Tag: helensburgh

A hill to climb

Sunday June 6th 2010

Looking at Helensburgh from the river Clyde, Ben Bowie rises up from the right shoulder of the town and, for much of my childhood it formed the backdrop. I’ve climbed it many a time over the years that I’ve lived here, with the last time being somewhere around 1996, so when I moved back to the town in 2008 I made a mental note that’d try to get back up there soonish.

At just over 300 metres, Ben Bowie is classed as a Marilyn. It’s not the toughest of climbs and, depending on which route you take, you can be standing on the summit within a couple of hours. Which is why, when the idea popped into my head yesterday morning, I decided that I’d set out for the top of the hill with my brother. He’s not particularly fit, but I figured if we took it steadily he’d make it up there and enjoy the view and the achievement when we got to the top.

Ben Bowie, climbing, helensburgh

Pushing the boat out

Friday May 28th 2010

It had been late on Friday evening, whilst I was fairly merry at the Helensburgh Real Ale festival, when Crazy Uncle John called to ask for my assistance in launching his boat the following morning. I’d been told of the comedy events that punctuated their early attempts at launching the boat when it first became sea-worthy in August last year. And, as recently as that afternoon, Aunty Helen had said that most everything involved with launching or venturing out on The Living Spark was a barrel of laughs.

Which is why I’d said yes, of course I’d drag myself out of bed on a Saturday morning to help. Crazy Uncle John said that the boat must – must be in the water by 10:15 or else the tide would be too low. I understood the issue and said I’d be there at 09:15 so we had a good hour.

“No, no – just be at Brian’s at about quarter to ten.” He said, “We’ve got it down to a fine art now and we can get it in the water in no time.”

I didn’t think that 30 minutes was much margin for error, but I could hardly have anticipated just how much error lay in store for me.

crazy uncle john, helensburgh, the captyannis, the living spark

Why the long face?

Sunday May 2nd 2010

I was quite sad to visit Hermitage Park in Helensburgh today to see the old rocking horse fenced off and clearly out of commission. The running boards have been disintegrating for a long time, but now they’re gone and with the rust on the underside it looks more like this once proud feature of the local park will be removed.

Admittedly, it’s a trivial thing to be getting all nostalgic about, but somewhere in my Aunty Helen’s house there’s probably some Super 8 footage of my cousins and I playing on that horse, and I have footage filmed on my PSP of my daughter playing on it with Crazy Uncle John a couple of years back.

It just seems a shame that something that’s been around for a couple of generations will probably end up on the scrap heap. It’s better built than most of the modern items that have turned up in the park, that’s for sure, having outlasted a couple of different climbing frame installations. However unlikely, I hope someone at the council will be mindful that the horse just about belongs there in his corner of the park and plans to restore him to his former glory are in the works.

helensburgh, Hermitage Park, Nostalgia