Arthur's Seat Summit Sunrise

Out for a morning run and arrived at the top of Arthur's seat at the moment of sunrise. Lovely.

 

Sufjan Stevens Christmas Songs

Community choir and musicians - with maybe a few professionals as well for a couple of hours of Christmas songs  written by Sufjan Stevens. Pleasant fun show.

Daniel Martinez Flamenco at Queens Hall

Excellent Flamenco show from a group that turned out are mainly from Edinburgh but have been touring extensively for the past few years.

 

Alan Cumming and Kirsty Wark at Lyceum Theatre

Alan Cumming in conversation with Kirsty Wark plus audience Q&A at the Lyceum in a fund raising event. We paid a bit extra for the good seats and for drinks and meet and greet afterwards.

 

Heidi Talbot & Boo Hewerdine at Queens Hall

Nice concert at the Queens Hall. Just two guitars, two voices and lots of banter. Very good. Nice acoustics. I remember seeing Boo Hewerdine play in Cambridge back in 1986 or thereabouts as part of The Bible! when their not quite a hit song Graceland was getting radio airplay. I may have seen him another time in between as well. 

 

South of Scotland Orienteering League

Competing in the SOSOL event was one of my main goals for the year on the Green course which is a bit shorter than I should probably be doing for my age but wanted to focus on shorter faster events this year.

I took part in 6 events; Balkello Hill (6th), Holyrood Park (27th), Callendar Crags (3rd), Balloch Country Park (2nd), Blairadam Forest (6th) and Strathclyde Country Park (6th). 

Overall I came first in the League as only a very small number of orienteers completed 5 or more counting events.

Push the Boat Out

In an effort to support the Push The Boat Out poetry festival we attended a couple of events on what turned out to be a very snowy with all the buses in town being cancelled which may have effected attendances.

At lunch we went to a slightly delayed talk and reading by Alexander McCall Smith taking about his favourite poets (Auden) and some of his published poetry books. Seemed like a very nice chat and quite an interesting hour although sadly with an audience of just 13.

We arrived very late for our lunch at Mother India Cafe which offered small indian plates - nice to get modest portions rather than the usual over eating at an indian restaurant.

In the evening we waded through the slush to Dovecot Studios for a musical evening in the gallery. A very strange venue with a small audience spread round the gallery much of it quite a distance from the musicians and poets. It turned out to be a very enjoyable evening with each of the performers good in their own way. First off was Iona Lee with DJ Nikki Kent layering poetic vocal over electrifying beats. Then was Emma Capponi and Fionnbarr Byrne with a captivating blend of folk and ethereal sounds. The headliner was Iona Fyfe folk singer and very recently appointed Rector of Aberdeen University.

eXTC and Hugh Cornwell (ex Stranglers) - Queens Hall

On my own for this gig. eXTC played the extensive "hits" of XTC with one ex member, the drummer, in their line up. Unfortunately the singer sounded nothing like the distinctive XTC vocal so didn't enjoy it much.

Hugh Cornwell was pretty good and got into it for the first 30 mins but he was a bit mean with the old Stranglers favourites and became a bit monotonous after a while. He was looking pretty good at age 75.

 

Musicals at Cineworld and the Outrun

Cineworld were running a season of classic musicals. We went along to Grease (8/10), Chicago (5/10) and Moulin Rouge (10/10) - the latter being totally bonkers but great fun.

We also saw The Outrun at the Omni which was good - along with dinner afterwards at Ka Pao.

The Simon and Garfunkel Story - Queens Hall

A very good show with a chronological journey through the duos life and music. The band and singing were excellent and the acoustics were excellent with really clear sound and not too loud. We had a front row seat for this one.

Cycle from Duror to Glencoe

Final day away so packed up and left the cottage in the early morning and parked in the nearby church car park and headed off for a very nice ride to Glencoe. Some nice sections near Duror and around Glencoe. Coffee and Chocolate Cake when I finally found somewhere open. Drive home in the afternoon getting home around 4 pm.

 

Hill Walk towards Beinn Sgulaird

With somewhat improved weather attempted another munro hike again with limited expectations of success. Initially quite a nice path up from the start near Loch Creran. Not a lot of energy in the legs but happy to make slow and steady progress. Got up the high summit ridge but still a long way to go to the munro with significant ups and downs to get through. With weather worsening and low visibility decided to head back. 

 

Cycle from Barcaldine to Oban

Another day with very low cloud cover so back on the bike again for a nice figure of 8 loop along Cycle Route 78 on the outward journey then back along the coast from Oban and then along the edge of Loch Etive after the Connel Bridge.

Coffee at Costa and lunch at the Wetherspoons in  Oban. Found myself totally knackered on the last bit of the cycle home.

Cycle from Duror to Appin Peninsula

Headed out early to get the best of the weather which was for the most part not too bad. Low cloud that would make a munro difficult but not to bad on the low coastal roads. The Cycle Path 78 from Ballachulish to Oban is really excellent making use of old railway lines and keeping me off the busy A road. Port Appin looked really nice and cycle round the headland there. 30 miles and 2 hr 45 min moving time.

 

Glen Etive Hike

With some free time in the diary Colin headed off north for a 4 night / 5 day break in the Highlands. Stayed at a nice Air BNB in Duror called the Old Byre. 

The first day was a three hour drive up to Glen Etive and another kind of attempt to climb Beinn nan Aighenan. The last attempt was coupled with other summits but bad weather and lack of visibility put a stop to it. Expectations were low this time as the weather was forecast to change for the worse in the afternoon. Initially it was fairly pleasant and a decent path up to the ridge although very steep at the end. The weather did indeed change with strong wind and heavy rain. Totally soaked by the end and Glencoe was absolutely dripping with water as I drove through on the way to AirBNB.

 

Blue Man Group at Festival Theatre

Some good seats just outside the splash zone at the front for this fun show of visual comedy.

 

Peaky Blinders Rambert Ballet at Festival Theatre

Cherry very much enjoyed the Peaky Blinders dance show. Colin found it OK.

Braidburn Valley Orienteering - Planning

A busy day as planner at the Interlopers Come and Try It event at Braidburn Valley. Many visits over the past 2 months to the park and to the housing estate at Oxgangs. A really nice area in the small park and the housing estate has surprisingly nice little bits of nature and views to the Pentlands. 

We had around 100 runners at the event and the weather turned out to be surprising pleasant and warm. 

On event day I started about 9 am and finished putting out around 12.30. After helping set up did some time at the start and then some time putting away all the stuff. All went well with the courses and overall a a pretty good experience.

 

Carn Dearg

After a decent breakfast at the hotel drove onwards to Newtonmore for another munro climb. Another glorious day and a very nice parking spot for this hill. Very short MTB approach of just 10 mins before I was on my feet again. Not a pleasant route in mountain following for large part a very wet and slippy landrover trail. Marked as a path on some maps but barely such. It was fabulous at the top with great views in all directions. Same route back and getting some blisters by the end. No running today and not quite the fun experience of the day before.

Bad timing on the drive home and caught a number of tailbacks. Would have been better hanging around in the northern sunshine a bit longer.

 

Beinn Mheadhoin

With several days of clear blue skies forecast for much of Scotland I headed off early in the car to Braemar to tackle my last Cairngorm munro. Parked at Linn of Dee and took the MTB to Derry Lodge and then onwards North to the access point to the munro. About a 1 hr cycle. Took the hill at speed this time going fast up and running most of the way back. A nice if hard to access hill. Around 2.25 hrs on my feet and then another just short of an hour cycle back to the car.

Onwards drive to the Boat Inn at Boat of Garten where I overindulged on the steak and red wine.

 

Balloch Country Park and Cycle to Dumbarton

Came across by car to Balloch Country Park for SOSOL orienteering on the Green course. Trickier than expected for a country park course but did reasonably well with just a couple of moderate errors. Second place.

Afterwards cycled through Balloch along the cycle path by the edge of the River Leven to Dumbarton and on to the River Clyde at Levengrove Park. Returned with a small meander around Loch Lomond Shores. 

 

Denis Orr Funeral and Belfast Pub Crawl

 Flew back to Northern Ireland to attend the funeral of Denis Orr who had been Maxwell's closest friend and a great support in his final years. Caught up with Liz and other familiar Bangor Golf Club faces.

In the evening met up with Glen Walsh and Mark McCormick for drinks in Belfast. We visited The Crown Liquor Saloon, Kelly's Cellars, Sunflower Public House (+pizza), The Duke of York and Ulster Sports Club. All very nice pubs.

Galloway Gravel

Early morning start and a drive to Gatehouse of Fleet with the intention of tackle at least a major part of The Gralloch gravel course if not all of it. Sadly the bike legs were not there today and only managed a greatly reduced ride of about 38 miles. Nice to be off road on decent gravel but nothing too spectacular scenery wise.

 Stayed overnight at the Cally Place as I expected to finish very late but in the end had a relaxing evening with time for a visit to the pool and sauna.

Norfolk Holiday - Day 10 - Crook Hall

Last day of the hols with a stop en route at Crook Hall in Durham. A very nice property and garden that was recently privately owned but now a National Trust property. 

 

Norfolk Holiday - Day 9 - Burleigh House & York

We left our cottage at 9 am and drove about 2 hours to Burleigh House to break the journey and to walk the gardens and some of the grounds which were being set up for the horse trials. The gardens were trying a bit too hard with the water features and sculptures.

 We then drove on to York staying at the Hotel du Vin. York was surprisingly rowdy on a Saturday night with lots of loud music bars and hen nights. We had dinner at Blue Barbakan, a Polish restaurant.

Norfolk Holiday - Day 8 - Pensthorpe Nature Reserve

Another trip of just 30 minutes from the cottage to a lovely nature reserve. Various different lakes and walks from the visitor centre. Very nice millennium garden. Some flamingos and cranes. 

Norfolk Holiday - Day 7 - Norfolk Coastal Path

We drove to Weybourne about 30 minutes north of our cottage then hopped on the bus for a 20 minute ride to Blakeney for the start of our walk back along the coastal path.

We had a brunch stop planned early in Blakeney and had a good sized feed in the Two Magpies Bakery. 

 There were nice paths from Blakeney out towards the sea and then back to the pretty village of Cley travelling through low wetlands and never quite reaching the beach.

After Cley did head out to the sea and had a long stretch of shingle beach which was hard work to walk and turned out to be not very interesting. After about a mile of this we took a path inland again. Plan B was blocked by a family of swans and we had to move onto Plan C and finally go to the village of Salthouse. After ice cream here we got a short bus ride back to the car. Around 8 miles walking - a bit less than planned.

Norfolk Holiday - Day 6 - Blickling Estate

Our cottage was just 10 minutes walk from the edge of Blickling Estate and 45 minutes to Blickling Hall so we walked there in a thankfully much cooler day. We did a tour of the house and gardens and particularly enjoyed the walled garden with a very impressive display of fruit and veg.

There was an interesting little amateur play in the gardens.

 

Norfolk Holiday - Day 5 - Trip to the Broads

Another scorcher of a day and getting quite unpleasantly hot. We drove the short distance to Aylsham in the morning then took the little steam train from Aylsham to Wroxham. The journey was 45 minutes and not terribly interesting.

In Wroxham we visited Miniature World to look at their various collections of trains, lego, dolls house, miniature toys. The knitted collection was a highlight.

After a shared fish and chips for lunch we went on a Broads cruise taking in the river Bure and various Broads. It was a good well commentated trip lasting 2 hours.

The train journey back was pretty miserable in the tiny super heated carriages.

We had a large dinner at the Bucks Arms at Blickling.

Norfolk Holiday - Day 4 - Cromer

On Monday we drove about 30 minutes to visit the seaside resort town of Cromer. Car parks were very busy in town but we eventually got sorted and went for a wander into town and that out the eastern side towards the lighthouse. 

The temperature was rising with it getting hot at the coast but at least moderated by the breeze. Back at the  cottage it was extermely hot and we both had a night of very poor sleep as a result.

Norfolk Holiday - Day 3 - Mannington Hall and Gardens

After two days of driving we kept things local today with a walk from the cottage to a nearby stately home. We started with the 15 minute walk to the local community run shop where we enjoyed our morning coffee and cake.

It was then another 20 minutes or so to the Mannington Estate where we wandered around the ruined church and its gardens then visited the wetland nature reserve and bird hide.

We then stopped for some lunch in the pretty tea room

and then wandered round the gardens, which weren't fabulous, and the exterior of the house. 

On the walk back we stopped at our local pub about 15 minutes from home, the Walpole Arms, for an early dinner.

Norfolk Holiday - Day 2 - Belvoir Castle

After breakfast in the fancy dining room at the Majestic we drove onwards for around 2 hours to Belvoir Castle for a wander around the gardens and grounds. The small gardens were quite nice and we did the fairly lengthy but poorly sign posted Dukes Walk which wasn't terribly exciting.

The castle looked good from the outside and we got some glimpses of the fusty old interior as we made our way to the tea room for lunch.

Another drive of somewhat over 2 hours got us to our little cottage at Itteringham Common. A nice little semi with two upstairs bedrooms, living room and kitchen. We dined in that evening on food we had bought en route after having done a short walk from the cottage to the village centre about 15 minutes away.

Norfolk Holiday - Day 1 - Alnwick Gardens and Harrogate

We set off by car at 9 am and drove down to Alnwick to visit the gardens for our second time. We had previously visited in 2015. The gardens were nice with different bits being at their prime compared to the last trip. Also went to the associated allotment garden.

A short wander and lunch in Alnwick town before driving onwards to Harrogate. We stayed at the Majestic Hotel and had a nice wander through town including the Valley Gardens. Looks like a very nice town.

Sprintelope 2024

This is a fun series of urban orienteering events on a Wednesday evening in and around Edinburgh. I chose the short course this year which was just a 20 min or so sprint most evening. Navigation never that tricky but moving at speed errors are always possible.

I ran at: Alnwickhill, Dunbar, Buckstone, Haddington, Musselburgh, Astley Ainsley, Bioquarter, Pollock Halls and Baberton.

9 events completed with best 7 counting. I had 2 firsts, 4 seconds and a fourth place counting and should be placed 2nd in the league (with all the better runners doing the long course)

 

Great Glen Way by Bicycle

At a few days notice with a good weather window ahead I booked some nice hotels in Fort Augustus, Inverness & Fort William as stops on a bike ride along the Great Glen Way. I was riding the recently serviced Scott Scale with a new chain and cassette so running very smoothly. Aim was to ride with as little stuff as possible so just a few spare pants and socks, 1 extra T-Shirt, lightweight raincoat, lightweight trousers, toiletry essentials, bike repair essentials, some food all fitting in the OMM 32L backpack.

An early start in Tuesday to drive from Edinburgh to Fort William. I was able to set off around 11.30 am and the planned distance was short enough to allow a leisurely pace and lots of photo stops and small detours as desired.  The first section to Gairlochy was flat and easy along the side of the canal.

I then switched to the North side of water and the route was more undulating with a quiet road section then forest gravel road to Laggan. There was a stop for tea and cake at South Laggan takeaway before a small canal side flat segment to North Lagan. 

The primary route forward to the South of Loch Oich was closed with a detour route to the North side. This was hilly and challenging in places finishing with some nice single track before returning to easy canal side gravel into Fort Augustus arriving around 4 pm.

Stayed at the very nice Lovat Hotel - would definitely return here. Dinner out at the Lock Inn where the sweet potato and chick pea curry was very nice.

Day 2 started with a hearty breakfast and then followed the Great Glen Way along the north side of Loch Ness. It was a much hillier day with some very steep climbs to deal with. The route had a couple of optional low or high route and I chose the more bike friendly low route in both cases. I stopped in Drumnadrochit for coffee and cake and to buy some sandwiches. 

Another big climb from there to the high ground of the Abriachan estate and then a lovely descent down into Inverness.

Slept at the Beaufort Hotel in Inverness which was expensive but not a great room and had dinner at Pizza Express.

Day 3 was the full return journey with the first half following the National Cycle Route 78 along the South Side of Loch Ness. There was some segregation from traffic at the start but most of the time the route followed B roads which were reasonably busy with both tourists and industrial vehicles. I didn't much enjoy this route and wouldn't repeat or recommend it - much better to retrace route of GGW on north side or perhaps try a more off road route on the south side.

Brief stop at Dores for photos and then at Foyers for coffee. I was getting pretty tired on the section from here through to Fort Augustus with a long slog up the road into a strong headwind.

Lunch in Fort Augustus at around middday and then onwards to the final sections retracing the day 1 route. Bottom was now not enjoying the ride and was generally walking all the uphills and standing were I could. Made it back by around 5 pm.

Stayed the night at the Nevis Bank Inn which has nice air conditioned rooms and dined in town at Fishy Fishy. Drove home the next morning.

Successful trip with no issues arising at all. GGW is a very nice bike route. I think would be a long slog on foot. For me would probably be most pleasant as a 4 day ride that would allow for plenty of time for stops or detours. The closed section north of North Laggan would be worth doing in one direction with the detour route worth doing the other way. If feeling fit then there and back in 2 days would be viable but more of a challenge than a pleasure. 

Stats:

Day 1: 37.7 miles; 664 m climb; 3 hr 37 min moving time

Day 2: 41.83 miles; 1512 m climb; 5 hrs 5 min moving time

Day 3: 67.9 miles; 1387 m climb; 6 hrs 55 moving time

Dumfries House

We enjoyed our first visit here a couple of years ago in the spring and decided it would be nice to return in full summer especially to see the walled garden and vegetables at their best.

Drove down on Friday late morning and toured the gardens in the afternoon.

We had a 1 hour guided tour of Dumfries House which was very good. 

A nice dinner and B&B at the Lodge.

Saturday morning was a walk around the remaining bits of the garden before the drive home.

Scurry to the Sea

Second time running this race. Start at Hillend. Run to Allermuir then down all the way to the sea following a pretty nice route of trails and cycle paths. A bit of a struggle this time with legs not happy from 8 miles onwards. 11.5 miles total in around 2 hrs 10 minutes. 

Jools Holland at Festival Theatre

Fun concert of classic R&B with a big band and guest singers.

 

World Orienteering Championships - Tour 2024

The World Champs in Sprint Orienteering were held in Edinburgh this weekend. Alongside the elite competitions was a big programme of "tour" events using some of the same locations and I guess control locations as the elite competitions. I took part in 4 events over 5 days generally performing at an OK level.

Thursday - Warm Up & SOSOL in Holyrood Park - tricky !

Friday - Sprint in Leith - great technically challenging sprint course - navigated well

Sunday - Middle Distance Campus at Riccarton - small silly errors

Monday - Urban Long - Edinburgh Old Town - tourist dodging

All very enjoyable. 

The National at Edinburgh Castle

Concert at Edinburgh Castle - nice setting but acoustics and atmosphere not great apart than for those right at the front.

 

Inveresk Lodge

Making use of my NTS membership I took an easy bike ride out to Inveresk for a wander around the lodge gardens. Looking very good at this time of year. Also a nice woodland and meadow area. 

 

4 (sort of) sunny days

With a clear diary I planned a little bit of adventure for each of Friday through Monday.

Friday was a route I've done before mainly off-road to Penicuik with some really nice flow sections on the route. Had hoped for coffee at Penicuik House but that had long closed but also made a detour and stop at Stewart Brewing in Loanhead for a couple of beers and a very nice pizza.

 

On Saturday it was a shorter ride just as far as Little France Park and not wanting to tire myself too much before the next two days.

Sunday morning drove off towards Braemar to Park at Invercauld and do the long long ride in up the Sluggain to the start of the steep climb up towards Ben Avon. The weather was perfect today with lovely clear skies. The walk up to Ben Avon was pretty nice but the trek to the next munro of Beinn a Bhuird was a bit of an uninteresting slog. Quite a long walk and then ride back to the car. 

Drove to No 45 B&B in Ballater and had dinner out in town at The Barrel.

On Monday it was back to Linn of Dee for another long cycle in via Derry Lodge to tackle Beinn a Choirrain. The weather was starting to break by the time I got to the summit. As is often the case the summit seemed to be much further away than expected. Thought about doing another nearby hill briefly but was sufficiently tired to be happy to stop at 1 summit today having completed the 3 hills I missed on my May trip.

Drove back in the late afternoon with a tea stop on route at the nice cafe at Glenshee.