Queens Drive 5k

Colin was out for a 5k race round Arthurs Seat on a very stormy Sunday lunchtime. A reasonable time of 25 min 28 secs give the climb and high winds.

Club Champs

A trip to Riccarton Campus for the Club Champs. Max unfortunately fell and hurt his leg at an early control. Hannah and Colin had a nice walk round the yellow course.

Joan as Policewoman

The busy festive season continued with the Marchmont Community Christmas Tree Lighting and Carols. Cherry was one of the chief organisers and Hannah was singing in the JGPS Choir. Colin went to a concert in the evening to see Joan as Policewoman at the Liquid Rooms.

Glasgow Parks Championships

Max and Colin headed off to Glasgow for this event which involves a mystery tour round three Glasgow Parks. Colin did quite well coming in 13th on the Male Vets. Max did very well on the first two courses but blew out on the third and didn't finish.

Freeeezing !

We were all planning to head off the Tentsmuir Forest this morning but one by one the cold or aches and pains desuaded everyone except Colin. Colin had a good run coming in 10th place on the Blue course. A few stupid mistakes or it could have been quite a bit better. Very cold but beautiful clear skys and lovely frost everywhere.

East of Scotland Orienteering Championships

We headed off to Penicuik estate on a freezing cold Sunday morning. Hannah successfully defended her W10 championship on the yellow course. Did very well to get round without shadowing and is the first person to win the trophy three times in a row. She'll be up a class next year.

Max had a bad one. Colin was non-competitive and missed a couple of controls.

Delhi

In Delhi on business for an Asia Pacific Actuarial Conference. Had a tour round the city on Monday. Temperatures are fairly pleasant but a thick smog throughout the day. You can feel yourself coughing on the fumes. The streets very busy - nothing compared to Mumbai I'm told. Chaotic roads with bicycles, rickshaws, three wheel taxis, oxen, elephants, cars and lots of 50 yr old buses. Had a walk round some more tranquil gardens.

The Bridges

We had some fantastic weather for a family walk with Les from Dalmeny Station through South Queensferry over the Road Bridge and through to North Queensferry. We then got the train back over the rail bridge to our start. Glorious blue skys crisp clear air.

Got some very nice photos. Click through to Web Albums to view full screen slideshow.

Bridges Walk

Sunny October Day

Additional photo from our Mourne Walk - a rarity of a sunny October Day !

SOl 7 - Craig A Barns

Colin travelled to Dunkeld for the last Scottish O League and has a spectacularly bad 3 hr 22 minute run round the M21L course. Deserved a prize for persistence having run almost 2 km off course for 1 control.

Ireland Holiday

Enjoyed a very pleasant couple of days with Maxwell & Rosemary in Bangor before heading down to Downpatrick and Newcastle area. Went to Castle Espie on the Monday morning which was unfortunately a bit of a building site with extensive renovations of both the visitor centre and the grounds taking place. Still a lot of beautiful ducks in residence. On Tuesday we went for a walk in the Mournes. At the B&B hosts advice we took a long point to point walk of around 8.5 miles which was very nice until we got to a very long steep descent. Had a nice dinner at the Mourne Seafood bar.

Travelled to Portpatrick on Wednesday and had a quick visit to the Logan Botanic Gardens. Not looking their best this late in the season.

On Thursday we woke to gale force winds and heavy rain and a tour of the Mull of Galloway wasn't looking too appealing so we headed home a day early.

Man or Mouse

Colin had a busy weekend of running. First the Manor Water race near Peebles on Saturday. Ran at a fairly gentle pace and came in a full 20 minutes slower than last time. A very nice course though with the slopes never too steep.

On Sunday was the awesome Pentland Skyline with its 16 peaks to climb. Ran a very good race with a surprising amount of energy in the legs. Got a bottle of beer for completing both races.

Escaped being the Mouse over the two events by 1 place and 17 minutes.

Sosol 1 - Dunkeld

Headed up to Dunkeld on a gloriously sunny day for some orienteering. Took Les with us for his birthday treat! Colin did very well on the Blue course coming third. Max was off form and didn't finish. Hannah, Cherry and Les had a walk round the yellow course.

Went to Dunkeld afterwards which looked beautiful in the sunshine.

6 Munros

Had a few days off work and headed to the hills for some munro bagging. Did 3 on Thursday, 1 on Friday and 2 on Sunday. Fairly sped round them.

Went to Cati O with Max at Bush Estate on Saturday. Max came 6th on the Orange.

Braemar Gathering

The Queen, Prince Philip and Charles, plus 16,000 others turned up in Braemar to watch Colin compete in the Hill Race. One lap of the stadium before heading up Morrone Hill and then returning for a finish in front of the royal pavilion.

Tubing

Hannah had her belated birthday party this afternoon. Tubing at the ski slope at Hillend.

Colin had a good run in the morning at the Score event at Cademuir Peebles coming 10th of 45 runners.

Richard & Liz's Wedding

Travelled down to Stevenage by train on Friday night with Les. Wedding in Hitchin on Saturday and then lunch at the Buck's Head.

Lomonds of Fife

Colin went off to Fife to run in the long and challenging Lomonds of Fife Hill Race. Two ascents up West Lomond and once up East Lomond and a hair-raising slide down a near verticle slope at the end. A good time of 2 hrs 22 minutes was 7 minutes better than last year.

On Saturday had a run round Blackford Hill at the ESOC come and try it.

Max went to the cinema with Joe and stayed overnight.

Caerketton Hill Race

The nearest thing to a sprint in hill racing. A very steep up and down on slippy ground. Slow performance compared to 2 years ago after a lazy start.

Dr Neils Garden

Went out to lunch with Les on Saturday at Lauriston Farm and then visited Dr Neils garden at Duddingston. Walked along the Braid Burn on Sunday morning with a brief visit to Fringe Sunday in the afternoon.

South African Holiday Diary

Sat 19 July- after a long overnight flight and a race through Johannesburg airport we arrived at Port Elizabeth on Saturday afternoon. No-one slept very much on the flight. Most of our suitcases were delayed but were delivered to the Kelway Hotel a few hours later. Went out to the beach in the afternoon and then had dinner at the hotel restaurant. Hotel quite nice.

Sun 20 July - In the morning we visited Bayworld which was much better than the rather battered exterior would have suggested. Saw the sealions and dolphins perform in the large pool and then met a 27 year old penguin (the second oldest in the world!). Also got a backstage tour of the hospital and the jetset pengions that were due to fly off to London to their new home. Also visited the musuem and snake park. After lunch we spend a few hours on the beach and then went to a shop and leisure complex called the Boardwalk which was very smart. Played crazy golf there. In the evening we met up with our tour guide Ken, driver Wassim and the two other families we would be staying with. (Richard, Isabel, Georgina and Alexander Thorp and Adrian, Pat, Iain and Tom Wright).

Mon 21 July - Left sharply on the morning for the interior to stay at the Zuurberg mountain inn. Beautiful place in the middle of nowhere. We had a lazy afternoon to play in the grounds and with the many dogs. We saw lots of birds and visiting monkeys.

Tues 22 July - We went out for a tough walk in the heat on Tuesday morning on a trail in the Addo park just beside the hotel. Went at quite a pace. In the afternoon we went to the Addo Elephant park and saw a lot of elephants, warthogs, buffalo, ostrich, eland, kudu, and many birds. Saw some of the shanty towns on the way back. Hannah got a special birthday cake at dinner.

Wed 23 July - We spent a long, lazy morning at Zuurberg before driving out to Schotia game reserve. We were driven around the reserve in an open four wheel drive and saw lions, a giraffe, mountain reedbucks, impala, a Nile crocodile, African spoonbills, black headed cranes, black and blue wildebeests, red hartebeests, an aardwolf (very rare), a bushbuck, lots of kudu and hundreds of ostriches and warthogs. Halfway we stopped and had dinner around a bushcamp fire, open to the stars. We then continued our drive through the night before returning to the inn late at night and spending our last night at Zuurberg.

Thurs 24 July - We left early to go to Knysna. Quite a long drive in the minibus. We stopped on the way at Jeffreys bay where we had some excessively large scones and walked on the beach looking for the shells. Nice suffers beach which we had almost to ourselves. Later we went to Tsitsikamma park where we went on the Canopy ride sliding on ropes through the tree tops. Had a lovely seafront apartment at Knysna rather than the expected hotel.

Fri 25 July - We went to Plettenberg to go on a whale watching boat trip. Saw lots of Souther Right Whales very close to the boat and some very close to the shore. Then went on the boat to the Robberg peninsula and saw thousands of seals. To get back on land the boat charged full speed onto the beach. After lunch we went back to Tsitsikamma and the seaside nature reserve. We arrived quite late and the rope bridge was closed which meant the walk wasn't as nice as it might have been. Bit of an unsatisfactory dinner at 34 South on our own in the evening.

Sat 26 July - Up early again and went for an elephant walk and ride for the kids. Then visited Monkey land and Birds of Eden. The birds were spectacular but we were a bit rushed. We got to the boat for Featherbed Nature Reserve just in time and had a lovely downhill walk at the head of Knysna which were spectacular.

South African Holiday

Photos from our excellent holiday in South Africa



For full photo album click here