Arthur's Seat Summit Sunrise

Out for a morning run and arrived at the top of Arthur's seat at the moment of sunrise. Lovely.

 

Sufjan Stevens Christmas Songs

Community choir and musicians - with maybe a few professionals as well for a couple of hours of Christmas songs  written by Sufjan Stevens. Pleasant fun show.

Daniel Martinez Flamenco at Queens Hall

Excellent Flamenco show from a group that turned out are mainly from Edinburgh but have been touring extensively for the past few years.

 

Alan Cumming and Kirsty Wark at Lyceum Theatre

Alan Cumming in conversation with Kirsty Wark plus audience Q&A at the Lyceum in a fund raising event. We paid a bit extra for the good seats and for drinks and meet and greet afterwards.

 

Heidi Talbot & Boo Hewerdine at Queens Hall

Nice concert at the Queens Hall. Just two guitars, two voices and lots of banter. Very good. Nice acoustics. I remember seeing Boo Hewerdine play in Cambridge back in 1986 or thereabouts as part of The Bible! when their not quite a hit song Graceland was getting radio airplay. I may have seen him another time in between as well. 

 

South of Scotland Orienteering League

Competing in the SOSOL event was one of my main goals for the year on the Green course which is a bit shorter than I should probably be doing for my age but wanted to focus on shorter faster events this year.

I took part in 6 events; Balkello Hill (6th), Holyrood Park (27th), Callendar Crags (3rd), Balloch Country Park (2nd), Blairadam Forest (6th) and Strathclyde Country Park (6th). 

Overall I came first in the League as only a very small number of orienteers completed 5 or more counting events.

Push the Boat Out

In an effort to support the Push The Boat Out poetry festival we attended a couple of events on what turned out to be a very snowy with all the buses in town being cancelled which may have effected attendances.

At lunch we went to a slightly delayed talk and reading by Alexander McCall Smith taking about his favourite poets (Auden) and some of his published poetry books. Seemed like a very nice chat and quite an interesting hour although sadly with an audience of just 13.

We arrived very late for our lunch at Mother India Cafe which offered small indian plates - nice to get modest portions rather than the usual over eating at an indian restaurant.

In the evening we waded through the slush to Dovecot Studios for a musical evening in the gallery. A very strange venue with a small audience spread round the gallery much of it quite a distance from the musicians and poets. It turned out to be a very enjoyable evening with each of the performers good in their own way. First off was Iona Lee with DJ Nikki Kent layering poetic vocal over electrifying beats. Then was Emma Capponi and Fionnbarr Byrne with a captivating blend of folk and ethereal sounds. The headliner was Iona Fyfe folk singer and very recently appointed Rector of Aberdeen University.

eXTC and Hugh Cornwell (ex Stranglers) - Queens Hall

On my own for this gig. eXTC played the extensive "hits" of XTC with one ex member, the drummer, in their line up. Unfortunately the singer sounded nothing like the distinctive XTC vocal so didn't enjoy it much.

Hugh Cornwell was pretty good and got into it for the first 30 mins but he was a bit mean with the old Stranglers favourites and became a bit monotonous after a while. He was looking pretty good at age 75.

 

Musicals at Cineworld and the Outrun

Cineworld were running a season of classic musicals. We went along to Grease (8/10), Chicago (5/10) and Moulin Rouge (10/10) - the latter being totally bonkers but great fun.

We also saw The Outrun at the Omni which was good - along with dinner afterwards at Ka Pao.

The Simon and Garfunkel Story - Queens Hall

A very good show with a chronological journey through the duos life and music. The band and singing were excellent and the acoustics were excellent with really clear sound and not too loud. We had a front row seat for this one.

Cycle from Duror to Glencoe

Final day away so packed up and left the cottage in the early morning and parked in the nearby church car park and headed off for a very nice ride to Glencoe. Some nice sections near Duror and around Glencoe. Coffee and Chocolate Cake when I finally found somewhere open. Drive home in the afternoon getting home around 4 pm.

 

Hill Walk towards Beinn Sgulaird

With somewhat improved weather attempted another munro hike again with limited expectations of success. Initially quite a nice path up from the start near Loch Creran. Not a lot of energy in the legs but happy to make slow and steady progress. Got up the high summit ridge but still a long way to go to the munro with significant ups and downs to get through. With weather worsening and low visibility decided to head back. 

 

Cycle from Barcaldine to Oban

Another day with very low cloud cover so back on the bike again for a nice figure of 8 loop along Cycle Route 78 on the outward journey then back along the coast from Oban and then along the edge of Loch Etive after the Connel Bridge.

Coffee at Costa and lunch at the Wetherspoons in  Oban. Found myself totally knackered on the last bit of the cycle home.

Cycle from Duror to Appin Peninsula

Headed out early to get the best of the weather which was for the most part not too bad. Low cloud that would make a munro difficult but not to bad on the low coastal roads. The Cycle Path 78 from Ballachulish to Oban is really excellent making use of old railway lines and keeping me off the busy A road. Port Appin looked really nice and cycle round the headland there. 30 miles and 2 hr 45 min moving time.

 

Glen Etive Hike

With some free time in the diary Colin headed off north for a 4 night / 5 day break in the Highlands. Stayed at a nice Air BNB in Duror called the Old Byre. 

The first day was a three hour drive up to Glen Etive and another kind of attempt to climb Beinn nan Aighenan. The last attempt was coupled with other summits but bad weather and lack of visibility put a stop to it. Expectations were low this time as the weather was forecast to change for the worse in the afternoon. Initially it was fairly pleasant and a decent path up to the ridge although very steep at the end. The weather did indeed change with strong wind and heavy rain. Totally soaked by the end and Glencoe was absolutely dripping with water as I drove through on the way to AirBNB.

 

Blue Man Group at Festival Theatre

Some good seats just outside the splash zone at the front for this fun show of visual comedy.

 

Peaky Blinders Rambert Ballet at Festival Theatre

Cherry very much enjoyed the Peaky Blinders dance show. Colin found it OK.

Braidburn Valley Orienteering - Planning

A busy day as planner at the Interlopers Come and Try It event at Braidburn Valley. Many visits over the past 2 months to the park and to the housing estate at Oxgangs. A really nice area in the small park and the housing estate has surprisingly nice little bits of nature and views to the Pentlands. 

We had around 100 runners at the event and the weather turned out to be surprising pleasant and warm. 

On event day I started about 9 am and finished putting out around 12.30. After helping set up did some time at the start and then some time putting away all the stuff. All went well with the courses and overall a a pretty good experience.

 

Carn Dearg

After a decent breakfast at the hotel drove onwards to Newtonmore for another munro climb. Another glorious day and a very nice parking spot for this hill. Very short MTB approach of just 10 mins before I was on my feet again. Not a pleasant route in mountain following for large part a very wet and slippy landrover trail. Marked as a path on some maps but barely such. It was fabulous at the top with great views in all directions. Same route back and getting some blisters by the end. No running today and not quite the fun experience of the day before.

Bad timing on the drive home and caught a number of tailbacks. Would have been better hanging around in the northern sunshine a bit longer.

 

Beinn Mheadhoin

With several days of clear blue skies forecast for much of Scotland I headed off early in the car to Braemar to tackle my last Cairngorm munro. Parked at Linn of Dee and took the MTB to Derry Lodge and then onwards North to the access point to the munro. About a 1 hr cycle. Took the hill at speed this time going fast up and running most of the way back. A nice if hard to access hill. Around 2.25 hrs on my feet and then another just short of an hour cycle back to the car.

Onwards drive to the Boat Inn at Boat of Garten where I overindulged on the steak and red wine.

 

Balloch Country Park and Cycle to Dumbarton

Came across by car to Balloch Country Park for SOSOL orienteering on the Green course. Trickier than expected for a country park course but did reasonably well with just a couple of moderate errors. Second place.

Afterwards cycled through Balloch along the cycle path by the edge of the River Leven to Dumbarton and on to the River Clyde at Levengrove Park. Returned with a small meander around Loch Lomond Shores. 

 

Denis Orr Funeral and Belfast Pub Crawl

 Flew back to Northern Ireland to attend the funeral of Denis Orr who had been Maxwell's closest friend and a great support in his final years. Caught up with Liz and other familiar Bangor Golf Club faces.

In the evening met up with Glen Walsh and Mark McCormick for drinks in Belfast. We visited The Crown Liquor Saloon, Kelly's Cellars, Sunflower Public House (+pizza), The Duke of York and Ulster Sports Club. All very nice pubs.