SOSOL1

The new orienteering season started with a trip to Dalkeith Country Park on a warm sunny autumn day. Hannah ran the yellow course and got most of the way on her own. Max came in fourth place in the Orange. Colin did fairly well on the Brown coming 14th.

Guitar Gal

Hannah got a guitar and will start lessons in a couple of weeks time. Went cycling on Saturday and Hannah had great fun at Alien Rock on Sunday.

Red Moss

Went out to a nature reserve at the edge of the Pentlands. Not much in the way of wildlife spotted but went on to an excellent well hidden bird hide on the edge of the lake. Saw all sorts of birds including buzzards and long tailed tits.

Cramond Island O

Travelled to Cramond Island for some orienteering. Hannah did well. Max really enjoyed it and went round two different courses. Colin got a bit lost!

Long Walk

Max and Colin went for a long walk as practice for the St Cuthberts Way walk they are planning for next year. They went a total of 19.5 km in a total time of 6 hrs 30 minutes.

Walked from home to summit of Blackford Hill, to Mortonhall, past Fairmilehead to have lunch at the Steadings. Then climbed Caerketton Hill and descended through Swanston and Braidburn Valley Park. Temperatures were high throughout so did very well to make it round with no complaints about anything other than the flies at a few locations along the way.

Caerketton Downhill Race

Max and Hannah ran in Scotland's only open downhill only race on Wednesday night. Max really enjoyed and came 5th of the 10 runners. Hannah did well coming 9th in an exciting finish.

Moray Marathon

Took a longer than expected journey up to Elgin to run in the Moray Marathon. Nice course running from Elgin to the coast - along to Lossiemouth and back. Ran well getting round in 4 hr 1 min 50 seconds - just missing the target of 4 hrs but beating previous time of 4 hr 20 by a good margin.

Ran into trouble between miles 19 and 23 when every ounce of my body was telling me to stop and have a rest. Recovered really well for the last 3 miles which I ran at a good pace - especially the last mile at around 7 m 45 pace.

Purple Thistle

Max and Colin travelled far north to Glen Affric for the Purple Thistle orienteering weekend. Beautiful countryside and fairly good weather. The courses were extremely difficult. Max came second on the junior course (of 2 competitors). Colin did very well on the Big Thistle course coming somewhere in the top half. Max is pictured rock climbing at the Day 2 finish.

Turnhouse Hill

Went out for a walk in the Pentlands with around 20 people from the office. Pleasant walk to the summit of Turnhouse in mixed weather. Hannah did well. A doddle for Max.

The Goodies

Family trip out to see the Goodies at the Fringe Festival. The show wasn't really aimed at kids so Hannah found it a bit dull in parts.

Portmore Loch Club Handicap Race

First handicap race of the season that I've managed to get to. Got a bit lost in the forest which seemed to get thicker and thicker. Managed to finish in third place thanks to a generous handicap.

Orienteering Blackford Hill

While Colin was at the half-marathon Cherry, Max and Hannah went orienteering at the local hill. Max really enjoyed his run getting round the orange course in 43 minutes, coming 6th of 13. Hannah went round the white in 28 minutes.

Haddington Half Marathon

Colin ran at the Haddington half marathon getting round in a fantastic 1 hr 42 min 50 secs easily beating personal best of 1 hr 47 and last years time of 1 hr 49.

Cherry, Max and Hannah went orienteering at Blackford hill and all did well.

Caerketton Hill Race

Max and Colin headed out to the steep hills of the Pentlands for a challenging hill run.

Max did brilliantly well in the Junior run coming in fourth place in a very demanding course. He won a £ 5 gift token for his efforts.

Colin came in 44 place out of 66 runners in 19 min 7 sec. This was a good improvement on a year earlier when he came 36 of 41 in 21 min 20 sec.

Hannah's Birthday Party

A nice afternoon at Gorgie City farm.

Mayar & Driesh

Max and Colin bagged 2 more munros. Glorious weather meant the going was quite tough in the heat. Very nice walk first to Driesh and then to Mayar. Got round the 14 km route in 5 hrs 15 minutes.

Max has now completed 10 munros.

Teddy Bear Picnic

Max and Hannah pictured with their teddies at the Lauriston Castle tebby bear picnic.

Danish Holiday Week 2

Saturday 15 July



Travelled from our house at Kelstrup Strand to the second home on the North Sea Coast. We stopped on the way at Ribe town centre, at the mini-golf course and listened to some jazz music over lunch at Varde. The second house was about 400 m from the sea where there were miles upon miles of perfect beaches.













Sunday 16 July

We spent the morning at the beach and then in the afternoon went to Sondevig where Max and Hannah went on the super-bouncers and we then went to the sand sculpture park.













Monday 17 July

Went to another Viking museum at Bock Havn which wasn’t great. Then went bird watching at Tipperne by the Ringkobing Fjord.







Tuesday 18 July

Went to the beach in the morning and then for a cycle ride along the coastal cycle route. Travelled for about 1 hr 15 minutes south before returning northwards.


Wednesday 19 July

Went to the Og Fisk Familiepark. It wasn’t terribly good but some fun was had along the way.


Thursday 20 July

Set out for a walk along the rivers and bird sanctuaries of the area but the temperature rose to over 30 degrees and the flies came out to greet us in swarms. We decided to take things easier and had a leisurely drive around the Ringkobing Fjord visiting a few sights along the way.





Friday 21 July

A long drive to Monsted to see some lime caves. Nice meal on the way home at Ringkobing.


Saturday 22 July

Left the house and drove off towards Grinsted for an overnight stop before the flight back. Stopped for crazy golf along the way and then walked around the town of Grinsted.

Danish Holiday Week 1

Sunday 9 July

Went for a walk in the morning. Nice forest tracks and reed filled lakes. Saw swans, herons and ducks. Heard a cuckoo.

In the afternoon we walked around Haderslev. Hannah and Mum got very tired.











Monday 10 July

Spent the day at Ribes near the west coast. First at an excellent Viking museum and then at a Crazy Golf course. Max was victorious at the golf. Max and Hannah also had a good bounce on the trampolines.
















Tuesday 11 July



Went to the Trapholt Museum in Kolding and then to a local park in Kolding where Max and Hannah went on the Mooncars. Played on the beach when we got home. Weather not great.


Wednesday 12 July

Quiet day at the house. Walked along the shore in the morning but the icecream shop was shut. Played on the beach in the afternoon. Nice tea out at the local restaurant.










Thursday 13 July

Went to the fossil museum at Gram and spent an hour digging at the Clay Pit.


Friday 14 July

In the morning we went to the deer park at Haderslev. Saw two herds of fallow deer. They ranged in colour from white to dark brown. Had some honey gingerbread at Christiansfeld and then went to the poor at Kolding. Lovely weather again. Sunny but not excessively hot.

The end of our first week. It’s been a very nice house and location. Just enough to do in the area. Very relaxed and peaceful. Nice views and countryside.

Legoland Day 2

Another morning at Legoland where we went round some of the favourites again. Also went to see Titiana’s palace – the most lavish dolls house in the world.










My favourite ride was the one where you ride on a round boat and spin round and round and bump occasionally into the side. Then you get to a bit where lego mice squirt water at you. Then a lift takes the boat to a very high place and you come crashing down with a big big splash. [Hannah]

Got the hire car and travelled on to our first house at Kelstrup Strand which was a lovely small thin house just by the seaside with the beach just 10 metres from the back door.

Legoland

Up early for our first day at Legoland. Great place as the crowds aren’t too great and there are lots of rides with very little queues. Max and Hannah started the day at the Lego driving school where they drove around a realistic road layout. Apart for some trouble spotting the red lights they did very well. Other highlights were the Dragon roller-coaster, the water-slide canoes and the human powered fire engines. There was also a huge Lego world full of bits of different countries made of Lego.

Munro Marathon

It was a very early start on the morning of 4 July as I awoke at first light, around 3.30 am, to make my way to Glenshee, just a short distance away from my overnight stop. I set off on the mountain trek at 04.10.

The early morning mist rolled over the hills making visibility pretty poor but the first two summits were familiar and I made good progress. The herds of deer were out in force in the early hours with the hills swarming with hundreds of stags. I don't know where they hide later in the day but in the early morning the hills were absolutely swarming with wildlife.

05.17 Creag Leacach (987m)
05.54 Las Maol (1068m)
06.30 Cairn of Claise (1064m)

Visibility became very poor on the approach to Carn an Tuirc, down to maybe 30 m, so some accurate compass work to find the summit and the make a very difficult route to Tolmount across very rough ground. Lacking in confidence in my location on the approach to Tolmount but the clouds lifted briefly to allow a glimpse of the summit.

07.00 Carn an Tuirc (1019m)
08.16 Tolmount (958m)
09.10 Cairn Bannoch (1012m)
09.39 Broad Cairn (998m)

The clouds finally lifted at around 10 am and I enjoyed glorious sunshine for the rest of the day with soaring temperatures as the afternoon proceeded.

10.45 Carn an t_sagairt Mor (1047m)
11.29 Carn a'Choire Bhoidheach (1110m)
12.10 Lochnagar (1155m)

Arrived at the most distant point with fabulous views to the north from Lochnagar and the steep cliffs surrounding the summit. The long walk back started with the legs starting to get very heavy as I crossed the rough boggy ground towards Tom Buidhe.

14.30 Tom Buidhe (957m)

I arrived back at Glenshee at 5 pm feeling totally shattered. The long walk back without summits to tick off was very draining. Quick hot soup and lie down for about an hour helped tremendously and I set off again just before 6pm feeling surprising fresh and energetic.

18.15 Carn Aosda (917 m)
19.10 Carn a'Gheoidh (975m)
20.00 The Cairnwell (933m)

Back to the car by 8.15 pm having completed 14 munros in around 16 hrs of walking (and a few jogs). Total distance covered was around 64 km or 40 miles. Back home in Edinburgh by 11 pm.