Sorry about that, the links obviously didn't copy quite as intended.

Should be ok now.

Superb photies o' magnificent countryside... really!

We'll never hear from Dugald again

Try these for some scenery - no wonder I get the urge to move a few mile along the road every so often!...

http://www.pbase.com/zak355/

http://www.pbase.com/rothesay

http://pad.isle-of-bute.org.uk/

http://gallery.isle-of-bute.org.uk/

We has some earlier ones too, but these are no longer updated...

http://www.isle-of-bute.org.uk/coppermine/

http://www.isle-of-bute.org.uk/cgi-bin/gallery/index.cgi

You'll find some repeats here, but there are also more contributors...

http://www.flickr.com/groups/bute/pool/

You will have Dugald crying in his coffee or dram depending on the time of day.

"We'll never hear from Dugald again "

I wondered for a wee while about this comment,  and then I visited all the sights; took me ages! Ah've just had a tour of the Firth o' Clyde and enjoyed it all very much, well nearly all of it... couldn't figure out why they'd have a Jazz Parade on the Isle of Bute, bands of that type belong in New Orleans!

"You will have Dugald crying in his coffee or dram depending on the time of day."

Oh yes, it does get to me now and again, but i never cry in my coffee (had one cup of this muck once in my life!) only my tea or as you say, my dram.

We nearly bought a wee hoose in Rothesay up the main street from the pier, beside a Boy Scout Hall (could have been Sea Cadets) but in the meantime our offer had been accepted for a wee but'n ben in Largs

Seeing these pictures of the Daring in Loch Striven aren't the first warships I've seen in this beautiful loch. After the war it was cluttered up with redundent K.G.V-class battleships and a variety of other navy ships.

The Isle of Bute Jazz Festival has grown into an annual event over the years, since 1988...

http://www.butewiki.de-soft.co.uk/index.php/Bute/IsleOfButeJazzFestival

There is also the ButeLive music and arts festival, but the news this week is that it won't be happening this year due to a lack of resources, although the organisers say this is not cancellation, just demands from other commitments they have this year. This one's only five years old, and takes/took place in mid-July, a busy time.

I don't have an interest, and by coincidence always seem to land on the island just after these events, which can be quite funny as this means there are generally quite a few wandered looking souls drifting around the island in a sort of sad/sorry daze, dragging musical instruments and cases behind them. Don't know if they're just depressed that it's all over, or wondering what to do since they've missed the ferry, and don't know the schedule off by heart like locals

Hi guys,
I have just returned from a few days at Faslane and on Bute for Exercise Joint Warrior.
What a fantastic island and great people.

Fox,
Saturday should have seen a C130 do a para drop with ribs outside Helensbourgh, but I think strong winds caused it to be cancelled. The Faslane ships departed Monday morning, followed by as you say, a Dutch Sub.

In total Joint warrior includses some 30 ships and 70 aircraft.
Any further sights would be appreciated either on forum or direct.
Pat
patcarty2@aol.com

Nice to hear from you Pat.  I was driving about town at the time so I have no idea whether the drop took place.  

Over the years we have had some interestiing sightings.  I well remember a Chinook flying so low that I was able to look down on the rotors and I am less than 100ft above the water.  Another was late evening (dark) exercises with 6 chinooks flying quite low with only the leader having any lights on, the rest in total darkness.  That is impressive!

Mind you low flying by jets is a menace.   A few years ago there was a squad of roofers stripping slates on the blind side or a roof when a low flying jet appeared out of nowhere.  Really shook them up I can tell you.

A bit off topic, but since it got a bit of a mention above, and has just taken place, these are the pics from this year's Jazz Festival on Bute (and the past ones too):

Isle of Bute Jazz Festival galleries

2) Has my little bit on HMS DARING decided to go off on its own while I was checking another reference?

3) Experience of radar speed devices reminds me of the problems caused when the Aegis radar on US ships started tracking aircraft being moved on the flight decks of aircraft carriers (or the late-lamented Marconi radar on the AEW Nimrod, which tracked cars and lorries going about their business along the roads of East Anglia - naturally these did not display IFF returns).

Passerby

Sorry Passerby - can you be a bit more specific on HMS Daring and what's happened, and we'll see if something has gone amiss.

Has something else gone amiss?

Your last post has two entries numbered 2) and 3) - number 1) seems to have 'dropped off'.

Nothing in the logs, although there were some spurious postings removed the other day, none were genuine Member's messages.

If it was a side effects, my apologies.

Unless it's obvious, eg double posting or the like, or malicious (spam or the like) then there would usually be a PM or similar.

Simple moves aren't notified, they're usually obvious, and the post is still here, just in a different place, so would show up in a search

I was saying simply on HMS DARING that according to Jan'e |Defence Weekly she is at present engaged in trials of her weapons and weapons systems off the west coast of Scotland. Last week's issue had a photograph on the front cover of a Eurofighter very close to DARING. However, it is very unlikely that at this stage she would be involved in a major exercise with other ships. Has anyone been close enough to see whether she has a white ensign  or is still flying the red ensign, indicating that she is in builders' hands.

Passerby

The last I heard was that she was in the final stages of trials and was expected to be handed over soon which was a couple of weeks ago so she might have thrown away her red duster.  I'll keep my eyes open.

I think that post must have failed to save, or someone maybe closed shop without pressing the Post button

Reminds me of a time in another forum, when a slight design change altered the natural order of doing things when making a post, and I spent about two weeks wondering why most, but not all, of my posts couldn't be found later - when I went back. They had changed the position of the button, but the one that took its place still made the forum re-appear after being clicked, making me think the post had been made. Two weeks to notice - terrible

I haven't seen a post about trials, and I check for notifications of new posts every few hours while online.

I'm impressed by the little snippets about flags - it's not an area I know at all well, and always forget what little I know between occasions when the info is useful.