Boys Weekend to Liverpool 2026

The crew for this trip was me, Warren, Mark, Glenn and Tim.

Staying again at the Birkenhead Premier Inn which worked well and the good air con was very welcome o on what was a heat wave weekend of 30+ temperatures every day.

On Friday the boys had all arrived before me and spent some time in Liverpool. I met up with the crew at the hotel and we visited Sawasdee for Thai dinnerand the Glen Afric brewery before the boys needed an early night.

On Saturday I managed a run in the morning before we heads to Liverpool to do the Beatles Story. Then drinks and late lunch at the Baltic Market. We wandered on the Grapes before deciding we needed a break from the heat at the hotel. Dinner was another visit to Sawasdee and then we watched the England v Norway game at Gallaghers pub.

On Sunday I again managed a run before we headed to town to visit the two cathedrals. Very different but both great in their own way. Great views from the rooftop of Liverpool Cathedral. Lunch at Love Lane Brewery. Then a long walk via White Star pub to Blackstock Market for dinner and a newcomers comedy show between 7 & 9 pm. Got an Uber back to the hotel before we had a last drink at the Brass Balance.

Dollar Hill Race and David Sedaris at Usher Hall

A pleasing run at the challenging Dollar Hill Race on Saturday afternoon. Have run much less this year due to concerns about heels so very nice to run a tough race over 2 hrs 15 mins without any issues. Slowest time ever at this race but still felt like a pretty good run.

In the evening we went to see David Sedaris at Usher Hall. He was pretty good but maybe better in small radio doses than in a live "concert" setting.

 

John Muir Way - Day 3 - Edinburgh to Dunbar

Final slightly shorter route and helpful tailwinds made this a welcome easier day. 

Stopped in Gullane for a nice Coffee and Scone and then a less good tea and sandwich in Dunbar.

 3 hrs 3 mins moving time; 38.3 miles; 436 m climb. 

It wasn't the most exciting of routes although this was partly because much of it familar to me. I had chosen the cycle version of the John Muir Way and there were a number of instances where the route choice was not the most interesting option with the designated route favouring easy terrain over perhaps rougher but more interesting choices.

Day 1 felt a bit longer than I enjoyed. The next two days were about right. The days immediately afterwards I was knackered by it.

The trains worked very well and definitely a very good option for future trips in Scotland.

John Muir Way - Day 2 - Falkirk to Edinburgh

Train out to Falkirk and a ride back from there to Edinburgh. Again a pretty familiar set of trails.

 4 hrs 25 min moving time; 44.1 miles; 738 m climb.

John Muir Way - Day 1 - Helensburgh to Falkirk

A reasonably early start to get the train from Edinburgh to Helensburgh - just over a 2 hr journey. Arrived in Helensburgh to a fairly cool and cloudy outlook.

The first section of the route from Helenburgh to Balloch wasn't great with a lot of cycle path on pavements at the edge of A road. Stopped for coffee and sausage roll at Loch Lomond Shores.

It was then mainly quiet country roads through to Gartness before picking up the West Highland Way in reverse direction from normal to reach the northern edge of Mugdock Country Park. A rough climb and then descent through to Strathyre after which it was nice but familiar bike paths. 

Stopped in Milton of Campsie for tea and snack when heavy rain came. This didn't last too long so back on the trail onwards to Falkirk passed the Falkirk Wheel on the way.

Moving time of 5 hrs 8 minutes; 53 miles; 841 m climb. Felt like hard work and pretty tired at the end. 

Not the most interesting route given much of it had been travelled before. Train back to Edinburgh with the bike worked well.

Pentlands Run and Cycle with Max to Musselburgh

A Saturday run in the Pentlands doing a Carnethy 5 route sticking to the main paths. Pleased to be on pretty good form and joints holding up pretty well.

On Sunday a bike trip with Max to Company Bakery for coffee and cake, Musselburgh and home. Testing Max's knees on the bike but still causing him some issues.

 

Traprain Law Hill Race

One of the best hill races in the calendar. Lovely riverside route with a wet river crossing. Scramble to the top of the Law without the assistance of a rope for the first time. Have been struggling a bit with heel issues this year so pleased to get round the 10k with 300m climb route in around 1 hrs 5 mins without any discomfort and feeling reasonably strong at the end - 158% of winning time. 

Cumbernauld and Eyemouth SOUL

A couple more urban orienteering events on 31 May at Cumbernauld and 7 June at Eyemouth. Good orienteering - Cumbernauld particularly good with the complex urban housing estates.

Cycle around both afterwards to explore the areas.

 

Sweat at the Royal Lyceum

Not so enjoyable this week. Rust belt America and the impact of factory closures on working class America. Written around a decade ago. Felt very old and nothing new to say anymore.

 

Black Diamonds and the Blue Brazil at the Royal Lyceum

We both very much enjoyed this show. Ricky Ross on piana and vocals for the short musical interludes. The Blue Brazil is Cowdenbeath Football Club. Based on the book by Ron Ferguson.

 

Poznan

After the wedding we had a Sunday afternoon and a Monday morning and early afternoon to explore Poznan. We were staying at the Moxy at the airport so after taking the hire car back we took a bus into town.

On the Sunday we visited the area around the Park Mickiewicza and the Castle and then visited the Enigma Museum. Nice relaxed town. The Enigma museum was pretty good but let down by aspects of the technology and maybe just a bit too much.

A nice pizza at Trattoria Franscesca.

On Monday we wandered around the centre and then across the river to Srodka and the Catholic Cathedral. Nice brunch at Lavenda Cafe.

 

Max & Kasia Wedding in Poznan

Another fabulous wedding day - lucky us getting two wedding days!  

The Wedding Venue was Weranda Home, Slawica around an hour from Poznan. 

A lovely outdoor ceremony - great food - dancing - DJ to the small hours. Perfect.

Max & Kasia Edinburgh Wedding

We walked with Hannah to the City Chambers which had a lovely wedding suite for our small ceremony with immediate family and best man. A lovely service with bride and groom both looking splendid. Lots of photos taken.

Then a slow wander to Princes Street Gardens for some pics.

Then a few drinks at Tiles - under Max's new office.

And then a very nice dinner at Hawksmoor.

A lovely day!

 

Carron Valley MTB

Trip to the Carron Valley to try out the MTB course and add some additional miles around the loch. The Red route was pretty decent and and easy red as I could largely manage it taking any easy options available on the way down. The forest roads around the loch were a bit of drag and felt like hard work. Managed to stay 95% traffic free.

 

Aboyne Weekend - Orienteering and Bike

A long drive up to Aboyne for SOUL 2. This was a fast and easy "urban" orienteering event through the small town (village) of Aboyne. Running felt really quite good with no heel issues over the 30 minutes of the event. 1 big stupid error that cost around 4 minutes. Not a big crowd out for this event so probably didn't make any difference on placing or points scored.

Stayed at the Boat Inn which was pretty nice and well worth considering for future stays. Wet on saturday evening so just staying in and enjoyed an OK dinner and a couple of glasses of wine.

On Sunday has an overly large breakfast which wasn't the best start to the day. Then cycle to the far side of Banchory and back. Around 37 miles with 800 m of climb all off road. Following the Deeside Way - a cycle trip from Aberdeen to Pools of Dee and back seems like a definite plan for the future. Stayed dry but not sunny for the duration of the ride. 

Drove home late enough in the afternoon for a clear drive over the bridge.

 

Orienteering - South Achray - Aberfoyle

First run in almost three months after taking some time off to let heels recover. Not Plantar Fascia this time I think but achilles problems but all supposedly linked to weakness in calf muscles as the root cause of the issue. So I've been doing 3 times weekly heel raise exercises to try to strengthen the calf muscles.

A lovely day out to Aberfoyle. Great location on a sunny day and just unfortunate I had a Sunday afternoon work meeting that meant I had to head home fairly early.

Orienteering was very tough on rough ground with quite a lot of brambles. Felt I was doing OK for the most part but 1 control proved very hard to find in spite of navigating tyo roughly the right place. Heel was fine for around 75 mins before it started to feel a bit. Total running time was around 1 hr 45 mins.

Nice coffee and cake reward at the end of it.

 

TES Sponsored Walk v2

Another walk round the route with fellow trustee Tricia. This time the weather was fabulous.

Manchester Moving

Cherry & Colin drove down to Manchester with Hannah's large coffee table in the boot of the car for a weekend helping Hannah with a move to her new home on Oswald Road.

A long drive and quite a few long jams as still a bit of a school holiday - worst bit was road works on M6 near the Lake District.

Friday night we had dinner at the Bowling Green pub where we were staying for the 3 nights. Hannah and Caitlin joined us for dinner which was very nice.

Lots of moving to do on Saturday and a trip to Dunelm. Good progress made. Dinner at Casa de Moor in nearby Beech Road.

Sunday was a last trip and help with various admin moving tasks. Lunch and shopping in the new home area. 

Colin & Cherry had dinner on our own on Sunday evening at the Jane Eyre leaving Hannah some recovery time on her own.

The journey home was relatively smooth on Monday with no traffic issues.

The Bowling Green Hotel was very good and a suitable spot to stay if we are in town again.

The High Life at the Festival Theatre

With many of the original cast this was a musical revival of the old TV show which I have vague positive memories of having probably seen some but not all of the original series. Struggled a bit with the accents. Not great.

 

TES Sponsored Walk v1

The original date of the walk was postponed due to bad weather so this was 1 week later with a reduced crew of just me and fellow trustee Lynn Davidson. We set off in nice weather and found ourselves in heavy rain, wind and snow at the half way point going past the Royal Infirmary and Craigmillar. After lunch and warming up at Bridgend Farmhouse we continued in better weather and finished in sunshine again. A speedy walk this time as Lynn was a super fast walker.

 

One Day at Royal Lyceum

One Day - the musical version - following quite closely previous book, film and TV versions - very good. Interesting set as well with transformation of the Lyceum for the long run of the show.

 

Lads Trip 2026 to Malta

Saturday 28 February - Departure very early for a 6 am Ryanair flight. All went smoothly. Bus from airport with a drop off just minutes from the hotel the Noru. After some drinks at Andrews bar in St Julians we got a bus into Valletta for an initial wander around the city centre.

Sunday 1 March - walk along the coast to Sliema and then boat across into Valletta where we spent the afternoon at the Fort St Elmo and the National War Museum

Monday 2 March - fast ferry to Gozo and bus to Victoria for a wander around the Ciutadella

Tuesday 3 March - Uber to and from Mdina and Rabat. Fabulous location. Terrible traffic on the way home.

Wednesday 4 March - Visit to Valletta for a leisurely wander and then a visit to the Lascari War Tunnels (which weren't very good). More slow buses on the return journey to St Julians and a Thai dinner out and a visit to the Dubliner Irish pub.

Thursday 5 March - Visit to St Pauls Bay - more bus problems on the way back

Friday 6 March - flight home