Sunday 30 October 2011

Halloween, Ride like hell and never look back...



"never look back..." my motto for solo night riding!,
Some folk i know say they would never go night riding on there own down in woods,
i love it, growing up on an old estate with no street lighting and helping out at the estate gamekeepers meant i was often out and about in the woods at night. thinks that go crunch and snap twigs in the dark were just deer or rabbits etc...
A shriek of an owl or the shining eyes of a field of sheep or cattle could spook some people i imagine,


I love the early Gothic Hammer Horror colour films of the late 1950s to 1970s,
They often used to be shown on BBC2 on Saturday nights, films that made Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing famous...


Not that scary to watch today but filmed in amazing colours and i like the sets of eastern European locations (sets made and shot in England),
and then always those pale skin straight haired Gothic girls (with a bit of cleavage) kept you watching late into the early hours...

Girls like Ingrid Pitt...



Not sure how many Hammer films were made, but whole series of the story's of Frankenstein, Dracula, werewolves, mummy's, zombies, Jekyll and Hyde etc...














Wow...


From the same era is The 1967 Roman Polanski comedy horror film: 'The Fearless Vampire Killers, some clips are on youtube to watch, The Gothic girl this time is Sharon Tate,

Trailer...


A gruesome film from 1974...


A 1980 classic which is a must see for all coastriders...


`Halloween` started a `slasher` movie theme through the 80s and 90s...


Then all the classic Teen Horror series, mostly with a comic horror scene...
The classic `Evil Dead` series...


The 1980s saw the start of `Freddy Krueger` in `Nightmare on Elmstreet` series...


Here is the original trailer...


`The Lost Boys` in 1987...


`Scream` series...


But topping them all is the classic Teen horror comedy:

`Scary movie`... lol


Some recent films like the `Saw` series and `Hostel` take a bit stomach to watch and for me are a bit too much on the torture and butchering side,
However there is one real chilling film, based on true events that happened in the Aussie Outback...

`Wolf Creek`...



CGI has changed films forever now, though many are way over the top some cool films were released through the 90s and 2000s which, if you don`t take too seriously are entertaining,

Werewolves and Vampires?,
`Underworld` Trilogy with Kate Beckinsale is worth watching...


Zombies?,
One of my favourite films, `28 Days Later`...


What must be the biggest profit making lowest budget movie was `Blair Witch Progect` released in 1999,
A Story of three student filmmakers who hiked into the Black Hills near Burkittsville, Maryland in 1994 to film a documentary about a local legend known as the Blair Witch, and disappeared. the three were never seen or heard from again,
Their video and sound equipment (along with most of the footage they shot) was discovered a year later. This "recovered footage" is presented as the film the viewer is watching.
if not liked by many folk, it is still a very clever made film...



But if you don`t giggle too much at men in costumes and low budgets there are some cracking new films out there, loosely based on Black comedy in a way these films have more in common with those old early colour Hammer Films than Hollywood block busters, don`t take them too seriously and enjoy the sets and characters...

Shot on location in Glen Affric in Scotland was `Dog Soldiers`,
An army exercise goes badly wrong when a unit on a training exercise are bated by Special Ops who use them to try to lure and capture a family of werewolves who live in a remote Highland Glen, it all goes wrong once the moon comes out, and the team have to fight for there lives, besieged in a farm house...


Some new Norwegian films,
This is a recent class horror made in a 1980s (fight to survive) style!,
Teenagers on a snow sports holiday upset some Zombie Nazis out for a feast...
EIN ZWEI DIE! "i told you we should have went to the beach" Lol...

`Dead Snow`...


This i have not seen yet, awaiting release on DVD, Trolls are now the latest horror creature to be revived... "They can smell Christians..."

`The Troll Hunter`...


Plenty to keep your mind occupied and heart rate pumping cycling through the woods alone tonight....
Im prepared, got my 2 Magicshine 872 lights, 3200 Lumens should blind any trolls...


And `Haribo Horror` mix i can feed to any zombies, time they chew through them i will be long gone...

Saturday 29 October 2011

Early doors and a low tide...



Up early Friday morning and in 15 minutes cycling from the house were onto the local beach and rolling on the hard pack at low tide....



Big empty beach, it is ace being off work through the week...


Fantastic early morning light...


The 1.2 meter low tide exposed a lot of the coast here around St Baldred`s Cradle...




But i am not alone here on the coast this morning...


Can you see another bicycle on the coast?...


Cockle pickers, using old MTB`s to carry bags like panniers from the low tide up to there 4x4 in the woods, there rusty old things with siezed chains, coast pushers?...


Memorial seat...


Riding off trail through the woods...


Beech tree`s in Autumn gold...


Starting work on more trails through the woods down here now, the trails are here already, probably created by Deer, walked by a few, nice sandy single track weaving through Scots pine woods, dry and ride able all year round, ace...

Made in Britain...

Brompton Bikes, world famous for there iconic small wheeled folding bikes,
On my wishlist and need to add one to the collection in the near future...

Friday 28 October 2011

The Kinchie Trail...

One of the best woodland single track trails in East Lothian, near East Lothians Glenkinchie Distillery ,

Song is `Fire` by Kasabian...

Click on 720p for HD

Thursday 27 October 2011

A high tide and a big swell

Autumn time and the first of the big swells that form out in the North sea at this time of year have hit our shores, yesterday was a very high tide and some huge waves.
I drove to Dunbar then rode east to Barnes Ness...






I nearly got caught out and wet feet by an incoming wave that came right over the grass and up to my ankles as i tried to fit the lighthouse into the picture,


The lighthouse is an impressive sight, and a major landmark on the coast here,


In 1940 the lighthouse was strafed by a German bomber heading for Roysth, no Major damage was done and the light remained operational,
i bet the lighthouse keepers filled there breeks when it happened!,
and the bomber crew had a good giggle!...


Looking East along the coast to Torness Nuclear Power Station...


Not much room along the beach with the high tide and after the sea washed in right over my pedals it was time to bale out and drag the pug up the dune and over on the headland and the grassy trails...


Sandy shoreline is turns to pebbles towards Skateraw and Torness...




About 4-6 feet of coastline has disappeared here, the path diverted through a `catch and kiss` swing gate, however now horses wont get through...


I sat for a while at Chaped Point, at the entrance to Skateraw bay and soaked up views out to sea...




I minute film...




Riding back and here is that erosion...


It is often said this is caused by global warming etc, this film explains that is a natural occurrence...



Back along to Whitesands on grassy trails...


Just before Whitesands some surfers were heading out to catch a wave or two...


This guy was good... should have gave him my Go Pro to wear!








Back at Belhaven at Dunbar, tide on the turn now, here is why we call it `The Bridge to nowhere`, a nice wee ride...