Festive Orienteering

Max and Colin headed out to John Muir Country Park (Dunbar) for some festive orienteering. A 1 hour score course with multiple choice questions at each control pointing to 4 possible locations of bonus controls. Max was fast but unlucky and Colin was slower but gained time by following Max on occasion. Colin came 15th and Max 24th in a field of around 120 competitors.

Beecraigs Festive Frolic

Colin was running the 14 K long route this year for the first time in a number of years. Back on pretty good form with no aches, pains or niggles.

Christmas

Christmas at home with Max & Hannah and with Les on Christmas Day. The 4 of us went out to An Edinburgh Christmas Carol on Christmas Eve and then wandered round the stalls in Princes Street Gardens in the afterwards.

Kirk Craigs Christmas Cracker Hill Race

My second time running this tough little race in Tillicoultry. After a short initial muddy but flat section the climb upwards is brutal steep up to the high moorland. Then down to a big stone and turn and back along the same route before the very steep descent and the final flat but muddy dash home. Improved by 90 seconds over last year. A nice feast of mac'n'cheese pie and lots of cakes at the end.

Bangor Visit

We drove and ferried across to Northern Ireland for a very pleasant long weekend meeting up with Maxwell and Liz and Michael and Lusi. Lots of good food on a couple of very chilly days.

Orienteering - Duns

A damp but warmer day for orienteering at Duns. Max drove there and back in practice for his driving test next week. Colin had a bad run with real navigation problems and finished in a really poor time.

Orienteering Loch Ordie

A fantastic orienteering event at Loch Ordie near Dunkeld. Very cold but beautiful with think fog in the valleys and and snow on the distant hill tops - clear blue skies. A tough run but perfect navigation on the rough high moorland terrain.

Theatre & Orienteering

First weekend back after the holiday in France. After the Rugby World Cup final in the morning we went out to the Royal Lyceum in the evening to see Barber Shop Chronicles which was OK but not great. On Sunday Colin went orienteering in the rain at Callendar Park, Falkirk - the first time out orienteering in quite some months.

Day 12 - Paris to London

The Eurostar got us into London by 11.30 am and we visited the Graft and Craft exhibition at the Crick and then a drawing exhibition at the British Museum. We were at the National Theatre again to watch Hansard starring Lindsay Duncan and Alex Jennings.

The next morning we got the 8 am train back to Edinburgh to finish off our holiday.

Day 11 - Goodbye to Le Mas En Provence

An early start and our host Sophie drove us to the bus stop at Crestet at 7.30 for the 7.50 bus to Carpentras.

It had been a lovely week in a beautiful house in the countryside. The breakfasts were delicious and we had the living area pretty much to ourselves as we were the only guests for most of our stay.

It was a 90 min wait for the train to Avignon and then a two hour wait for the TGV to Paris which we got into around 3.30 pm. We had a long walk round some of the main sights in Paris that we hadn't visited in a long time such as Notre Dame and the Louvre.

Day 10 - Circuit of the Dentelles de Montmirais

Our last full day at Le Mas En Provence and we headed out for a fairly demanding 35 mile circuit with 1000 m of climb. The route visited many villages such as Seguret, Sablet, the wine town of Gigondas and the high village of Suzette.

Cherry sped up the hills in her electric bike whilst Colin had to work hard.

There were some great views of the "Dentelles"

and towards Mont Ventoux

Day 9 - Mollans and Pierrelongue

An easier day today with a very short ride along an old railway line to Mollans-sur-Ouveze for a gentle stroll around town with time for Cherry to do some sketching.

We then walked along the old railway line to Pierrelongue with its little church perched high on a rock in the middle of the little village.

In the evening we headed into town for a lovely French dinner at L'ancien Poste. The chocolate pudding was too good not to photograph.

Day 8 - Toulourenc Valley

What was meant to be an easy ride turned out to be fairly tough with quite a lot of climbing. A very pleasant ride along the Toulourenc valley visiting the tiny village of St Leger and then Brantes.

Nice walk along the valley bottom at St Leger and in the village in Brantes.

Vegetarian food isn’t so common in France but found a lovely Vegetarian restaurant in Brantes with lovely views of the village and mountains.

Day 7 - Mont Ventoux

A big ride for Colin up Mont Ventoux at a height of over 1900 m. Around 3 hours of climb over around 21 km and an average slope of 7.5%.  Felt pretty good and made it fairly comfortably.

Cherry meanwhile visited nearby villages of Faucon and Mollans-sur-Ouveze and sketched and painted.

Day 6 - Vaison la Romaine

We cycled off to the nearest town of Vaison la Romaine - a journey of about 30 minutes through some beautiful countryside.

We then visited the really interesting Roman site and museum and then visited the medieval old town up on high ground on the other side of the river. The sun was shining today and the temperatures ideal. Also not many people about.

A very pleasant sit outside when we got back to the house in late evening.

Day 5 - Entrechaux in the rain

Our first full day at Le Mas en Provence and we had a wet and windy day. We headed to the local village on our hired bikes which had arrived in the morning and walked around checking out the shops and the walked up to the castle.

We had a fabulous lunch at the little restaurant in the village and had a lazy afternoon and evening at the B&B sheltering from the bad weather.

Day 4 - Avignon to Entrechaux

In the morning in Avignon we had a culinary tour of the setting lasting 4 hours. It was a nice small group with an energetic and informative guide.

We enjoyed croissant and other pastries, some excellent chocolate, coffee, wine tasting and a selection of goodies from the market - all very nice and informative.

In the afternoon we took the train to Carpentras and then a bus to Crestet where we were picked up by Sophie from the B&B. It was a bit of a damp evening but a lovely house in a lovely location.

Day 3 - Paris to Avignon

In the morning we had a 20 minute walk to the Gare de Lyon and a 2 hr 45 minute train journey to cover the 440 miles to Avignon. It was a very wet day but we ventured out to visit the Palais des Papes - the large papal palace right in the centre of town.

It wasn’t the best of castle/palace visits we’ve done but there was a very interesting exhibition by Ernest Pignon-Ernest.

We then visited the Pont D’Avignon just before sunset and had dinner at the hotel restaurant.

Day 2 - London to Paris

We got up at a sensible time and walked across the road to St Pancras to catch the Eurostar to Paris. They had unfortunately turned the experience into something akin to a airport experience but it wasn’t long until we were in our comfortable seats heading to Paris - arrived at the Gare du Nord around midday.

We had a 45 minute walk to the hotel through what were initially fairly quiet Sunday afternoon boulevards. After checking in, visiting the Bastille market and lunching we went for a walk along the Promenade Plantee (or Viaduct de Arte) an old railway line through the heart of Paris that had been converted to a floral walkway. Lots of interesting views from a slightly different perspective being at 3rd floor level.

We had a nice dinner at the Argentine restaurant Carne Santa near our hotel.

South of France Holiday Day 1

We started out trip on the 8.30 am train to London arriving around 1 pm at Kings Cross. A nice lunch at Carluccios at St Pancras although we both probably ate a little bit more than we should.

We then checked in to the Megaro hotel, a fancy boutique hotel just by the rail stations.

We had a walk around Covent Garden, visited Neals Yard and walked along the Southbank.

There was an interesting costume exhibition at the National Theatre where we had a nice dinner and then watched Translations by Brian Friel starring Ciaran Hinds.

Eskapade +

A long bike ride to Musselburgh and the mouth of the river Esk

and then inwards along the River Esk to the source at the North Esk Reservoir in the Pentlands.

From there a tough transfer through the Pentlands mainly pushing the bike before a more pleasant downhill through Balerno and along the canal to home.

Harbour Hunting

A 4 hour bike ride to the Forth Coast and Granton Harbour and then along the coastline to Longniddry before heading home. A nice ride under grey skies.

In the afternoon we did a bit more open doors visiting at the Gardeners Cottage in Princes Street gardens and learned about ambitious plans to reshape the west gardens.

Edinburgh Open Doors Day

Cherry and Colin headed out on bikes to visit various public buildings as part of the annual open doors day. We started with the Music School at St Mary's Cathedral.

Then headed to an organic community garden in Muirhouse.

Then onwards to Drumsheugh Baths and a University research department based at the Western General Hospital.

Colony of Artists

An interesting afternoon visiting the Colony of Artists event at Abbeyhill. Lots of local homes in the "colony" properties opened up for artists to display their work. An interesting mix and nice to be nosey round their homes.

Indian Summer and a Climate Strike

An amazing sunny day saw me down to Portobello to get some repairs done on the car and read some Board papers in a cafe on Portobello sea front.

On returning home around 11 am I joined the Climate Strike march which went from the Meadows to Holyrood Park - meeting Cherry along the way.

Exeter

Colin headed by plane down to Exeter for a couple of intensive days of Board meetings for LV=. Managed to get a few free minutes for a walk around the town centre on a lovely summer evening.

Campervan Holiday - North East England

We picked up the Carado T337 campervan from Roseisle Campervan Hire at Whitecraigs on Saturday afternoon. After a quick bit of instruction Cherry took her first and only turn at the wheel to drive us home where we packed up the vehicle, including installing Cherry's comfy mattress.

When ready we headed off the East Lothian coastline to look for somewhere to park up overnight. First thought was the dunes at Longniddry Bents but the car park has a 2 m barrier and at 3 metres high we couldn't get in. This was a fairly familiar story with lots of nice spots being inaccesible to such a big vehicle. We drove on and eventually found a good stopping point at Dirleton in the car park beside the Castle. We had a pleasant evening stroll and quick drink in the pub before settling down for a poor first night sleep out on the road.

Pictured Church Dirleton

On Sunday we drove onwards to Berwick and had a lovely town wandering round the town. We've passed so many times on the train and the estuary always looks fabulous but had never got out to explore before. We following a Lowry trail which took us round most of the sights and there were lots of info boards around with historical info about the town. 

In the evening we found a quiet car park and stayed there even though it was strictly not permitted. We found the whole business of finding spots to stay quite stressful. We had already booked a camp site for the next two nights but decided to book spots for the rest of the week.

On Monday morning we did a quick walk along the Tweed heading inland under the railway bridge.

We then stopped briefly at the other side of the estuary at Spittal with views back towards Berwick and the breakwater.

We then headed onwards to the Northumberland coast and Bamburgh where we wandered through the village and visited the castle. The castle was very impressive from the outside but less interesting inside although there were great views of the long sandy beaches and dunes.

We headed in to Seahouses and our campsite - Seafield - which was mainly a static holiday home village with a number of touring pitches.  A nice location with small village and lots of beaches nearby and good on site facilities.

On Tuesday we played some crazy golf - Cherry won by a large margin - walked along the shore or sketched - and either went to a gym class (spinning) or swimming. Food was excellent at the on-sight restaurant/coffee shop.

On Wednesday we packed up and drove on to Alnmouth where we parked at the Beach and had a nice walk along the shore, up the estuary and through the town. Another lovely location at well worth a visit.

We then visited Barter Books in Alnwick before a longish drive to Bellingham just south of Kielder.

The following day we walked from the campsite to a waterfall a couple of miles up a valley, Hareshaw Linn, which had been a favourite Victorian attraction. The weather was bad in the afternoon so we were stuck in the Campervan. Another disadvantage was the effort required to pack up and move which discouraged any short drives whilst installed at the campsite. We stayed in that evening for soup and sandwiches.

On Friday we had a fairly long drive to Dunbar. We stopped on route at Harestanes and Monteviot House to look round the gardens. Harestanes was a nice spot that we recalled from many years ago with the kids. The gardens at Monteviot were soso but it was a pleasant 1 hr walk around them.

We stayed at the Belhaven campsite near Dunbar and suffered our first night of noisy neighbours who were revelling well past the official lights out and silence time of 11 pm. We returned the campervan early the next morning.

Overall it was a very nice break. The Northumberland Coast, Berwick and Alnmouth were all very nice and highly recommended. The Campervan was less successful and not something we'll be doing again.