CoVid Christmas

With Christmas cut down to 1 day Colin drove to and from Glasgow morning and evening to collect Max and bring him to Edinburgh for Christmas day. We weren't quite sure what to expect on the roads with the potential for a lot of traffic so it was a very early start for the drive through. It turned out the roads were pretty quiet which made for a fairly relaxed set of journeys.

Apart from that it was a fairly typical Christmas Day with Les as usual joining us just for the day.

The last few days of the year saw lots of heavy snow in Edinburgh.

Early December 2020

Lots of work meetings in early December as usual kept Colin busy with loads of reading and long Zoom meetings.

Completed 6 weeks of the Duathlon training plan. It was a good experience and I enjoyed the structure and simplicity of knowing what training to do each day. A good plan for lockdown as most of the running was locally round the Meadows and the cycling indoors on the trainer. Running speed improved a little and there were good gains on the bike. Whilst enjoyable decided to stop after 6 weeks and not do the second half to allow for a bit more fun and interest in my fitness activities.

Partial Lockdown November 2020

With CoVid cases rising rapidly and restrictions on activity increased plans for a short break in November were cancelled and we reverted to activities close to home.

Colin started a Duathlon training plan and so did lots of indoor cycling and structured running along with regular Body Pump and Body Balance. 

Coffee shops still open so most mornings popped out for a coffee at the quietest of the cafes available locally.

Crieff Hydro Weekend

 Colin, Cherry and Hannah headed off for 3 days in a cozy cottage at the Crieff Hydro. The cottage was fairly basic but adequate although the double bed was a bit small and hard.

We had dinner three nights at the Terrace restaurant which was pretty good. It was pretty busy but with reasonable levels of spacing. 

We had booked lots of fun activities. Colin & Cherry did an hour or archery and we all did Air Rifle Shooting, Segway and Laser Combat.

The weather was a bit rubbish unfortunately.

Nice to get a bit of change of scene as we don't expect to be going anywhere else this winter.

Cycle to Cardrona

 As my October adventure I set out on a two day cycle "adventure" from Edinburgh to Cardrona - just over 40 miles of riding each day. I deferred the start from the weekend to midweek in search of some reasonable weather.

First headed along the canal to Balerno where I had a coffee break of a takeaway coffee and sausage roll from Scotmid - no sit in cafe available. Then onwards into the Pentlands and over the Red Road and grassy descent down Monks Rig to Nine Mile Burn.

Then a nice back track to West Linton and another Scotmid break for a chicken sandwich again sitting outside. From there I picked up the Borders Drove Road which was a nice remote mix of trails and tracks into Peebles. Tea and Pain Au Chocolat before a final road circuit of Cademuir and on to Cardrona.

Squeezed in a very quick swim at the pool and enjoyed a really excellent dinner. They were very busy and short staffed by managed admirably. Oh - and they had a bike store and a hose to wash down the bike which was quite handy.

A nice vegetarian cooked breakfast the next day and a fairly early start in cold dull weather. Route home was via Granites and Cycle Route 1. This was a bit dull due to over familiarity, tiredness in the legs and too many cars driving too fast and close. 

Coffee stop wasn't until Eskbank where I got a MacDonalds coffee and then a Costa coffee and panini near Newcraighall.

Arrive home just after lunchtime. Day 1 was good due to interesting route with Day 2 a bit of a grind.

Munro Bagging near Bridge of Orchy

 Some stunning weather for 2 days of energetic walking in the hills. Up early for the drive North to just beyond Bridge of Orchy. The car park near Victoria Bridge was overflowing with lots of people taking to the outdoors as a result of CoVid. Walked up Stob a Choire Odhair and Stob Ghabhar in fine weather. These were very pleasant hills with quite a lot of path on the route.

Stayed the night at the Bridge of Orchy Hotel. Expensive but nice and worth the little bit of luxury. Decent dinner and very good breakfast and all very CoVid safe and secure.

The next day I was able to get out early from the White Corries Ski Centre to tackle Meall a Bhuiridh and Creise. On route through Rannoch Moor mist was sitting on the frozen group creating a wonderful picture.

Moved at pretty high speed on the hills and feeling in pretty good physical shape. Another fabulous day.

Virtual Tour de France

For a bit of fun and to celebrate the race actually happening this year I plan to ride every day the Tour is riding doing a ride that reflects the nature and spirit of the actual tour.

The first two days were a nice opportunity on Saturday for a ride through our wonderful city doing 3 loops of the old town and Holyrood Park.

On Sunday I took the car out to Killin for a big loop in the mountains going past Ben Lawers on to Loch Lyon and over the hills to Glen Lochay. Weather wasn't as good as hoped but it was a nice challenging circuit.

Cruachan Munros

With a forecast of excellent weather all weekend it seemed like a good time for my first leisure day away from home in ages. An early start and a fairly easy drive up to the hill just beyond Dalmally. The roads were all surprisingly busy. Started the walk at around 11 am and just under 5 hours later had bagged 2 munros - Beinn a Chochuill and Beinn Eunaich.

Spend the night at the Tyndrum Inn before heading off early on Sunday to Cruachan Falls for a walk up to the reservoir and then a circuit of the horseshoe and two munro summits of Ben Cruachan and Stob Daimh. It was pretty rough going with some tricky sections on the high parts and on the descent from Cruachan.

East Lothian Bike Ride

With CoVid cases increasing a little in Scotland we are still staying close to home and staying safe. Lots of running and cycling in the local area.

Today was a long 45 mile slow paced cycle along the East Lothian coast and onwards to Haddington before taking an inland route home. A pleasant ride on the back of a hilly 13 mile run the day before.

Family Gathering

With Hannah back home for the summer Max came home from Glasgow for a long weekend with us. He has just resigned from his ScienceSoft job and will be starting with Spartan Systems soon. We headed out for a nice walk in the Pentlands on Saturday.

Pentlands in June

I set myself the goal in June of bagging as many summits as I could in the Pentlands. Managed to get out 3 times per week most weeks for a moderate length journey bagging summit big and small, well known and new to me. Managed 45 in total which was pretty much all the hills North or the Drove Road through West Linton.

Not a great photo but it is looking North from Mount Maw and includes pretty much all the terrain and peaks covered during the month.

Pentlands Run

I've been sticking very close to home for all my exercise during lockdown with lots of indoor Body Pump and Body Balance as well as some outdoor running and cycling.

This Sunday headed out for a longer session taking the bike to Swanston and then having a run/walk to Caerketton, Allermuir, Woodhouselee, Castlelaw, Harbour and Capelaw Hills. More fast walking than running but nice to be out in the wilds.

Lockdown Project 2 - Raspberry Supports

Study wooden posts and wire supports for raspberry canes.

Lockdown Projects - Vegetable Bed

With the lockdown providing lots of time for garden projects we built a third vegetable bed. Peas this year and sufficient beds for some crop rotation.

Hannah & Telford

The day after the British Champs Hill Race I met up with Hannah at Telford Station - better than meeting in central birmingham.

We went for a very nice walk up the Wrekin.

After that we headed on to Ironbridge..

for a wander around and a look at the bridge.

We then headed to the Woodbridge Inn for a nice dinner. Roast Pork for me and Sirloin Steak for Hannah - very nice indeed. I dropped off Hannah at Telford Station and then drove homewards after my meetings in Bournemouth having moved to telephone conference call.

British Championships - Medium - Ras Yr Aran - Wales

The first race of my planned British and Scottish Hill Race Championship year. The race was scheduled right at the start of the CoVid 19 crisis becoming serious after the initial tentative restrictions had been put in place. The race organisers responded quickly to the government advice and called the race ON in line with the guidance at the time but most other events later started being called off including the big 6 nations matches.

As I had a meeting to get to in Bournemouth I decided to go to the race. Virus risks were small as I'd be travelling on my own by car and there is only a limited amount of physical proximity at a hill race which can easily be reduced.

Drove down on Friday nice and stayed at a very quiet Premier Inn in Wrexham. A short drive on Saturday morning to the race.

The weather wasn't great and I was feeling a bit off having eaten too much through the Premier Inn meal deal. It was a tough high mountain race at a time of year that is still more winter than spring. As planned I started easy but unfortunately found myself at the very back of the race and not moving at all smoothly. Need to stop and put on a raincoat layer as it was really cold - this proved a good idea as I needed that layer of warmth and rain protection the whole way round the course.

After about an hour I started feeling better and had a strong section on the higher flatter terrain and on the final approach to the summit.

After the summit the downward route was rough and I struggled a bit. Also didn't manage feeding and water very well on the return route - should have fed earlier on the way up and should have used a camelbak rather than carry a small water bottle.

At about 1 hr 30 mins I tripped and banged my right knee on the ground. Ouch! This brought me to walking pace for several minutes before managing to return to a slow cautious jog.

The final run in over the last half mile was good. I felt pretty strong and pushed reasonably hard over this last section on more pleasant terrain.

Final time was 2 hrs 28 mins for a course of 10 miles and 900 m climb. I was 173% of the winning time when I had a goal of completing this in 160% - way off target unfortunately.

It was wet and cold in the end and with the virus there was no hanging about and socialising so I headed for the car and onwards to another quiet night at a Premier Inn with a day with Hannah the next day to look forward to.

Carnethy 5 Hill Race

Whilst hugely popular the Carnethy 5 is probably my least favourite hill race. The large number of runners, the extra fuss of a bus to and from the race and the waiting about getting cold before and after the run are the downsides. The route itself is great and it is a nice distance. This time round the conditions were very tough with race starting just as storm Dennis hit. There was snow on the ground in place, much more water than usual, mud and very slippy underfoot. With the strong winds this made for tough conditions. By the first summit it felt like survival mode rather than focussing on race time. On the descent from the Kips it became clear that I was in the wrong shoes for the conditions as the lack of grip on the speedgoats meant I had to descend at walking pace and the going through to the Howe was so slippy that progress was very slow. I ended up with my slowest time ever by a large margin (1 hr 35 mins). Oddly I quite enjoyed the extra challenge of the conditions. I was pretty well prepared apart from the shoes and stayed warm during and after the race.

Orienteering City Race & Pride and Prejudice (Sort of)

Colin had a run round the City orienteering race in Edinburgh. Very easy course but still managed to mispunch a control :(

In the evening we went to see Pride and Prejudice (Sort of) at the Lyceum which was excellent.

Feel The Burns

Colin drove down to Selkirk for this great winter hill race. Around 13 miles with 775 m of climb it is fairly tough for this time of year. Temperatures were very cold at just a few degrees above freezing. Most of the water on the course was frozen but there wasn't too much of it. Hard ground made for reasonably fast going.

I was on pretty good form and trotting along quite nicely on the modest inclines and walking fast and taking the occasional place on the steeper bits. Some lovely long gentle downhills.

Feet were feeling it by half way and the last 20 mins were slowed by sore feet. Finished with a great time of around 2 hrs 21 min 50 seconds which was a massive improvement over my previous best of 2:30:34.

A good feed of haggis pie and soup at the end.

Gran Canaria

Colin, Cherry, Max and Hannah all headed off on 3 January for a week in the sun at our favoured destination the Costa Meloneras in Gran Canaria. We had a very relaxing week with perfect weather and good food.

Three days of biking for Colin, 2 for the rest of the family on e-bikes. Visited Palmitos Park for the first time where we enjoyed the bird shows.

Greenmantle Dash

Colin got off the new year sporting activities with a short hard run up the hill at Broughton. The river was deep and the fields particularly muddy this year.