Orienteering Weekend - Nairn

A couple of northern days for some challenging orienteering events. An early start for the drive up which was around 3.5 hours drive time and not too unpleasant. Stop for coffee and muffin at House of Bruar.

The saturday orienteering was a forest location at Dallaschyle near Cawdor. It was the Scottish Middle Distance Championships. Made one big mistake and wasn't helped by my best leg being voided due to a control in the wrong place. Came 22nd.

Overnight was in Nairn staying at the West End Hotel. Had a good walk round along in the late afternoon with a walk along the sea front to the harbour, the edge of the east beach, up the river and down the high street. Dinner at the Classroom was fine. An OK wee town but not inclined to want to return.

Sunday was the coastal forest of Culbin near Forres. A very challenging technical area with very complex contour detail. Felt I did reasonably well with just one big mistake on the 4th control. Came 50th on Blue out of 76 entries.

 

Chapelgill Hill Race and Priscilla Queen of the Desert

An afternoon trip down towards Broughton for my third run at the Chapelgill Hill Race. It claims to the the steepest hill race in the UK at an average slope of 30% over its short distance. Stunning weather and feeling pretty hot on the south facing ascent. Very hard work on the climb on which I felt I was doing OK taking a line that spread the climb a little. Lost a couple of places on the decent finishing 19th of the 29 runners and coming in 3rd on the M50 category.

In the evening we went to the Festival Theatre for a pretty professional amateur show of Priscilla which was a good fun evening out with good songs and oh so many costumes.

 

Dunkeld and Deuchary Hill Training Run

Another long training run of 14 miles, 650 m ascent from Dunkeld to Deuchary Hill. A lovely route with great weather after some early mist. Gentle stroll afterwards from Dunkeld to Birnam and visited the Birnam Oak for the first time.

Wild Rose and Birthday Dinner

Friday night 7 March out to the Royal Lyceum Theatre to see the musical Wild Rose. Very good show although the Glasgow accents a bit too wild at times for us Edinburgh folk.

Very nice dinner in Sunday night at Hendersons with Max and Kasia as my birthday treat. 

Organiser at Craigmillar CATI

A very busy day putting out controls, putting up tents, minimal organising of a very experienced team of orienteers and collecting controls. A very good turn out for some challenging orienteering in a nice Edinburgh park.

 

Seven Hills of Edinburgh

 Just a training run but a nice experience in good weather. Started from home with first hill Arthurs Seat and last hill Blackford. Nice to be still running at the end. Two coffee stops along the way at Haymarket and Saughton.

Loch Leven RSPB

A drive out to Loch Leven to mainly shop for binoculars for Cherry's birthday. A very good shopping experience with lots of options to try out overlooking the reserve or nearer small birds. Coffee & cake and a short walk to the hides where there wasn't a great deal to see in the murky weather.

 

Nashville

Country music night at the Playhouse. A bit of a rowdy crowd and the loud music and bright lights led to a tactical exit at half time.

 

Harvest Moon Half Marathon

A lovely East Lothian race through forest trails, farm roads and tracks and along the beach. The weather not as nice as normal but the rain stayed away. Running form not fabulous but happy to have run all the way to the end with something left for a pick up in pace at the end. Around 2 hrs 8 mins for just under 13 miles distance. 

Besalu and Banyoles

Final day of the holiday. Drove about an hour to the ancient town of Besalu. Pleasant wander around the medieval streets. Impressive bridge from around 1000 AD.

We drove then to Banyoles for a pleasant walk of 4 miles around the lake. Seemed like a very pleasant town. 

Figueres and Dali Museum

Not much else to see in Figueres apart from the Dali Museum and the town lacked the pleasant vibe of Gerona and other smaller towns in the area.

We didn't much enjoy the Dali museum either. It maybe had its time and we had our time when we liked that sort of thing. Not much by way of interpretation in the gallery/museum.

The cake shops were good though :)

 

Blanes & Marimurtra Botanic Garden

A longish drive of 1 hr 15 mins to Blanes to visit the Botanic Garden which we have been to a couple of times in the distant past. Blanes much bigger than I remember it with a long seaside esplanade.

 The garden was nice but maybe not quite as lovely as remembered probably because of the season with fewer things in flower at present.

A wee wander round the town and a short relax in the sun before driving home.

Lazy Day in L'Estartit

Went for a longer run this morning along the shore into L'Estartit and then along the tops of the hills above the town.

We decided just to stay local today and take a rest from the driving. We walking into L'Estartit for a nice lunch but otherwise just chilled today.

Pals, Begur & Sa Tuna

First stop was the small medieval town of Pals not too far from our house. This had a very well preserved and attractive centre with tower, castle and church and 10 marked points to visit. After and hour or so we stopped for a late morning coffee.

Then onwards to Begur for lunch and a walk to the high castle with good views to the coast and through to the Pyrenees. Begur itself seemed to be mainly of more modern construction around 1850 - 1900 in the older parts of much less interesting.

Finally we drove down to one of the beaches on the rocky shoreline. Very much deserted and closed at this time of year and a bit chilly in the strong wind. We didn't stay too long.

Girona

With the wind still blowing we decided a town would provide some shelter. A nice walk around the town with a visit to the Cathedral and another church. A very nice vibe to the town with pedestrian ancient centre. Lots of runners and cyclists in the morning.

 

Cadaques, Port Lligat & Cabo de Creus

Cherry had left her phone behind at the bird reserve so we set out early and thankfully recovered it at opening time. From there we drove onwards to a very dead Roses for morning coffee and snack.

A hill drive then to Cadaques. Colin had a nice walk along the coast while Cherry spend some time sketching. A very pretty town. A nice traditional lunch of anchovies/salad, paella, crema catalana/ice cream.

We drove on in the afternoon to Port Lligat to the home of Salvador Dali where he lived for 40 years. It was closed for a month unfortunately but nice to see the location.

Onwards further to Cabo de Creus. A wild and windswept area the most easterly point in mainland Spain. The wind was howling a gale so we could barely stand. Welcome cups of tea in the restaurant before a long twisty drive home.

 

Mouth of the River Ter and Aiguamols de Emporda Nature Reserve

Today was a bird watching day. In the morning we walking from our house through the local nature reserve to the mouth of the River Ter. Not too many birds on view but a nice landscape.

Lunch at home and then a drive to the Aiguamolls de Emporda nature reserve. At the first hide there were a lot of ducks, flamingo, stork & heron on view.

We spotted some wild deer and at the far end climbed to the top of a former grain store for good views over the surrounding flatlands with mountains in the distance.

On the way back there was a loose herd of cattle on the path back. We assume they were escaped rather than being herded somewhere.

We headed to L'Escala to look for dinner but couldn't find anywhere open so headed home to cook again.

 

Empuries and Sant Marti D'Empuries

It was around 30 mins drive to the Greek and Roman ruins at Empuries. We had a good wander round listening to the commentary and visiting the museum. A nice spot in a great location.

We stopped for a really excellent little lunch at the outside bar of the very nice looking Hostal Empuries. Pork loins with figs and pine nuts followed by a traditional cheesecake and coffee.

We wandered along a very nice coastal path to the ancient village of Sant Marti D'Empuries which was very pretty in a great location looking over the Bay of Roses.

We walked back past the roman remains towards L'Escala but didn't make it all the way there. 

L'Estartit and Hilly Coastal Walk

We drove into L'Estartit and from there did a challenging coastal walk. The town was exceptionally quiet with not much open at present in the very off season. The quiet is very pleasant though with little traffic, easy parking and everything feeling very relaxed and laid back. The walk went to Cala Calella and to Puerto de El Falaguer before heading inland and then back to town. 

On return we found some tapas and coffee just before an early closing time. 

Travel to L'Estartit Catalonia

We had an early 7.15 am flight with Ryanair to Barcelona. Whilst there was nothing to love about Ryanair's performance the journey was generally fine apart from a roughly 1 hour delay.

We hired a car from the airport and then drove around 2 hrs to our rural house near L'Estartit. A nice rural Eco House off the electric grid but powered by solar panels and heated by gas canister. Bigger than we need but very nice apart from the ants which seem hard to escape even in winter.

We arrived at the house around 3 pm and went for a walk to the beach and towards L'Estartit. Clear blue skies and temperature around 17C in stark contrast to the freezing Edinburgh weather. Shopping at Lidl and cooking in the house for dinner which we expect to do every evening.

Winter Cold

Unfortunately a cold/flu went through the family over the holiday period. Colin was snuffly and unable to take part in athletic activities from Boxing Day through to 6 January. Everyone was out of action to some extent for a short while.

Joseph at The Playhouse

The four of us headed to the Playhouse for a 6 pm showing of Joseph. It was pretty good but all agreed that Donnie Osmond detracted rather than added to the experience.