My friend Sarah got back from San Francisco recently, and she showed me the pictures she took there. When I saw this photo of a 49 foot talking lumberjack, I immediately checked the GgSs submissions database, but no-one has ever sent us it! Shame on you

However we managed to find the way there; and so here are Paul Bunyan and Babe the blue Ox in Klamath, California. Paul Bunyan is (according to Wikipedia) an enormous mythical lumberjack, who was accompanied on this timber-chopping adventures by an equally enormous blue ox, named Babe. However, for my money, the most interesting thing about the Bunyan myth is that it was propogated by the lumber industry as a public relations tool.

Apparently there’s monuments to Paul Bunyan all over America, can anyone find any more?

Thanks, obviously, to Sarah

Whilst I was in Portugal, we crossed this very pretty bridge, just east of Portimão, on our way to Slide & Splash (I suppose we probably crossed it on the way back too, but I was fast asleep). The thing is, my Google powers appear to be failing me, as I can’t seem to find out anything about it… I’m sure you guys can help me though, right?

Anyway, we had an excellent time at Slide & Splash, which isn’t the biggest water-park in the world, but was great fun regardless The best ride was definitely ‘Banzai’, which you can see running from west to east through the park. It’s basically a straight run down an open pipe, face-first on a mat, and when you reach the bottom the aim is to skim the surface of the water as far as you can go. Our technique rocked! Slide & Splash have an official site where you can check out all the rides if you’re planning a visit.

Thanks to Kerry for coming with me

Well we’ve all finally recovered from James’ wedding which took place this Saturday, and in true Scottish style there was a fantastically enthusiastic Céilidh which went on until we could barely stand up any more! As is traditional, we ended with loud renditions of Auld Lang Syne and The Bonnie Banks o’ Loch Lomond.

And so, to continue the celebration, here are those bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond!

Loch Lomond is the second largest freshwater loch (or lake) in Great Britain in terms of water volume (as Loch Ness is much, much deeper), but it is Scotland’s largest loch when measured in surface area. Interestingly, some of those islands you can see in the middle of the loch are probably Crannogs, artificial islands built in prehistoric periods.

There’s loads of stuff to see on and around the Loch too. Just off the shore of the village of Luss (where they filmed that great Scottish export Take the High Road), you can see someone enjoying a spot of water-skiing.

Further south you can see the isle of Inchmurrin (a very large inland island by British standards), where the contrails of a jet are still visible. Although the aircraft itself has flown into an area of low-res, my guess would be a low flying fighter-plane, as they’re forever buzzing around up there.

Further south still and we get to the town of Balloch, where you can see the Loch Lomond Shores visitor centre and Drumkinnon Tower, which even has an IMAX! (Why does Balloch have one and Edinburgh doesn’t, eh?) Just to the north floats the newly-restored Maid of the Loch paddle steamer.

Finally on the east of Loch Lomond, we can see the peaks of Ben Lomond (the southernmost of the Scottish Munros), at the foot of which runs part of the West Highland Way. In the height of summer (when this photo must have been taken, trust me) note that there’s still snow on the summit, even though it’s pretty small at just 974 metres.

Phew, what a lot of links! Here’s just one more to the Loch Lomond homepage, which has lots more information about everything you could possibly want to know about the area

Thanks go out on James’ behalf for all your comments of congratulations, he should be landing in Aruba as I post this… while we’re all stuck in chilly Edinburgh freezing our collective arses off!

Aruba is a Caribbean island that forms a part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Sadly it’s not in very high resolution, but I’m posting it anyway as after I get married tomorrow my new wife and I will be jetting off to Aruba for our honeymoon!

Alex is back from his holiday now so himself and Olly will no doubt keep up the sightseeing posts in the next couple of weeks.

The Blue lagoon is a geothermic spa located just outside Reykjavik in Iceland. Surrounded by volcanic rock the pool is actually the run-off from the nearby Svartsengi power plant, although it is completely safe (it’s a geothermic power plant).

The opaque water contains silicon which is apparently good for the skin and the water is very warm, even during winter. There’s a little wall here stopping you from going any further out as people have been burned, just going near the wall was quite sore! It’s a surprisingly romantic experience, so much so that I proposed to my fiancée while we were swimming around