Perth - European Championships - Day 5

 I awoke to a nice hot coffee placed at my bedside again. Kelly had been up, dressed and ventured across the square to Cafe Nero where she grabbed a couple coffees. Now that is service!!

 We showered and after loading up the backpack, we headed over to Collegelands to meet up with the band. We will hitch a ride to Perth and attend the European Championships. We will support North Stratton in their quest to repeat as Grade 2 Champions. This is a great warmup to the World's next Saturday.   

We arrived in plenty of time and enjoyed meeting several of the band members.  One thing we noticed was the use of some old drum cases as a beer cooler. Cagey!!

 

 

Beer coolers... for the return trip!

Getting ready to depart for Perth.

Loading up for the trip.

 We loaded up and after ensuring there was enough seats for all, headed off to Perth at 10:08 am . We sat in with the drum core towards the back whom preceded to entertain us on their practice pads. 

Our drive took us past Stirling Castle and the Wallace Monument.  The weather took a turn to cloudy skies with rain showers but once in Perth, the skies cleared and the sun came out...right on cue!   

We arrived at South Inch Park in Perth at 11:25  The band is scheduled to play their medley at 1:18 so plenty of time to prepare.  The Pipe Major Hugh Armstrong addressed the band and announced the warm up schedule for everyone.  

With 147 bands competing today it was a bit of a mad house if you've never been to one. Just much bigger than we usually see on the west coast. 

Entry was easy…. At the gate the attendant asked if we needed to pay, we said “yes”  but he said the machines were not working so it was Free Admission! 

First thing I noticed was the biggest portable Jumbotron I'd ever seen! 

I said it was huge!!

 We grabbed a burger to quell the hunger and then found the beer tent with Alex. Had a good catch up with him and then went looking for the band as time was approaching for the competition.  We easily found the band with their yellow drums and watched the warmup process. 

 

Warmup time!

They moved to the tuning area and we took position in the arena to get some video. I went live on Facebook and Kelly recorded it.  A very good performance and everyone seamed happy following the band’s play. 

 

A full on retirement to the beer tent was now in order.  We then watch the Grade 1 Medley and had almost front row seats to watch Inveraray, FM and others.  it was very good.  I picked FM, Inveraray and then Boghall for 1, 2, 3 places. 

 

Shenanigan's in the beer tent!

 

We watched the closing ceremonies and the results given out for all the grades. 

The Grade 2 winners were.... 1st Place: Ulster Scottish 2nd: North Stratton and 3rd: Glasgow Skye and in Grade 1: 1st Place: Inveraray & District 2nd: Field Marshall Montgomery and 3rd: Peoples Ford Boghall & Bathgate

Full results for all bands here

We headed back to the bus and prepared to return to Glasgow. The band was a bit down initially and the Pipe Major came on the PA and said to be proud as the band came second at a Major. Still a great accomplishment. They will now be more motivated in the coming days to tweak the performance. They reviewed all the judging sheets as well. They all started to become more lively as we head towards Glasgow, drinks in hand:-)

 

We arrived back at 20:40 and the band was going to gather at a local establishment for dinner. We decided to head back to our place and let them have their time together. 

We grabbed a bite to eat and retired for the evening. Starting to hit the wall.

It's an off day tomorrow... nothing planned as of yet.  

Steps: 10,700 

Glasgow Bound - Day 4

 Up early this morning as the coffee delivery lady arrived at my bedside! Very nice start to the day! Showered and packed, we headed down to the bus stop and grabbed the 423 to Terminal 5. Our bags were dropped and then fast tracked through security. 

We had access to the British Airways Club Lounge and we took full advantage. 

A nice selection of breakfast items was provided in buffet style. Nicest lounge I’ve been in bar none. I assembled my first "Bacon Butty" for the trip!  At 8:15 our flight was loading so off we went to the gate and quickly found our seats.  We departed the gate on time and in just over an hour of flight time, we arrived in Glasgow. 

We had a bit of a wait for our bags but once we had them, a quick Uber request had us in a car within 10 minutes of ordering. Fifteen minutes later we were at our accommodation in St. Enoch Square called The Teacher.

Our hotel!

Banners around the city

 We lucked out and our room was ready so we put our bags into the room, changed and headed out to Cathedral Park were the North Stratton Pipe Band was practicing. It was an 18 minute walk from our place so not too far. 

The lovely sound of the pipes could be heard as we approached the park. Sounding good! We got there just in time to catch the last half hour of practice before they broke off. 

 

Practice 1 - Tuning... it never ends! 

 

 We had a good chat with Cody and also confirmed our ride to Perth tomorrow on the band bus with Alex MacIntyre. North Stratton will be defending their Grade 2 title at the European Championships on Saturday. (The bus will leave at 10 am). The band is staying at Collegelands so we followed Cody back to see it.

 

We then wandered back to the hotel room, picking up a few food & beverage items along the way. I managed to take in a nice nap while Kelly unpacked some of her items. 

 

We went back out for a second band practice at 4:00 PM in the park. We stopped along the way for some face cloths as they don't seem to do that here in Scotland.  

Band practice went well and they certainly have a great sound... lots of volume with 22 pipers in the mix. The last ten minutes was solidly sweet music!

 

Practice 2

 

 

Following the practice we relocated to the Babbity Bowster Pub just down the road and were joined by Cody and several of the bands drummers & pipers. They all ordered food and after seeing the Fish & Chips that Cody ordered and the Haggis Plate we decided to order the same. Fantastic food so we will be back for sure! 

 

Pipe band hang out:;-)

 

 

 They all had a beer and then after dinner, headed back to Collegelands as it's competition day tomorrow in Perth.... and they need to be sharp. Kelly and I went back to our hotel and got ready for an early night ourselves. Still sleep depraved so looking forward to a nice sleep.

 

Some sites along the way.....

 

Buchanan Street

 

 We will join the North Stratton folks on their chartered bus in the morning to attend the European Pipe Band Championships. Going to be fun!

 

Steps - 13,282   

 

 Almost forgot... saw this and really liked it! 

Range Rover Defender... nice!

 

 

Bletchley Park - Day 3

 A bit of a restless night for us as we continue to acclimatize to the time change. Our alarms went off simultaneously at 7 am and I hit the shower first.

Once ready, we headed out to the bus stop right outside the hotel and grabbed the U3 back over to the Central Station at Terminal 2.  From here, we jumped on to the Heathrow Express and headed into Paddington Station.  

Paddington Station

 From Paddington we had to make a change and go to Oxford Station and connect to a northbound train to Euston. (Due to a rail line closure) Tube Map here  We then got on the Northwestern Railway to Bletchley Park departing at 10:23.  

A bit of extra walking as we fumbled our way around the different platforms. The train made a few stops but we arrived in Bletchley at 11:01. 

It was just a short walk up the road to the entrance..... very convenient! Kelly had a Two for One coupon on her phone and they honored it. Very nice of them as we were supposed to print it out... she didn't pack the printer!  

A quick coffee and croissant and then we wandered the property. 

The story of Bletchley was conveyed in the historic buildings with explanations of how the group worked. Three shift's a day x 3000 people meant this place was jammed with 9000 people at it's height in 1945.  The best part for myself was how the Enigma machine was made and modified over the years to make it even harder to crack. The folks at Bletchley used all sorts of methods to break codes and eventually created machines to help crack these codes and in turn produced the first computer (Colossus) to do the job in hours versus weeks.  

 

 Enigma machines.... they were later modified with additional wheels to increase the possible number combinations.  

 

 

Enigma Machine - Note the additional wheel in this version.

Colossus

The Lorenz SZ40 Cipher was used by the German's for the highest level of encryption. It added a separate digit to the beginning and end of the sequence that was random (sort of).  It contained 12 wheels and had 16 million, million, million different combinations! (that's 1.6 quintillion)  It used teletype and radio equipment to send messages.

 

To crack these sequences and produce a clear message in German, the Colossus was developed and after some tweaking, had successfully cracked the code and the German communications were fully compromised without them knowing. Bletchley Park Wikki here

 

The Mansion used by staff.

Main Library converted to a working office.

 

Kelly found a comfortable chair!

On the 15:40 train to Euston after grabbing a geocache right by the station. 

Once back at Euston, we transferred to Oxford Station via train but it was super crowded! We decided to bail and head up to the street level and wander around. Look!!! Selfridges and Marks & Spencer! Who knew! Well I think Kelly did :-) 

A bit of shopping completed, we grabbed the tube at Bond Street and headed to Paddington Station.   A cool drink was in order so we stopped at the Beer House to wet the whistle. 

We grabbed some food and then jumped on the Heathrow Express back to Terminal 2 and the Central Bus Station. Back at the hotel at 20:30. We checked in for our flight tomorrow and planned an early get up to catch the 08:50 departure to Glasgow.  We will grab the 06:49 Bus #423 outside in the morning and seven minutes later we should be there.

We have been in contact with Cody and the North Stratton Pipe Band has safely arrived in Glasgow (already had a practice!).  We hope to see him/them tomorrow at some point. 

 

Some blogging and repacking and now it's time to hit the rack. Glasgow tomorrow! 

 

Steps today: 18,430  

 

London Heathrow - Day 2

I woke up just as breakfast was being served so after a quick bite, I packed up my stuff and prepared for our arrival... iPad tucked away, shoes on etc.. Our flight path took us north of the city heading east so I was able to get some good pics as we lined up for a westbound landing. 

Tower Bridge at the bottom with the HMS Belfast all the way past the Eye and up to Big Ben and Westminster Hall.

 I managed a solid 4 hours of sleep before landing at London’s Heathrow Airport.  It was a nice smooth flight and we arrived early at 12:24 pm local time.  Proceeded through immigration then grabbed our bags from the carousel and then customs… easy. 

Lovely day with clear skies and 23ºc temps. We went to the Central Bus Station and  boarded the U3 bus at 13:15 to our hotel “area” bus stop .  It is just across the street from the Hyatt we are booked into. Quick and easy drop off and we were in our room at 13:30 (that's 1:30 PM  local :-) 

 

After a quick catnap to get rejuvenated, we headed down Bath Road to the local pub. Along the way we walked by the huge model of an Airbus A380 that looks over the roundabout entrance to the under ground tunnel that goes to the Central Bus Station and more Terminals.  More details on the 1/3rd scale plane are here

 

1/3 scale A-380

Tunnel under the runway.

A few steps past the roundabout we arrived at the Three Magpies Pub for dinner. Kelly was sorting out her iphone e-sim issues and after a lengthy text conversation with the company we got it all solved... eventually. (Mine worked great!) Dinner was good and the beverages refreshing. 

 

The Three Magpies Pub... a return visit for us!

 Back at the Hyatt Place Hotel, we finished up the blog and texted with family. We also scouted out our train route to Bletchley Park as this requires a trip into London to connect to the London Northwestern rail at Euston.... now to get to Euston :-)  

 

We pushed the evening to 10 PM local and hit the rack as we acclimatize to the time change.