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13 September 2012

The Great Outdoors Awards 2012

TGO Magazine are running a poll for the Great Outdoor Awards 2012. It's a bit of a surprise, but I have been nominated under the category “Environmental or Access Initiative of the Year” for my campaign against Scottish wind farms.

TGO Awards

[CLICK PICTURE TO ENLARGE]

If you would like to vote for your favourites in each category, you can do so by clicking on THIS LINK.

36 comments:

  1. I voted for this bearded geezer and B&B near Loch Rannoch.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Too kind, Sir, Too kind!
      The B&B Andy mentions is the Bridge of Gaur Guesthouse: An oasis of warm hospitality.

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  2. Replies
    1. Very sweet of you Sir.
      I understand the "do" to celebrate the award scheme will be held in a wine bar...
      This award thing has just got to be worth winning, then...
      :-)

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    2. LMAO!! Just what I thought mate. I suddenly had visions of us turning up, socialising and not remembering much else (except we had a good time) ;)

      Well done on your nomination. Already voted for you mate.

      Delete
    3. I have no idea why, but your comment has just arrived in my inbox :-)
      I quite like the idea of the socailising thing.
      It will make coming nowhere in the poll all the less important.
      :-)

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  3. And mine! Congratulations.

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    Replies
    1. Free cuddles for every voter! Get your cuddle here!
      :-)

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  4. You have my vote.

    No need for the cuddle; I didn't do it for personal gain.

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    Replies
    1. Damn! I had been so looking forward to a good old *manly* cuddle!
      :-)

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  5. Replies
    1. Thank you Geoff: Helped a great deal by yourself.
      The wild places are worth fighting for.

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  6. You got my vote as well - good luck!!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you!
      It looks like I am to be worn out with all this cuddling.
      :-)

      Delete
  7. Well done Alan. A deserved contender. I can't tell you who i voted for because you might get a bit big headed.

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    Replies
    1. Hmmmm. Cuddles. How about a hearty slap on the back in a mannish sort of "All chaps together" sort of way?
      :-)

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  8. You have my vote. Anybody who battles the stupid power stations known as 'wind farms' gets my vote. Here on Anglesey the nuclear power station Wylfa B generates enough power for the whole island even with only one reactor still running. The numerous wind turbines that blight the landscape barely generate sufficient power to make a pot noodle. It is lunacy.

    I have struck up a rapport with my local MP, Albert Owen (Lab.Ynys Mon). He is a nice chap with his heart in the right place. The problem is he thinks Botticelli is a type of pasta if you get my drift. Still, we fight on.

    Hope you win.

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  9. "...he thinks Botticelli is a type of pasta...

    You always win the prize in the comments that make me grin category, too.
    :-)

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  10. Botticelli

    I am sure that stuff can kill you!

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    Replies
    1. I've seen the micro-pore tape on your fingers on the Challenge. Enough colonies in those dressings to wipe out Braemar!

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  11. Well done and keep up the good work. When you have finished giving them hell in Scotland could you hop across the border and campaign for my beloved Northumberland as it is starting to look like a set from a sci fi film with these rediculous mechanical monstrosities spouting up everywhere. Give me a good old eyeful of Bamburgh Castle anyday! Good luck with your campaign and nomination i've stuck a little cross in the box for you.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Anonymous.
      :-)
      The sad thing is, these turbines are here to save the planet from cooking from it's man made CO2 emissions. Sadly though, when you look closely at the CO2 the turbines actually save, it's a tiny amount, as the gas fired power stations emit more CO2 when they are run at reduced capacities.
      Then, when you look at the loss of CO2 storage when the turbines foundations and haul roads are dug, you realise that wind turbines are a complete fiasco.
      However, a whole load of people *do* benefit from this scam: the developers, the land owners, the paid environmental lobby (Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, WWF) the environmental journalists over at the Guardian etc, and the foreign energy companies that are raking in billions of subsidies paid for by you and me from our electricity bills.

      Delete
    2. This cuddling lark is getting quite tiring. We shall have to change over to toasts: A dimple to you, Gibson!
      :-)

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  12. Alan, have you enough energy for one last cuddle or should you be plugging yourself into a turbine to generate it?? My vote is placed :)

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  13. As you know you got my vote. As too Mr TerryBND. I gave Chris T a vote and made the rest up. Who cares about best B&B. Best wild camp photo was needed. What the heck is a matter with people. We backpack if we read the TGO don't we. No hairdryers need apply. Well done anyway.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Sweetpants
      :-)
      Actually, (now I've got your vote) I'm all in favour of the best B&B award. These folk are the unsung heroes of the Great Outdoors. I nominated and voted for the Bridge of Gaur Guesthouse, because I arrived there on this year's TGO Challenge completely knackered, smelly and covered in peaty gloop from my encounter with the Scottish National Trials route, and they welcomed me & Andy in to their lovely home with warmth and friendliness.
      I left the following morning well fed, clean & tidy & ready to face another long day.
      If this award scheme can highlight the really good B&B's out there that look after walkers well, it can only be a good thing.

      Delete
  14. My vote for you is winging it's way through the ether as we speak. Well deserved, IMHO.

    And if Scotland proves insufficient challenge alone, there's always mid-Wales to get your teeth into!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Jules
      :-)
      After I got my head round what was happening with wind farms and, more importantly, what was likely to happen to our uplands, I realised that the fight was enormous.

      Popular opinion had been so effectively managed by the industry and their paid lobbyists (the Wind Energy Association, which became RenewablesUK, and Scottish Renewables) that I thought it was important to concentrate on one area of Britain that was important to me, that I knew a fair bit about - Scotland's hills and the Monadhliath in particular.

      I think it's important to fight these bastards on two fronts - on the damage they are doing to the wild places and on the economics and skewed politics of wind energy.

      People are slowly coming round to realise they have been conned by the wind industry, who are really only carpet-baggers. They fleece subsidies from the government, paid for by the tax payer, trousering billions of pounds at the expense of the consumer and to the detriment of beautiful landscapes.

      Getting print journalism to acknowledge these facts takes ages, but we now see articles appearing regularly in the Express, Mail and Telegraph. Of course the Guardian is a lost cause. The green lefty luvvies of Camden and Notting Hill love the turbines, as they are not in their back yard and they can afford to pay the green subsidies.

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  15. You got my vote Alan, as did the worthy Bridge of Gaur B&B, one of a trio of brilliant places to stop in the 'Rannoch' corridor, the others being Bunrannoch House (Ben and Rita) and the Loch Tummel Inn (Tom and Amanda).

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    Replies
    1. Many thanks Martin.
      :-)
      I think it's a great idea to recognise these B&B's so people can support the really good places. A lot of hard work goes into creating a good B&B business and it should be rewarded.
      I shall look forward to staying at the others you mention.

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  16. Alan,

    Congrats on your nomination, best of luck and look forward to meeting you.
    Keith

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    Replies
    1. That's very kind of you, Keith
      I see you're in with a shout too - so best of luck too! Did someone mention the do was in wine bar? I'm in!
      :-)

      Delete

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