New Years Eve

We all headed out at about 11.30 towards the Royal Mile. Found a great spot to watch the fireworks just outside the Witchery Restaurant.

Torchlight Procession

We all headed out to join or watch the annual Torchlight procession. A huge crowd of around 30,000 out. We walked along North Bridge which was quite unpleasant with the volume of people out walking with their torches. After a coffee stop we returned to North Bridge to watch the fireworks at 8 pm which turned out to be an ideal venue to watch from.

ELO Festive Frolic

We all headed out to Newhailes House for the Festive Frolic orienteering with a twist. Hannah and Cherry's first event in a long time! The weather wasn't great but it was a good fun event.

Max did well coming 15th of 64 beating his dad by 4 places.

Beecraigs Handicap Race

Max and Colin headed off to Beecraigs for the Boxing day handicap race. The weather was quite kind with reasonable temperature and no wind. The ground was very muddy and a puddle was reaching lake proportions. Both Max and Colin ran well coming in the top quarter of the handicap and not a bad position timewise on the 7k race.

Eskapade

Colin's headed out early on Sunday morning in the rain and gales for a run along the Risk Esk from Musselburgh to Lasswade. A big crowd turned up at the start and at various points along the way. The full run to the Pentlands lasted all day but I bowed out after about a quarter of the distance as I've not been doing much longer runs of late.

Took the bus out and back which worked well.

Hannah's Concert at Usher Hall

Hannah was playing drums as part of the James Gillespies Christmas Concert at the Usher Hall.

Queens Drive Race 2012

It seemed like a very small field for this annual run round Holyrood Park. The weather was good with clear skies and temperatures around 6 degrees. Ran pretty well and was pushed along by some similar paced runners. Best time in this race by 1 min and 20 secs finishing the 5 k in 23:50.

May be getting back some form following consistent interval training at the gym.

Blackhope Scar and Bowbeat Hill

Out for a longish run this morning. Very cold temperatures but lack of wind meant it was fairly pleasant. Parked at Gladhouse Reservoir and then ran up the valley towards the hills. Climb up to Blackhope Scar where the terrain was very rough and the distance much longer than expected. Through to Bowbeat Hill past the wind turbines was still heavy going. The run back was more pleasant. 2 hrs 50 min in total.

Harps of Gold 2012

Max was playing again at the Harps of Gold concert at the Queens Hall. He has progressed from Little Donkey at previous concerts to being the first soloist at the concert. Played a complicated piece very well.

Weekend in Dundee

Cherry and Colin celebrated our 20 wedding anniversary with a trip to Dundee - it's a long story ! On Saturday the weather was great, chill and clear, so we changed plans and headed to Tentsmuir for a nice walk along the dunes and through the forest. Great location. Saw some seals bathing in the submerged sandbanks.

Nice gym, swim, dinner and shopping in Dundee.

Lasswade Walk

Lovely sunny morning. We headed out to Lasswade and embarked on the muddiest walk ever doing a circuit from Lasswade to the ruins of Mavisbank House. After that back along by the River Esk. Lunch at the Paper Mill which is a very smart restaurant opened during the summer.

Braid Hills Cross Country

Max and Colin went out to the Braids for a 2 circuit 6 mile race round Braid Hills. Max headed off strongly and held a 100 m lead for the first two miles before being passed by Colin. Max bailed out at the half way mark whilst Colin trotted on to complete the course in 48 minutes.

Dumyat Dash

A lovely cold saturday morning with clear skys. Headed out to Menstrie near Stirling to run in the Dumyat Dash which is an 8 km run including the summit of Dumyat Hill. It was pretty tough going but seemed to go reasonably well coming in around 1 hr 15 mins at 152% of the winning time.

Survival of the Fittest

Max and Colin entered the 10 K plus 10 obstacles course. It was wet and muddy this year with a few course changes to spice things up. Both ran well and got round in around an hour and nine minutes.

Puerto Pollensa and Alcudia

A final rest day to recover from the walking. We went off to the medieval town of Alcudia and looked at the city walls, narrow streets and the old Roman remains and theatre.

Lluc to Pollensa

The last walk of the holiday was flattish slog from Lluc through to Pollensa. OK at the start but a bit dull over the latter parts of the journey. A bus took us through to Puerto Pollensa.

Puig Tomir

Hannah and Cherry got a well earned rest day in Lluc to look round the ver pleasant monastic village. Colin and Max headed off with the team to make a challenging ascent of Puig Tomir at a height of 1100 m. A long hard walk after the summit to return by a circular route to Lluc.

Walk to Lluc

The third day was a fairly strenuous walk from the Embalse de Cuber up to a mountain pass at around 1200 m height and then a steep walk into the Monastery at Lluc. Around 14 km in total and reasonably challenging.

Well done to Hannah and Cherry for getting through without a problem.

Walk to Soller

The second walk saw us drive up to a height of around 700m and then walk a further 100m uphill before a steep and winding descent into Soller. Stunning typical mediterranean scenery.

Walk from Deia to Port de Soller

Our first day of walking started with a bus to Deia and then a walk down for coffee at a cove. Then a couple of hours walking on undulating terrain near the coast saw us stop for lunch at a delightful cake shop. Best tarte tatin ever and some very cute animals. Walked on via the lighthouse into Port de Soller.

Mallorca Holiday

Had a lovely week away on a walking holiday with explore. Headed out on Saturday and arrived in Palma for a quick and somewhat rushed walk around the main sights in the city centre. Looked nice and well worth a future return visit.

Then got the train through to Soller, had a delicious ice-cream and then the tram through to Port de Soller.

Great Edinburgh Run

First race in quite a while. Lovely sunny Sunday morning and 8000 people out for a run through Edinburgh. Reasonably good form and got round in exactly 50 minutes which whilst well off personal bests isn't a bad performance. Felt pretty comfortable all the way round.