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

We Will Rock You

Our second trip to the Festival Theatre to see a show by the local amateur theatre group The Bohemians. Again very good with an enormous cast on stage. Not quite the costume extravaganza of last time but the enthusiasm of all players was infectious.

 

A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong

At the Festival Theatre.

 

Avignon Holiday - Day 9 - Avignon

Avoided any travel today and instead visited the covered market, went on a short canal walk and had a nice lunch out at Premier Edition - three very nice sensibly sized courses.

 The next day was homeward travel. We did both Avignon - Paris and Paris - London in the same day with a lunch and walk in Paris in the middle. Pizza Express in London and then train home the next morning.

Avignon Holiday - Day 8 - Orange

Lunchtime train to Orange (delay 50 minutes) and a wander to the Roman Theatre the main site in the town. Very impressive scale and condition. The audio tour was pretty good.

Not too much else of interest in town but we did find some nice cakes. 

And then spotted a coypu by the side of a canal

Avignon Holiday - Day 7 - Rhone River Cruise

A river cruise on the Rhone today. Arrival in the boat at midday. Departure at 12.30. Three course meal and music. The weather was a bit rubbish throughout and apart from around Avignon the views were pretty poor with not much around the banks of the very wide river. Got back around 4 pm. 

Avignon Holiday - Day 6 - Nimes

Bargains on the trains today with 3 return tickets to Nimes for €6. We wandered in Nimes to Les Jardin de La Fontaine and climbed to the top of Tour Magne for views over the city. The water gardens which dated in some form to Roman times were great as was the short hill walk through gardens to the tower.

We visited the Maison Carree - the Roman Temple on the middle of the former Forum.

Dinner back in Avignon at Pomelo where the wine was very nice but the food a bit disappointing.

Avignon Holiday - Day 5 - Arles

A short train ride of about 20 minutes to Arles and a nice wander around the lovely town. We visited the Roman Arena and the Theatre plus the L'Espace Van Gogh and the Van Gogh Foundation. Lots of lovely old buildings everywhere. 

An excellent pizza or salad at Colloseo.

Avignon Holiday - Day 4 - Avignon

A day for exploring Avignon. A lovely town which is very quiet at this time of year. Visited the Bridge, Musee Angladon and the Musee Lapidaire but otherwise just wander the lovely streets of the city.

Lunch at La Civette Bar Brasserie.

   

Avignon Holiday - Day 3 - Avignon arrival

An unrushed start to the day and a wander to the Gare de Lyon to catch the TGV to Avignon. Taxi to the apartment. Shopping. Cheese, ham, eggs and bread for dinner. 

Avignon Holiday - Day 2 - Paris

The morning Eurostar to Paris and then a walk to the hotel. We stayed at Le Boudoir des Muses which was very nice especially with our upgraded room. Recommended if we are in Paris again as a very nice central area.

We walked from the hotel to Notre Dame and quickly got inside with our free reserved tickets although queues were pretty small.

Then onwards to Shakespeare & Company English bookshop for a browse and a sit in the upstairs reading room.

Then a Kir or coffee or tea.

And dinner at Le Petit Chatelet next door to the bookshop. An old fashioned crowded restaurant with steaks cooking on the open fire. The food wasn't that great though.

And a wander back to our hotel.

Avignon Holiday - Day 1 - London

The first day of a holiday in Avignon with Colin, Cherry & Hannah with eco travel by rail. Colin & Cherry travelled first class LNER from Edinburgh to London whilst Hannah took the train from Manchester. We all arrived just after 3 pm and checked into the Pullman Hotel.

Dinner at the Brasserie Zedel with its fabulous 1930's era decor. Nice food and good service.

Then just across the road to the Piccadily Theatre for Moulin Rouge which we all enjoyed.

We said hello to Caitlin on the walk back to the hotel.

 

Circuit Walk from Gracemount

What felt like the first sunny day of the year and went out for a walk round the planned sponsored walk route for TES at the end of March. Start and finish in Gracemount Walled Garden. Very nice route especially on such a sunny day. Lunch at Bridgend Farmhouse. Around 11 miles over 4 hours. 

New Oven + New Security Light

A long overdue refresh of the oven with a similar model of AEG oven and a new Collingwood Security Lamp for the front garden which seems to be working well.

 

Christmas & New Year 2025/6

Oops no photos this year. Hannah visited us from 21 to 28 Decembers sleeping over at Max and Kasia's place. Max and Kasia were away for Christmas in Poland returning for the New Year.

On Christmas Day we were Colin, Cherry, Hannah and Les. Les is much deteriorated now with very little mental or physical capability remaining. Just getting as far as the car is a struggle for him. After previous years organic turkeys arriving with a little bit too much still attached we went for a pre-prepared 5 person chicken with stuffing from Sainsbury which proved to be very nice and just the right size. 

Colin had a cold from Christmas Eve for about a week and Cherry picked it up after Christmas and through the New Year. 

Overall a quiet period and Colin had to drop out of any running events due to his cold.

Estepona with Hannah

A late year escape for a relaxing time in the south of Spain with Hannah. I hired a bike for the week and did some cycles along the coast and one big mountain climb up to Penas Blancas. Generally a lazy time with short walks and meals out in the evenings.

Estepona was very nice and relatively lively with most places open. Stayed at an AirBNB fairly centrally.

 

Push The Boat Out 2025

We booked two evening shows at the poetry festival this year. The first evening was at The Pleasance Theatre and featured a series of short work in progress style plays or as the brochure says:

Join us for performances of a series of newly commissioned theatre shorts written by playwrights Hannah Lavery, Zinnie Harris and William Letford, which offer an urgent response to the geopolitical cultural moment we’re living through. With spoken word from Anthony Anaxagorou and music by Carla J. Easton.

The short plays were very good. The spoken word by Anthony Anaxagorou was not for us. The music by Carla J Easton was very good.

Evening 2 was at Potter Row and was a game of two halves:

Push the Boat Out’s Saturday night gig is back! Be transported into a sublime soundscape, as headliners Edinburgh DJ, producer and sound designer Lord Of The Isles and poet Ellen Renton combine poetry, pedals and synths. They’ll be supported by Acolyte, an Edinburgh-based poetic and psychedelic ensemble. Expect storytelling and synths, hypnotic loops and harmonic depth.

Acolyte on first were excellent. Very creative and with real presence. Part 2 was very poor with dull music, dull visuals and poor spoken delivery with the music dominating and not given any space for the poetry. We left early.

 

Ruta del Ter - Day 9 - Parador Vic Sau to Girona

Another nice ride on tired legs back to Girona. Rough to start then very smooth in the latter part.

Bike returned to Eat, Sleep, Cycle and another night in the Hotel Carlemany.

Cycle Time: 4 hrs 4 min; 38.8 miles ; 427 m climb

The following day I took the slow train from Girona to Barcelona and a walk around Montjuic before getting the Ryanair flight back to Edinburgh. 

Ruta del Ter - Day 8 - Ripoll to Parador Vic Sau

As the route has some pretty unpleasant sections on the outward journey I took the train to Manlieu and cycled a shortened route back to the Parador.

Stopped in Manlieu for a coffee and short stroll around.

The section of the route that remained was pretty nice.

I got back to the Parador before check in time so did a hike out and back to the Monestir Sant Pere de Casserres.

Cycle Time: 1 hrs 40 min; 11.3 miles; +360 m

Hike Time: 1 hr 44 mins; 5.4 miles; + 290 m

 

Ruta del Ter - Day 7 - Camprodon to Ripoll

A very easy day back to Ripoll from Camprodon on easy paths.

Cycle Time:1 hr 35 mins ; 16.7 miles ; +166 m climb

Ruta del Ter - Day 6 - Camprodon to Vallter2000

Big climbing day from Camprodon to the ski centre at Vallter 2000. Wasn't too sure what to expect when planning the trip in terms of snow and accessibility but it was all good on the day with a clear road to the top and just a little bit of snow in the centre car parks at the top. There was snow on the ski slopes but not enough to ski on. There were maybe a dozen cars at the top and the cafe was open and served me sandwich and coffee which was a bonus.

It was a hard climb and my form wasn't great requiring a fair bit of walking on steeper sections.

A second night at the Hotel Cims.

Cycle Time: 4 hrs 30 mins ; 29.5 miles ; + 1198 m climb

Ruta del Ter - Day 5 - Ripoll to Camprodon

An easy day with a very nice bike path to follow from Ripoll to Camprodon. Camprodon was very busy on the Sunday morning when I arrived and a pretty little location that warranted a good what around.

Did get a bit lost on one section. 

Stayed at the cycle friendly Hotel Cims.

Cycle Time: 1 hr 52 mins; 16.3 miles; +462 m climb.