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| Recent
News for 2006
What's happening..... |
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October:
Helen (left) and Robert (right) on their 16th visit,
had left their cheque book back home so
they decided to work off their bill!..
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October:
It has been quite a year for the bees. First we gained a lost
swarm from Boat of Garten, then Ian tried 4 times to capture
our own swarm without success. In the autumn, as the leaves
fell we found a swarm in a tree near the hives. The bees had
started to form a wax shelter - and were not happy when Ian
moved them into better accommodation - a spare hive. But we
did get a good supply of honey! |
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The
first - troublesome - swarm which we eventually lost. Ian is
knocking them all into a box before putting them into a hive. |
The "wild" hive
forming |
Ian extracts the honey, using
a pneumatic grape press. |
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October:
we are still picking huge numbers of fungi ...
after the ceps and chanterelles earlier, now it's winter chanterelles,
hedeghogs and angel's wings. |
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Bess learning
to text whilst
picking mushrooms |
Robert guards a haul of Angels
Wings. Helen admires |
Leslie finds a big one! |
Jerome finds the day's only
cep |
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| Bynack
More walk |
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| Bess in the Green
Lochan, in the
Ryvoan Pass |
Auchendean - a white
spot -
from afar |
The track up the "pyramid"
of Bynack More from the high plateau |
Eric & Bess at
the top of
Bynack More |
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Ian inside
The Barns of Bynack |
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Ian at
the Barns of Bynack - Ben Avon in the background |
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Ian by
the Little Barns of Bynack |
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| August &
September: as we are soon off to the Sikkimese Himalayas to
walk up to the Eastern flank of Kangchenjunga, the third highest
mountain in the world, we thought we had better get fit, so
managed a couple of superb walks in the Scottish mountains -
first Bynack More, then Ben Rinnes in Banffshire, the furthest
outcrop of the Cairngorms. Two great walks with stunning views
and wonderful outcrops of rocks, called tors at the tops. Top
pictures Bynack More. Lower Ben Rinnes. |
| Ben
Rinnes walk |
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| Roy (Eric's brother)
Ian, Bruce and Bess at the peat cuttings |
Roy, Eric, Ian, Bruce
& Bess at the tor 2/3rds of the way up Ben Rinnes |
Eric & Bess at
the very top of the
tor by the "well" |
Roy is pleased with
himself as he gets to the very top of Ben Rinnes |
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| Glenlivet |
Looking
across the Moray Firth |
Dufftown |
Brooding
Cairngorms in the distance |
| Views
from the top of Ben Rinnes - sadly not the clearest of
conditions. |
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September:
The
City of Truro
came to town.
- it was the first wheeled vehicle
ever to exceed
100 mph in
May 1904 |
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at Broomhill (Glenbogle) |
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August and
September :
It's
been an
exceptional
year ... |
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| Eric
is having to leave behind more chanterelles than he
normally picks in a whole season ... but ceps are another
matter - they are like gold dust!! |
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Lizzie
arrived in early July to replace Cassie and Snowy, both lost
since January. |
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| Rob
(and Helen who organised the surprise party) celebrated him entering
his 40's ...... |
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Sunday
25th June 2006: Abernethy Gardens Tour.
This year, AGT aims to benefit Castle Roy, the 12th century ruin
on the other side of the River Spey from Auchendean. Many thanks
to all of the gardeners and volunteers at Auchendean - we all
raised £1,035 for Castle Roy!! See more >>>> |
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The
2006 Mid Summer Night's Golf Competition >>>> |
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11
June 2006 - 23.47 |
23.51 |
23.54 |
23.57 |
00.00 |
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before mid-summer there was a full moon, which, due to
the tilt of the earth at this time of the year,
didn't climb very high into the sky. As a result, when
viewed from Auchendean the moon seemed to roll along the
tops of the
Cairngorms, behind the lights of Nethy Bridge, and throughout
was coloured spectacularly orange as in a harvest moon.
Here is the process as the moon rose at 23.47; passed
behind Bynack More & Bynach Beg & finally cleared
them 20 mins later.
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12
June 2006 - 00.02 |
00.03 |
00.04 |
00.08 |
00.10 |
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Eric
is web master for www.auchendean.com
and for many years has been very closely involved in the
Nethy Bridge Tourist Association's web site - www.nethybridge.com,
for which he is local web master, responsible to the committee.
He is also the NBTA Treasurer, but that's another story!
Eric undertakes commissions for inexpensive personal and
small business web sites, so was thrilled that the NBTA
web site gained a distinction for being the best community
web site in the area. Here are the prizes / certificate
/ and Crystal Globe which were presented at a ceremony
in Elgin by Dr Winnie Ewing, local retired MSP, on behalf
of the very first Moray Action for Communities Website
Awards. |
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Abernethy
Gardens Tour will be held on 25 June 2006.
The proceeds of opening 10 gardens and sales
of tea/coffee & lunches will go to the Castle Roy Trust.
The ruins of Castle Roy are visible from Auchendean on the eastern
(and opposite) side of the river. It is one of Scotland's oldest
castles and the Trust intend to use the money for a survey towards
stabilising the crumbling walls.
See the Abernethy Gardens Tour
page |
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February
2006: I saw some very rare "Green Flashes" a phenomena
seen
at the very last moment of the sunset as the sun descends below
the horizon.
I managed several photos of them over the nearby Tasman Sea,
and I superimposed this enlarged image of the green flash on
this one . |
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| January
to March 2006:
Auchendean South
opens!
We
welcomed our
f irst NZ season's visitors
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| John with a
Kiwi friend |
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Mary & Brian
with a Kiwi friend |
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ditto
the Hogmanay section.
31st December ... into 1st January ...
We joined the crowds in
The Square, Grantown-on-Spey
to welcome in 2006 and to
attempt the world record "Strip the Willow" |
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| 25th
December -
At last I have been able to bring the
Christmas section up to date! |
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| On
4 January 2006 we celebrated the completion of 18 years of operation....
and the start of our 19th Season ....
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