Arthurs Seat

Walk with Cherry to top of Arthurs Seat. Boy was it busy up there with loads of festive season tourists.

Beecraigs Festive Handicap

Up early on boxing day for a drive out to Beecraigs and my first race in almost a year. The drive was a bit hairy with snow on the ground near Beecraigs and the car definitely not coping well at all. Got stuck several times and needed to clear tracks through the snow to get the car moving.

The weather varied in a matter of hours from clear blue skies to horizontal snow in gale force winds. It wasn't too bad whilst I was running.

First 25 mins were pretty good although my heel was giving me some problems - the fault of old shoes. Got a wee bit lost by missing a junction so got a little bit extra run but by that stage I was walking. Got round the course in around 57 mins and wasn't last.

Great event.

Christmas Day

All the family and Les for a day of fine food and presents.

Stevenage

Train down to Stevenage with Cherry, Max, Hannah and Les. The down journey was pretty good with a fairly quiet train (10 am departure on 20th December).

We visited Percy on the Tuesday evening and again on Wednesday morning. Lunch at the Harvester and then dinner in the evening with Richard, Liz, Tom, Nicola and Zoe as well.

Walk with Percy to Fairlands Valley Park on Thursday. Cherry met up briefly with Sally-Ann.

The return train at around 3.30 pm was mobbed - particularly with large suitcases. A less pleasant journey back as a result. Should maybe think about driving next time.

Pentlands Cycle

Nice cycle along the Water of Leith to Threipmuir Reservoir, across to Flotterstone then up towards Allermuir and down to Swanston. Some hard hills to climb. Fairly mild weather but lots of mud on the ground.

Calton & Castle Hill Walk

In a short break from reading next weeks Board papers Cherry and Colin continued their weekly walk with a trip up Calton and Castle hills. About 5 miles in total through a very busy town centre.

Zurich

A busy week with travel out on Sunday night with stopover at Heathrow on the way to Zurich. An afternoon of Audit Committee discussions and then a really interesting business crisis simulation throughout all of Tuesday. Onwards on Wednesday for two days of Board meetings in London. Lots of eating and sitting about.

Craiglockhart Hills Walk

A short walk on a glorious sunny morning up both Craiglockhart Hills.

Billy Bragg and others

Went out on Sunday evening to the Festival Theatre for a benefit gig for Dick Gaughan. Great concert  compered by Elaine C Smith with performances by Karine Polwart, Barbara Dickson, Ali Bain and Phil Cunningham, Edi Reader and Billy Bragg. Lots of short slots of 3 or 4 songs and lots of banter and audience engagement. Excellent.

Braid Hills Walk

Cherry and Colin had a nice walk on Sunday morning around Braid Hills and Mortonhall. We stopped off for coffee at the Stable Inn around 3/4 of the way round. 5 miles in about 2 hours.

Trainspotting

Went to see this at the Brunton Theatre in Musselburgh. Hadn't been the theatre before which was really rather good. Great film and nice to see on the big screen.

24th Wedding Anniversary

Dinner out on Wednesday to Merchants in the old town. We had last been there at least 24 years ago. Not a huge amount changed with some fairly traditional franco-scots style food with very large portions.

Walking at Hermitage and Blackford Hill

In training for the West Highland Way next spring Cherry and Colin did a short walk through the Hermitage and Blackford Hill. About 4 miles in total over 1 hr 45 minutes. A very nice morning with interesting sights like the refurbished walled garden. We stopped for coffee and scones at the Hermitage Cafe by the golf course.

Pentlands in the Snow

A short mountain bike ride - curtailed by the under wheel conditions making any further progress too dangerous. Headed from Carlops out past the Esk reservoir.

Glasgow

We've had Hannah visiting for her "reading" week from Sunday to Sunday. On Saturday we all headed off to Glasgow for the day to see Max.

After a lunch at the Counting House on George Square we went to see Sharmanka Kinetic Theatre which was a range of moving artworks made from old metal and household items like hoovers and sewing machines together with grotesque carvings.

After that we had an escape the room experience with 60 minutes to work on various clues to identify a serial killer. Good fun.

We had dinner at an Italian before heading to Max's flat and then finally heading home.

Costa Smeralda Walk Sardinia - Porto Istana to Porto San Paolo

We found a few books with walks in Sardinia but most of them seemed to involved exposed climbs and via ferrata. We decided to just try our luck walking along the shore not too far from our hotel and came across this well marked route for Port Istana to Porto San Paolo. It was a great walk with lovely scenery. In October we had clear blue skies but very strong winds blowing in from the sea. There were paths most of the walk and signage was pretty good although a map would certainly be of some assistance.

Total distance for out and back was 9 km with minimal climb.

Start the walk at Port Istana. There is a large free car park just before the turning circle at the end of the road. From there just head down to beach and turn right along the beach and then follow the paths generally keeping very close to the shore.

Some lovely views:

After the first beach there is a section of fairly narrow path with a sharp drop of a few metres into the sea to your left. In places the path disappears and requires a small step over the difficult section. Whilst not particularly difficult it may not be suitable for children or the less stable on feet.

This first section is the hardest bit and thereafter paths are something like the picture below.

In October Porto San Paolo was almost dead. After a bit of looking we found a hotel (Hotel Castello di Tavolara) open for coffee and croissant where we stopped for 30 minutes before heading back the way we came.

Olbia

On Thursday we went into Olbia and started the day with a visit to the archeological museum. An amazing building for such and a poor collection. There were some excellent photo exhibits on at the same time which made up for the missing archeology.

We then went for a walk in the "gardens" which turned out to be just a park with one or two plants.

Went to a cafe that didn't service tea or coffee ! Nice church in town though.

Maddalena and Capo Testa

On Wednesday we took a fairly long drive out to Palau on the north coast. We found a very nice walk along the shore and enjoyed looking at the granite that had been sculpted in smooth and strange shapes by the sea. We then headed on the ferry to Maddalena the main town in a set of islands off the north coast. The town was a bit more lively that most places we had been on the island. 

We finished the day with a drive out to Capo Testa at the far north west of the island. A large rocks connected to the mainland by a narrow isthmus. Some lovely beaches with totally still seas and great rock formations on the headland.

Porto Rotondo and Port Cervo

On Tuesday we headed out to two of the expensive resorts on the Costa Smerelda. Unfortunately with this being off season both towns were almost totally deserted and it was hard to even find something to eat or drink. Porto Rotondo was quite nice whilst Cervo was a bit hard to get round and not so impressive.

San Teodoro and Nuraghic Remains

On Monday we headed further South to San Teodoro hoping for a nice walk from the port to the dunes. The port turned out to be a work in progress and nothing to look at just now.

A little further along the coast we saw lots of kite surfers enjoying the strong winds on the long sandy beach. Some stunning displays as they leaped about 10 metres into the air on the boards or flipped somersaults.

In the afternoon we headed north of Olbia to visit an old hilltop Nuraghic settlement. It was a long hard climb up to the top. The views weren't great due to the hazy weather but the ancient dwelling was very impressive and had survived 2500 years amazingly well.

Porto Taverna

On Sunday we took a short trip down the coast to a village and beach called Porto Taverna. There was a superb beach here with a nature reserve right behind it with herons and flamingos. We enjoyed the walks and views and a drink at the bar at the end of the beach.

In the afternoon we had to go out shopping for clothes and toiletries to replace stuff in our displaced bags.

Sardinia

Up very early in the morning for a flight from Edinburgh to Olbia in Sardinia. They managed to lose our suitcase on the way (it turned up about 4 days later).

Staying at the Cala Cuncheddi Hotel a short fifteen minutes from the airport in our hired Nissan Micra.

It was fairly late by the time we arrived but managed to have a quick walk around the hotel grounds and along the coast. Some impressive views.

4 course dinner (every night) as part of the half-board deal.

Hotel pool:

 and the beach

 and views

London, Telford & Birmingham

A busy week with an early morning Monday flight to London for BUPA meetings. Tried out a central London spin class, Boom Cycle on Tuesday evening. Off to Telford on Wednesday for various Admin Re meetings. Caught up with Hannah, briefly, in Birmingham, before getting the slow and late train home to Edinburgh on Friday.

A couple of good cycles over the weekend, dinner out on Saturday with Cherry to Las Iguanas and cinema on Sunday to see Deepwater Horizon (6/10).

Cycle to Saltoun Big Wood

Nice cycle from home along the C1 route to Saltoun and some forest and farm trails. Stopped on the return journey to look at the recycled garden at Ormiston Railway station.

Mountain Bike Orienteering - Milngavie

Cold morning fog mean the temperature was just 3 degrees when I headed out on this event. The sun however broke through after about 30 minutes of riding and the rest of the day was glorious perfect conditions.

After struggling last year the area was familiar enough for me to have a decent enough ride with a good idea as to the best areas to go and what to avoid. A lovely area of decent trails with great views.

Generally did quite well although a few stupid mistakes. The biggest improvement will be in carefully reading the control descriptions.

Great ride of about three hours in total.

Ullapool Sportive

Big cycle weekend away to Ullapool and Oban. Stopped on the way up on Friday for a 26 mile cycle from Aviemore to Kingussie and back. The sportive on Saturday was tough going with lots of hills and wet and windy weather. I felt pretty tired but got round the 65 miles course - just.

Decided to pass on my planned 52 miler on the Sunday and have a leisurely drive home.

Levens Hall and Hutton Roof

We left Birmingham on Monday morning and visited Levens Hall house and gardens in the afternoon. One of the oldest and nicest gardens in the country with the world's oldest topiary garden. Very good guided walk with one of the gardeners. Well worth a visit.

Later on we headed up to a high area of limestone between the Lake and Peak districts. Great views on a calm sunny evening.

Mason at the Vale Village

We took Hannah to her new room at Mason in the Vale Village Birmingham. The room was looking quite homely very quickly.

Cherry and Colin had a wander around Campus and went to a parents talk before saying goodbye to H in the afternoon.

Birmingham

On Saturday we set off on the road with Hannah to Birmingham. A long drive down. Went out for a walk round the town centre in the evening and dinner at Carluccios.

London & Brighton

A busy week with a flight down to Gatwick and then train to central London on Monday evening.

CPD sessions on Tuesday then Board meetings on Weds and Thurs followed by a visit to the BUPA Brighton office on Friday.

Squeezed in a few gym sessions, a cinema trip to see Julietta and a theatre trip to see Wicked.

Tour of Tweeddale

An early start to drive down to Peebles for my second outing at this event - now with improved bike.

This is a relatively small and low key club run event with around 300 riders across two courses (50 and 100 miles. I was on the 50 mile route. Easy parking and no queues at the start. Great !

Nice cycle on relatively quiet roads through to the first stop on the A701 just before the turn to Talla. Decided to stop and enjoy the spread. A coffee and several small cakes.

After the short stop it was off to the big climb at Talla. It was too steep last time out with the heavy touring bike. It was very tough this time but I dug in and made it up. Heart rate was up to max at 173 bpm and jumping off was looking pretty tempting at several points. A long fast downhill off the mountain and then a fast flat section through the Gordon Arms. Pushed along quite hard on this segment.

Soup and roll at the Gordon Arms at mile 35.

Final section had an initial steep climb and then fairly easy run into Peebles. Feeling pretty comfortable at the end completing in 3 hrs 48 elapsed time and under 3 hrs 30 allowing for the two stops.

Cinema & Zizzi

Family outing to see the latest Woody Allen film Cafe Society. I really enjoyed it and it met with general approval. Afterwards we had dinner at Zizzi's which was pretty good.

Athelstaneford Open Garden Day

Cherry and I headed out to Athelstaneford in East Lothian for a tour round the village and 10 open gardens. An interesting range that included professionally designed marvels, model railways, great views and very normal back gardens.

Pentlands Mountain Bike Orienteering

Entered the Pentlands Mountain Bike Orienteering as a pair with Stewart Gray. Stewart brought very good knowledge of the area and working as a team probably helped to optimise our route choices. I had to work very hard to keep up so it was certainly a very good fitness test. We came 11th overall of 43 riders - much better than my usual last or near last position at these events.

Blue Mountains

The last few days of the holiday were as the Blue Mountain resort. A ski resort in winter and in summer dedicated to hiking, mountain biking and general leisure activities. It was quite a commercialised location as you might expect with everything on site. Generally very expensive.

We enjoyed a guided hike up the tiny mountain, a cable car down, a wonderful/horrific rollercoaster, crazy golf and paddle in the pool.

The following day we visited the neighbouring town of Collingwood for a trail walk and stopped briefly at Wasaga Beach on Lake Huron.

On our final day en route to the airport we had an afternoon at the historic site Saint Marie amongst the Hurons - a location where for 10 years early Europeans set up a mission to convert the locals and in the process killing off large parts of the population with many of the diseases they brought with them.

Overall a very successful trip with lots of great sights and activities.

Arowhon Pines

Over the next two days we enjoyed fabulous breakfast, pack lunches and dinners. We canoed, kayaked, hiked and swam in the lake with a game of scrabble in the evening.

Lovely morning views from the cabin.

Arowhon Pines Algonquin

We left Ottawa in torrential rain and headed for Algonquin Provincial Park. We stopped for a walk around a beaver lake where we saw the dam, a good number of lodges and marvelled at the huge area of forest cleared by these clever animals.

Our lodge at Algonquin was very nice with great views out to the lake.

Dinner was fabulous with high quality starter and dessert buffets, soup course and small main course.

More Ottawa

A morning walk along the Rideau Canal - about 1 hr out and 1 hr back with the heat again limiting how far we could go. Very busy with lots of weekend joggers and cycles.

A very pleasant city with loads of different trails and walks available.

In the afternoon we visited the modern art gallery and then in the evening enjoyed a fireworks display.

Parliament

In the morning we had a great tour round the Canadian houses of parliament. Very much modelled on the UK parliament. Great views from the peace tower.

Later found a very lively part of town for dinner.

Ottawa

Onwards from Montreal to Ottawa. Staying at the Fairmont Chateau Laurier - very grand !

Enjoyed a nice swim in the very nice pool. It was surprisingly quiet. We had dinner on the terrance overlooking the river and parliament and went to the Son Et Lumiere in at around 9.15 pm.

Mont Real

Last day in Montreal and we headed for a lengthy walk up the hill that gives the city its name. A nice steady gradient made for a pretty pleasant walk.

After some lounging at the hotel pool in the afternoon we went for a very fancy dinner at an expensive Italian restaurant (Ristorante Beatrice). The espresso creme brulee with dark chocolate sorbet was amazing!