The Guynd -living with a laird.

The Guynd is the name of a mansion, a 32-room country home near Arbroath in Scotland. A laird is what a rich landowner is called in Scotland, not any landowner but one with a high standing in the social order, one who many depends for a living.
The book is written by an American woman (Belinda Rathbone) married to a land-rich Scottish man - John Ouchterlony - (how do you pronounce that?) & lived with him for ten years in the house and 400 acres of land that comes with it. Land-rich but cash-poor according to her. The Guynd was built by his ancestors 400 years ago and as times change and fortunes lost, have gone past its glory and is in urgent need of repairs. She got married to him as much as to the house itself. She described very interesting accounts of their effort to get the house to life again and constant 'war' with her husband who resist changes that she want to do. I find the book very interesting, funny, intriguing and well written. Came across the book while browsing through a book fair at a shopping mall in Sg.Petani 2 weeks ago. Definitely one of the best reads I've come across.

Picture Perfect

At this pit-stop we rest to admire the scenery. "The view here is like in a painting," according to him & everyone agreed.

Timber!

Fallen timber across our track though didn't happened over our heads. Along this route we came across tree trunks laid across where we need to carry our bikes over in three places. The track ended at the Bukit Wang recreational area where the water is cool and clear. This is the most arduous ride yet with several hill climbs. Three hours but the distance was just about 30km. The man told me "..should have taken this hobby years ago."

One pretty corner

There's this river that runs behind the new Fed. govt building in Anak Bukit. Part of the development of the govt complex they've done up the river front as well. First time I saw it yesterday I thought it look pretty.