Clark Forest

As a general rule, Scotland gets beautiful anywhere 20 mins North or West of Glasgow. I've just come back from a week's biking tour up there, and the scenery (even though I've seen so much of it all many many times now) still amazes me. Quite literally anywhere up there is great, Stirlingshire is often overlooked but well worth a run, especially as it's not that far from Loch Fyne (if that's where you're staying?). Killin , for example, is a really nice wee village, pretty much slap bang in the middle of the country. For seafood, you're in a pretty good starting location - Loch Fyne Oysters would be as good starting point as any - they sell stuff straight out of the loch, so pretty much as fresh as you can get! You're not all that far North from that point, so Applecross / Glencoe etc (although well well worth a drive up) aren't all that easily accessible unless you're planning on moving around for a few nights during your stay? As mentioned, the run up to Applecross is stunning, there's an old road called Bealach Na Ba, which is worth the trip up there alone. Oh, and the pub at Applecross serves seafood straight off the boats, you can't get much fresher than that! Be warned - it is a proper long trek up there though!! Oban would be worth a night - there's a seafood restaurant there on the harbour that's won umpteen awards for it's food (I forget the name of it but I could direct you to it no problem if needs be!). We saw a family of dolphins out in the harbour in Oban a couple of weeks ago, so it's well worth a visit if you're up that way. Like I said earlier on, there are so many places to see & go to in Scotland, and everyone's got their own 'GO HERE' and 'DO THIS' - the best way to do it, I found, is to jump in the car and find it all out for yourself! Final warning though, you'll not want to go home again after spending time up there!!

They're in! Arrived this morning and already sold a few pairs over the counter! Get them while they're here folks!

We're about to launch a special offer on Aquafell Xpert Chainsaw Boots and thought it only polite to let the good folks of ArbTalk know about it first! RRP for these is now up to £209 £150 (no VAT) with Free P&P to UK Mainland. Here's the link: Aquafell Xpert Chainsaw Boots Offer (NI, Scottish Highlands & Islands excluded I'm afraid but PM me & I'll do the best price for P&P that I can get for you) Please Note - these are NOT seconds, and ARE the new versions with the black heel sections that don't wear through like the old orange ones did. Sizes available - 41, 43, 44 & 46 Cheers James

We had a pair to show off at the Barony Show, and they attracted a lot of attention (we could have sold them umpteen times over if we'd had them in stock). They're a great looking boot, I originally thought the red colour was a bit, well you know but having seen them in the flesh, they look great. Proper comfy, well built and goretex lined - can't be bad at that eh!

I just use the sterile cleaning stuff from Boots you can buy for cleaning home-brew kits. I think it's called Chempro, or Sempro or something like that..? Anyway, it works and doesn't taste rotten either.

That's harsh - sorry to hear about it HB - we'll keep an ear out for any stock being punted suspiciously cheap and let you know (it could just as easily have happened to any one of the suppliers on here, after all). JM

I've uploaded all of the photos that we got from our resident Photographer (Euan Adamson) onto our Wm Clark & Son Facebook page in case anyone wants to see them?

Everythings pretty much up & running over at the Barony now - I've just dashed back to the office for a quick Costume Change. So far (touches wood...) the weather looks like it's going to hold. Here's to a good day! Cheers James

Added onto this thread in case it gets missed in the other one...

The Barony College's postcode is DG1 3NE for any yuppies with Sat Navs Location Map - The Barony College on Google Maps Here are a few directions from various places: For those travelling from around Ayr (bearing in mind the planned closure of the A76 road) For the Weegies For the grand old folks of Edinburgh Anyone coming from Aberdeen / Dundee way Any Border Ramblers - here's a route from Hawick: I think that pretty much covers the Scottish contingent, and for anyone brave enough to cross the border from England, here's the directions from Carlisle Weather wise - we're certainly getting 'plenty' of weather down here at the moment, usual 'day out in Scotland' common sense would apply I think - chuck the waterproofs in the car (or save weight and fuel, (think of the environment) and buy some off us! ) and it'll be OK I'm sure. Not long now folks - looking forward to seeing some new faces there!

+1 on the 'invest in good stuff & i'll see you right for years' opinion. Cheapo waterproof kit is almost always a false economy, it'll always let you down at some point! It's bad enough for me having leaky kit on a snowboard or motorbike, and that's only ever for a few hours at a time - being out in it day in, day out, like you boys deserves better kit!

Such a lack of commitment is clearly why we deported you over there in the first place!!

Speeding doesn't kill anybody, it's the stopping very very quickly that tends to do that!! In all seriousness, it's bad driving, people not looking further ahead than the back bumper of the car in front, being drunk / off their face whilst driving, yapping on their phones, texting etc - They all contribute to more accidents than simply driving a few miles an hour over the speed limit. Granted, a combination of the above, with speeding is a recipe for disaster. An example, if I may, you tell me what's more dangerous, sitting at 85mph on an empty motorway at 3am (illegal) or driving past a primary school at 30mph, whilst having an argument with someone on the phone via your bluetooth headset (perfectly legal). Would all the Anti-Speeding brigade prefer if Emergency Service vehicles religiously stuck to speed limits? Ah, nowt like a good rant before lunch!

A fair point, but I don't think the organisers really had any idea it was going to pick up pace the way it did - it was initially just going to be a few Harvester dealers, then the Arb stuff got added in later. Depending on how this one goes, there's definately scope to hold it again, at which point I'm sure there will be more notice and more invitation etc.

Depending on how North's North, what about the Scottish one? It's pretty much just over the border and no more (pretty much just get to Carlisle & turn left...) Just a thought?

A wee heads up - we've been tipped off by those in the know that the A76 road is due to be closed on Saturday at Kirkconnel. Here's an alternative route for anybody coming down from Ayrshire way: Ayr to Parkgate, avoiding the closed A76 Road It's actually a nicer drive down that road anyway, esp if anyone's planning on coming on a motorbike? Cheers James

I got a Reg Airic camp mat from them for my Euro-Trip last month - it's a great bit of kit, much better than the Gelert and Generic Brand ones the other lads had, (in that it self-inflated and actually stayed up, not much to ask you'd think!)

We've kitted out a few girls that are doing Arb / Chainsaw courses at the Barony over the last couple of years, so it does seem to be a ground trend. Only snag is when they come in asking for size 3 Chainsaw Boots!! That's the only part that I think guys have the main advantage, in that much of the kit being produced isn't made to fit women.

Another quick update - there are a couple of Prize Draws being held at the show, from the Barony & Wm Clark & Son. Prizes are a £250 voucher for Short Courses (of the winner's choice) at the Barony College and £250 to spend as you please in Wm Clark & Son's Forestry Equipment Shop. I think the Forestry Journal / Essential Arb stand will have an entry box, but there will be also entry forms & boxes dotted around the show - get stuck in and bag yourself some goodies!

Sorry, as a resident IT Geek I should have spotted this one earlier! The main bits of into you need are: The IP address of your router and both PC's. You should be able to get the IP address of your router from the same screen you were in to see it's MAC Address. To get the PC's IP Addresses (I'm assuming it's windows you're on?) - if it's Windows XP, do this: Start - Run - type in cmd and hit enter. This will bring up a small black DOS window, in here type in ipconfig /all This will give you a load of different information, one of which will be the IP Address of this PC, take a note of this, along with both the DNS Addresses for each PC. Basically what you need to do, is give the second PC an unique IP Address within the same range of the first one. e.g. if the IP Address of your main PC is 192.168.0.2 give your second PC an IP Address of say, 192.168.0.10 - It doesn't really matter what the last number is, but it must be unique, and as long as all the first three sets of numbers are exactly the same as those on your main PC, this should be Ok. Once you've got these details, it's just a case of setting the second PC's network settings up the same as your first - to do this, on the second PC, go to: Start - Control Panel - Network Connections - Right Click on Local Area Connection (you'll need to have the network cable plugged in by this point) - and click Properties Somewhere in the list that comes up you'll see Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) - Double Click on this and you'll get a new window opening with two options at the top. Select Use the following IP Address and enter your the unique IP Address of your choice (again, just make sure that the first three sets of digits are the same as both your main PC & your router, but that the last set is unique.) Also, enter the DNS address(es) that the main PC uses into the Use the following DNS Server addresses section at the bottom section of this screen. All being well, you can keep clicking the OK buttons now and closing any open windows until you're back at your desktop, and try your Internet connection again... This is a very simple option - there are a few things that 'might' get in the way (i.e. you might need to set up a Workgroup etc), but this is the first option to try. Feel free to PM me if you're struggling! Cheers James

:scared1:Oooooooooouch!!!!!!!

Does it not give you some alternative suggestions to use? If all the ones you want are already taken, you can normally get round it by just adding a 1 at the end of it.

Yeah, it should be - (as long as the weather holds up!) Oh, by the way - did your stuff arrive Ok Adam?

It seems to be working ok just now... Try this one: Scottish Forestry & Arb Show This is a direct link to the page within the Barony's website, just in case the above one plays up again: Untitled Page I was up a few trees with Mr Irving yesterday as it happens trying out some of our new kit (they're not new but my god those Petzl Pantins make life easier for an unfit, office bound IT bod like me!!).

For (what I hope will be!) pretty obvious reasons, I can't give away any secrets here, but that's not going to make any difference (sorry!). There are plenty of ways to be help your site to be found in Google / Yahoo / MSN etc, but this isn't one of them I'm afraid. Might save someone a bit of wasted time & effort!