A cold but clear Sunday morning and a fabulous well marshalled route around Blackford Hill and the Hermitage. Felt on reasonable form and was slightly faster than 5 years ago and came in with a time just under an hour at 157% of the winning time. Don't like the photo though!
After ferry and drive back from Northern Ireland we had tickets for a show at Summerhall in the evening. Cherry had stuff to catch up on but Colin went along to watch Hamish Hawk do a gentle acoustic set. Quite a busy standing room only venue but a nice sensible volume and not too long. A very pleasant show.
The arrangements were progressed quickly and the funeral arranged according to Maxwell's wishes for Friday 24 November. We visited the family grave site at Loughbrickland Presbyterian Church for the interment and then the memorial service at First Bangor Church. This was following by nibbles and drinks at Bangor Golf Club.
Maxwell sadly passed away in hospital on Thursday night shortly before midnight. His last week was peaceful spent in almost continuous sleep.
Sad trip to Bangor by car and ferry to see Maxwell in hospital. A combination of Covid and Alzheimers has left him in a very bad way. I arrived on Sunday and left on Friday with daily visits. Mostly he was sleeping but when awake in a very disturbed state.
With just one rain free day forecast for this week this was an opportunity to get out somewhere nice on the bike. Parked in Peebles and had a coffee at the theatre near the car park. The blue route had some detours on it but was in pretty good shape. Very much enjoy the climb. Descent OK - even the blue feels a bit hairy for me at times. Also checked out the new taster courses and there are a new set of routes of which I tried the blue. Slow and not very good lunch at the Peel Cafe.
Not much sign of the World Championships although I guess the new routes may have been linked to that.
A very wet morning ! Pretty much continuous rain so I was well wrapped up with waterproof trousers and top. Blue course at a SOL level event always proves challenging. This was really tough. Focussed on navigation which was difficult and made 1 big error with everything else going just about OK but never terribly easily. The result was very poor the somewhat improved navigation not making up for the slow pace.
A ferry across to NI on Friday to take Maxwell to hospital on Monday for his stent replacement operation. Some delays due to high winds but overall a smooth and pleasant journey. With the central heating broken at 54 Moira Drive I was staying for 4 nights at the Bangor Premier Inn.
Ran the Bangor Park Run on saturday morning with a time about a minute off my course best from earlier in the year. Visited Maxwell at Oakmont but decided it would be a bit much for him to head out. Spent the day clearing old papers at 54 Moira Drive to take home. Financial stuff and a fair bit of family history.
Lunch at RUYC with Maxwell and Liz on Sunday.
Hospital trip on Monday went pretty smoothly. Needed to stay with Maxwell most of the morning as they went through all the prep stages. The Op itself was quick and Maxwell was in pretty good shape when he was released around 3.30 pm.
Boat home on Tuesday morning.
Straight back to racing after the holiday. Cold temperatures but clear blue skies for the longest race I've done in quite a while. Challenging terrain under foot - 9 miles long and around 670 m of climb. I was pretty slow but content with the effort with plenty of people behind me. Race time around 1 hr 50 mins.
Eurostar back to London and went for a swim at Pancras Square. In the evening went to see Cabaret - KitKat Club. We had prime seats for the show with dinner and champagne. The food was pretty good, the champagne went down very well, icecream and brownies at the interval. A very nice finish to the holiday.
Friday morning was the LNER train back to Edinburgh. All the train journeys went to time and were very pleasant - the only complaint being the queuing and waiting around for the Eurostar.
An early train at 7 am from Lourdes to Paris passed surprisingly quickly arriving in Paris just after midday. We got an early checkin at the hotel - Mercure on Rue de la Gaite - and headed for a wander around Montparnasse Cemetery and a rather disappointing garden associated with the astrophysics institute.
In the evening it was a night of jazz at La Bal Blomet watching Baptiste Trotignon perform Brexit Music - a collection of jazz takes on classic British rock & pop songs. I quite enjoyed it - Cherry wasn't so sure.
Final day in Lourdes and we went for a walk along the river. Not entirely successful today with our original planned route having a closed gate, a section on a narrow road and a dull final section.
Dinner out in town in the evening before packing. Both of us nursing a rather large number of insect bites.
Reviewing our stay in Lourdes - whilst it was nice to not drive anywhere the public transport was a little limiting on our activities as was the very hot weather. Next time I think a hire car probably a good idea.
A bus out to the lake and a pleasant 6 km circuit which was generally well back from the lakeside. A very nice meal at the lakeside cafe before getting another bus back to town.
In the morning we went for a swim at the local pool which is around 10 mins walk from the flat. Around 30 mins of swim in the nice 25 m pool. Bought some very nice tarts & sandwich at the nearby bakery before heading home.
In the afternoon we split up to do some serious hiking and to do some sketching. Colin headed up Beout with a summit at 791 m at the edge of Lourdes. It was a very nice walk with a strenous climb up the back of the hill.
In the evening we headed out into town for dinner. Our first choice Italian was only doing pizzas so we ended up at the first reasonable looking place we could find. A nice outdoor seat and view at Riviera Sol. The food was pretty average.
A roughly 1 hour bus journey from Lourdes to Cauterets deep in the Pyrenees. For the first time in France we felt some chill in the air - at least initially on arrival. We grabbed a coffee and pastry before following our noses towards the sun and a walk. It worked out surprisingly well finding by chance a really nice route. It was a fairly gentle uphill that brought us to La Raillaire an disused former spa with hot sulphur waters.
In the morning we walked to the Castle arriving a little too early so stopping for a quick coffee beforehand. Took the lift up to the castle for some great views and a very well organised route around the Pyrenean Museum, Castle and Botanic gardens. Really interesting and enjoyable visit. The small garden was excellent. Interesting scale models of local rural architectural styles.
First trip of the day was to the Lourdes covered market which is open every day from around 6 - 2 pm. We got a good selection of fruit, veg, cheese, meat and fish.
After a break we followed the Route of Bernadette around various places she lived or was linked to.
We got the 10 am TGV from Montparnasse. A massive 16 coach double decker which would split in two further down the line. We arrived at 3 pm and just had a short wander through town in the evening doing enough shopping for our dinner.
The apartment was a fairly smart two bedroom apartment that looks pretty grotty from the outside but sports pretty decent views to the castle and Pyrenees.
We wandered over the Coal Drops Yard for breakfast at Lina Stores before heading good and early for the Eurostar at St Pancras. As previously the train journey was very nice but is marred by the airport style queues, security and waiting about.
In Paris we wandered across town to the Bateau Mouches via the Eiffel Tour from Montparnasse. Quite pleasant and relaxed parts of town we wandered through.
We got the 9.30 LNER train to London with first class seats. A nice little breakfast and then our own sandwiches for lunch before arriving at around 13.55. Easy check in at the Kings Cross Premier Inn before getting the quick train from St Pancras to Stratford International.
A short walk enjoying the gardens of the Olympic Park....
Stopped off in London on the way back from Bournemouth and had a nice run along the canal through Camden to Primrose Hill and back via Regent Park. A nice change from the late flight home from Southampton. Pizza express and a glass of wine afterwards.
Another 10K race - this time a big mass participation event with over 1000 runners. Had been feeling a bit off the last few days and Cherry is down with a cold so cautious about whether I've got some mild infection and decided to take this one nice and easy. 30 mins cycle down and a good well organised event that started at 9 am. Took the run nice and easy and avoided looking at the watch until very near the end. Felt fine plodding along at an easy pace and couldn't help increasing the pace a bit in the latter stages without ever extending to a full out effort. Came in at 52 mins 34 secs which isn't a great time but certainly not terrible and a lot better than expected.
