Arundel

Colin got the train from London to Gatwick and Cherry flew down. We hired a car and headed off to Arundel. As the weather wasn't great we deferred the Castle visit to the Thursday and instead had a wander round the very pretty town, visited the museum and the Cathedral.

After that we headed to our hotel the Bailiffscourt Hotel and Spa and enjoyed the pool and gym facilities.

A very nice 3 course evening meal at the hotel.

Crazy Golf, Steak and Goodbyes

On Sunday the whole family headed out to Fountainpark for a round of crazy golf in the newly opened indoor course. It was fairly good. The courses a little dull but the surface and course condition was good. Colin won with Max a very close second. Also had a game of pool afterwards.

In the evening we went to Los Argentinos for Steak (or Fish) as this was the last evening before Max returned to Glasgow, Hannah to Birmingham and Colin went off on business to London.

80 Mile Cycle

Keeping up my challenging training plan on the bike I had a 40 mile mountain bike ride on the Friday followed by an 80 mile road bike ride on the Saturday. The Saturday ride saw some lovely spring weather. The ride headed South to Innerleithen then East past Ashiestiel House to Clovenfords then North to Heriot and home. Nice breaks at Innerleithen and Clovenfords to refuel. Managed the distance well and arrive home in fairly good shape.

Cycle Home

On Sunday Colin got dropped off at Moffat to cycle the 62 miles home. It was heavy going at first with strong headwinds and I was feeling pretty despondent at first. By St Marys Loch I was back to familiar territory and perked up a bit with a third of the route done. Coffee and scone at The Gordon Arms and another stopped not that long after for tea and cheese sandwich in Innerleithen.

Got home after around 5 hours on the bike feeling reasonably fresh at the end.

Derwent Water Circuit

On Saturday Colin and Cherry walked around Derwent Water - around 10 miles of very flat walk. The sun shone and there were nice stops for coffee and a late lunch.

Dinner in the evening at the Inn at the Square.

Hardknot Pass

On Friday Cherry went out with the Westons to the Rum Story in Whitehaven and to Cockermouth.

Colin was out getting the bike miles in. A pretty miserable day so wrapped up in waterproofs headed off towards the edge of the mountains on a pre-planned 40 mile round. Turned out the one of the roads was a somewhat iconic climb - the steepest in England. Not really what I was expecting or wanting. A long push up the hill which reached 30% gradient in places.

Dinner in the evening with Richard and Tom at the Ratty Inn in Ravenglass.

Ravenglass

Cherry and Colin headed down to the Lake District to meet up with Richard, Liz, Tom and Zoe who were having a one week holiday in a cottage in Waberthwaite. Thursday was mainly the reasonably pleasant drive down, a quick walk round Ravenglass and then tea and dinner with the Westons at the Brown Cow.

SOL 2 - Linn of Tummel

Second SOL event of the year. Decent weather with even a few moments of sunshine. The course was a lot more open than the last event with sparse woodland and some open hillside making it quite a bit easier. Generally went quite well until the penultimate control when I made a pretty big mistake.

Callander Sportive

First sportive of the year was the Callander Sportive which I had done in 2016 although it was a different route this year. Weather was pretty good. Grey skies, 11 degree temperate but dry. Arrived around 9 am and started around 9.30 am. A very nice figure of 8 route taking in many lochs including the closed road at Loch Katrine and two climbs over Duke's Pass. The ups and downs along the side of Loch Katrine were probably harder than that the more steady Duke's Pass climb.

Nicely organised event with good signs and a food stop at Aberfoyle which I stopped at on the second passing.

I was on the Medium course which was 55 miles, 1282 m of climb and took 4 hours to complete. I was still in decent shape at the end although it was pretty tough and certainly felt well tired afterwards.

Carberry & Elphinstone

An outside ride at last with the weather improving a bit for a day. Still quick cold but less wind and clear skies made for a pleasant outing.

Most of the ride was fast familiar cycle tracks but took some time to explore Carberry estate and some Queen Mary history and enjoy the fabulous Queens view to Edinburgh, the Pentlands and Fife.

85 miles ridden over the weekend.

KickR

With more bad weather it is very difficult to hit my training targets with nice outdoor rides. Having had two faulty Watt Bike Atoms I have now moved onto a Wahoo KickR bike trainer. A wet saturday was the ideal opportunity to put the set up through its paces. Having previously done an unsatisfactory Sufferfest Ride in gears mode I tried a session in ERG mode which went really well. This was followed up by two rides in Zwift. Not quite as intense as the Sufferfest rides but soon got the heart rate up to a fairly steady high level. The bike is a bit noisy and the gear changes not that smooth but on balance I think it is a keeper. It will be nice not to have to go to the Pure Gym any more.

Busy Busy Busy

A tough working week that started on Sunday night with a flight to Southampton and overnight at the Premier Inn by the airport. Monday morning train and taxi to the office in Bournemouth before around 5 hours of meetings. Managed to squeeze in a 30 minutes jog in Poole before a working dinner.

Working breakfast on Tuesday morning then an 8 hour meeting following by a 4 hour cross country train journey to Telford - getting to the hotel by 10.30 pm.

Wednesday was meetings from 10.30 to around 6 pm and then straight to dinner. Thurday started at 9 am with meetings through to just after 3 pm and then train to Birmingham Airport where I had to hang around to 8.40 pm for the FlyBe flight home - getting back at around 10.30 pm.

Thankfully a few weeks off now.

SOL 1 - Auchengarroch

Drove up to near Crieff for the first of 5 Scottish Orienteering League events this year starting at the Wildlife Park at Auchengarroch. Parking was at the Prisoner of War camp at Cultybrachan.

The Orienteering was extremely difficult. It always feels like a massive step up to SOL events. I never got totally lost although it was tough going.

More Snow

The Mini Beast from the East led to another cold weekend with pretty heavy snow on Sunday. It cleared pretty quickly this time but played havoc with my biking target for the weekend of 80 miles. I had a pretty nice ride on Saturday morning only slightly spoiled by a flat tyre out by Silveknowes. Then an indoor Sufferfest session on Saturday afternoon and a tired session on Sunday.

Beecraigs

Cherry, Les and Colin drove out to Beecraigs. Colin was orienteering in the Compass Sport Trophy and had a pretty reasonable run in snowy and muddy conditions. Les and Cherry walked although the conditions were a bit too rough for Les.

Colin cycled home along the canal.

Edinburgh Food Studio

For my birthday treat, a few days deferred, we went out to the Edinburgh Food Studio for an evening of classic french cooking. The restaurant is a bit different with set menus, guest chefs and a fair bit of experimentation. A very nice and large meal.

Snow

The Beast from the East and Storm Emma hit the country and brought pretty much everything to a standstill. I was down in London at the start of the week with a 2.40 pm flight back to Edinburgh on Wednesday. I got to the airport and found pretty much everything cancelled and flights back the next morning at the earliest. I rushed across town and just managed to hop onto the 2 pm train heading North which was probably the last one to make it through to Edinburgh. Arrived 2 hrs late but given the conditions and general havoc this was a pretty good result.

Got out for 1 run and 1 short cycle during the snowy weather with conditions not conducive to anything more adventurous.

Athletics Grand Prix at Glasgow Emirates Arena

Colin and Cherry drove through to Glasgow on Sunday to watch indoor athletics. A long time sitting but pretty entertaining with lots going on all the time. Watched the World Record in the 3000m walk being broken.

Long Pentlands Circuit + Pressure

Long route in the Pentlands to rack up my target mileage for the weekend. The hills were still sprinkled with snow with the route past Hare Hill and West Kip being pretty bleak with snow and ice. It was however a very good route which will be worth repeating especially when the weather improves.

In the evening we went to see a play about the weather forecasts for the D-Day landings at the Kings Theatre.

SOSOL 3 - Pollok Park and Glasgow Bike Routes

A very enjoyable run at Glasgow's Pollok park as part of the South of Scotland O league series. Some bad mistakes early on before an easy run in the later parts of the course.

The weather stayed a lot better than forecast for a bike journey from Pollok to the city centre and then along the various national cycle routes around the city. Not the most pleasant of routes with a lot of broken glass and an eventual puncture relatively near the end.

Chinese Lanterns at the Zoo

Colin and Cherry visited the zoo after dark on Friday night to see the Chinese Lanterns. A massive display of plants and animals was well work the visit.

Pentlands Bike Ride

Getting the miles in.