We Must Stop The Plunder Of Loch Lomond For Profit.

        Like anyone brought up in Glasgow and and further afield, the Loch Lomond area has been a paradise, a world of pleasure and beauty, a place of peace and quiet, an endless world of warm companionship when shared with friends and family. Its natural beauty is difficult to surpass, I have splashed in its cool waters, (sometimes freezing waters), I have walked its hills and glens, I have cycled its roads, I have enjoyed its tranquility. The pleasure and beauty this place delivers is endless, as it is varied. People from across the globe come to sample its rugged beauty, its wild unspoiled panorama, a gem of unparalleled natural beauty free for all to enjoy.

         Now however our lords and masters who are tasked with protecting our natural heritage have decided all that must change. In their profit and economic growth mentality, they have decide what Loch Lomond needs is a theme park, luxury hotels, self catering apartments, luxury homes for the few, restaurants coffee shops, amusement arcades and the mishmash of "fun-things" that make money, and what you will find in any big city. They wish to take the natural beauty of Loch Lomond and cover a large swath of its natural beauty in bricks, tarmac and concrete. To feed their appetite for "economic growth" which is a euphemism for stuffing a few rich sods bank accounts, they are prepared to decimate woodlands, destroy rare wildlife, animal and fauna, take what is free public land and turn it into a private money making asset for a few from the financial Mafia. A place of beauty free for all to roam and enjoy, will become private property where you are excluded, unless you can come up with the money.

      This land is ours, it is there for all to enjoy, free, they don't have the right to steal it for their money making machine. We would be a land of craven idiots if we let them get away with this plunder of public land for profit. Our voices must be loud and our actions in defence of our free to roam beautiful land, must be determined and forceful, we can't let this happen.

This extract from The Herald:

        ON Loch Lomond’s bonnie banks this week only the clouds lurking sullenly over the hills that garland them hinted at a storm. This is one of those places that looks as magnificent in wind and rain as in sunshine and this week has seen it at its moody finest. Yet it has become the focal point of a planning and environmental row which swamps anything the elements can throw at it.
       Last month updated plans for a £30m leisure development at the southern gateway to Loch Lomond at Balloch were re-presented to Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority. The development is being backed by Scottish Enterprise but alarms are being raised at the process by which the land was bought and the bewildering nexus of business and political ‘relationships’ that have paved the way for it to happen. In 2016 Scottish Enterprise announced that the preferred bidder to develop the site was Flamingo Land, an outfit which runs a theme park and zoo in North Yorkshire. Both Flamingo Land and its partners at Scottish Enterprise insist that their plans are sensitive to the fragile beauty and eco-structure of Loch Lomond, perhaps the most globally-recognised representation of Scotland’s natural beauty.

Read the full article HERE:

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9 Degrees, But Still Wonderful.

      Yesterday, 26th. saw my first run out on the bike since returning from Athens, unfortunately I came back from Athens with a lousy cough, so the bike runs were postponed. My first run was the familiar territory of the Campsie area, it was really a bit too cold for my creaking bronchial system, 9 degrees, but I loved it, and had a wonderful run, great to feel the pedals turning again. 

       Wheelcraft is a well known bike shop in Clachan of Campsie, frequented by cyclist from a wide area. Big Al, who runs the place is credited with being the best wheel builder in Scotland, if not the UK. The racing fraternity, and other cyclists, pop in to see him as he always has a pot of coffee standing by for all and sundry, while he usually sits with a wheel spinning in front of him. The pater is always about how long a distance they have covered or how fast they covered it.

      Along the road a bit from Big Al's there is what used to be part of a working farm, the farm is still there, but part of it has become an overpriced bundle of bricks in front of which people park rather expensive cars.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk