HAPPY NEW YEAR

We started the new year in energetic mood with the Portobello Promathon. Max and Hannah ran the 2 miles fun run. Max finished in 18 minutes and 19 seconds whilst Hannah came close behind in around 20 minutes.

Colin ran the 4 mile event in 30 min 11 seconds.

Clambers

Max and Hannah went to Clambers for some fun with the girls.

Fesitve Frolic

We had another trip to Vogrie country park for some orienteering. This was a great team event where we ran around an Orange course Plus a number of additional controls and quiz questions. The weather even stayed quite nice for us.

Gentle Hill Walk

Max and Colin went up Scald Law and South Black Hill in the Pentlands. Some very nice weather at the start and remained fairly good the whole time. Max wasn't on the best of form as he recovers from a cold but with a bit of encouragement made it up two peaks. Total walk time of 2 hours.

Boxing Day Festive Run

Colin ran in the Festive Handicap at Beecraigs. Nice weather for a great little event. 2 laps round the country park that had a bit of everythings - hills, lake, forest paths.

Good time of 1 hr 12 mins against the winning time of 51 minutes. Came 10th in the handicap.

Vogie O

Orienteering at Vogrie on a cold but clear Sunday morning. Colin and Max went round the green whilst Hannah and Cherry did the junior course.

Hill Run

Fresh saturday morning jog in the Pentland hills.

Easter Bunny Spotted !

Harps of Gold

Max played as part of the Edinburgh Clarsach Society annual concert at the Queens Hall. A gathering of around 60 harps on stage and a choir from the local school played two hours of Christmas tunes.

On Tuesday Max played a solo at the James Gillespie musical evening as well as singing in the choir.

Glasgow 3 Parks

Max, Hannah and Cherry went to the Childrens Classic Concern whilst Colin went to Glasgow for the day for 3 orienteering courses in different parks in the City. Visited Victoria Park, Kelvingrove Park and Queens Park. Came 8th in the Open men (still trying to pretend I'm not a Veteran).

Scottish Score Championships

Headed out on Sunday morning to Beecraigs for some orienteering. Max did very well coming 2nd in the M12 category. Colin did OK coming in the top half of the field on his course. Hannah and Cherry got a good time on the Yellow course.

Tim & Laurie Get Married

We all travelled out to Enterkine House near Ayr for Tim and Laurie's wedding.

Max played a short piece on the harp at the end of the ceremony. He did fantastically well.

Orienteering & Football

Hannah had a busy footballing weekend. On Sunday her team won for the first time beating South Morningside B 3 - 0.

We went orienteering on Saturday to Craigmiller Castle. Max did the grown up's course brilliantly well.

Saw James Bond on Friday night. Very good.

Tim's Stag Weekend - Latvia

We departed very early on Saturday morning to arrive in Riga by around 2 pm in the afternoon. After a quick stop at the hotel we headed off to the old town for a wander around the cathedral before taking shelter in a coffee bar. From there onwards to the local Irish Pub and then to a local pool hall. Excellent dinner at a medieval restaurant and then on to a bar until around 3 am.

Warren and Tim decided that the night was still young and proceeded to empty their minibar. They had a failed attempt to wake up me and Ian and empty our mini-bar at about 4.30 am !

The next day we got up late! and headed for Riga Castle and then a fuller tour of the old town. The Museum of the Occupation was excellent telling the story of how the country was occupied by the Russians, then by the Nazis and then by the Communists again. A very grim story.

Went back to the pool hall a second night and another very late night which didn't finish until around 5 am.


On Monday we headed out shooting where we each shot 10 rounds on each of a Winchester Rifle, a Kalashnikov and two pistols.

Busy Weekend

Hannah was busy with football practice on Saturday morning and then the big challenge match with South Morningside. After a heavy defeat earlier in the year they did fabulously well to get a 2-2 draw.

Max had an orienteering weekend. He ran for the East of Scotland in a relay competition on Saturday at Penicuik and then had a great run in the Borders on Sunday.

ESOA Champ

Busy weekend as we hosted an Interlopers Halloween Party of Friday and then another for Max and Hannah's friends on saturday. Hannah got her trophy !

Went to a CATI-O at Newhailes on Saturday afternoon and a Childrens Classic Concert on Sunday.

ESOA Championship

On Sunday we headed off to Selkirk for the East of Scotland Orienteering Championships. Colin came 3rd in the M40 category. Max came 4th in M12 and Hannah was declared the CHAMPION for the W10 category.

Berwick Law and Dunbar

On Saturday we got an early start to the summit of Berwick Law on a lovely sunny morning. From there we went to Tantallon Castle and then to the dunes of the John Muir Country Park. The surfers were out in force on the beach.

Drove on to Kelso in the evening for a riverside walk along the Tweed to round off a very busy day.

East Lothian Long Weekend

For the last weekend of the October Week school break we headed off for a few days in East Lothian and the Borders. On Friday morning we set off for Aberlady for a walk around the shore from Aberlady to Gullane. Had a nice lunch at the Old Clubhouse. Spotted some good birds and ducks on the way. Lots of Eider Ducks.

The afternoon wasn't quite so successful with both Dirleton and Tantallon Castles closed for the day. Had a nice dinner at the Open Arms Dirleton.

Pentlands Orienteering

Went to a newly mapped part of the Pentlands. Hannah wasn't on top form - Max was still suffering from a cold and Colin was slow after the previous day's exertions.

Manor Water Sheepdog Trials & Hill Race

We went to a place called Manor Water so that dad could do a hill-race and we could watch the sheepdog trials the sheep-dog trials weren't particularly good and it got a bit boring but we went for a little walk too. Max

The hill race was excellent. 5 miles up hill, past Dead Wife's Grave and on to the top of The Scrape at 719 m. Fabulous views over the borders hills and the sundrenched valleys around Stobo. Weather was perfect throughout. Great fun running downhill for 5 miles. Ran pretty well throughout with a time of 1 hr 36 minutes.

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.