Festove Frolic at Beecraigs

We all headed out to Beecraigs for the annual Boxing Day run. Max, Hannah and Cherry had a nice walk whilst Colin did the 14 k all-terrain race. It's an excellent event with a 14k and 7 k race happening at the same time with self declared handicaps meaning you are passing and being passed by runners of all speeds and abilities.

Colin got a good time beating his time of 2 years ago by almost 1 minute. Total time of 1 hr 11 min 48 sec.

Queens Drive 5k

Colin was out for a 5k race round Arthurs Seat on a very stormy Sunday lunchtime. A reasonable time of 25 min 28 secs give the climb and high winds.

Club Champs

A trip to Riccarton Campus for the Club Champs. Max unfortunately fell and hurt his leg at an early control. Hannah and Colin had a nice walk round the yellow course.

Joan as Policewoman

The busy festive season continued with the Marchmont Community Christmas Tree Lighting and Carols. Cherry was one of the chief organisers and Hannah was singing in the JGPS Choir. Colin went to a concert in the evening to see Joan as Policewoman at the Liquid Rooms.

Glasgow Parks Championships

Max and Colin headed off to Glasgow for this event which involves a mystery tour round three Glasgow Parks. Colin did quite well coming in 13th on the Male Vets. Max did very well on the first two courses but blew out on the third and didn't finish.

Freeeezing !

We were all planning to head off the Tentsmuir Forest this morning but one by one the cold or aches and pains desuaded everyone except Colin. Colin had a good run coming in 10th place on the Blue course. A few stupid mistakes or it could have been quite a bit better. Very cold but beautiful clear skys and lovely frost everywhere.

East of Scotland Orienteering Championships

We headed off to Penicuik estate on a freezing cold Sunday morning. Hannah successfully defended her W10 championship on the yellow course. Did very well to get round without shadowing and is the first person to win the trophy three times in a row. She'll be up a class next year.

Max had a bad one. Colin was non-competitive and missed a couple of controls.

Delhi

In Delhi on business for an Asia Pacific Actuarial Conference. Had a tour round the city on Monday. Temperatures are fairly pleasant but a thick smog throughout the day. You can feel yourself coughing on the fumes. The streets very busy - nothing compared to Mumbai I'm told. Chaotic roads with bicycles, rickshaws, three wheel taxis, oxen, elephants, cars and lots of 50 yr old buses. Had a walk round some more tranquil gardens.

The Bridges

We had some fantastic weather for a family walk with Les from Dalmeny Station through South Queensferry over the Road Bridge and through to North Queensferry. We then got the train back over the rail bridge to our start. Glorious blue skys crisp clear air.

Got some very nice photos. Click through to Web Albums to view full screen slideshow.

Bridges Walk

Sunny October Day

Additional photo from our Mourne Walk - a rarity of a sunny October Day !

SOl 7 - Craig A Barns

Colin travelled to Dunkeld for the last Scottish O League and has a spectacularly bad 3 hr 22 minute run round the M21L course. Deserved a prize for persistence having run almost 2 km off course for 1 control.

Ireland Holiday

Enjoyed a very pleasant couple of days with Maxwell & Rosemary in Bangor before heading down to Downpatrick and Newcastle area. Went to Castle Espie on the Monday morning which was unfortunately a bit of a building site with extensive renovations of both the visitor centre and the grounds taking place. Still a lot of beautiful ducks in residence. On Tuesday we went for a walk in the Mournes. At the B&B hosts advice we took a long point to point walk of around 8.5 miles which was very nice until we got to a very long steep descent. Had a nice dinner at the Mourne Seafood bar.

Travelled to Portpatrick on Wednesday and had a quick visit to the Logan Botanic Gardens. Not looking their best this late in the season.

On Thursday we woke to gale force winds and heavy rain and a tour of the Mull of Galloway wasn't looking too appealing so we headed home a day early.

Man or Mouse

Colin had a busy weekend of running. First the Manor Water race near Peebles on Saturday. Ran at a fairly gentle pace and came in a full 20 minutes slower than last time. A very nice course though with the slopes never too steep.

On Sunday was the awesome Pentland Skyline with its 16 peaks to climb. Ran a very good race with a surprising amount of energy in the legs. Got a bottle of beer for completing both races.

Escaped being the Mouse over the two events by 1 place and 17 minutes.

Sosol 1 - Dunkeld

Headed up to Dunkeld on a gloriously sunny day for some orienteering. Took Les with us for his birthday treat! Colin did very well on the Blue course coming third. Max was off form and didn't finish. Hannah, Cherry and Les had a walk round the yellow course.

Went to Dunkeld afterwards which looked beautiful in the sunshine.

6 Munros

Had a few days off work and headed to the hills for some munro bagging. Did 3 on Thursday, 1 on Friday and 2 on Sunday. Fairly sped round them.

Went to Cati O with Max at Bush Estate on Saturday. Max came 6th on the Orange.

Braemar Gathering

The Queen, Prince Philip and Charles, plus 16,000 others turned up in Braemar to watch Colin compete in the Hill Race. One lap of the stadium before heading up Morrone Hill and then returning for a finish in front of the royal pavilion.

Tubing

Hannah had her belated birthday party this afternoon. Tubing at the ski slope at Hillend.

Colin had a good run in the morning at the Score event at Cademuir Peebles coming 10th of 45 runners.

Richard & Liz's Wedding

Travelled down to Stevenage by train on Friday night with Les. Wedding in Hitchin on Saturday and then lunch at the Buck's Head.

Lomonds of Fife

Colin went off to Fife to run in the long and challenging Lomonds of Fife Hill Race. Two ascents up West Lomond and once up East Lomond and a hair-raising slide down a near verticle slope at the end. A good time of 2 hrs 22 minutes was 7 minutes better than last year.

On Saturday had a run round Blackford Hill at the ESOC come and try it.

Max went to the cinema with Joe and stayed overnight.

Caerketton Hill Race

The nearest thing to a sprint in hill racing. A very steep up and down on slippy ground. Slow performance compared to 2 years ago after a lazy start.

Dr Neils Garden

Went out to lunch with Les on Saturday at Lauriston Farm and then visited Dr Neils garden at Duddingston. Walked along the Braid Burn on Sunday morning with a brief visit to Fringe Sunday in the afternoon.

South African Holiday Diary

Sat 19 July- after a long overnight flight and a race through Johannesburg airport we arrived at Port Elizabeth on Saturday afternoon. No-one slept very much on the flight. Most of our suitcases were delayed but were delivered to the Kelway Hotel a few hours later. Went out to the beach in the afternoon and then had dinner at the hotel restaurant. Hotel quite nice.

Sun 20 July - In the morning we visited Bayworld which was much better than the rather battered exterior would have suggested. Saw the sealions and dolphins perform in the large pool and then met a 27 year old penguin (the second oldest in the world!). Also got a backstage tour of the hospital and the jetset pengions that were due to fly off to London to their new home. Also visited the musuem and snake park. After lunch we spend a few hours on the beach and then went to a shop and leisure complex called the Boardwalk which was very smart. Played crazy golf there. In the evening we met up with our tour guide Ken, driver Wassim and the two other families we would be staying with. (Richard, Isabel, Georgina and Alexander Thorp and Adrian, Pat, Iain and Tom Wright).

Mon 21 July - Left sharply on the morning for the interior to stay at the Zuurberg mountain inn. Beautiful place in the middle of nowhere. We had a lazy afternoon to play in the grounds and with the many dogs. We saw lots of birds and visiting monkeys.

Tues 22 July - We went out for a tough walk in the heat on Tuesday morning on a trail in the Addo park just beside the hotel. Went at quite a pace. In the afternoon we went to the Addo Elephant park and saw a lot of elephants, warthogs, buffalo, ostrich, eland, kudu, and many birds. Saw some of the shanty towns on the way back. Hannah got a special birthday cake at dinner.

Wed 23 July - We spent a long, lazy morning at Zuurberg before driving out to Schotia game reserve. We were driven around the reserve in an open four wheel drive and saw lions, a giraffe, mountain reedbucks, impala, a Nile crocodile, African spoonbills, black headed cranes, black and blue wildebeests, red hartebeests, an aardwolf (very rare), a bushbuck, lots of kudu and hundreds of ostriches and warthogs. Halfway we stopped and had dinner around a bushcamp fire, open to the stars. We then continued our drive through the night before returning to the inn late at night and spending our last night at Zuurberg.

Thurs 24 July - We left early to go to Knysna. Quite a long drive in the minibus. We stopped on the way at Jeffreys bay where we had some excessively large scones and walked on the beach looking for the shells. Nice suffers beach which we had almost to ourselves. Later we went to Tsitsikamma park where we went on the Canopy ride sliding on ropes through the tree tops. Had a lovely seafront apartment at Knysna rather than the expected hotel.

Fri 25 July - We went to Plettenberg to go on a whale watching boat trip. Saw lots of Souther Right Whales very close to the boat and some very close to the shore. Then went on the boat to the Robberg peninsula and saw thousands of seals. To get back on land the boat charged full speed onto the beach. After lunch we went back to Tsitsikamma and the seaside nature reserve. We arrived quite late and the rope bridge was closed which meant the walk wasn't as nice as it might have been. Bit of an unsatisfactory dinner at 34 South on our own in the evening.

Sat 26 July - Up early again and went for an elephant walk and ride for the kids. Then visited Monkey land and Birds of Eden. The birds were spectacular but we were a bit rushed. We got to the boat for Featherbed Nature Reserve just in time and had a lovely downhill walk at the head of Knysna which were spectacular.

South African Holiday

Photos from our excellent holiday in South Africa



For full photo album click here

Ratho Climbing/Skyride

Colin took the kids climbing at Ratho. Arrived in the morning for a session on the walls and in the afternoon we all did the aerial assault course.

Pizza, Ice-Cream and Fudge

As an early birthday treat we took Hannah out for pizza at Pizza Express then visited the Italian Ice Cream parlour on the royal mile and then bought a small crate of fudge at the fudge shop. Heaven!

Gifford Gardens

For Cherry's day out we went to the open gardens day in Gifford. Weather was a bit overcast but we still enjoyed a pleasant stroll around some nice domestic gardens.

Craig Leacach 987m

Everyone set off early for Glenshee to try to get everyone up a munro. The weather was fine with bright sunshine and temperates in the valleys of around 18 degrees.

The Glenshee carpark is quite high so the ascents were not too great but there was a fairly long walk along the ridge with some very rough boulder strewm ground near the summit.

Everyone did very well with Hannah and Cherry ticking off their first munro after around 2 hrs 45 minutes of walking.

Total time was around 4 hrs 40 minutes, 7 miles and ascent of 600m according to GPS.

Lairig Ghru

Colin ran in the 28 mile long Lairig Ghru Hill race on Sunday. Generally fine weather the race was long and tough with very rough ground over the middle section. A good time of 5 hrs 10 minutes shaving a few minutes off last years time.

Ouch !

... that was painful. Colin at the Meadows 2 mile race sprinting at the finish to complete in just under his target of 14 minutes.

Great Scottish Walk

Max and Cherry completed the 12 mile Great Scottish Walk. Hannah and Colin did the shorter 6 mile walk.

1 Mile Race

Max and Colin ran at the Meadows on Wednesday night. Max was trying to complete a challenge of running 1 mile in 7 minutes 30. He succeeded coming in a few seconds under target time.

SOL 3 - Devilla

Colin and Max traveled off to Devilla forest near Kincardine for the third SOL of the year. Max was doing his first Light Green course. He took it slow and steady and got around in 1 hr 24 minutes. Colin did the M21L course and finished in the usual last place but had a respectable time of 1 hr 49 - first time below 2 hrs at this class.

Flamenco etc

Busy weekend in and around Edinburgh. Hannah was playing for JGPS at the Meadows Festival football tournament where the team came first and took away the trophy - beating Brunsfield, South Morningside and Sciennes. Cherry was on stage in the evening performing her Flamenco dance with her classmates at the Churchill Theatre. Colin ran a 10 k personal best at the Dechmont Trail Race on Sunday morning shaving almost 2 minutes off previous record. Colin & Max also went orienteering at Mary Erskine on Saturday afternoon.

Scottish Champs 2008

We all headed up north to Aberfeldy for the Scottish Orienteering Championships. Spend Friday night at a B&B and then on to forests in the foothills of Schiehallion. Hannah unfortunately went down with a bug and was sick several times. We were in charge of the String course for the day and had over 50 happy customers. Max had a good run on the orange course although he made a couple of big mistakes which cost him first place. He is picture with his plaque for coming second in the M14B class. Colin was on very poor form and got very lost on the first control.

Hillend Orienteering

Colin came in THIRD place in a field of 23 at the orienteering on a pleasant Wednesday evening at the very hilly Hillend.

Scottish Sprint Champs & SOL2

Max and Colin went up to Stirling on Saturday for a sprint race in Stirling old town. Reasonable performances from both. Max was up against 17 year olds in his age class so was quote far down the field.

On Sunday Colin went to the Touch estate for SOL2 and came last in the long M21L class. A tired run but generally pretty good navigation.

Ben Oss & Beinn Duhbcraig

Colin has a day off work and so headed up north in the glorious weather to bag a few munros.

Great Edinburgh Run

Max and Hannah were out running in the Great Edinburgh Run around the Meadows on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Hannah was out first and ran a great race. Stayed at a really steady pace most of the way round saving energy for a final burst of speed over the last 50 m. Got round the 2.4 km course in 14 m 8 sec which works out at 9 min 29 sec min/mile pace.

Max started fast but ran out of energy towards the end. Nothing left to give over the last 300 m but kept going bravely to the finish. Time of 11 m 18 s was slower than a year ago but still a cracking pace of 7 min 35 sec per mile.

Highland Fling Race

Colin ran in the 53 Mile Highland Fling Race on Saturday along the West Highland Way from Milngavie to Tyndrum. Completed the course in 14 hr 15 minutes. Ran the first 20 miles to Balmaha extremely well coming in at 44th place at that point. Slowed down from there onwards with lots of stops and lots of walking but kept on going. Finished just 45 minutes before the cut off and a bit slower than hoped but a great run nevertheless.

I'd Do Anything

A busy weekend that started with Hannah drawing at football against local rivals Sciennes 3 -3.

Hannah then went off to the Drill Hall for auditions for a BBC TV play. She did very well and impressed the casting director. We await the verdict !

Max hurt his foot during Alexanders football party later in the day.

To finish off a hectic weekend Colin too Hannah and Alexander to cycle at Glentress. A couple of laps round the Green route.

Edinburgh to Carlops

Colin got up early for his last long training run before the Highland Fling Race in 2 weeks time. The aim was for a long steady slog which was achieved in good weather. Still some snow on the hill-tops. Went over around 12 peaks in the Pentlands, starting at Hillend, before arriving for a nice lunch at Allan Ramsays in Carlops.

Footie & Orienteering

Hannah and the JGPS team had a match on Saturday morning. Unfortunately they got beaten this time. Colin had a good orienteering run at Corstorphine Hill.

Max went to Lee's birthday party in the evening and saw Son of Rambow.

Rockcliffe Weekend

We enjoyed three nice days in the Dumfries and Galloway region. We stayed again at the excellent Millbrae House. On the first day we stopped off at the Moffet Toffee Shop to stock up on Hannahs favourite sweets. We then visited Caerlaverock Castle and nature reserve just South of Dumfries.

On the second day we went to the Mersehead RSPB reserve and then went to Threave Gardens. On the final day we visited the Wood of Cree and then the Cream O'Galloway ice cream factory.

SkyRide

Hannah and Colin went to the Ratho climbing centre to go on the aerial assault course. Hannah was very brave on the very very scary course.



Colin went out running later and had an excellent run over 6 peaks in Holyrood park without stopping.

Aaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!

A dreadful run in the Dumfries Marathon. Legs were really stiff before starting and I just had nothing left in my legs from around the halfway mark. Nice course in pleasant countryside on a bitterly cold morning.

Compass Sport Trophy

All went to the North Pentlands for the CST team event. We all ran a little slower than usual on what was fairly tough muddy terrain. Interlopers came 6th with a fairly poor turnout on the day.

SOSOL 6 Dalkeith

Everyone was out to Dalkeith Country Park on Sunday morning for the last South of Scotland League event of the series. Hannah and Cherry had a good run on Yellow. Max was 5th in a big crowd out on the orange course. Colin has a good run on the Brown getting round in a respectable 1 hr 18 minutes.

Max was confirmed as League Winner on Orange for the second year running. He'll be moving up to Light Green.

Colin was 7th on the Brown course.

KB 5 Mile Race

Colin took part in the KB 5 Mile race on Saturday on a hilly course in the south side of Edinburgh. Got round in 37 m 36 s and towards the back of the field. A minute slower than last year. Had quite a slow start and a good second half.

SOL1 Drumlanrig

Colin headed off to Drumlanrig Castle on Sunday for the first Scottish O League event of the year. A good run on the longest course finishing in just over 2 hrs.

Sosol 5

Colin and Max headed off to John Muir Country park on a windy sunday morning. Max had a good run on the Orange coming in first place in spite of a couple of big mistakes. Colin had a good run on the Brown which was largely error free and placed him slightly better than usual.

Hannah went to Janie Rose's bowling party in the afternoon.

Rome, Naples, Pompeii

A busy week in Italy. We had two days in Rome visiting the ancient sites like the Colleseum and the Forum. We then headed off to Naples for four days. The city was busy and crazy. We took day trips out to Herculaneum, Pompeii & Sorrento. We returned by train to Rome for a final couple of days visiting the city centre and the Vatican.

Max and Hannah loved the pizza and ice-cream. Not quite so keen on the ruins.

Ledlie Regains Crown

Hannah Ledlie stunned the crowds at the East of Scotland Championships with a stunning return to form. After spending most of 2007 in semi-retirement she dashed round the complex Holyrood course in a flawless performance to get her name on the covetted title for the second time.

EAST of SCOTLAND INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

The 2007 Championships were held on
Sun 27 Jan 2008 at the EUOC SoSOL at Holyrood Park

W10	Hannah Ledlie	INT		M10	James Ackland	INT
W12				M12	Patrick Ryan	ESOC
W14	Karen Maxwell	RR		M14	Owain Ramsay	ELO
W16	Evie Aitken	TAY		M16	Andrew Lindsay	ESOC
W18				M18	Mark McLeod	ESOC
W20				M20	Tom Ryan	ESOC
W21	Megan Mowbray	INT		M21	Simon Gardner	EUOC
W35	Heather Hartman	INT		M35	David Weir	TAY
W40	Jane Ackland	INT		M40	Stewart Reid	TAY
W45	Chris McLeod	ESOC		M45	Andy Spenceley	INT
W50	Maggie Scrugham	ESOC		M50	Davie Frame	TAY
W55	Margaret Dalgleish	ESOC		M55	Roger Scrutton	ESOC
W60	Janet Clark	ESOC		M60	Phil Smithard	KFO
W65	Kath Melville	TAY		M65	Bill Melville	TAY
W70				M70	Jim Clark	ESOC

Sprint O

Everyone went orienteering on Sunday morning at Craiglockhart Hill. Colin and Max took part in the Sprint Orienteering race. Both did very well. Colin came 8th of 27 in the Vets race. Max did the same course as the grown ups and got round in a very good time coming around 5oth of all the competitors with many experienced orienteers behind him.

On Saturday Hannah played football against South Morningside. Les came round for lunch and seemed in reasonably good form.

Big Weekend

A busy weekend of orienteering with a street event through Edinburgh's old town on Saturday and in Holyrood park on the Sunday. Two great races. The street race was great fun although annoyed to be disqualified (with many others) for going through an out of bounds street.

Max did very well on Sunday coming second on Orange in a very good time.

Hannah also did well on the yellow. The event was also for the East of Scotland Championships and she might have been fastest on the girls U10 event. There's one other female in the results ahead of her but with no age specified.

Cheeky Monkey

Colin, Max and Hannah cycled from home down to Ocean Terminal in Leith on Sunday morning. Nice journey along the Water of Leith. Everyone did very well in spite of minor grumbles about half way. At Ocean Terminal Hannah went on the Totem climbing experience. She's pictured reaching the very top! Well done!

Had a good run in the early evening doing the round of Arthurs Seat in second best ever time.

Bell's Hill

Colin and Max tackled one of the lesser Pentland hills on Saturday afternoon. Clear skys but cold and windy on the summit. Total walk time of 1 hr 15 mins.

In the evening Cherry & Colin went to Glasgow for an excellent Shetland night with a wide variety of musicians each getting 3 songs each. Very good indeed. Shame about the late train back !

May and Percy visiting for a few days.

Great Winter Run

On Saturday morning Max ran in the Great Winter Run in Holyrood park. He took it relatively easy and got a decent time in absolutely freezing conditions. He came in 85th of 118 runners in his age class.

Junior/Senior Relay

Max, Hannah and Colin were out for a very cold run in the Pentlands for the annual junior-senior relay race. A sharp run half way up the hill before the junior runs back, 3/4 way up before the slower senior heads back and then the fast senior (that's me!) goes to the top then runs back. We were all on different teams. The winning team is pictured above.

More Snow

Cherry arrived back from Norwich/Stevenage on Thursday night. Les is stable but has suffered some serious damage to his brain. He recognises people and can communicate but short term memory has gone. Hopefully will get moved to an Edinburgh hospital before too long.

Went out sledging.

Snow

Happy Hannah

Hannah's highlight of the holiday was getting Candy Floss at the funfair near Princes Street. Also pictured in the Ice House.

Oscar nominations 2008

Max & Hannah video at John and Heather's house:

Portobello Promathon

With Colin and Hannah both off top form it was just Max running in the Promathon this year. Max got round the 2 miles course in a very good time of 17 minutes and 21 seconds - more than a minute faster than last year.





Steamy glasses at the end on a muggy new years morning.