Since moving to Glenaldor House in November 09 we have experienced 2 of the coldest winters on record for the region and if I never see another frozen or burst water pipe again it will be too soon. Thank goodness we had a good and reliable plumber on hand to help us out.

Temperatures in January and February 2009 and 2010 reached a low of an incredible -20C for long periods and given the average temperature over the last 50 years for this time is -4C it really shows how cold it was! The last time we saw temperatures like these were in 1995. The coldest recorded temperature for this area was -25C in January 1940, here’s hoping we can have a normal if not milder winter this time around.

Confidence in normal average Winter temperatures would have been pretty low if believing the recent media reports of another terrible winter, however I was glad to read reports from the long range weather forecasters that although it may be colder than average the predicted Snowmaggeddon may not materialise. In fact recent media reports of widespread snow during October have been unfounded and long may it continue.

Lets hope that the weathermen and not the media have got it right and we can get through the Winter without too much hassle.

Roll on the Spring!!!

David

Glenaldor House

On my next blog on the subject I described how a group of local enthusiasts from Dumfries got together and formed “The Peter Pan Moat Brae Trust”. Their timely intervention was instrumental in stopping the demolition of Moat Brae House which is where J.M Barrie played as a youngster and dreamed up his adventures for the writing of Peter Pan.

The latest piece of good news is that after 3 years of campaigning agreement has been reached to site an 11 foot wooden artwork statue in the town to honour the writer, in August this year.

The statue will be officially unveiled by none other than the renowned actress Joanna Lumley. Hopefully this will become another significant tourist attraction in Dumfries and perhaps the mainstay of various places in Dumfries that can be associated with J M Barrie’s time in the town.

Please feel free to contact me – info@glenaldorhouse.co.uk or www.glenaldorhouse.co.uk if I can be of help with any further information

Ticket hungry fans jammed the online booking system at an incredible 300 applications per SECOND when the lines opened at 08.15 on April 1st. It is estimated that over half a million people will apply for the 10,000 pairs of tickets available for each day. The tickets are free and everyone can apply before the closing date of April 7th when the big ballot commences to determine the lucky people who will get tickets.

Without doubt accommodation in and around Carlisle will be hard to come by so if you are one of the very lucky people to get tickets why not travel over the border to Bonnie Scotland and enjoy some of the best the South West of Scotland has to offer whilst also enjoying the festival.

Glenaldor House and many other top quality accommodation providers are within a 5 minutes walk of Dumfries train station and with a return ticket costing only £5.50 for the 30 minute trip, it may be a good alternative for your travel plans.

Please feel free to contact us on www.glenaldorhouse.co.uk or info@glenaldorhouse.co.uk if you would like further information.

We are back in the depths of winter and the snow is blanketing Dumfries once again, surely we cannot be in for as cold a winter as we encountered last year!!

On the Bed and Breakfast front we have enjoyed a great year given it was our first and we have met some truly kind and friendly visitors from all over the globe, it has been a great experience and I am surprised and delighted that so many people from so many different countries and all walks of life choose to spend some of there leisure time in Dumfries and Galloway. We also now have a steady stream of regular visitors who stay with us and we hope to continue to look after them in the coming years. The comments we have received in our visitor book and on various web bases sites such as Trip Advisor have been terrific and very much appreciated. It certainly gives us the impetus to ensure we don’t rest on our laurels and that we continue to ensure we deliver a quality service to all our visitors.

Dianne my partner has continued to pitch in and has been a great help when she is not at her regular job of Childrens Community Nurse in Manchester. Her help has been of special importance as my other helper, my Mum Moira, has been out of action for some time firstly with a broken arm and latterly with a knee replacement. Thankfully she is on the mend now and we hope to have her back in harness by the spring!!

As winter is now with us business has slowed down and it has given us time to press on with our renovation plans. This winter we have completely renovated another of our letting rooms and have redecorated another. We have a few other bits and pieces to do to ensure we are in tip top shape for the coming year, however after last years major refurbishment the current work is a lot less dramatic but once again a major thanks must go to our regular plumber and superman Peter Hawkins for the first class job he has once again delivered.

Plans for the next couple of months include further decorating, an update of our pictures on the website www.glenaldorhouse.co.uk and thankfully a well earned holiday during the quiet period.

Overall for our 1st year in business we could not have asked for more and we look forward in anticipation to another busy year to come when once again our emphasis will be on continually improving the services and hospitality we offer at Glenaldor House.

I look forward to doing my blog update as the year progresses.

David Irving – Glenaldor House

Contact me

I recently wrote a blog on the amount of people that pass through our B and B at Glenaldor House as they stop to rest their weary bodies on their personal epic journey from Land’s End to John O Groats. Included in the blog are the various records set over the years for the fastest times set by cyclists and walkers. I ended the piece posing the question who thinks they could hold the record for the slowest LEJOG??? – I think I have found the winner or at least a very strong contender. Unless of course you are out there and have still to contact me!

I have recently had an e-mail from Grant Weiss who lives in the United States near San Francisco and he sent me a great story that began in the 90s and still continues to this day!

In 1990 Grant walked the breadth of the country coast to coast which resulted in him then deciding it would be a good idea to say he had walked the length and breadth of the British Isles and so the extraordinary journey from one end of the country to the other began.

Grants epic started at Land’s End on May 22nd 1995 and by May 25th he had covered the 60 miles to Crantock and then went back to his home in the States. Following this Grant was only able to get back to the UK every 2 – 3 years sometimes for 10 days and sometimes for as little as 4 days. During these times he duly picked up where he left off on his previous trip and is now nearing completion of the elusive end to the journey.

A taste of his journey’s include the Cotswold Way (1993), The Heart of England Way (1997), parts of the Furness and Cumbria Ways (1998), parts of the Southern Upland Way (2007) and latterly he completed Inverness to Golspie from Sept 11th to 14th this year (2010).

As you can imagine Grant has a few stories to tell with some of his experiences along the way – like the Lancashire farmer he asked for directions and started chatting to him about his LEJOG journey. The farmer insisted that Grant went back to the farmhouse, have Sunday Dinner with the family, put him up for the night, full breakfast in the morning and then drove him back to his previous finishing point in the village the next morning!!

Or the guy he started chatting to in a pub who had a very very expensive Bugatti car parked outside – he just tossed Grant the keys and said “Take it for a spin”

Or the time at Loch Lomond when he took a boat ride with gypsies, then camped, drank and sang with them around a campfire all night. I don’t expect much distance was covered on the next day’s walk!!

Grant has also had various friend and family join him on some parts of his the walk over the years and has enjoyed the company along the way.

My calculations tell me he has approx 75 miles to go which he hopes to complete on his next visit to the UK in 2012.

So their it is folks the challenge is out there – 15 years and counting with a completion date estimate of 17 years – Anyone beat that!!!!!! – I look forward to hearing from you! – info@glenaldorhouse.co.uk

David
Glenaldor House B & B Dumfries
www.glenaldorhouse.co.uk

The initiative is looking to promote fitness and greener travel in and around the town and it certainly looks like a great opportunity for locals and visitors alike.

The bikes will initially be available at various key locations throughout the town and surrounding areas including the Railway Station and the DG1 leisure centre (both less than 5 minutes walk from Glenaldor House).

Hiring seems to be very easy and can be done through the internet or by simply calling 01387 280042 with your credit / debit card details. You will be given a customer ID and pin number which you can then use to release your bike from any of the hire a bike hub locations, another good idea is that when you are finished you can then leave your bike at any of the other key designated areas.

In terms of residents of Dumfries research has shown that 68% of journeys in the town are less than 5 miles making the bike2 go initiative a viable alternative for lots of locals to use a bike for some of their journeys.

For the visitors to Dumfries we have an extensive traffic free cycle network, connecting many of the town’s key locations, therefore it seems like an ideal way to get out and about to explore the town. The cost for visitors also seems very reasonable at £10.00 for a day ticket (with discount for more than 1 bike) and £6.00 for a half day ticket.

Well done Dumfries for the forward thinking and here’s hoping that both locals and visitors use the bikes regularly to ensure the scheme enjoys the success it deserves.

If you need further info on the scheme please visit www.gosmartdumfries.org.uk/bike2go or feel free to contact me at info@glenaldorhouse.co.uk if I can help with further info.

David Irving Glenaldor House Bed and Breakfast www.glenaldorhouse.co.uk

Following a visit to the B and B back in April I wrote the blog on “The Garden of Cosmic Speculation” just outside Dumfries. It took visitors from Germany who had came here specifically to visit the garden to make me aware of this fantastic and original attraction on our doorstep.

Last week I was caught out again when a guest informed me that he was here to visit the Sculptures at Glenkiln Reservoir approx 6 miles from Dumfries. To my shame I had never heard of the place, therefore I was even more amazed when I found out that some of the sculptures on show are by names no less that Henry Moore, Jacob Epstein and Auguste Rodin!!!.

Once again I had to research and find out more. I discovered that the statues were assembled on the land next to Glenkiln Reservoir by Sir William Keswick between 1951 and 1976. Sir William Keswick was a close friend of Henry Moore and worked closely with him and other artists, experimenting with the concept of putting their work in an open and natural setting.

The collection of sculptures are located in a beautiful and remote piece of the countryside and the very fact that there are hardly any signposts, that the terrain is rough and that the only way in is on a small single track road probably helps to explain why the location is a bit of a hidden secret, however these same obstacles also lends to the fantastic sense of discovery you feel when you drive along the road thinking you are going the wrong way only to find a Henry Moore “The Standing Figure” on the horizon.

Follow that with the discovery of August Rodin’s bronze figure of “John the Baptist” then Jacob Epstein’s “Visitation” and then Moore’s 11 feet high “Glenkiln Cross” plus many more exciting sculptures and it certainly makes the trip well worthwhile.

The full walk is about 5 miles long and will take a good 2 hours (if you are lucky enough to find everything 1st time round – as mentioned signposts are not in abundance). Dumfries and Galloway and in fact Scotland are very fortunate to have such a wonderful place to visit which is only heightened by the fact that it is relatively unknown.

If it is a good brisk and normally windy walk you are looking for with the addition of some famous artists works get your sturdy boots on, trust your sense of direction and you will have a good, free day out.

David Irving
Glenaldor House
www.glenaldorhouse.co.uk

As an idea for my next blog I thought I would try to determine the top 5 “must see” visitor attractions in and around Dumfries and found it to be quite a difficult task. No matter who I spoke to whether it was a local person or regular visitors everyone has their personal favourites and if nothing else it shows how wide and varied the options available to tourists are.

Here goes for my picks.

1) Castles – Dumfries has a wealth of castles within the region and due to the variety from complete ruins to magnificent wedding venues just snatches the top spot. The unique Caerlaverlock castle with its triangular shape and stunning setting is a definite must along with the former Douglas family stronghold Drumlanrig castle. Now home for the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch, set on the 90,000 acre Queensberry estate there is so much to do it is easy to spend the whole day looking around. Comlongon Castle is one of the finest examples of a 15th Century Border Stronghold and has now become one of the finest Wedding and banqueting venues in the country.

2) Dumfries Museum and Camera Obscura – Southwest Scotland’s largest museum is housed in a converted 18th century windmill. The museum is crammed with interesting artefacts and the staff are extremely helpful and of course it is free. As an added bonus the top floor of the museum houses a camera obscura. Installed in 1836 the amazing piece of machinery is still in perfect working order and gives you a panoramic view across Dumfries and the surrounding countryside.

3) Robbie Burns – The National Bard spent much of his lifetime in Dumfries, firstly as a farmer at Ellisland farm near Dumfries and then as an excise man in the town. Many places in the town have reminders of his time here until his death in 1796. Follow my previous blog on www.glenaldorhouse.co.uk “A day in the Life of Robert Burns” and visit some of the places in the town that serve as a great legacy to his time here such as the Robert Burns Museum, the Globe Inn and St Michaels Kirkyard where he is laid to rest.

4) Mabie Forest – The big plus for Mabie is that is certainly has something for everyone and the whole family can enjoy a day out. From many walks for all abilities which take in natural habitats for wildlife with picnic areas and barbecues along the way where you can take is some breathtaking scenery to the adventure playground which offers exciting and safe fun for kids of all ages. Mabie also offers many cycle trails and bike hire is available, it also boasts one of the renowned 7 Stanes cycle trails for the enthusiastic mountain bikers (for further info see www.7stanes.gov.uk ).

5) Solway Coast – Sneaking in at number 5 is the Solway Coast, with over 200 miles of coastline in the region you have the opportunity to see some fantastic landscapes as you drive along the coastline and can stop off for a leisurely stroll along the sandy beaches. Huge numbers of migrant wading birds and wildfowl arrive from Autumn to late spring and can be seen en-masse at various places including Caerlaverock, Mersehead and Wigtown Bay.

Following close on the top 5 heels must be places like the Moffat Hills with natural features such as “The Devils Beeftub” and my personal favourite – the beautifully named waterfall “The Grey Mares Tail” and also there must be something to be said for standing on the old Devorgilla Bridge and looking down the River Nith to the metal Suspension bridge with the Whitesands on your left and the Burn’s Centre and park on the right. Not to mention of course the fantastic golf courses and sporting activities available in the region.

Why not visit us and find your own favourite – you will certainly find plenty to keep all the family entertained and occupied.

David Irving
Glenaldor House.

Since starting out on my B and B venture in November 09 one of the big bonuses for me has been taking the opportunity to meet many different people from many varied walks of life.

One of the bigger surprises to me recently has been the number of people that have stayed with us who are cycling the full length of the country from Lands End to John O Groats (or as they like to call it LEJOG) – they must be mad!!!

It got me thinking and as usual I had to find out more about this craze that seems to be a burning ambition for many cyclists. The first thing to strike me was the varied mix of people taking on the challenge from lone cyclists to old and young couples and on to small and large groups of all ages – all with the one aim – to keep going and complete the trip.

The amazing trek is 874 miles by road, however most cyclists will cover somewhere between 950 and 1000 miles in order to avoid some of the busy main roads. During that trip the person on the bike will do over 500,000 pedal strokes and a wheel on their bicycle will do over 700,00 revolutions. Unfortunately there are no statistics available for the amount of cream a person will use on a very sore and tender bum during the journey, however I expect it would be quite a sizeable tub!!. This year it is estimated that an incredible 3000 people will take up the challenge and an average experienced and dedicated cyclist will cover around 70 miles per day and will complete the journey in 12 to 15 days – its certainly not for the faint hearted.

The record for the journey on a bicycle is an incredible 44 hours, 4 minutes and 20 seconds set by Gethin Butler in 2001 (a time of 41 hours, 4 minutes and 22 seconds was set by Andy Wilkinson on a tricycle). The slowest time does not appear to have been recorded, therefore I think it would be a good idea to get something in the books – so if anyone has completed the challenge and lets say “taken the scenic leisurely route” past a few pubs etc I would love to hear from them?!?!. Unbelievably there have been several people completed on unicycles with the fastest by Mike Day and Michael Arts in 1986 who both unicycled 901 miles in 14 days 12hours and 41 minutes.

Having welcomed many of them through our doors it sometimes is a race against time on our part to get their bikes secured in the basement, get them booked in and most importantly get them up the stairs and into their rooms before their legs seize up after 70 to 80 miles in the saddle. I guess when they wake up from their slumber they must slowly realise – Oh no not another day on the road.

I take my hat off to them one and all, it must be a great sense of achievement when you reach that elusive sign post at either end of the country. When you have finished you can sit and look back on all the wonderful days and experiences you encountered along the way – the good ones will always outweigh the bad when you pass the finishing line.

I look forward to welcoming many more to Glenaldor House and hope that if nothing else I can give them a comfy and warm bed to sleep in and a hearty breakfast before the continue their challenge.

I am still awaiting my first visitor doing the challenge on foot, however I know it is only a matter of time. The current record? – an incredible 12 days and 3 hours and just to ensure that humans never cease to amaze us some crazy person walked it backwards in 26 days and 7 hours!!!!

Remember anyone who thinks they hold the record for the longest time taken contact me at info@glenaldorhouse.co.uk

Update: Is this the record for the slowest LEJOG?

David Irving
Glenaldor House Bed and Breakfast.

My last position was as a General Manager for one of the country’s largest logistics companies and the post required me to be on the go for long hours, mainly between depots and sites up and down the busy M62 motorway between Manchester and Leeds. Following a pretty major health scare and taking into account the long hours and travelling I was doing, my partner Dianne and I decided we should make the break and try to slow down our pace of life.

Being a born and bred Lochmaben lad (8 miles from Dumfries) we looked and researched various options that would allow me to hopefully slow down a bit and also fulfil one of my ambitions to “Be my own boss”.

It is over a year ago since we first came to view what is now our new home and business “Glenaldor House” in Dumfries, South West Scotland.

As soon as we entered the house there was a lovely warm feeling and we knew pretty quickly that this was the place for us. Billy and Mary who were on the verge of retiring had run the house as a Bed and Breakfast for 20 years and made us very welcome. They gave us great advice and support and most importantly were kind enough to leave us a lot of equipment etc that we needed to get up and running in our new venture.

After doing our research and a fair bit of soul searching we agreed a purchase price on the property and excitedly moved in on November 6^th 2009.

Glenaldor House is a lovely Victorian sandstone terraced villa built around 1860 and retains many of it’s original features, the property has 4 large letting rooms which are quiet, light and airy, it also benefits from a fantastic large secluded sunken garden to the front.

My partner Dianne enjoys her work as a Children’s Community Nurse and the plan is that she will continue her work whilst I run the B and B ably assisted by my mother Moira.

On moving in we sat down and planned out our vision for the house and business and quickly identified 2 areas we felt we should tackle first.

Firstly We decided to completely renovate the living quarters on the top floor which required us to install a central heating system and radiators, build a new bathroom and redesign the bedrooms. We also decided  that whilst we were in the midst of all this building work and upheaval that we should also make all the letting rooms on the middle floor en-suite and that we should get some plastering work done – talk about not doing things in half measures!!!. As we started to look into our plans further and get costings for the work it soon became apparent that we would need to close down for at least 5 weeks in order to get the work completed.

Our biggest blessing was finding our central heating engineer / plumber, Peter Hawkins who also turned out to be our joiner, electrician, interior designer and general superman. He did a fantastic job and kept us going when we sometimes felt we would never put this lovely old house back together again.

We had everything mapped out and planned. We had decided that Peter would start on January 5^th for 5 weeks and we were happy in the knowledge that as it was a quiet time it was the best time to close down – what could go wrong? Only the hardest, coldest winter in memory and knee deep in snow and add in 2 burst pipes for good measure!! (Luckily Pete our plumber was around when they happened).

The second area we felt needed urgent attention was the promotion of the business and mainly our website. Once again I was very fortunate to pick the right guy to help us with this work in contacting Derek Pennycook.

Derek is a fellow B and B owner who also has a web design business and “The Guest Company” which provides products and services for accommodation providers, whilst also offering free marketing advice.  Apart from the first class web design Derek has and continues to produce for us he has also been an endless mine of useful and helpful information. His knowledge of both the web / internet and the B and B business has been crucial to us and the fact that he is willing to help and share this information with a newcomer to the industry is testament to his character.

Being a bit of a workaholic myself and wanting everything done yesterday hopefully means that I have also played my part and since the major renovation work was completed in early February I can rarely be seen walking around the house without a paintbrush in my hand. The web / internet side is still a big black hole to me but Derek is slowly educating me  -  if someone had told me I would be writing a regular blog for my website I would never have believed them!! Whilst on the subject of hard work I could not go on without again mentioning Dianne who is always on hand to help when not at her regular work and again also my mother who gets stuck in on a daily basis – it really is a team effort.

Getting up and running in February was ideal as it was quiet and gave us time to find our feet. It is now going great guns and given it is our first year we are really pleased with the way bookings have picked up over the last couple of months and we are looking forward to a successful summer. We are also excited and pleased to see Glenaldor rising to page one on most of the internet search engines and are very encouraged that we are getting things right when we look at our customer reviews.

It certainly has been an exciting and busy few months since November and now that we have the sun on our backs we are enjoying the new lifestyle and we look forward to welcoming many new guests through the doors in the weeks, months and years to come.

We are already making plans for what we want to do this winter in terms of continually improving our house and the services we offer and I look forward to doing an update for the blog page on how things progress in the coming months.

I can be contacted – info@glenaldorhouse.co.uk

David Irving

Glenaldor House