Scotland mostly - through nsl4u

                         
A beautiful run up from Moffat past the Devil's Beef Tub (see it!), along the Tweedsmuir glen (source of that great salmon river Tweed) (hereabouts I believe the sources of the Rivers Clyde and Tweed are only about a mile apart...?)  - past the Crook Inn (why?) now up for sale as a planning order to maintain it's public house and resting place status, is cast to stop it being developed into another country housing estate for the rich....
Towards Broughton where great beers can be bought from the brewery (yep, the good supermarkets do them too fortunately..great, try them for all their variety); then over the beautiful coloured farmlands to another gem ...Biggar. On a glorious day what a wonderful market town this is...also with great heritage and a wonderful array of shops and pubs, etc. There's industrial legacy too in the Gas Works (only one left like this local 'conversion works) in Scotland , very well preserved thankfully - TOP MARKS! There's also the wee museum for the Albion motor works which we also did not get into. I could spend a full sunny day there at the bistro cafes, and shopping, and dawdling around this immaculate wee town. 

Coming further up towards the coalfields we got to the Black Law moor wind turbine farm....quite a sight...and  I've a 'hung verdict' on 'Ok' , 'good' , 'brill', or 'just going too far'! I suppose over the 'area of Scotland, they are really well dotted about and widespread...but I couldn't condone too many more. I am hugely against the Lewis development; why make electricity so far away from where the majority of it would be used (Central Belt) and then bring it down in huge unsightly overhead cable  (Beauly to Denny Line)  right down the current (!) A9 route..YUUGGHHH!! Please NO, No, NO!

WE need to understand too that 'because it's renewable', doesn't mean we can afford to lose some 60% of the electricity produced to be lost as air-cooled heat on the power lines!!!!(Transmission loss).

Please read about De-centralised generation-- why, oh why, do we hear so little about this most logical of generation methods...The politicians obviously haven't had the feed yet to do their 'causes celebre'...?!!

Watch this space; let's certainly join the smart club for cleaner power, but let's not squander our glorious natural heritage and wide open spaces.

Cheers, Denis.

(Font Rockwell light , 12)

# posted by Denis Bell @ 8/12/2009 11:04:00 pm