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. 

Ruta del Ter - Day 4 - Parador Vic Sau to Ripoll

Day 4 was quite a challenging day with a fair bit of quite rough trail and some unpleasant sections in the latter parts just before Ripoll. There were a few places where the route seemed to go onto fast roads and in other places needed to take a very convoluted route to avoid the motorway which dominated the valley.

Stayed at the Hotel Trobada Sport which was very basic but fine and offered a bike garage.

Cycle Time: 5 hrs 20 mins; 39 miles ; 1159 m climb

 

Ruta del Ter - Day 3 - Girona to Parador Vic Sau

The ride today started in very nice flat allotment style agriculture landscape in the outskirts of Girona. A small steady climb followed along cycle path at the edge of roads and then onto only railway line cycle path. 

The next phase moved to a quiet road heading into the wilds following a river towards much rougher paths along major lakes. It felt like a long and fairly hilly journey on these rougher tracks before finally getting to the Parador with stunning views from my room over the lakes.

A nice dinner at the Parador.

Cycle Time: 4 hrs 55 mins; 38.6 miles ; + 940 m climb

 

Ruta del Ter - Day 2 - L'Estartit to Girona

Today was meant to be a simple reversal of Day 1 - quite easy with a little bit more net climb. There was however a severe weather warning of flooding delivered late on the Wednesday night. I got up early for a quick breakfast and with the sky still clear and the weather looking fine headed off at my top speed to see how if I could complete the day before the rains came.

The first hour was good rapid progress with no rain. The second hour saw the rain start and ominous thunder and clouds in the distance. After around 2 hours the downpour finally came. I took shelter at a bus stop in Cervia del Ter and waited in the hope that a bus would take me and bike back to Girona. After a long wait and the bus not arriving on time decided to plough on with the cycle but that didn't work out as the path had disappeared under water as soon as I moved off the main road. Headed back to the village and stopped for a couple of coffees to warm up. Back to the bus stop and thankfully was able to take the bus back to Girona and another night at the Carlemany Hotel.

Cycle Time 2 hrs 4 mins; 24.66 miles; 175 m climb. 

Ruta del Ter - Day 1 - Girona to L'Estartit

Collected my hire bike in the morning from Eat, Sleep, Cycle. A Wilier gravel bike. Looked very well worn but happy with it.

The first section of the route out of Girona was very nice sandy/gravel cycle path along the edge of the river.

There following some suburban industrial sections to navigate before heading to a rural landscape with slightly rougher ground and small tree plantations.

A very nice lunch at the central square in Verges before completing the route to the mouth of the Ter.

From the official route it was a short flat ride to L'Estartit and a stay at the Medes II hotel which was very nice. The town was almost totally dead but did manage to find somewhere to eat.

Overall a very nice route today in fine weather. Very flat, almost totally traffic free and trail surfaces mostly very good with some sections slightly more bumpy but never a problem for the gravel bike.

3 hrs 28 min cycle time; 35 miles; 250 m climb

Ruta del Ter - overview

I first came across this long distance route at the mouth of the River Ter on our January 2025 holiday to L'Estartit. It seemed an interesting route from the Mediterranean to the Vallter 2000 in the Pyrenees. Duly noted a plan eventually came to fruition for November 2025 to do a solo light packing journey on hired bike there and back.

The official route is 220 km and is planned from summit to sea over 4 days. My plan was for both directions over 9 days of cycling. For practical reasons this would mean starting in Girona cycling to the sea, then reversing back to the summit and then back again to finish in Girona.

https://www.rutadelter.cat/ruta-en-bicicleta

I wasn't sure whether the mountain stage would be clear at this time of year or not. Conditions were actually pretty good in first half of November with no snow or ice on the road but some snow but not enough for skiing at the ski centre. The ski centre was open for coffee and snacks and there were some visitors in cars. Conditions later in the year and early new year probably more problematic.

For the most part the official route was really good with just one day that was much less pleasant and where there probably aren't too many alternative options. More on that on the daily reports that follow.

I used a gravel bike which was fine. I would have preferred mountain bike given the roughness of a number of sections of the route. A road or touring bike wouldn't work.

 

Barcelona - on way to Ruta del Ter start

I arrived in Barcelona fairly late on Monday 3 November with just my 32L backpack minus bike tool and chain which hadn't made it through security. Took the tram from the airport to Sants station and after a bit of searching found the Barcelo hotel. A bit too late to venture out so straight to bed.

The next day I had time to explore the city and the plan was to walk from the hotel to the summit of Tibidabo taking in various sights along the way. Early stops included the former Prosperity office on Diagonal, Turo Parc and our old flat on Juan Sebastian Bach.

 Continued the walk through areas like Sarria Sant-Gervasi and then onwards to the foot of the funicular. 

It was longer than expected walk from there winding my way up to the summit and the Sagrada Corazon church and the funfair. 

I was walking in my bicycle 5Ten flats and it took a toll on my feet with heel issues starting to emerge. So took the funicular down and then a bus part of the way back before walking the final section back to Sants Station.

From there it was a fast train - airport security style - to Girona where I found the hotel where I would spend 3 separate nights - Hotel Carlemany. Nice hotel with very comfortable rooms and a bike shed in the garage underneath. B'fast a bit disappointing.

Garden Futures at the V&A Dundee

Cherry and Colin got the train to Dundee for our second visit (?) to the V&A Dundee the last visit being a long time ago. The Garden Futures exhibition was a bit disappointing with an awful lot about the past and not so much a vision of the future. It was a bit bitty as well. The embroidery from Palestine was a nice little exhibition of traditional Palestinian dress. A nice lunch in the cafe. It was a bit cold and our feet a bit too gallery tired to spend much more time exploring Dundee so we headed home late afternoon and arrived early for our dinner at Ciao Roma. 

Gritopia Revisited

Another long hilly ride in preparation for my Ruta del Ter trip in November. 38 miles and 1600 m of climb over 5 hours cycling and 6 hours elapsed time. Hard work.

 

To Kill A Mockingbird - Festival Theatre

A good performance at the Festival Theatre.

 

Natural Tweed and White Castle Climb

In preparation for my Catalan cycling holiday I had two longish back to back days to test my form and train for the holiday.

Day 1 was a return to the Natural Tweed route which I've done a number of times now with various small amendments to the route. It is very nice in parts but has a few too many sections that are just too hard for me to cycle or involve a bit too much muck. Finished in reasonably good shape after just under 30 miles and 1000+ m of climb in 4 hrs 36 mins.

Day 2 was on the roads from Gifford doing the climb to White Castle and back through the Lammermuirs. There was very strong headwinds on the way back (and lots of climb) so wasn't feeling to joyous for the last 90 minutes. The bleak exposed roads weren't that inspiring so doubt I would do this route again. Just over 30 miles and around 1200 miles climb in just over 4 hours.

I'll have some longer and tougher days in Catalonia so I think I'll find it reasonably challenging. Was pretty tired for 3 days after this.

Scottish Orienteering League (SOL) 2025

One of my goals this year was to compete in the Scottish Orienteering League. This is top class competition on very challenging and technical terrain. There were 4 events this year and I managed to get to them all competing in the M55 class on the Blue course.

SOL1 - Lady Culbin near Nairn - 23 March;  

1:33:54 ; 50th of 76; 190% of winning time; complex technical terrain with one big error

SOL2- Limerigg - 13 April

1:39:22; 51st of 58; 208% of winning time; horrible terrain - really didn't like this one

SOL3 - Hartside Hill, East Lothian - 7 September

1:28:39; 34th of 48; 178% of winning time; clean slow navigation on not terribly nice terrain but with enough line features to help with the navigation

SOL4 - Gullane - 21 September

1:24:41; 37th of 73; 157% of winning time; clean and slow on pretty nice terrain apart from the spiky grass

Came 8th overall in the series in M55 Class.

Fiddler on the Roof at Festival Theatre

 Enjoyable show at the Festival Theatre.

Black is the Colour of My Voice at Lyceum

A short show in the life of Nina Simone. The singing, which was a small part of the show, was good but overall a little dull.

Festivals 2025

Made it along to a small number of events this year:

BOOK FESTIVAL

Michael Hutchinson: Understanding Endurance

Mike Berners-Lee: Climate Action and the Power of Truth with Cherry

FRINGE FESTIVAL

Alba Flamenca + tapas with Cherry, Max & Kasia 

Ten Thousand Hours ; acrobatics with Cherry

Cadel : Lungs on Legs

Police Cops : The Original with Cherry, Max, Kasia, Hannah & Richard