Bangor Visit

Travelled by Ferry on Sunday 15 January for just under a week staying with Maxwell in Bangor. Goal for the week was to help out around the house as much as possible. The weather was pretty rough with lots of very low temperatures making it difficult to manage many trips out of the house.

Took Maxwell for very short walks at 22 Maxwell Road, 6 Seymour Avenue, Crawfordsburn Country Park and Donaghadee. Had dinner at the Golf Club with Denis and Maxwell on Wednesday and took Maxwell to the Old Inn for fish and chips on Thursday.

On Friday went out with the boys (Tim, Warren, Glen and Mark) to the Imperial Bar and to Tuk Tut for Thai food.

Ferry back home on Saturday.

Norovirus

A nasty bug entered the household and laid us all low for many days. Started with Colin on Thursday evening, Hannah on Saturday and Cherry on Sunday. Severe vomitting followed by tiredness for a number of days. Not nice :( 

New Years Celebrations

Colin & Cherry had a quiet evening in joined by Max and Kasia just after the bells. Hannah was out late with friends - Beckie and George staying with us for several days.

On New Years Day Colin had a morning cycle round the city centre..

.. and then Colin and Cherry headed to collect Les and go for a walk and lunch in South Queensferry. Lunch at the Railbridge Inn was pretty good.

Christmas Day

Christmas at home this year with 6 of us - Cherry, Colin, Max, Kasia, Hannah & Les. A nice turkey from Damn Delicious. 

 

Northern Ireland pre-Christmas Trip

Colin, Cherry and Hannah headed off by car to the Cairnryan to Belfast Ferry on Friday morning. A fairly pleasant trip with the worst of the very cold weather just passed.

We arrived with Maxwell around 6.30 pm but had some work to do to defrost the ice on his driveway and give a narrow safe route out to the car. We met Liz at the golf club and had an excellent buffet dinner followed by music and carol singing with the Salvation Army Band.

On Saturday we took Maxwell out to Bloomfield to do Christmas shopping for the Hendersons. We then headed to George Best Airport to pick up Max. In the evening the 6 of us had a nice dinner at the Old Inn Crawfordsburn.

On Sunday we had lunch at the Royal Ulster Yacht Club before heading off for the ferry home. We managed to watch the whole of the World Cup Final on the boat.

Gran Canaria 2023 and 30th Wedding Anniversary

Back to our favoured Lopesan Costa Meloneras hotel with the big circular pool for a relaxed week in the sun and warm weather. The weather didn't disappoint with clear blue skies and temperatures in the range of around 18 - 26 degrees C pretty consistently every day.

Colin was out on the bike for a few hours every day. Did one group ride up to Soria and the rest individual efforts to Ayaguares or the road towards the Pico. 

Cherry enjoyed the swimming and a bit of drawing/painting.

Nice meals out every evening and even quite enjoyed the evening shows in the Plaza. 

Climate Action Walk

Cherry, Hannah and Colin gathered at St Andrews Square for a Walk for Climate Action as the COP was happening in Egypt at this time. A friendly walk through town finishing at Parliament.

 

Broughton Hill Race Marshalling and Mountain Bike Circuit

On Saturday 15 October I headed down to Broughton for a day hill marshalling at the British Hill Racing Relays. A big crowd from all over the UK running 4 legs in the hills around Broughton. I was at the most remote point on Leg 2 on top of a hill. It was a cold and windy day and was very pleased the rain stayed off for the duration of my time on the hill. The photos make it look rather more pleasant than it actually was. It was a fair walk to the hill and spend around 3 hrs out on the hill top. Kudos to the club for hosting the event and I am in awe of those organising such a complex event.

Having got a taste for the hills and seen various MTB friendly trails I headed out on 23 October on a loop from Broughton through to Stobo and back. I'd done little bits of the route before on Natural Tweed event.  Lovely route - very remote.

Braidburn Valley and The Steils - Orienteering Event

I was nominally the organiser for the O event at Braidburn Valley but with the planner away I took on the duties of putting out controls. A long time on my feet from around 8 am through to 1.30 pm putting out and activating contols. A bit of a rest helping at the start before heading out to collect controls at the end. A long busy day but pleased to help put on an event every so often.

Stirling 10K

A nice sunny Sunday morning for my first flat 10K in a fair while. Reasonably pleased with a 49:24 time. Quite a nice course and event.

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.