Scottish-Irish Skier

A few snaps of a 'refreshing' walk at Loch an Eilean. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loch_an_Eilein Blizzard at times. Wind picking up again now, but well stocked with essentials and fire on.

Wet snow here in Carrbridge.

Greetings from Carrbridge. Journey up was fairly wild at times but in reality a fairly standard Scottish winter storm. Wet snow on the A9 drumochter. 2C here and a chance of some wintry stuff overnight. Beer time.

Dugs (wee king charles spaniels) were not keen about going out for a walk. Looked at Mrs SS like ''Are you mad?".

100 litres of -8c (20% vol) or 85 litres of -15c (30% vol) appropriately diluted. Should last a while. £38 from Amazon. #screenwash #delivery EDIT. Better watch my back though, it's 16 kilos! --- Weather wise it's just cauld pish here. At least it's weather though.

Aw man. So jealous. Although I'm heading for Carrbridge for xmas the morn, so there's hope yet. Meanwhile, here at Riccarton, W. Embra there's slushy crap sticking on car windscreens and it's baltic.

Hail here at Riccarton, W Embra.

Finally. It seemed like this winter was going to be completely devoid of weather. There's only so much... ...a man can take. It all went wrong when I fitted those Nokian weatherproofs...

I'm very happy so far. Tried on icy / frosty, sheet ice, cold wet, soggy mud, heavy rain and mild dry. Speeds up to...erm, fast let's say. Sure initially I could feel I've gone to a bit of a softer compound, so you can e.g. feel them roll a touch on very sharp cornering. Likewise at bat out of hell straight line you can feel they're not as rock solid. However, I've adjusted quickly and can corner as fast as usual; hold the road fine. Mind you that is with traction control, ESP and E-LSD to make me feel I'm a really good driver. So I'm very happy so far. There's much less 'winter tyre' feel than my old full winters, which I suppose makes sense as the weatherproofs are hybrids, so not as soft. Also I suppose the alloys on my car now are 225/40/R18 so lower profile. With less side wall, they're likely stiffer laterally, so feel less winter soft and more like a summer tyre.

You can get isopropyl alcohol (isopropanol) on Amazon pretty cheaply these days. About 1:4 of that to water by volume will do you down to -10 C sustained, which covers a harsher Scottish winter. 1:8 will work for your average common or garden frost. I bought 10 litres for £25. That makes 50L of strong (-10C) screen wash, so 50p/litre, which is pretty cheap for good winter stuff. Add a wee drop of fairly liquid (tsp) per 5 litre to help it clean. If you feel like it, you can buy some food colouring to turn it e.g. pink for that pro look.

You are partly to blame for the purchase... But ok, winter's over tomorrow morning then. As that's when these babies are going on. --- Jeez it's chilly. Peaked at 0.6 C today. Hoar frost growing bigger by the day in the shade. Down to -2.6 already this evening.

It's a fence to protect neeps from being eaten by wild haggis.

Just jinxed winter folks. Sorry. #Nokian #Weatherproof

Snaw!

First few tiny flakes drifting down here. T = 2.5 C / DP = -0.4 C

M74 Beattock certainly looks promising for what's heading my way. EDIT, Goes without saying that photos of snow are required by those lucky enough to get it!

Nothing here yet, although the edge of the front isn't far away. T = 2.7 C / DP = -0.2

Beggars can't be choosers!

White stuff.

Some sleet mixed in with the constant pish here.

First.

First wintry prep of the season. Just had a wee hail shower rattle through here. T = 5.8C / DP = 1.5C. Raw.

SS gearing up for winter in earnest. Hmmm.

Just to jinx this early on.

Ok, normally a winter weather poster (#snaw) but a few photos from family holiday to the EU (Haute Provence, France). Weather was nicely hot, i.e. low 30's max, so survivable for a Scotsman. What was particularly crackin was the thunderstorms. Mountains create their own weather, and for a few days in the middle of the stay, that's what they did, spectacularly. Late afternoon the clouds gathered, then an amazing lightening show + booms galore. Bolts hitting peaks just across the valley. Then pished doon like mad. Quality.