Colin, Cherry and Max headed to Llanberis in the morning for a walk towards Snowdon (the train being fully booked). Hannah had a day off to snooze and write. We got to the halfway house in pretty reasonable weather with never the intent to go all the way.
In the evening the four of us went to dinner at the Freckled Angel in Menai Bridge for a very nice set of selection of small plates.
The forecast was very bad for the early part of the day so we stayed in for the morning and headed off to Conwy after lunch for a wander around town and to visit the very impressive castle - although unfortunately still in the rain.
We headed off by car at 10 am for Portmerion about 50 minutes drive away. A nice wander around the Village and the coastal and woodland walks. A nice pasta/pizza lunch.
We headed off at 10.30 am to nearby Beaumaris for a boat trip with Seacoast Safaris departing at 11.30 am. The trip took us up the Menai Strait back towards Menai Bridge past Bangor Pier, the various bridges between Wales and Anglesey to the Nelson Monument. We turned and headed to Puffin island to see the puffins, shag, cormorants and gannets. It was a bit rough by the island. A 2 hr trip in total.
Left home at 8 am with Colin, Cherry and Max in the car heading towards the M6 southwards. A bit if a jam just south of lakes due to an accident with us finally making it to Bangor at 5 pm to pick up Hannah at the station. We then headed to our AirBnB - the Old Mill at Menai Bridge. A really nice property with lovely views over the Menai Straits.
We had a nice dinner at Dylans a short walk away in Menai Bridge village.
Four day (three nights) booked at an AirBnB in Braemar as a base with a plan to tackle 6 munros. Booking in advance of course meant uncertainty about the weather which turned out not to be great.
Day 1 on Saturday was pretty nice weather wise after the 3 hour drive up from Edinburgh. Drove to the NTS car park at Linn of Dee then mountain bike for around 20 mins to Derry Lodge. From there a very nice walk up to the summit of Carn a Mhaim. A nice path pretty much all the way to the top made this a pretty pleasant walk.
Day 2 the plan was to do Ben Avon and the nearby munro. I cycled from Braemar to Invercauld Bridge and then a long approach along the Sluggain before parking the bike and walking onwards. Weather was poor with steady rain and poor visibility. At the foot of Ben Avon decided not worth attempting the summit but leave these two for another day. Probably a wise decision with the weather and the equipment I had with me. Could stay on the bike longer next time as some good sections of trail further along the path than I rode.
Day 3 was again a wet day but I set off very early at 6 am to get the best of the forecast weather. Bike from Braemar to Derry Lodge then hike up to Beinn Bhreac. Whilst OK further down the summit was in the clouds. Decided against a 4 mile slog in the upland bogs with zero visibility to the next munro.
In the evening went for a bit of a blow out at the Fife Arms with Steak and Chips, Lemon Meringue Pie, a pint of beer and a glass of wine.
Day 4 was another early start to catch the weather window and a bike and hike up to Derry Cairngorn. A nice walk with good path most of the way and initially good weather. The top clouded over however and with poor visibility decided against trying for a second peak.
I drove down to Manchester on Saturday to meet up with Hannah and help out her flat move from Oxford Place to The Mayfair at 59 Palatine Road. We continued on Sunday and got most of it done by early afternoon. I then headed off to the Travelodge and to join the boys for the get together which this year was Sunday to Wednesday to enjoy the cheaper hotel prices.
The crew this year was me, Tim, Warren, Ian, Glenn and Mark.
On Sunday evening we just visited pubs and had a good Thai meal.
On Tuesday we went to the Police Museum which was very interesting and to the Science and Technology Museum which unfortunately had quite a large part closed. In the evening we went to Mackie Mayor for dinner and then to Night & Day Cafe for a gig featuring Dea Matrona and Housewife in support.
Wednesday was a drive home after an LV Zoom meeting in my hotel room.
A day trip out for Colin & Cherry to some gardens. The Japanese Garden at Cowden near Dollar was pleasant enough but like most Japanese gardens a bit lacking in floral display and the overall shape and look didn’t overly impress.
Culross was very nice. Lovely village and the stepped walled garden is lovely. Mainly a fairly untidy but attractive fruit, veg and herb garden but with a great structure along south facing walls. We’ll aim to return next summer.
Theatre night at the Royal Lyceum to see an adaptation of the Muriel Spark novel. Cherry quite enjoyed it Colin less so.
Took the train to East Linton and walked from there to Dunbar mainly on the John Muir Way. A very pleasant route which I've done before. Weather was pretty good but not consistently sunny as hoped for. Just made it across the bridge to nowhere - the watch was covering the west side access and feet got a bit wet.
Decided to make an effort to attend events at the Science Festival this year. Went to the following:
Stranger than Fiction - game show "humour"
Rising Tide: Art and Environment in Oceania - exhibition at NMS
Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2024 - exhibition at NMS
Look After Your Brain - Lecture at Bayes Centre
The Future of AI - Q&A at NMS
Growing Home after Hours - event at NMS
Carbon Capture & Storage - lecture / Q&A at Bayes Centre
The Future of Transport - lecture at NMS
Took the short train journey to Dunbar for a short walk along the coast. Lovely sunny day and Dunbar looking fabulous as usual.
I was cold wet and windy - perfect conditions for a wind farm on elevated rough land south west of Glasgow. A three hour Mountain Bike event in the massive windfarm with nice easy gravel tracks between the various turbines. Navigation was straightforward which I'm not complaining about! Thought about an early finish a few times but the weather eased periodically and I made good progress picking off the controls thinking at one point I'd get round them all with plenty of time to spare. There was a long and rough section near the end however that slowed me right down and ended up running out of time. Finished 4 minutes over the time limit having visited all controls. Score wise the better decision would have been to skip up to the last 3 controls and get back in time even though they were only quite short detours.
Great fun. Worked pretty hard at the end to try to finish quickly.
Interesting place with a surprising number of people out for a walk amongst the wind turbines. The visit centre and cafe was quite nice.
Theatre trip for Cherry and Colin to see Blue Beard. A strange show but entertaining with great musical performances.
On Friday I meet up with Tim, Glenn and Mark at Tuk Tuk's for Thai food and drinks in the Imperial Bar.
On Saturday Michael arrived on his day trip and after overnight ferry on Friday and the same planned for Saturday night. We made good progress with more clearout and filling a skip with junk in the house. We met with Liz at the Golf Club for dinner in the evening.
On Sunday I drove to the Titanic area and had a nice long cycle along the Lagan Valley as far as Sprucefield. For the most part very nice riverside path with interesting wetland and parkland. Punctured on the way back but a reasonably quick and successful repair. Also had a slow explore around the Titanic zone.
I headed across on Tuesday 27th on the Cairnryan to Belfast ferry arriving at 54 Moira Drive in the evening with a mission to clear Maxwell's house in preparation for the next owners to move in in around 4 weeks time.
On Wednesday the charity Restore came along and filled a van with most of the furniture leaving a small rump to collect in a weeks time.
On Thursday I had the day off for travel and fun. In the morning I headed to Belfast Castle and Cavehill for a 4.5 mile walk around the park and to the summit. Very nice views over Belfast and blessed with very good weather.
A season of 5 classic sci fi movies on the big screen at Cineworld for £5 per ticket (+booking fee).
2001: A Space Odyssey (8/10)
Interstellar (5/10)
Dune Part 1 (9/10)
Blade Runner - The Final Cut (10/10)
Blade Runner 2049 (2/10)
Some excellent tapas and then a roughly 1 hour show of music and dance. As always very powerful and engaging.
A very chilly morning but clear blue skies with East Lothian coastline looking its very best. A delightful course of trails through pine woods and runs along the short and several miles along the beach with views to Bass rock in the distance. Well marshalled and marked route. Form was pretty good today and whilst I was slowing in the second half was still running the whole way. I think the course was slightly shorter than 2 years ago and a bit less than 13 miles. Time was 2 hrs 2 mins and about 10 minutes quicker than a slow run 2 years prior.
Saturday night at the theatre. Both enjoyed this one. A new play written by David Greig.
A quiet couple of weeks as far as work concerned so planned a sequence of 6 MTB rides. Inital though was for 6 consecutive days but given weather conditions the better plan was to spread over 2 weeks as conditions allowed.
Ride 1 was to Little France Park taking my time to explore as much as possible around LFP, Craigmillar Castle and Jack Kane Centre.
Ride 3 was out to the Far Side of Balerno. With weather still cold feet and hands pretty frozen by the end.
Ride 4 was South Queenferry. A very nice route and destination.
Ride 5 was a circuit from Melrose with a hike to summit of Eildon Hill added on.
A nice trip to Glasgow for a meal with Max and Kasha at Ask Italian and then on to Transatlantic Sessions as part of Celtic Connections at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. A good show featuring as usual a number of artists; Carlene Carter, Lindsay Lou, Joshua Burnside, Kim Carnie being the headliners with a good mix of our musicians getting their turn including the ever present Ally Bain and Phil Cunningham.
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