dinner??) but I think it quite suited me .....

Wednesday 22nd

2006-03-22T17:30:00.000Z

Allowed to sleep-in this morning before accompanying Matt for his regular blood-test at the Western Infirmary. Waited for the results which were good and spoke to the specialist.
We then took the wee subway into the centre of Glasgow to do abit of shopping .... well at least the females did!

Tuesday 21st

2006-03-22T09:47:00.000Z

Today was spent at Stirling including Stirling Castle and the William Wallace Memorial.

On the way back we stopped at Loch Lomond

Monday 20th

2006-03-21T09:26:00.000Z

The day was spent in Edinburgh with the highlight being the tour of Edinburgh Castle.

Sunday 19th

2006-03-21T09:20:00.000Z

We all had a late start .... not sure why.....

Kerry and I took the subway from Partick into to city and had a good look around. Kerry had been watching George Square via webcam for years and now she was finally there ...

Saturday 18th

2006-03-21T09:13:00.000Z

While Matt and Nick were away at Aviemore Kerry, Tash and I went for a long walk around the streets of west Glasgow.

In the evening Kerry and Tash went out with Karen to her hens night while I went out for dinner with Tom (Karen's father) and a group of friends and then sampled a number of drinking establishments ...... A very enjoyable evening was had by all!

Friday 17th March

2006-03-17T19:55:00.000Z

Queen's View
off Stockiemuir Road
north of Glasgow

Looking north over Loch Lomond with Ben Lomond in the background

Ashton Lane, Glasgow

Preparing for the Bucks Weekend at Aviemore in the Scottish Highlands. The theme was - Old Men!

But then it was decided that Old Men needed a nurse to look after them!

The flight - 32 hours

2006-03-17T18:02:00.000Z

Sunrise over Phuket

The Reunion!

Matt and Nick