Happysad

// September 9th, 2011 // No Comments » // Edinburgh, Misc.

My tolerance for the kind of weather which afflicts this country of mine from September through until May gets eroded a little further with each passing year. In my younger days I would be spending rather a lot of my time with jovial drunken friends in the many wonderful bars of our capital city and the inclement weather outside was rather incidental as a result. As a home-based worker and 40-something stay-at-home father I spend rather less time in those bars now and am required to soberly face the dreariness of our climate with metronomic grinding monotony. What colour is the sky today? Oooh, it’s grey again! There’s also drizzling rain for texture. My PC desktop-borne climatic temperature gauge reports 12°C but I know that to be one more in a series of filthy lies.

The thought of living further north has sometimes flitted through my head, in much the same way as a thought such as I wonder if it’s possible to survive the 40 metre fall from the Forth Road Bridge into the freezing waters of the Forth Estuary?. Sometimes, while staring out into the half-light of yet another blanket-grey morning, I chill myself by imagining what it must be like to live on the Shetland or Faroe Islands. Perhaps such places are studded with windowless pubs, filled with intoxicated inhabitants.

It cheered me to read the story of one such inhabitant on today’s BBC News website …

Drunk Swedish elk found in apple tree near Gothenburg

I know how that elk feels.

[Full BBC News story]

Nostalgia and national pride. A potent mix.

// November 17th, 2010 // No Comments » // Cycling, Edinburgh, Misc.

This morning I watched a video (available below) showing Scottish mountain bike trials pro rider Danny Macaskill performing all manner of jaw-dropping stunts during a journey from Edinburgh to Skye and it evoked some strong emotions within me. Not only is there the warm nationalistic pride in seeing familiar areas of my beloved (but mainly cold and grey) country shot in HD video but there is also an aching nostalgia for all the carefree time I spent as a teenager on a Haro Master BMX bike. A Haro Master bike not dissimilar to the one pictured at the top of this post (click on it to enlarge). (more…)

Road bike training with Garmin Edge 705

// September 11th, 2010 // No Comments » // Cycling, Misc.

I have been trying to regain some fitness lately. The spectre of beer-gutted middle-aged complacency had been becoming more and more real in recent years, especially throughout the toddler years of our twins. Most weekday mornings I am managing to go running but the feeling of freedom experienced, and the sheer distance that can be covered, during a lengthy road bike expedition appeals to me hugely.

With that in mind, I ventured out from Edinburgh, via Kirkliston, Linlithgow, Grangemounth, Kincardine and Culross, to complete a loop around the River Forth for the second time in as many weeks today. On this occasion I tried out my new Garmin Edge 705 cycling-specific GPS gizmo. It not only guides me around my pre-defined low traffic route perfectly, measures the height gained and lost but also records my heart rate and pedal cadence throughout the ride. As techie boy toys go, it’s right up there. Fantastic.

Over the coming months I’ll be using this new toy to shed the indolent pounds surrounding my lower torso while seeing parts of Scotland I otherwise would never see. My entry to the Etape Caledonia 2011 is already in.

Allez! Allez!

Here is the summary of the route and my (not particularly impressive) stats:

Ben Vorlich and Stuc a’ Chroin

// October 30th, 2009 // No Comments » // Scottish Hills

This was my first adventure out on the hills since the hair-raising trip to An Teallach in April last year. The long delay has not been through fear however. Circumstances have just conspired against me with the weather thwarting me several times and family responsibilities playing their own familiar role. It’s taken me a little while to get around to posting anything about this trip, which actually took place on the 12th and 13th of September.
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A walk to Cramond Island

// September 12th, 2008 // 3 Comments » // Edinburgh

As the name implies, this island lies off Cramond on the north-western edge of Edinburgh. Covering an area of around 19 acres, it is one third of a mile long and stands nearly a mile from the shoreline at the estuary of the River Almond. It is currently part of the Dalmeny Estate, and strictly speaking it is not a true island at all, but a tidal island being connected to the mainland at low tide and also by a long causeway. This allows easy access for intrepid walkers wishing to cross over and visit. At high tide the island is completely cut off from the mainland with the path lying several feet below sea level. It is safe to cross to the island during a time window covering 2 hours before low tide until roughly 2 hours after. If you do miss the tide, and are cut off, you will be staying the night there.The Cramond area is rich in history, and archaeological excavations there have uncovered evidence of habitation dating to around 8500 BC, making it the earliest known site of human settlement in Scotland. There is also evidence to suggest that the nearby island may have had special significance to the prehistoric peoples who lived along the coast of the Firth of Forth, as at least one stone burial cist has been found there.
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