What a mug!

Christmas is now almost over. Just the relaxing bits left thankfully.
It was hectic all of December for me due to a scheduling mistake in mid November leaving me with 17 days work to fit into 15 days, with 2 of these days blocked out for training. Plus a project manager having a hissy fit leaving me more to do.
Luckily it was all done on time (more or less) but I just wasn't feeling Christmassy.

Christmas Eve Ciaran arrived and cooked steak for the three of us. Felt a lot better. Then he and I went to midnight Mass with a carol service before hand. Finally I felt in the Christmas spirit.
Christmas morning was quiet. Ciaran is at that age where a lie in is more desirable to opening presents, but we did gather around the tree and then I made French Toast before dropping him off with his mum.
I then spent the rest of Christmas day and Stephen's Day with Fiona at her mum's with her grandad.
Finally got my first games of Rummikub this Christmas! (Didn't win any though)

Amoung the many presents were a total of 4 mugs.
My sister got a Keep Calm You're only 40 in honour of her birthday on Christmas,
Ciaran got Fiona a Keep Calm and Drink Coffee mug, and I got the 2 right most mugs shown below.
The leftmost is my Libra mug, a birthday present from years ago. Its a normal capacity, 250ml, but a little short and wide, like me. The elephant mug is my normaly everyday mug. It holds a manly 400ml. Fiona, her mum and my mum all have special mugs for when I visit all of which hold about the same.
Fiona got me the red one which can hold a hearty mugful at 500ml while Ciaran's gift of the blue mug will hold over 900ml of tea. That's almost 1kg of milky tea goodness, enough to make Mrs Doyle weep.

New Year's Eve now approaches. This years costume theme is Song Titles...

School Concert 2012

Just back in from the school Christmas concert. For the second year Ciaran was performing with the Woodwind Ensemble.
As with most things with a 14 year old boy, it was laden with difficulty.
It seems, for some unknown reason, the school didn't want any one to attend because they never announced the time until this afternoon. At least that's Ciaran's story...

"What time do you have to be there?"
"It starts at half seven so I guess half seven"
"Yes, but do you need to be there early to set up?"
"I don't know"
"Maybe we should get there a little early, to maybe park, and then get in, and so you can find where you're supposed to be"
"OK, I guess we have to be there at 7:15"

Anyway we got there in time.
Bang on time the Youth Choir began to enter. Row upon row. They sang a single song and then filed out. The song was nice though.
Then it was the Guitarists. It seemed to take ages for them t get the kit ready and begin. Sadly there was trouble with the amps so I don't think it sounded right but they enjoyed it.
The senior choir was followed by a lovely duet of "Safe and Sound" from the Hunger Games. I must find out who sings it for real and see if its as good.
Then three more girls were followed by the string orchestra who completed the first half with a slowed down can-can.
The second half started with the brass band doing carols.
Another song by the senior choir led to Ciaran and the rest of the woodwind ensemble.

This was followed by an excellent guy singing "Bring Him Home" from Les Mis. Absolutely fantastic.
The youth choir filed back in, sang another song and filed back out.
Then, keeping it Scottish, we had pipers and drums.
The brass band then led everyone in "Hark! The Herald"

I got culture me

We were out to see the BBC Symphony Orchestra last night at the Town Hall in Ayr.

The main reason for this is Ciaran's current fascination with guitars and the fact that this was billed with Sean Shibe on guitar.
Like many people I'm really not that well educated about music. I know what I like, quite often don't know what it is or simply know it from TV use. I do have a number of classical albums which I will listen to, and one of my favourite pieces is Pachelbel's Canon. My (limited) interest started when Marillion released a live album back in '88 called The Thieving Magpie which has them play a bit of Rossini's La Gaza Ladra. I then found a copy of Rossini Overtures in HMV which had this track. That's when you realise how much classical music is out there. One of the tracks is "Guglielmo Tell" which contains the Lone Ranger theme. Its also go the music they use in cartoons when there a bad storm and giant waves. Its funny how much was familiar, and how good it sounded.
Last night was different.
I'm not saying it wasn't good, but it was different. Almost all of the new 'classical' music I would hear now is on film score and I think my mind now tunes into that - the idea that the TV can be on in the background and you just hear it.
The first piece last night was a new Scottish composition getting its first performance. There were 3 movements and the story was included in the programme, which I didn't read until after the first movement. The first one started off and I felt it was quite jarring. I felt it was quite similar in style to the music from Ghost, and suddenly I was getting an image of that sort of scene. The second movement started with percussion sounding like drips in a  cave. I connected that since the piece was titled 'Cave'. In this piece I got an image of old 50's B&W drama movies, maybe just continuing the Ghost image from earlier. The final movement had a battle which was easier to distinguish once I had read the programme.
The piece was interesting and full of sound but all three of us didn't think it was great.
The main reason we were there was the second piece was from Rodrigo. Think Spanish guitars. I was thinking spaghetti western. Again technically brilliant but really making no connection to me.
After the interval was came back to the final 2 pieces both by Mozart.
The first was a re-arrangement of a piece for the glass harmonica. Since this instrument is so rare these fays it was re-arranged for woodwind with violins to give the resonance. I though this was a beautiful piece. I've since spent some time on wiki reading about the glass harmonica and listening to the sample piece there. This is one fantastic sounding instrument!
The final piece was all of Symphony 41. This was amazing. I didn't have any images of films while listening - I was just captivated by the music. The sound just filled the room, building upon itself. It all fitted together and I think this was the greatest difference between the brand new modern piece and this 225 year old piece. There was no jarring - it all fitted together.
Knowing nothing about music (much to Ciaran's disgust at times) you could hear why after all this time Mozart is still popular.

Birthdays on Ice

Its Fiona's Birthday today but we have been celebrating all weekend.
We were down in Stranraer for the WOHFTF weekend.
Since Fiona has had her birthday on curling weekends before, I think she knew something would be done, but as most of us were staying Sunday night, and her birthday wasn't until Monday, I suspect she thought there would be a cake on Sunday night.
We were called to a pre-dinner drink on Saturday night where Fiona was in the room before she realised the bunting and pictures on the wall were of her.

The other side of the room had the same for David who celebrates his 50th soon.
After dinner the lounge was also decorated for the birthday pair.

A joint cake was brought in with 40 candles for Fiona and 50 for David (luckily they used number candles or our carbon footprint would have been horrendous)

One half was iced blue and green wishing David a happy Birthday and the other in red and pink for Fiona.
The band played happy birthday and had them do a birthday dance.
Sunday dinner was quiet. The pressure of the eating and the curling wore most of them out so it was just Fiona and I, with Alan and Christine who headed down to the games room for some carpet bowls and to wish Fiona Happy Birthday once the witching hour came.

This morning we found a notice on the hotel bedroom door:

And when we arrived for breakfast the balloons were back.

Another rendition of happy Birthday by the entire dining room, accompanied by the horrible electronic candle Fiona bought for Ciaran's birthday.
To finish off the birthday it was out to dinner with Margaret, Grace, Rachael and Ciaran, before back from more cake and another few verses of Happy birthday.

WOHFTF 2012

Just back in from Stranraer where Fiona and the gang were taking part in their annual Curling (and eating) weekend.
This is a serious weekend - dinner Friday night, cooked breakfast Saturday morning, roast meats and salads for lunch (with lots of deserts) and another big dinner Saturday night. Same again on Sunday and this year most of us stayed Sunday night so another cooked breakfast Monday. There's also curling, sponsored by Courvoisier, with the winning team invited back in March for the Winners Weekend.
There also the WOHFTF (We're only here for the food) Challenge Trophy. High stakes indeed!

WOHFTF Challenge Trophy...

...and Runners up Trophy

Started off a bit rough - I was feeling ill most of last week and didn't travel well on Friday evening. I had to skip dinner and retire for the evening, missed breakfast too, only surfacing briefly for lunch.
By the time dinner rolled around I was feeling better and both teams had won all their matches well, so were well placed going into the final day.

Dinner was fabulous. It started out with a pre dinner room party, which was a ruse to remind Fiona, that her 40th, and David, that his 50th, hadn't been overlooked. The dining table had balloons  centrepieces, and handmade cubes of photos going back 20 years. After dinner, it was birthday cake and dancing.

As the final 4 matches were being played Sunday it was clear the David's team had made it through to the semi finals. Now if Alan's team could win 1 more end they were guaranteed a place in the semis even if they didn't win the game. They did win and that set up up both teams for the semi finals after a few anxious moments when it looked like they would have to play each other.
My ability to strategise the game fails to develop. After realising that Alan had deliberately lost an end in order to retain last stone, an advantage,in the next end, I thought I was seeing much more devious playing. After the game Fiona dashed by confidence - " I think he just muffed it" Alan himself later confirmed he made a mistake. I think I'll stick with the food!
Both teams won their semis and a nail biting final was on the cards - or was it? The winning team would be invited back in March but what would the dinner table be like tonight? No one bothered to mention to me that both teams from this weekend would be invited back, so the final became more of a friendly than the chess on ice I was expecting, but everyone was happy and dinner was saved.
750ml bottle of Brandy each to David and his team, and a 1.5l bottle each for Alan and his team.

Alan, Christine, Iain, and Fiona with the WOHFTF Challenge Trophy

David, Drew, MaryAnn and Fiona with the runners up prize

Rooms are already booked for 2013...

Dad's Birthday

We were over in Dublin for the weekend for my dad's 75th birthday.
It was a bit of a laugh.
We flew in late on Friday night, dropped Ciaran at my mum's while Fiona and I stayed in the Travelodge in Swords. The hotel was a direct response to the decision a few years ago to replace the sofa bed with a normal sofa. It also reduced the pressure on the bathrooms...
It was  a bit of an eye opener as the Travelodge seemed to be the party night out meeting point for all the young people. When we headed for breakfast on saturday morning there were abandoned people sleeping in reception, very drunk people staggering through the corridors, a couple of very shaky girls arriving by taxi, still in last nights finest, though no longer that fine.
Saturday night the family headed out for a Chinese meal. The restaurant has changed hands a few times over the years but the food is amazing, and now they have Malaysian food also. The service was a bit less so. I don't think they had ever had to cater for a large group and seemed to struggle.
When we arrived Fiona and I jockeyed for position - she wanted to be near the overhead heater and I wanted to be as far away from it as as she could managed. We found a good compromise until later in the evening the circuit breaker on the heating tripped and the staff had no idea what happened.  All we noticed was that it progressively got colder. Eventually they realised and had Phil stand on his chair to poke the switch with a broom handle to get the heating back. Poor James and William were shattered though. After quickly eating their dinner they put their hoods up and slept for the rest of the night.
After dinner it was back to the house for nightcaps and to be told that our memories of collecting wood for the Halloween bonfires were simply shared delusions because thats not what my dad thought.
Sunday morning had more recovering people at the hotel before we headed back up to my mums.
Another family dinner with mum's lasagna and applesauce cake before Doreen and her boys flew back followed a few hours later by us three.

Loudoun Hill

What a glorious day yesterday was. Probably one of the best days of the so called summer.
We headed out to Loudoun Hill, an eroded volcanic plug on the road to Strathaven where Fiona is from. For years as I've gone past it or just seen it from the drive to work I've wanted to climb up it but the opportunity never arose.

It was also my first opportunity to play with my new birthday camera.
It was a great day but we really saw the impact of just how wet the summer was. The ground was quite wet and the route we took may not have been the best one. We seems to go straight up but we finally made it to the top. New respect for those to call this kind of thing a "Sunday Stroll". We thought there was no way we could go back the way we came and so had Ciaran plan an easier route. When we were walking to an edge where I could just see the top of a tree we removed him from the navigator role and tried something else.

A couple of near slips and 1 wet bottom (no picture of it this time) we got back to fairly level ground, where conveniently the water had all collected. Ankle deep peaty mud. Fiona was being smug as she was the only one who had actually changed into walking books before we left the car until re remembered Ciaran and  I had to get back into her car...

I'm enjoying my new camera. Its basically the current version of my old one, so its a few generations along. It now has a panoramic picture mode which will stitch pictures in real time  It seems to work quite well, but the image size is a bit low. I may still do some the old fashioned way but in the meantime it's great for quick panoramas.

Birthday Food

It was my birthday on Saturday and though its Ciaran's today we celebrated it yesterday.

Fiona knows of my love for pancakes (or french toast) and crispy bacon so she was going to cook me my Birthday Breakfast.
Unfortunately (?!) my mum rang first thing to wish me a happy birthday and once she heard about our breakfast plans proceeded to explain how its the rich eating that's causing my ruptured ankle tendon in January and my sciatica a few weeks ago. Once we said we were going out for Chinese for dinner I could actually hear her eyes rolling in despair.
Fiona caved to the pressure so the bacon was off and only 1 small pancake:

Thankfully she relented and let me have some maple syrup.

For Ciaran though it was bit more hectic. We celebrated his birthday yesterday, a school day. His birthday breakfast was his usual shreddies eaten in record time while I made his packed lunch. Officially, he had a birthday lie in. Actually he never got out of his bed in time.
We did go to Ciaran's favourite restaurant, Scotts, for dinner.

We thought we would be tight for time as I had to be back for Cubs, but in the end we had plenty. And good food. Oddly, Ciaran didn't go for the steak (which I thought he would) but had lamb...
After seeing to the Cubs it was back to the house for his presents and cake with annoying musical candle

and I got to try out my new birthday camera.

Bad Week

This is the view from my bedroom.

That's what I have been looking at since the Cub camp last weekend.
Technically, that's what I've been looking at for the past number of years, but I have only paid it any great attention in the past week.
After coming back from the Cub camp on Saturday, and catching 2 hours sleep on the sofa while I waited for Fiona to arrive, I managed to completely put my back out. It had been sore since Wednesday, but had eased off and was almost normal by Friday afternoon. Saturday evening consisted of moving from chair to chair with much grimacing and moaning.
But Sunday was a nightmare. Absolute agony trying to get out of bed. Each time I tried it was worse than before. Eventually had to call the out of hours doctor to come over for an NSAID injection and painkillers.
It was Wednesday afternoon before I was out of bed again, and Thursday before some semblance of normality returned. By now its still just sore and I'm not supposed to drive much.
Fortunately I can work from home and its a holiday weekend.
Luckily for me I had Fiona who was able to adjust her schedule to provide the nurse care I needed and Ciaran who was here from Monday afternoon.

"Pain is a sign, not an illness". Apparently, its a sign that you shouldn't sleep outside on the hard ground when you already have a sore back (although 'sleep' is a broad term since it wasn't 4 hours between their last noise and their first noise). Its also a sign that if its that sore, then don't stand up for the next 10 hours.

Every cloud and all that. Fiona managed to affirm that she made the right career choice in choosing to be an accountant and not a nurse.

Spooky forest creature

I was adding my latest photos to Picasa when it flagged a face I didn't recognise.
When I checked the photo, there was no one present - it was a shot out the window of a tea room in Aviemore where bird feeders were set up. Fiona and I spent some time there back in August.

Lower left hand corner, between the two trunks is a face. Just who is the mysterious person?

Its not a reflection on the glass.
Best suggestion is a Wallgeist, which is a German name for a woodland spirit. They would more commonly be known as a dryad, but dryads are normally exclusively female.
Its supposed to be good luck to spot one so I'm optimistic.
The 'glass is half empty' side says its just leaves and light which satisfied Picasa's face recognition algorithms, but which I can't now seem to stop seeing...

... go away or I shall taunt you a second time!

You need to be well up on your movie quotes to recognise that line from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It's from the French soldiers guarding the castle. These scenes were filmed at Doune Castle in Stirlingshire. We decided we would head up to see if we could pick up the scent of hamsters and elderberries.
We had an uncharacteristicly organised morning, and were actually away in good time. Traffic was also good, so much so that Fiona had to comment on what good time we were making. Literally around the next bend the brake lights came on as we hit the back of a 3 mile tailback going through roadworks.
Changing our plans slightly, once we got through the roadworks we diverted into Dunblane to get sandwiches before resuming on to Doune.
It is a spectacular looking castle. Sadly there was a wedding reception just starting so there was no way to get anyway near the castle. The tiny car park was overflowing and cars were beginning to be abandoned on the narrow road. We just about managed to get back out before the whole area jammed solid. (Run away! Run away!) A quick consult of the Historic Scotland handbook showed that Inchmahome Priory was a suitable alternative visit.

This is a ruined 13th century priory located on an island in the middle of Lake Monteith. To get on, you turn a signal and a boat comes across from the island to collect you. Once you get to the island you either buy your admission with free boat back, or buy a boat ticket back with free entry - a perfect business model - free admission, pay to exit. Of course, the last boat focuses the mind so we didn't stay too long but once we started to criticise the "artists impression" on the information boards we knew it was time to go.

New Fences

For the second time in a week I have come home to a new fence.
After the storm damage from last year the back and side fences have been in a bit of a state.
The two exposed panels of the back fence were effectively completely destroyed, the shed protected the third one, while the side fence has been collapsing since we moved in. The storm finished off parts of it.
The main problem is the number of people I would have to liaise with in order to get the fences replaced.
The back fence, all three panels of it, is shared between 4 dwellings because the houses which back onto mine are not aligned with my one. The two sides are simple.

AB and CD are the fences needing fixing

Back in April the guy living behind me got in touch. Since all of his fence was down (CD+) he was in the process of organising a replacement and wanted me and my neighbour to contribute which we both agreed.
He then removed the carcass of the old fence and the posts in preparation for the new one, which would be "in the next 6 weeks".
I would check the back garden each morning before leaving for work to see if there had been any progress, but sadly no.
Finally when Fiona and I returned from Aviemore last week the new fence was finally in!

The only slightly annoying aspect is due to the woman who shares the other piece of the back fence (BC) with me. Since my shed and her shed have protected the fence she had no interest in replacing her part of it. If she did, she would have also had to include one other person. If he agreed then another would have to be brought in. You can see why it took so long to get it all sorted.

Since this woman wasn't having her fence replaced, the shared post couldn't be replaced. So an new post was added and the fence built. Since the guy behind was the customer its all nice and neat on his end. On my side however there is a small gap where the old meets the new.

Looking closer, the horizontal supports on the new fence actually meet with the edge of their side fence. That fence is leaning (which is a different issue) so this meeting is only at the bottom, leaving a single slat wide gap between the old fence and the nice new one.

During all this time my other next door, sharing the dodgy side fence was in the process of getting a friend to sort that one. Finally last Tuesday they arrived with the wood and trappings and by Thursday night when I got home all was installed.

What's even better, they dragged away the scrap fibreboard which was dumped alongside the shed, saving me a trip to the dump.
Sadly they have left the anchor rock from the old whirligig which Ciaran and I excavated last year.

Now they both need painting. I wonder if Ciaran has read Tom Sawyer?

Old style dining

This morning was a bit wet but as we were both shattered from yesterday's cycle and Fiona's leg isn't much better we've had an easy day.

We did have our grand dinner out on the "Strathspey Highlander". All week each time the train goes past the cottage we have been looking forward to tonight and it was no disappointment.
We had a return journey from Aviemore, through Boat of Garten and then to Broomhill, or Glenbogle to those familiar with Monarch of the Glen, on the steam powered "Strathspey Highlander". For those who know who Tomas the Tank Engine is, Donald and Douglas are both the same type of engine as the Highlander, and the Highlander is the sole surviving engine of this class.

The high point of the trip was dinner - a 4 course dinner is served.
With the food, the scenery and the company, it was a fantastic way to end our holiday.

Cycle cross

Today was the first time I was really glad I had the older bike with me.
It started off easy enough - cycle trail on crushed gravel but by the end of the day we also had tarmac cycle path,tractor tram lines, road, and complete forest trail.
We headed along the cycle path northeast into Boat of Garten and then north west into Carrbridge were we had our lunch.
Since there was an alternative route back we decided to take it, as it used the local path network. The trail was we marked but at one point it got a bit steep. I was glad of the mountain bike gears today.

We passed back through Boat of Garten and decided to continue on around Loch Garten. As we tried to decide where exactly to go, some idiot overtook the bus which was turning left. Luckily no one was turning right out of the junction, but we decided we really didn't want to be on that road.

That left us with the option of going back or using the forest path. In the spirit of adventure we headed off on the path. Again I was glad I had the mountain bike with me. Its not that there was any 'real' climbing, its just that the muddy narrow track really benefited from having wider tyres on it with a low gear ratio so that the mud didn't bog us down.
We finally made it back onto quiet roads and were able to make it back to the cottage.

In total 5 hours out, three hours cycling and 30 miles travelled.

Munro bagging

We did our "ascent" of Cairn Gorm today. That's my first munro bagged.
Its a bit of a con though - you drive your car to the base station car park (at 635m) then get the funicular railway to the top station (at 1097m) where our guide led us on a tour to the top at 1245m.
Naturally, the views were spectacular, when you could see it.

looking back at the top station

Due to the high winds (gusts of 65mph) weather was coming in and leaving quite quickly, though it was warm. A windproof jacket helps though.
Our guide, Sammy, was amazing. He provided so much info in such a casual way. We took a circular route up to the top, trying to avoid the worst of the wind.
We did make it to the top but couldn't see to much, and the descent was quite misty.
It was too windy to keep the camera at the ready and the mists rolled away too quickly for me to get the camera out and on in order to get a picture. I also think I need a new camera as I can't seem to get what I can see in some of these landscapes.

Thundering and Lightning

Yesterday we had a more lazy day and ended up at the funicular railway at Cairn Gorm. We are planning to do the "Walk at the Top" on Wednesday so we hope the weather will stay good.
We did wander about the area though and spent some time in the Camera Obscura

Now you see it...

... now you don't

Since we had a chance to see the road, today we cycled from the cottage up towards Loch Morlich. This was a bit more what I had expected - completely off the road but on well maintained cycle paths. It was steady climb from the cottage to the loch. But it was fun and we felt good. The weather was good - cloudy but warm. We headed into the forest park and while we were deciding which further path to take Fiona commented on an air plane passing, knowing I tend to look at them, since the RAF fly Tornado over the area. A few minutes later while we were still deciding which way to go we noticed a flash out of the corner of our eyes, followed by another "air plane". We decided to take the loop back and we just heading off when the heavens opened with thunder and lightning. To say we speeded up would be an understatement - neither of us wanted to be atop a mountain with lightning. We eventually stopped when we realised that the rain was not going to stop for a while and since it was now hard to see the path. Eventually it stopped enough for us to continue and we headed back as quick as we could. Luckily it was all essentially downhill, but now the paths were quite wet and our brakes were not great, but we made it. I did have one particularly close call with a sharp turn but no harm was done. Needless to say by the time we got back to the cottage we were soaked through.

Don't you dare put this picture of me on your blog!

The real frustrating part was that the weather was coming in from behind us. Once we arrived at the cottage and peeled off our wet clothes I happened to turn around and see blue sky. Less than an hour later it was glorious evening.

Kingussie Cycle

Our first full day in Aviemore. The cottage is great. It actually backs onto the Strathspey Steam Railway line - we're having dinner on board on Friday night.

View from the breakfast table

Since we brought the bikes we are determined to use them, unlike at Center Parcs.

Before we headed off last week I had googled the area and looked at a few potential cycles. Based on what it looked like we decided to bring the mountain bikes instead of the road bikes because it seemed to be mostly off road trails. That was not the case as today was all on road but with very light traffic. I was using my old bike, which is now Ciaran's. I remembered why I got a new one - the gears are not suited to riding on the flat and the tyres are not suited to the road. We persevered and with lunch stops and all we managed 30 miles.
Terrain wise it was a bit of a mixed bag. Since both ends of the cycle are along the Spey river, there is not much altitude change between the 2 ends. The hills seemed a lot bigger than the map says they were though. It was certainly easier cycling back along the more main road but less enjoyable as there was more traffic. I did make use of the range of gears but I think it would have been better with my usual bike.
Fiona seems to have hurt her leg though. That may affect what we can do this week. Lets hope is nothing serious.

Airshow 2012

Ciaran and I spent the day at the air show at East Fortune airfield.
We were lucky with the weather - the cloud base was high enough not to obscure any of the display. It did mean that when the rain fell, and it did fall, it had more of a sting when it hit.
In total there were 17 performers in the programme, with the display running for the best part of 4 hours. That included the Red Arrows who put on a 20 minute display.

This was the second time I've been to the air show and I enjoyed it almost as much as last time 2 years ago. I say almost because despite the flying display being impressive, due to the fact that the runway is now unsuitable to land aircraft on, there are no static aircraft displays apart from the normal museum pieces. Since I seem to get to the museum about once a year, the pieces on permanent display are getting a bit familiar. Still though the flying display is worth seeing.
Ciaran did get to heft a Bren gun. His XBox seems to give him a scary amount of knowledge about guns.

The other aspect of the afternoon was the Army Surplus tent. Ciaran managed to find himself a camouflage jacket and a webbing set. Once we arrived back home he sat admiring himself in the reflection off the door.
The thing stinks to high heaven!

Cycling Success

Ciaran and I went out on the bikes on Wednesday. We did a simple run along National Cycle Route 7 from Troon into Eglinton Park. Nothing too dramatic, its something we do regularly - easy cycle paths and as its coastal is all pretty flat.
On the way back we did try to hook up with NCR 73 which ends in Kilmarnock, about 7 miles northeast of Troon.
Interestingly, but not enough for a visit, route 73 passes Dreghorn, where John Dunlop, inventor of the pneumatic tyre, and then founder the Irish company Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co. Ltd, was born.

Sadly our attempt to get onto Route 73 failed. Although these cycle routes are great - the surface tends to be high quality and they are car free, but they are signposted quite poorly. Compounded with local footpaths and you can get quite confused, especially when the signs are only 3 inches square in some cases.
The line in red is my log from my Garmin. The blue line going diagonally through the middle is what we were looking for.
We were on it at the start until the bridge. I then had the great idea that if we didn't cross that bridge and continued south we would come across another path which would join with our usual route 7. We didn't cross the bridge, continued south and actually found the path, but its still under construction, so we turned around and headed back tot he bridge and crossed. We then headed south again on the path. Easy. Until we missed a marker saying sharp left choosing to stay on the good condition path. As we looped back and passed under the very distinctive bridge we had just passed we accepted we missed the turn and would have a look at the map once we go home. Continuing north, past the bridge we thought we could rejoin the path but unless we headed into Irvine main street we couldn't. So turn around again and back to the bridge and cross again heading south. Via not too busy streets back onto the cycle path.
Once we got home and looked at the maps we could see the mistake and remembered the junction.

Today we decided to give it another go. Fiona is away "Going Ape" so its boys on their own.
Started out not too bad until about 3 miles in when I heard a metallic boong coming form behind. I stop and see Ciaran picking himself up from the ground having failed to see the second bollard. It hit his handlebar throwing him off. Luckily we were not going too fast as it was a sharp turn onto the path, and he fell onto grass, but he was a bit surprised.
Apart from that it was a great cycle. We ended up doing 35 miles in 3.25 hours, ending up in Dean Castle park.

Well done to Ciaran! A tumble and away from his xbox! And no complaints.

The importance of being Earnest

Had a fantastic evening out at Culzean Castle at an outdoor performance of The Importance of Being Earnest.

It was great.

We arrived with some folding camp chairs, a blanket, some hot chocolate, and some assorted munchies. Unfortunately forgot the midge repellent but luckily didn't need the umbrellas.
The munchies didn't last too long but then you have to be quiet so we needed to make short work of them.

I only had a basic knowledge of the story so I didn't really know what to expect. The 9 roles were played by 6 performers, with a Michael MacIntyre look alike playing a female role.
It was all very well done and quite enjoyable.

Table Tennis and a Wild Walk

Up sharp this morning.
Fiona had a Bollywood dance class while Ciaran and I went to badminton. Now that I have some grip back its rematch time!
Once we had all finished our respective activities we met up for a session of table tennis.

Ciaran seems to have all the moves with an elaborate Chinese style grip, but in reality I think we spent as much time picking up the ball as we did playing, something which seemed common between all the tables and the short tennis courts alongside.

After an early dinner we had a nature walk - 'What's out at dark'

It was quite interesting but apart from ducks and a glimpse at the badgers we didn't actually see anything. A woodpecker was pointed out fleeing from our approach, and the bat boxes were all empty. We did learn about the red squirrels - Whinfell is one of 6 red squirrel sanctuaries with paid 'wardens' who will actually cull any grey squirrel found - and ducks - the mallards will produce mainly males if food is plentiful and will have to be culled to ensure breeding and there is a set of albino mallards and their descendants on the lake.
The badgers have their own TV channel - there is a webcam feed into all the houses. We had seen it but never saw any activity and had only figured out it was a live feed on Tuesday.
Their sett and webcam is just down from where our cabin is and as we passed two badgers were out but low light and distance means blurry photos.
We also found out that the noisy bird outside our cabin is a partridge.