Munro Bagging

Had my first munro bagging expedition and managed to get round 9 on a wet and windy day. Set out at 7.25 am to do Carn Aosda, Carn a Gheoidh and the Carnwell. Very heavy rain and visibility down to less than 100 m. Main focus was on careful navigation so the going was slow. The sky cleared as I approached the Cairnwell. Arrived back at the car by 10.35 and had a short break, change of gear and shoes.

Set off again at 11.15 and tackled Craig Leacach, Glas Maol, Cairn of Claise, Tom Buidhe and Tolmount in fairly good weather. Made quite fast progress on the boggy ground. The weather changed for the worse on the last peak, Carn an Tuic when the wind speed rose considerably and the rain changed to hail. Difficult descent off the last hill and then back to the car by 5.25 pm.

In pretty good shape after 10 hours out on the hills so feel confident I can manage more - maybe another 5 for a total of 14.

SOL3 - Greenock

A long drive out to Greenock for a wet day's orienteering in the hills above the Clyde Valley. Hannah came 7 out of 12. Max was slowest of the finishers on his course and Colin came second last despite a pretty good run.

Jog around (and up) Arthurs Seat

Fabulous weather on Saturday. Ran around Holyrood Park and enjoyed the views.

Edinburgh City Cup 2

Fabulous weather on a sunny Wednesday evening. Paragliders were floating in from the hilltops to land by the start. Snowboarders on the ski slopes. Hot and hilly orienteering. Colin came a sound 8 of 26.

Good bye McDougal Moose

Left McDougal in a cache near the Braid. Hannah very sad. His parents are coming across from America to find him soon.

South Morningside 6 James Gillespie 0

Hannah made her competitive football debut against a crack SM team. Despite brave efforts in the pouring rain the girls lost.

Great Edinburgh Run

Max and Hannah ran at the Great Edinburgh Mini and Junior Runs on Saturday morning. Hannah got round the 1.4 km course in just under 10 minutes and Max completed 2.4 km in just under 12 minutes.

Castlelaw

We rounded off a busy weekend with a junior hill run at Castlelaw in the Pentlands. The longest junior run ever was tough going but some great views.

Dalmeny

Another orienteering outing. This time to Dalmeny. Hannah did well on the white coming in 5th place. Max have an off day and got lost on his second control and came in last. Colin came 13 of 39 on Blue.

Yellowcraigs

Fabulous weather saw us travel to the sunny sands of Yellowcraig near Dirleton. The idea was for all of us to do some orienteering but the beach was rather too enticing and Max and Hannah played on the sands for about three hours. Colin got in a quick Green course and everyone enjoyed a nice picnic.

Badger Watch

Went to Corstorphine hill in the evening to watch badgers. The ranger took us to a quiet spot as the dusk approached and the five of us sat quietly waiting for the action. After about 20 minutes out they came with their easy to spot black and white markings. They came fairly close and didn't see (or smell) us. We also caught a glimpse of a fox but he ran off as soon as he saw us.

Hogwarts Express Marathon

Well.... Lochaber Marathon actually. Colin ran thirteen miles along the side of Loch Eil, following the road and railwayline towards Glenfinnan.... and back.

4 hrs and 21 minutes with a lot of pain over the last 8 miles.

Blair Drummond Safari Park

Stopped at the Safari Park on the journey up to Fort William. Had a good time in some quite good weather.

Easter Egg Hunt

Junior running club outing to Boghall for the Easter Egg Hunt. The kids charged to the top of the hill to find an egg, draw a picture on it and race back to the bottom. Went to the top of the hill again to roll the eggs down.

Creme eggs as rewards.

Easter Weekend

Went to the zoo on Friday followed by an evening in the Braid hills. On Saturday Colin went for a hill walking trip up north but got seriously rained on and failed to make the top. On Sunday we all went for a short cycle and then to the Easter event on Princes Street Gardens.

World Record Breaker

Today was the last day of the 25th Edinburgh International Harp Festival and to celebrate it there was an attempt to set a record for the most harps playing at once and I was in it and it was successful and there were 198 harps there and it was filmed and I was in the background and I was interviewed about it and I was on the radio AND we are going to be in the Guiness Book of world records 2007 AND I think I have just broken the world record for the longest sentence ever.

Max

Weekend Fun

Max had a harpy weekend at the Edinburgh International Harp Festival. Some classes on Saturday and Sunday and practice for his world record attempt on Wednesday (more on that later in the week - might be on television!)

Hannah went orienteering in the mud on Saturday and came first on the Yellow course. She and Colin went for a long cycle ride on Sunday along the Union Canal and Water of Leith. Some sunshine interspersed with snow and hail storms.

Hannah is pictured with giant muffin!

South of Scotland League - Final Results

Hannah (and Cherry) are Champs on the Yellow course.

Max is second on Orange and top Boy.

Colin comes seventh on the Blue course.

Table is here

Weekend to Stevenage

Took the train down for a weekend away with May and Percy. Time flew by on Saturday & Sunday with trips to parks and seeing Ice Age at the cinema.

Pictured is Hannah's fine photography.

Websites

Max and Hannah have created some great new websites:

www.puzzlemax.moonfruit.com
www.hannahbun.moonfruit.com

Spring

Spring finally arrived with temperatures increasing on Sunday to double figures.

Colin, Max & Hannah went out to Vogrie for some non-competitive orienteering and then fun at the adventure playground.

Colin ran in the Edinburgh Half Marathon on Sunday morning getting round in 1 hr 47 minutes - beating his personal best by just over two minutes.

Dean Park Kilmarnock

Another orienteering outing. Hannah had another go at reading the map herself and came in first on the White Course. Max did brilliantly well on a difficult and lengthy orange coming in 3rd place of 10. Colin did OK on the blue coming 10 of 25 on a fast, open course.