Visiting Maxwell

Arrived on Thursday evening by car and ferry for an extended visit to Maxwell with a focus on helping him out as much as possible.

 

Glasgow Parks Championships

This is one of my favourite orienteering events although I always seem to manage to mess up with some horrendous errors even on the easiest of courses. The plan was therefore to make sure I orienteered accurately and didn't make any big mistakes.

Race 1 was Linn Park which was a new one for me. Huge blunder on Control 1 when I headed very deliberately for Control 2 rather than Control 1 losing around 90 seconds. One understandable mistake later on at 8 that many struggled with.

Race 2 was at Queens Park which I've raced at before. Went well with no material mistakes.

Race 3 at Pollok Country Park went very badly. Felt like Bingo controls to me although others seemed to cope fine with it.

A bit disappointing to perform so badly.

Final Run and Journey Home

Colin headed off for a possible munro on Friday morning but found the weather a bit miserable and clouds over the mountain top. Started running with the aim of a 1 hour trail run with the possibility of tackling the hill if conditions improved. They didn't and the trail became a bit of pathless bog a little before the 30 min mark so headed back at that point. Running form wasn't good.

Packed up and then did the roughly 3 hour journey back home.

It had been a nice break and interesting to stay somewhere else for an extended time. The house was good and lots to see and do in the area - mainly outdoors activities. Did rather less than expected in terms of hills and cycles but found it challenging due to accumulated fatigue. Not sure that I would do the same plan again with probably a preference to be at home over the summer to allow garden activity to be included in my schedule. Specifically focussed shorter trips away might be a better plan.

Strathspey Stream Railway

Another slightly damp day and conscious of tired legs went on the steam train with Cherry. The soup, sandwiches and tea was pretty good. The train journey itself and the destination was a little underwhelming with not a lot of distance covered and quite a lot of time stopped. Had expected Broomhill to be a bit more of a destination for a wander rather than a station in the middle of nowhere.

 

Glen Feshie

Colin drove to near Feshie Bridge and mountain biked as afar as he could enjoyably go down the left bank and then along the right bank before looping back round to the start. Nice weather again and stunning scenery. The trails were mixed in terms of rideability. Forget to bring puncture repair equipment and legs were somewhat too dead for any serious climbs which was one possible option up to a munro. Feeling the accumulated fatigue of 4 weeks with a higher than usual amount of outdoor activity.

Around 28 miles over 3.5 hours.

In the evening we had some very good food at the Boat of Garten Hotel.

Inverness Visit

With the good weather finally breaking we planned a day out in Inverness with options for indoor activities. It wasn't a long drive from Aviemore and we stopped en route at the eco friendly housing development we had first visited when newly built more than a decade ago. It was looking a bit more lived in now but still not quite feel likely a homely estate.

Our first stop in Inverness was the botanic garden with the attraction of indoor glasshouses. The weather was good enough though to wander outside as well. It was a small garden but all very well kept and attractive.

We had a nice walk along the banks of the Ness via Ness Island into the town centre to visit the Inverness Museum and Art Gallery. It was OK but no great. 

On the way back we squeezed in a quick round of mini golf. The course was good with a decent well kept carpet and some challenging holes. The result was declared null as Cherry had a super bouncy ball that bounced back out of the hole or off the course.

A' Chailleach & Carn Sgulain

Cherry headed back to Edinburgh for a few days on Saturday. On Sunday Colin headed out again for some munros with the weather still fantastic but threatening to break soon.

A short drive to Newtonmore for the start of the trek and this time the aim was to go light and fast. The legs weren't fabulous on the outward journey which was pretty rough in places. The route from the first to second summit was pretty quick and then had a lovely run down. Completed the pair in 3 hours.

 

Gordon Castle

A day off from any exercise and a longish drive to Gordon Castle to see the large walled kitchen garden. It really was stunning. A lovely mix of free & veg with flowers and looking in prime condition today. There may be elements that were more for show than for harvest but nevertheless very impressive.

 Afterwards we drove on to the Scottish Dolphin Centre at the eastern side of the mouth of the River Spey. It was a windswept location when we saw one seal at the mouth of the river.

Braeriach, Angels Point, Cairn Toul, Devils Point

With another day of fabulous weather todays plan was for a big Munro day. Started early by bike and cycled to Coylumbridge and then as far towards Lairig Ghru as was pleasant on the bike.

The first climb of the day up to Braeriach was the hardest after which there was a long walk at high level round the massive corrie but not too much steep ascent.

The descent from Devils Point was pretty straightforward but the long walk back up then down the Lairig Ghru was pretty tiring in the heat. 

My sun lotion (and it later transpired my compass and dibber) had gone missing in the early part of the walk so ended up wearing waterproofs part of the time to protect from the sun.

The cycle back was a pleasure and still felt pretty good on the return. Stopped for a quick pint at the Old Bridge Inn.

 

Cycle to Nethy Bridge

An easy paced exploration of the paths and trails in the local area. Initial focussed on the various paths off the Route 7 path between Aviemore and Boat of Garten. Some lovely trails - some of which led to the landfill site and sewage works. Other paths led to surprising stone circle with a pine tree in the centre.

Lunch at the hotel in Boat of Garten where I bumped into Cherry who was doing a similar sort of trip on her bike today.

After lunch visited Milto Loch then cycled onwards to Nethy Bridge for afternoon tea and cake before taking the quickest route back home.

Mullach Clach a Bhlair & Sgor Gaoith

Another munro day for Colin. Starting out at Achlean in Glen Feshie and taking these two fairly quickly but not at running pace. The journey to the first peak was pretty nice. An easy footpath to the high ground initially through forest and then a fairly nice high level walk too Sgor Gaoith. The trek to the second summit was a lot rougher with no clear path to follow. It felt like quite a long trek there and back. Feeling a bit fatigued by the time of the descent.

Newtonmore Highland Games

Colin and Cherry headed off in the morning to the Highland Games at Newtonmore. Spent a few hours which were moderately interesting but not a great spectator sport. Fun for the participants.

Max and Kasha climbed Bynack More.

In the evening we all had a nice dinner at the Old Bridge Inn.

On Sunday Colin and Cherry headed back to Edinburgh for a couple of days to help out with Les and work on the essential garden tasks. We returned to Aviemore on Monday afternoon.

Ben Macdui

Colin took the car to the Cairngorm Mountain car park and walked up Ben Macdui. The weather was a lot worse than the good forecast. Escaped any rain on the walk but the clouds came down to obscure any view on the summit and it felt pretty cold at times. The walk took around 3 hr 45 mins to complete.

Kasha arrived fairly late in the evening from Glasgow.

Speyside Way

We got the bus in the morning to Nethy Bridge and after topping up on coffee and Ecclefechan Cake we started a walk of around 10 miles along the last section of the Speyside Way back to Aviemore.

Some more delightful forest to walk through and a pleasant stop for lunch at Boat of Garten and just arrived in time for tea at the route 7 cafe.

 

Cycle with Max

Headed out with Max for a cycle taking in Loch an Eilein and Loch Morlich with a stop at Glenmore for coffee. Max had my MTB and I made do with Cherry's city bike which just about coped with the trails.

Hannah headed back home to Edinburgh where she was planning on entertaining friends.

In the afternoon Colin, Cherry and Max went to Loch Insh for an archery session which was pretty enjoyable. Surprisingly Colin won the competition this time. We wandered around the place trying to recall when we had stayed at one of the chalets.

 

Escape Room and Escape

With the weather not so good today we all went on an escape room adventure. It was pretty good fun and we got out in about 53 minutes.

In the evening we went back to the Scottish Steak house and had a very nice meal. The steak and trimmings was very good.

Lairig Ghru approach & Loch Morlich Beach

Enjoyed a fabulous run in the morning with Max starting in Coylumbridge and heading to just above the tree line. Glorious weather and trails really nice under foot. Max was running well - Colin good until the end when accumulated fatigue was beginning to take its toll.

In the afternoon all 4 of us headed to Loch Morlich for a few hours at the beach lying around, eating ice cream and playing ball games.