South African Holiday

Photos from our excellent holiday in South Africa



For full photo album click here

Ratho Climbing/Skyride

Colin took the kids climbing at Ratho. Arrived in the morning for a session on the walls and in the afternoon we all did the aerial assault course.

Pizza, Ice-Cream and Fudge

As an early birthday treat we took Hannah out for pizza at Pizza Express then visited the Italian Ice Cream parlour on the royal mile and then bought a small crate of fudge at the fudge shop. Heaven!

Gifford Gardens

For Cherry's day out we went to the open gardens day in Gifford. Weather was a bit overcast but we still enjoyed a pleasant stroll around some nice domestic gardens.

Craig Leacach 987m

Everyone set off early for Glenshee to try to get everyone up a munro. The weather was fine with bright sunshine and temperates in the valleys of around 18 degrees.

The Glenshee carpark is quite high so the ascents were not too great but there was a fairly long walk along the ridge with some very rough boulder strewm ground near the summit.

Everyone did very well with Hannah and Cherry ticking off their first munro after around 2 hrs 45 minutes of walking.

Total time was around 4 hrs 40 minutes, 7 miles and ascent of 600m according to GPS.

Lairig Ghru

Colin ran in the 28 mile long Lairig Ghru Hill race on Sunday. Generally fine weather the race was long and tough with very rough ground over the middle section. A good time of 5 hrs 10 minutes shaving a few minutes off last years time.

Ouch !

... that was painful. Colin at the Meadows 2 mile race sprinting at the finish to complete in just under his target of 14 minutes.

Great Scottish Walk

Max and Cherry completed the 12 mile Great Scottish Walk. Hannah and Colin did the shorter 6 mile walk.

1 Mile Race

Max and Colin ran at the Meadows on Wednesday night. Max was trying to complete a challenge of running 1 mile in 7 minutes 30. He succeeded coming in a few seconds under target time.

SOL 3 - Devilla

Colin and Max traveled off to Devilla forest near Kincardine for the third SOL of the year. Max was doing his first Light Green course. He took it slow and steady and got around in 1 hr 24 minutes. Colin did the M21L course and finished in the usual last place but had a respectable time of 1 hr 49 - first time below 2 hrs at this class.

Flamenco etc

Busy weekend in and around Edinburgh. Hannah was playing for JGPS at the Meadows Festival football tournament where the team came first and took away the trophy - beating Brunsfield, South Morningside and Sciennes. Cherry was on stage in the evening performing her Flamenco dance with her classmates at the Churchill Theatre. Colin ran a 10 k personal best at the Dechmont Trail Race on Sunday morning shaving almost 2 minutes off previous record. Colin & Max also went orienteering at Mary Erskine on Saturday afternoon.

Scottish Champs 2008

We all headed up north to Aberfeldy for the Scottish Orienteering Championships. Spend Friday night at a B&B and then on to forests in the foothills of Schiehallion. Hannah unfortunately went down with a bug and was sick several times. We were in charge of the String course for the day and had over 50 happy customers. Max had a good run on the orange course although he made a couple of big mistakes which cost him first place. He is picture with his plaque for coming second in the M14B class. Colin was on very poor form and got very lost on the first control.

Hillend Orienteering

Colin came in THIRD place in a field of 23 at the orienteering on a pleasant Wednesday evening at the very hilly Hillend.

Scottish Sprint Champs & SOL2

Max and Colin went up to Stirling on Saturday for a sprint race in Stirling old town. Reasonable performances from both. Max was up against 17 year olds in his age class so was quote far down the field.

On Sunday Colin went to the Touch estate for SOL2 and came last in the long M21L class. A tired run but generally pretty good navigation.

Ben Oss & Beinn Duhbcraig

Colin has a day off work and so headed up north in the glorious weather to bag a few munros.

Great Edinburgh Run

Max and Hannah were out running in the Great Edinburgh Run around the Meadows on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Hannah was out first and ran a great race. Stayed at a really steady pace most of the way round saving energy for a final burst of speed over the last 50 m. Got round the 2.4 km course in 14 m 8 sec which works out at 9 min 29 sec min/mile pace.

Max started fast but ran out of energy towards the end. Nothing left to give over the last 300 m but kept going bravely to the finish. Time of 11 m 18 s was slower than a year ago but still a cracking pace of 7 min 35 sec per mile.

Highland Fling Race

Colin ran in the 53 Mile Highland Fling Race on Saturday along the West Highland Way from Milngavie to Tyndrum. Completed the course in 14 hr 15 minutes. Ran the first 20 miles to Balmaha extremely well coming in at 44th place at that point. Slowed down from there onwards with lots of stops and lots of walking but kept on going. Finished just 45 minutes before the cut off and a bit slower than hoped but a great run nevertheless.

I'd Do Anything

A busy weekend that started with Hannah drawing at football against local rivals Sciennes 3 -3.

Hannah then went off to the Drill Hall for auditions for a BBC TV play. She did very well and impressed the casting director. We await the verdict !

Max hurt his foot during Alexanders football party later in the day.

To finish off a hectic weekend Colin too Hannah and Alexander to cycle at Glentress. A couple of laps round the Green route.

Edinburgh to Carlops

Colin got up early for his last long training run before the Highland Fling Race in 2 weeks time. The aim was for a long steady slog which was achieved in good weather. Still some snow on the hill-tops. Went over around 12 peaks in the Pentlands, starting at Hillend, before arriving for a nice lunch at Allan Ramsays in Carlops.

Footie & Orienteering

Hannah and the JGPS team had a match on Saturday morning. Unfortunately they got beaten this time. Colin had a good orienteering run at Corstorphine Hill.

Max went to Lee's birthday party in the evening and saw Son of Rambow.

Rockcliffe Weekend

We enjoyed three nice days in the Dumfries and Galloway region. We stayed again at the excellent Millbrae House. On the first day we stopped off at the Moffet Toffee Shop to stock up on Hannahs favourite sweets. We then visited Caerlaverock Castle and nature reserve just South of Dumfries.

On the second day we went to the Mersehead RSPB reserve and then went to Threave Gardens. On the final day we visited the Wood of Cree and then the Cream O'Galloway ice cream factory.

SkyRide

Hannah and Colin went to the Ratho climbing centre to go on the aerial assault course. Hannah was very brave on the very very scary course.



Colin went out running later and had an excellent run over 6 peaks in Holyrood park without stopping.