The Lang Whang

a relaxing day today. after an hour or so in the office headed over to Edinburgh to visit old friends for lunch and to see their cute wee grand-daughter. They live high up in Corstorphine with wonderful views and even though I only had my compact camera with me, for a few personal toddler shots, I could see a lovely evening sky starting to develop so I left and headed home by the quietest and most scenic route, the A70 to Ayr, locally known as the 'Lang Whang'.

stopped 4 times on the way, the sky was just stunning and could have blipped several, but I deliberately wanted to get this turbine in the shot and luckily there was a place to stop.

'Whang' is Scots for a long strip of leather, usually a bootlace, and if you saw the way the road winds up, down and around you can see where it got its name. It is variously classed as one of the best driving roads in Scotlad and one of the worst, for accidents. Tradition has it that Robert Burns stopped at the Wee Bush inn at Carnwath (about 8 miles from my home) and etched on a window 'Lang Whang, Lang Whang, Lang Bloody Whang'. not one of his better lines!! it is also one of the roads Burke and Hare brought cadavers for dissection by the Edinburgh Medical College. It is a great way to get to Edinburgh, if you can keep your eyes on the road!

thanks to good old Wikkipedia for some of the info