Royal Highland Show

After being cooped up in the hotel all week at least week's Produced water event, the best thing for me was a day out in the open air with all sorts of farm animals.
Fiona and her gang allowed me to tag along on their annual trip to the Highland Show in Ingliston in Edinburgh.
Again its was a  beautiful morning but an early start as we left Troon at 0830 to head east and try and avoid the worst of the traffic.
We made good time and weren't too badly affected by the traffic and met up with her pals by 1030. We then headed around the young farmers exhibition then onto the crafts and then quick through the horses and into the cows.
The horse were all in stalls facing outward so you could see them but with the low light not take great photos (unless you used a flash, which I didn't want to risk) The cows were all in rows but facing inward so really all you could see were cow bums. Some on the ends could be photoed but again i decided against the use of a flash so none came out great...
I just like the contrast between the tiny calf and the bull...

There were a lot of Shire horses with carriages, both single and double axle ones. And since they were outside they didn't need the flash. Seeing these huge animals is well impressive, especially working as a team. They only had single pairs so it never got as dramatic as the Budweiser hitch of four pairs, but you certainly know when a team is coming.

As with all shows there is also the new farm machenery. Its amazing how complex and high tech some of these machines are - GPS and satNav to ensure full even seeding. The tradional colours of blue for Ford and red for Massey Ferguson don't seem to hold the balance any more with a good selection of colours across the board. There what even looks like the Brokeback  Barnyard entry:

Until you realise its for Breast Cancer Awareness.

What really amazes me is the increase in size of these machines. the green Kramer could probably park under the Pink beast

A jar of Jelly beans

Just back from a week in Aberdeen at our annual Produced Water Workshop. This was the event held over from April due to the ash cloud.
It was a busy week - Tuesday Alick and I provided a training course on oil in water measurement; Wednesday and Thursday were the Workshop itself; and Friday was our Produced water Club meeting.
It was quite an interesting meeting but the one thing which no one mentioned (on the record) was the Gulf of Mexico. It will be interesting to see what happens there once the immediate problems have been addressed and it will be interesting to see how it affects the way the rest of us work.
One thing which was consistent though the 4 days was the jelly beans. Someone in the hotel's management though tit would be a good idea to put out individually wrapped Jelly Belly jelly beans on each table. Sadly they look like hard sweets and not too many were eaten by the delegates. Whatever were left were 'rescued' and 'liberated' by us. By the end of the week I had over a litre of the beans!

Airborne

Ciaran suggested we go out for a cycle ride yesterday - he's finally beginning to realise that life is not all xbox.
He actually suggested a long though easy run along Cycle Route 7 from the house north through Irvine to the harbour, back along the same path, past the house and down to Barassie beach, along the front, out to the end of the runway at Prestwick and back via Fullerton Woods. All in all about 25 miles. We decided to bring lunch and invite Fiona along.
It was a lovely day, though a bit cool when you were out of direct sunlight. The sun was enough to burn though if like me you avoid suncream.

 After we ate we headed back along route 7 towards Troon and down to the beach. North Beach was reasonable quiet with the wind surfers out and the barbecues just beginning. South Beach was a mes though - I haven't seen that many people down there in ages. Despite the cycle path (why do some people insist on walking on the only bit specifically marked out for bikes?) we made cautious progress past the throngs to the top of Fullerton Drive where Ciaran called a stop due to a dodgy water bottle. When we started up again Ciaran should have brought us over the bridge and then back along to the path to Prestwick but he forgot.Straight away about 3 miles snipped from the cycle. We continued on into Fullerton woods and had a break up by the swing park where Fiona came to the rescue with a bag of sweets.
After finishing the pack we headed off again with Ciaran and I enjoying a simple chase when suddenly disaster struck. Ciaran decided to brake suddenly, too suddenly for me. I hit the back of his bike and flipped over him and it landing on the verge on my right shoulder with the bike pretty much still on me. It was all quiet for a moment while we got our breath back and took stock.
Luckily neither of us was hurt but were both bruised and shaken. Initially Ciaran was concerned that I would be mad but the potential seriousness meant I was simply grateful that we were ok.
Even his bike survived though mine didn't quite. The front tyre was completely flat, blown by the impact (I hope. I haven't had the opportunity to get it looked at yet). Fiona and Ciaran headed off to get the car then collected me as i walked the last mile and a half home.
Ciaran's ankle is sore though he had to be reminded later that evening when he was jumping up and down; my leg is badly bruised and my shoulder is quite sore, though I don't think anything serious. Oddly my hand is quite sore,along my little finger of my left hand. Hopefully the bikes will be OK as we are taking them to Arran with us at the start of July...

Ice Cream at the Loan's Gala

Today was the annual Loan's Gala day, and in what seems to have become the local tradition the Cubs and Scouts were out raising funds - the Cubs by selling ice cream and the Scouts by breaking plates.

When I say Cubs and Scouts I am being quite loose with the term. Dave and I  only saw 3 cubs the entire day. The Scouts fared a little better with Colin having 3 scouts around.
We have an easy plan - sell ice cream to the punters. We also have cans, but we focus on the ice cream. We used to also do popcorn - that was an earner until the popper broke down a few years back. The scouts offer 10 golfballs for 50p to fling at the crockery pinned to the back wall - a great stress releaser.
Despite being stuck in the tent for the entire day, it seemed a great day. The weather was quite nice, though a little breezy. Just the sort of day that needs an ice cream cone. The event started at 1300 and for the next 2.5 hours straight we sold our entire stock. First to finish were the flakes for the 99s. But we could offer chocolate sauce as an alternative. Then the cones ran out and we had to proceed with disposable cups. But finally the last of the ice cream ran out and we had t let the queue know.
For the next hour we sold out stock of cans - the burger van were selling theirs for £1 but ours were only 80p so 2 scouts with a cooler stood near the top of the burger van queue and emptied the cooler twice.


Dave just emailed to say we made almost £160 profit ! Well done us.


 

Falkirk Wheel

Since it was a lovely day Fiona, Ciaran and I headed out to the Falkirk Wheel. Ciaran and I hadn't been for a while and Fiona had never been there. As the wheel joins two canals, be decided to bring the bike with us and get some miles in on the level paths.

The wheel is pretty amazing (even from a non technical geeky point of view). Originally, a series of 11 locks were required to get traffic from one canal across the 35m height difference to the other, a process that would take most of the day. Now, the wheel will do it in about 4 minutes (well only the first 24 metres), for little power use.
Traffic from the Forth & Clyde canal come into the basin via a lock. They then enter the gondola which will then close, sealing the boat and its water in. At the same time the upper gondola has its own boat or is simply full of water. The clever bit is that provided the water level in both gondolas remain equal, the weight in both are equal. (Archimede's Principle).Power is applied to simply push the two balanced gondolas around. Once at the top the gondola hatch open and the boat sails out onto the viaduct. This is still 11m lower than the Union canal due to the Antonine Wall, a Roman wall built to keep the Scots away from the soft Italians.
To avoid the wall the canal goes under it and the adjacent railway line and opens into a pond where two of the original locks had been moved to, allowing access to the Union canal.

We had a pleasant cruise on the canal with a trip up and luckily back down again on the wheel. Despite it being such a tourist attraction, that was never in the original plan. use of the waterways has been increasing over the years and when the Millennium Commission asked for proposals for improving the use of the canals, reconnecting the 2 canals was suggested.

After our little boat trip and our lunch, we collected our bikes and headed along to the Union canal (so we climbed at least 35m) and then headed towards Polmont. There was a reason why we chose the Union Canal - its a contour canal so, apart from the 2 locks at the end of the wheel,  it should be totally flat.
Off we headed and it was totally flat, but was flat by cheating. One bit which it should have gone over or around, it went through, leading us into the 630m Falkirk Tunnel.

 This was dark, wet and slippery, and we took the advice about dismounting, despite the handrail. We hadn't gone too far on the other side of the tunnel when we realised how late it was getting, considering that we still had more than an hours drive home after we got back to the car.
By the time we got back to the tea room we were pleasantly tired so we soon packed the car and headed home.
All in all a great day but only 12miles cycled. I will need to get my distances up in time for Maggies next year.

Trim the Tree

Next door have got the tree people in. the trees are too big for the garden and are putting a lot of pressure onto the fence and the roof of my shed - usual problem the people who planted them forgot that they grow to be quite a bit bigger then when they are planted.

So we've had two guys here this afternoon with chainsaws "trimming"
The scene before:(taken in July and August '09)

The impact on the garden is amazing! The extra light makes the garden almost unrecognisable.

Of course, now the grass will grow back here...
Naturally there are downsides. The magpies living in the trees have been forced out. They are currently trying to force out the magpies living in the trees to the front of the house, with some amazingly loud battles going on.

On the road again

Out on the bike for the first time since the Maggies Event.
Ciaran and I headed out along cycle route 7 to the bottom of the runway at Prestwick Airport. It was nice to be out but I noticed that the bike didn't survive the ordeal of the Maggies event quite intact. Firstly the cycle computer's battery is done, probably been switched to scan while in the house. More worrying is the broken spoke and buckle in the rear tyre - I will need to get those sorted before too much additional damage is done.

Monster Killer

After 5 months of training we finally had our Maggies Monster Bike and Hike last weekend. This was the 30 mile cross country bike ride followed by 8 (Bronze), 22 (Silver) or 43 (Gold) miles hike along the Great Glen from Fort William all the way to Inverness for those Gold challengers. The money raised is for Maggie's cancer caring Centres. As a company this is our 5th year of participation (and only the 7th for the event).
There were 10 of us in the end - 4 doing Gold, 4 doing Silver and 2 doing Bronze (though 1 was unofficial and was tagging along with his dad), and our support team of 3.

 After leaving the office with our 2 vans we had a fairly uneventful drive up to Fort William (only 1 wrong turn and I wasn't even driving). We checked into the B&Bs, went to registration, attended the Pasta Party and the safety briefing. We then bought some beer and headed back to the B&B to prepare for the next day. The plans were made, the instructions isued, breakfast ordered and beer drunk. So we headed off to bed.
Saturday morning was somewhat damp while we were having our 0700 breakfast. The Golds were starting at 0830 so they were already gung ho and chomping at the bit to get started.  Since I wasn't starting til 1000 I wished them luck and then went back to my room to shower.
All too soon Ken and Walter were back to collect us and bring us down to the start line. Since the Gold starts were hoping to complete the bike run in 2 hours, Ken and Karen couldn't wait with us for the start as they had to get to Fort Augustus in case the others did hit their target time, but Walter took good care of us.

The weather was a mixed blessing - it was cool and overcast for the cycle (it actually rained on the earlier starts, some of the showers quite heavy) but would clear and brighten for the walk; but get cold overnight. The problem was the wind. It was a cold northerly breeze which would be in our faces for the entire event and cause wind chill overnight temperatures of -10C. Personally, it was the in our faces bit that really bugged me - apparently its only the second time that the wind during the event has not been favourable.

Finally it was time to head for the start, and with a piper leading us off, we started.
Almost immediately I had a problem - the strap from my helmet had worked loose and I had to stop and fix it. This dropped me back to the last person on the road, but i then hooked up with Mike and Bob who despite working with the organisers, were tacking the event. between the 3 of us we were able to work our way up the field as it was spreading out until I could catch June and John. Gayle had already been left behind and Colin had headed on ahead. As this was what we had expected we accepted it and settled in for the remainder of the cycle.
The cycle started out quite well. The first 6 miles were flat along the canal, and despite the headwind it was the sheer number of other people that limited movement. We then were on country road up until the first water point at about 10.5 miles. After this point we were on forest track. It wasn't great quality surface - rutted earth with hard core where the holes were too severe to cross. The main concern was how wet it was. Although it wasn't raining the earlier cyclists (about 600 of them - there were 961 in total) had churned up the surface quite badly. There were more climbs this leg (about 150m in total) but the descents were the real issue. At one point I was descending with brakes applied to control my speed. I soon noticed that both wheels were locked in a river of mud and I was still accelerating. With a nervous shout i let go of the brakes and went whistling past June and John and was able to recover before hitting anything. The final section was the worst however. It was proper off road cycling.  A dirt path about 2 feet wide with rocks hidden in the deep mud. This was what they never told us about. This is where we walked especially on the first bit with switchbacks and impossibly tight corners. My road tires really couldn't cope and unless I got a run at it it had t walk up and I was slipping. The constant on and off was then causing my calves and thighs to cramp.
At least we had the final 5 miles in along the canal. This would be easy and normally it was. For us it had a headwind and we struggled to make any progress at all. At least my legs felt OK but by now my toes were numb and I had to take them out of the toe clips. It was also about this time that i regretted not buying that gel over seat for my saddle.
The three of us finally made it into Fort Augustus with a total time of 4:39:38. My trip computer recorded it at 4:12:51 which of course takes into account the 2 water stops and me fixing my helmet. After meeting our support team and hearing about the gold and Colin we three got something to eat and I went for a massage and soon we were ready to head out for the walking part of the day.
At 15:45 we headed out for the 8 miles to Invermoriston.  I was concerned about keeping up with June and John but we had earlier agreed that they wouldn't wait for me as they were going further and had to consider that. Still i was concerned that after a few minutes we hit our first steep climb and i was being left. As I climbed my calf muscles would cramp slowing me. At the top of the climb they had to adjust their packs and I soon caught them. Having forgotten my route map I wasn't quite sure how far we had come and was disappointed to find it was only about a mile. We soon headed off together and as we came to our first descent my thighs began to cramp.
Soon June and John were ahead of me again and were slowly leaving me. The rhythm of the walk then started - I could walk easily on the flat but my calves would cramp on the climbs and my thighs on the descents, each time slowing me until I got onto the flat again. I could see J&J ahead of me, never too far ahead. The walk was not that bad an experience (apart from the cramps). I was concerned about my feet but they were fine. My major disappointment was the scenery - we were in forest for most of the time and I really counld see much of anything - but I knew what was just on the other side of the trees. Forget about seeing the monster I was lucky to just see the loch! Luckily just past mile marker 35 the were some felled trees and the vista opened up. Now that was more like it:

 Sadly by now I was beginning to suffer. I thought there was a water station 4.5 miles in on the walk. I was certainly past that and there was no sign.Luckily I only had to get to marker 38 and I had already passed 35. Finally around a corner I saw the water station with the notice 35.7 miles covered, 4.2 to next station. Someone's math was not right and the marshals at the water station knew it. Its only another hour and a half they assured me. June and John had just left a few minutes before I arrived. After refilling my bottle off i went on the last 4.2 miles. After another hour walking I came across the first bench on the entire walk, being used as a cheer point by another marshal. He assured me that there was barely 1.5 miles left, but I decided to sit for a few minutes anyway before heading off on the last little leg. Having seen the map and knowing where I was boosted my speed and in 30 minutes I was approaching the Bronze finish.

Naturally, there was a ramp up to the finish but by now I was feeling quite elated, especially as John and June were still there, just about to leave. i was able to wish them well for the next 15 miles.
My official time was 3:40:20 for the 9 mile walk giving me  a total time of 9:26:14 for the entire event (including a 1:06:16 bike/walk handover stage)
I went in for another massage and my calves were quite sore by now. I went in for a massage and told the masseuse my number, 501. She then asked my name and as my elation hadn't quite passed, I replied "Levi's" to which all the others started to laugh. When she realised she'd been had she reminded me that a massage could actually be quite painful. Sadly for my my calf cramped while she was massaging my leg and she ended up spending about 20 minutes sorting it. She later declared that my legs were "very angry", presumably with me.
Since Invermoriston is  a self supporting station I had to get the bus back to Fort Augustus where Walter was waiting. He had news of Gayle - she had a particularly bad cycle and came in dead last but quickly changed and headed out on the walk. She was still planning Silver but probably wouldn't be allowed to start due t the time of day. We would go back to Invermoriston and wait for he to come in. There was a little bit of confusion over who was still out walking but finally everything was sorted and Gayle arrived in at 2130 with her total time being 11:24:28.
The three of us then headed up to Drumnadrochit for the Silver finish and Gold start.
Soon after we arrived the 4 Gold team were heading out for the final 17 miles. They seemed in good spirits but wee John (yeah we had 3 Johns and a June) was in a little discomfort but wanted to continue.

 This was at 23:00 for them after 14.5 hours. I wished them well because I knew that as soon as Colin came in we would be heading back to to East Kilbride.
After some false info Colin did make it in at 23:48 for a total time of 13:46:04. By now it was pitch dark and the orange route arrows were not really visible any more. Having considered this the organisers arranged for glow sticks to mark junctions. Sadly local 'yoofs' decided it would be cool to move these causing some problems in the dark. Following Colin's problems we contacted J&J and advised them to be careful.
Colin, Walter and I then got into the support van and headed back to EK, finally getting back down about 0500. I then had to re-attach my bike rack and load up finally getting home about 0600.
By this time i could barely walk.

The Gold team would continue until 0530 Sunday morning before finishing the Gold Challenge together with total times of 20:58. Wee John however didn't make it that far and had to be stopped on medical reasons at one of the check point through the night. He was hospitalised to observation and released later that night.
June and John continued with the Silver challenge finishing at 01:45 sunday morning for total time of 15:43

Ashes to Ashes

I'm supposed to be in Aberdeen by now.
I was scheduled to give 3 lectures at an oil in water training course tomorrow and then attend our produced water conference over the next 2 days and then the club meeting on Friday.
We should have left around 1400 today but this morning there were a number of emails from presenters saying they were unable to get onto the island due to the flight restrictions.
It's looking like we will have to reschedule for later in the year.
This is the second time I've had a training event cancelled on me. The last time was in September when there weren't enough delegates.

It's not fair...

Fiona and I went back to Whitelee to do the same loop that Ciaran and I did last weekend.
The main difference this week was the wind - there was a lot more of it than when Ciaran and I were here.
Anyway, we set off from the visitor's centre, with me just about notices a sign saying the car park would close promptly at 1700.
The wind was coming from almost due west, and as is typical when its on your back, we totally underestimated its strength.
We got up to turbine 48 where we stopped for lunch. It was here that we  really noticed the cold edge to the wind as we tried to shelter at the base of the mast.
Once we reached turbine 63 and started "back" the wind really took hold. As we crested any ridge the wind would hit us from over the top. This would get worse! Soon the wind got so bad that we had to cycle down the hills in order to keep moving.
As we struggled our pace naturally dropped.
Suddenly I remembered the sign. I asked Fiona if she noticed it but she hadn't and I wasn't sure if the closing time was 1700 or 1800. It was now 1630 and we were about 3 miles away from the centre. Then the panic set in. Luckily the pace was increased a bit and the last stretch had the wind somewhat on our back. Still it was touch and go - we only made it into the car park with 5 minutes to spare. Luckily they weren't quite so rigid with there closing time and we had enough time to rack the bikes and get the car out of the car park. Still though it was only 1710 when they did lock the gate and leave.
Probably the hardest cycling I have done in ages. Lots of climbing and nasty headwinds.

First Sunburn of the Year

Fiona has been away curling in Stranraer all weekend. Its a knock-out competition of all the cup winnings teams through the year. I had said that i would drive down to cheer her on but sadly she didn't progress to the finals. However, since it was such alovely day I headed down anyway and we went into Port Patrick for a wander and lunch.

When we got there it seemed that almost everyone else in the region had the same idea. The village was absolutely packed, and there was a remarkable number of bikers there, all in their leather gear and diet cokes.
We wandered back and forth along the front a few times before heading to one of the pubs for lunch. After that we headed back to the sea wall and just sat and watched the ocean, with my face getting its lobster colour for the first time this year.
After dropping Fiona back in Stranraer we stayed to watch some of the final and playoff for 3rd place, me keeping fairly quiet to avoid drawing too much attention to my ignorance of the sport.
As I drove back north to go home the sun was setting over Ireland with a light mist over the Firth of Clyde.

Beautiful but Bleak

Another Saturday and another trip to Whitelee.
It was a lovely day so we decided to take a packed lunch and try to get further into the windfarm than we had managed before. Basically we wanted to try the longer path that we gave up on last time due to bad weather (see here) .
Since the weather was better we planned to start at the visitor centre and do our usual loop bringing us out onto the spine road at turbine 14. From there we would turn left and head into the park, turning left at turbine 33. From there we would see how we felt, but hoped to cross over at 75 and follow the spine road all the way back.
Once we arrived, it was fairly busy, but not packed. While I unloaded the bikes Ciaran went to get a new map. Over the winter Whitelee has produced new maps. This time they are on A4 card. One side is a detail of the area around the visitor centre while the other side has the entire wind farm. The turbines markers no longer obscure the paths, meaning a few dead ends are more easily identified, and the new maps have contour line. An official 8 mile circuit has also been marked out.
Armed with our new maps, and with packed lunch in my new pannier, we headed out.
It was a lovely day to be out in the open. Temperature wise it was quite good - warm enough not to be chilled and cool enough not to sweat too much. With bright sunlight the shadows of the blades passing over the path were somewhat off putting, catching the corner of your eye as they sped past.

Considering the number of people who have recently been hurt here, coming off bikes, we decided to rein our speed in on some of the steeper descents.
As we came along turbine 73 we met John and his wife out for a walk, so we walked with them for about a mile and then continued on with our cycle. When we reached the spine road we agreed that we would continue and headed left into the farm. When we got to 33 we headed left into "Drum Duff" which opens with a nasty little 15m climb (three contours), levels off and then has another climb of 25m before levelling off at turbine 48 (only about 1km from the junction) where we had lunch.
For some reason this area looks bleaker than the rest of the windfarm so far.Perhaps its because relatively few people come this way, or you can't see the Lochgoin reservoir. The recent logging hasn't helped, with the area looking blasted.

Before we turned up at 33, there was a sign on the spine road than indicated it was closed to allow for logging. With this in mind we decided to only go as far as 75 and then cut down to 79 and then back past 63 to 48 in a big loop. Once we got back to 48 is was a rapid descent back down to the spine road and then all the way back to the visitor centre.
All in all, 16 miles in just over 2 hours.

Grand Day Out

A gang of us headed to Millport, more correctly the Isle of Cumbrea, to go cycling. Its about a 15 minute sail from Largs, which is about 30 minutes up the road from home. Fiona regularly goes out on these expeditions and since Ciaran and I were available we tagged along.
Despite it being cold it was a lovely breezy day. Fiona collected us and we met up with her pals Laurie and Sheila at the ferry car park where we left the cars. The other two, Colin and David, were bringing the car.
After meeting up on the ferry and arriving on the island we headed out in an anti-clockwise direction (which seems to be the normal direction to head off in on bikes). 
The cycling was quite low key as it has been the first time out for most of them in a while, certainly this year. We headed around to the Fintry Bay tearoom where we all had a roll and square sausage.
After we had eaten we headed out again, continuing our lap of the island. By the time we all got to the ferry the two 'serious' cyclists we saw on the ferry had completed their 3rd lap. Once we had settled, we headed back to the tearoom  (clockwise this time) for lunch.
Ciaran was great. He hasn't quite figured out the cycling just for the fun, but he would cycle ahead until he saw something interesting to climb on where he would dismount and climb rocks or throw stones. After a few minutes we would move on again and thus our laps were completed.
2 laps in total, just shy of 21 miles in a little over 2 hours cycle time, pretty much all day, but a good day.

Neither Hail, nor...

Ciaran and I headed back to Whitelee today for what was planned to be a longer cycle. We decided to turn left once we got back to the spine road and head up towards the Drum Duff group of turbines. Depending on what the conditions were like we hoped to rejoin the spine road at turbine 79 or maybe even 115 (see map) and then return along the spine road.
Since the visitor centre has just reopened we brought lunch with the knowledge that we could get hot drinks if needed. By the time we left Troon it had just started to rain, but since it had been bright all morning we figured it would blow through, and it did.
It was near one by the time we actually started to cycle. I think I prefer starting from the spine road - you don't have the ski jump start from the visitor centre to turbine 40 and you don't have to end with that climb back up. It was quite windy but with the sun out it didn't seem so cold.
By the time we got tot he steep fast descent between 71 and 87 Ciaran was in good form and headed down the hill at good speed, with me behind him. At the bottom its gets quite rough with large fist sized rocks across the path. The plan is to go through it at a fast enough pace that you don't fall, keeping a light grip on the handle bars, and bouncing through the rough. As I watched, Ciaran bum left the seat and the bike left the ground. He headed left while the bike went right. Before I could call out all had come back together and landed and continued up the other side. I came along side and asked how he was "terrified but good fun".
We continued on our was from 88 to 29 which I think is the bleakest, most exposed bit of the trip. Sure enough it began to spit rain the droplets like ball bearings pushed by the wind. Luckily, that didn't last long - it turned into hail and we had to shelter. of course there was nowhere to shelter so Ciaran simply huddles in front of me while my back took the brunt of the showers.

Once we started off again Ciaran said that it was a bit too cold for him and could we just head back to the visitor centre. Of course we were exactly at the halfway point of our normal route so we simply agreed to head back to the car and not further into the windfarm. The trip down the spine road was difficult with the wind as strong as it was but at least it didn't rain (or hail) again.
Sadly our final run up the hill towards the visitor centre was spoiled for Ciaran by pedestrians - despite the good surface he couldn't get enough speed to get him far enough up the other side and had to walk the final little bit - he still needs to figure out how his gears work and how to best manage them.
All in all a great day with me very proud of his ability.
As we were packing the car to go home we bumped into Fiona's brother, his wife and daughter just heading out for their cycle - lets hope they didn't get any hail.

We also saw this rather odd trike. The guy got it down from the car and set it up. He seemed to steer by leaning and I couldn't see how he would pedal it, until he took a pair of huskies out of the car and tethered them into the harness.

Whitelees sheds a blade

Was out at Whitelees with Fiona on Saturday morning.
On the way in we noticed that none of the turbines were spinning with any great speed. Most were stopped but a couple were turning lazily in the wind. We initially thought that the wind speed was simply too low to spin the blades but re visited that decision when we turned to cycle into the wind. We did notice a turbine with only 2 blades and wondered if that had something to do with it.

I mentioned it to a few guys once I got back into the office and it turns out that the turbine shed a blade at about 0200 on Saturday morning, about 10 hours before we got there. The entire site was shut down while they investigated the cause. At least that makes sense, by the time we had finished cycling we could see staff working on the turbine nearest the damaged one.

After the Snow

The snow is finally away from Whitelee and Ciaran and I headed out for a cycle. He has never been cross country and was keen to see what its like.
I noticed through the week that the normal entrance is not available - they seem to be increasing the car park. That's good news as the car park was way too small, but we will have to go in via the spine road rather than the visitor centre.
Its amazing to see the place without all the snow. It was totally covered only 10 days ago, but apart from the reservoir still having some ice and a few isolated snow patches, you would never know. The roads aren't even all that wet!

 Given that Ciaran has never been off road he did really well. He took it easy down the first descent but opened up on the second one. There is a lot of loose rock and the surface is not good - he did well to keep control. He was more impressed when we got round to the other side and could see the hill we came down.

The H[ouse] is alive to the sound of music

I was sitting on the sofa one night. There was nothing particular I wanted to watch so i decided to put on some music. Rather than using my micro system I decided to use my mp3 player as it has other music which I've downloaded on it and the micro system pre dates mp3, CDRW and the whole DRM issue.
While I was listening to my music it occurred to me that I was using a huge amount of storage for the CDs I had on display. Everything on the shelves, and in the unit beside me, and the music I'd bought online all fit onto my mp3 player, which was only the size of half a deck of cards. There has to be new stereos with built in hard drives which can free up all this storage. If an mp3 player with 16Gb, FM radio and colour screen costs less than £100 18 months ago then there should be some nice systems on the market.
Only there's not.
Why? Apple have killed the stereo market. They have developed the iPod dock which allows an ipod to connect to a stereo and have its music played through the system, in a managed way. Of course I can connect my mp3 to the stereo via the line in but I have to pump the volume up and it drains the battery.
So is there anything other than Apple? Its seems that there is little choice. There is a cheap system but it has a locked in hard disk - I would have to rip all my discs again and there is no way to transfer tracks on or off the disk. There is the Brennan machines (very nice and tempting) but they lack a radio, not that i listed to the radio that much, but if I was replacing the AM/FM, CD, cassette player it had to be with more than just a CD player. Sony had just what i wanted but none were in stock n the entire western Scottish region (plus at over £800 it wasn't happening).
Since I had already ripped the music why didn't I just stream from my pc? The main reason is that the pc is about as far from green as you can go. Since my mp3 gives 18 hours playback from a single charge can I justify the CO2 generating pc being on just to push music out to another device?
USB support was my one hope. Many new stereos have a usb port where you can connect a thumb drive and have it play the music. I would take a drive with a sample of music and test the local systems. By now a few months have passed and there is less choice than ever in the shops. Most machines i looked would play the music as loaded onto the thumb drive's folder system. One system did however scan the drive and offer tracks according to artist, genre and album. So I went for it, the Phillips Streamium station. As it was ex display I got it cheaper but without a box or manual. I got it home and set it all up and have been quite pleased - until I downloaded the manual and found out that its the centre I really want as it has a hard disk I can push tracks onto.  A quick look shows this is a £600 plus expense, if it was available which is seems not to be. Ebay is a friend and I managed to actually get the centre cheaper than I got the station.
Once it arrived I set it all up but it seems to work best if you can network it to a pc as the control software is all pc based. Off we went for a wireless router for the house and with remarkable little difficulty I had a new network set up. The Pc and the centre are wired to the router, while the station upstairs in my bedroom and my netbook are both wirelessly connected. The xbox is now also wired into the net for its uploads. I can listed to music from the stereo which is stored on its hard drive. I can wirelessly transmit that to the station upstairs to listed to the same music or an internet radio station.
The only thing I can't seem to get is FM reception but who listens to radio...

Even More Training...

Its the first dry weekend that Ciaran is with me ( and not away skiing in the Alps or camping in the Highlands) so we have a cycling weekend planned. A run with Fiona into Irvine today and a trek around Whitelees for the boys tomorrow. Well that was the plan. It snowed again on Wednesday, pretty much all day. It was thawing but more snow on Thursday night/friday seems to have made Whitelees not an option. Still we had today.
Although it was a nice looking morning it was cold, especially with the moist breeze. Of course, that normally would be an excuse for going fast. We could see the amount of snow on Arran and at the windfarm over by Dalry and figured that Whitelees would be worse.
We ended up being out jut over 90 minutes for the 13 mile run, but that was over fairly flat terrain.
Back to the house for soup, crusty bed and hot tea (coffee and hot chocolate for the others)

There is now only about 8 weeks til the Maggies event and active fundraising has to begin. I will have to print out the sponsor form and start harassing the badminton crowd! Being older, they won't like using the online sponsor form at http://www.justgiving.com/tuvnel-maggies-team-2010
(subtle hint for those who I cannot physically accost)

Training Continues

Out for another bike run this morning (its saturday so morning is anything before 1400). The numbers are getting lesser and lesser - today there were only two of us. We decided on a short sharp run as both of us have plans for this evening.
It was a glorious day up on the moor. Its still a bit wet from the winter, but since its built on bog I don't really expect it to ever properly dry out. Winds were low and coming from the north east (as opposed to our normal south westerly prevailing wind, but NE wind is cold and dry while SW wind is warm and wet)

Of course, I forgot to bring my map with me, but I felt we could manage. Off we set but within a few minutes we had a route problem. I felt we should have gone left instead of right. Colin had a map, we checked and turned back only to find that the left led down to a single turbine with no route out. We were right all along. So we retraced our steps and continued on our way.
For some reason all the gates were open today which made it much easier - going over the cattle grids at high (ish) speed is better than having to navigate the spring loaded pedestrian gates.
It was quite busy also, i guess the dry warm (for this time of year and location) weather brought everyone out.
At the end of the day we did 8.25 miles in 53 minutes. This is an average of just over 9 miles an hour. Its an improvement on last week (but not over the same course) but as we spent more time on the tracks rather then the spine road I'm happy to count it as an improvement.
I'm still not confident on the rough surface. Some of the rocks are quite big! I know you are supposed to just bounce over them but I can't help but keep close rein on my brakes keeping my speed down. This then compromises me on the next climb. Live and learn I suppose.

Maggies Lunch

Since the Maggies Monster Bike and Walk is a fund raising event the team decided to hold a fund raising lunch. Team members would bring in items for lunch and the rest of the staff would support us by showing up and buying lunch and raffle tickets.
Stretching myself to my limits, I made a chocolate and vanilla marble cake which I was very proud of.

 

There was a great spread of food - soups, cold meats, green salads, pasta salads, rice salads, curry, chilli, sausage rolls, pakora,  crisps, crunchy veg, salsa, dips, cakes and a chocolate fountain.

A great afternoon was held by all.

And we raised over £300, so we're that much closer to our target.

Dermot 1 - Whitelees 1

Out today on the bikes for training session 2. Maggies (the 30 mile bike ride and up to 50 mile walk, but I only plan to do 8, Bronze) is coming up soon and my quick runs up to Irvine with Fiona or Ciaran are not providing me with the off road, hill climbing in mud that seems to be required.
Whitelees is the preferred training ground. The new windfarm boasts over 90km of track which closely approximates what we should find at the maggies event.

 

The first time I was out was before Christmas (middle of November actually). It was a miserable wet windy (windfarm, D'oh) saturday and the rest cried off.  The routes are nicely organised with maps and each mast numbered and signposted. I headed into the red section down by the lakes and did about 10k and felt pretty good about it.

This morning was a bit nicer. The ice of the past few weeks had finally gone and the temperature was above zero. It was dry, but threatening but the wind wasn't that bad. Of course being a  windfarm, there was still quite a breeze. There were only three of us going out, me, John and his son and we decided on a simple run down the spine road to 33 and then explore up in the blue "Drum Duff" estate.

Off we headed at a reasonable pace. We would get enough speed up to try let momentum drag us up the hills. So far so good. Then we came to the junction for mast 33. John said to turn left at the bottom of the hill, but that there was a climb so try and keep speed up. So I did, but hten noticed that there was standing water and deep mud through the junction. Had we been continuing straight I may have risked it but seeing as we were turning I felt it was safer to slow doand and take the corner in one piece. Of course I now had no momentum for the hill. And that hurt. By the time I had caught up with the others I was seeing down a dark tunnel. Once we moved on again and took the next bit of the climb I was completely wasted. Luckily they waited for me at mast 48 and I did make it there without getting off the bike, but it was a close thing.

John then took pity on me and suggested that we head back the way we came. I didn't put up too much of an argument.

So I see it as 1 all. Granted I had been at the gym friday night, and excuse I used liberally today. John reckons that today was equal to the middle 10k of the event. The first 10k would be harder and the last 10k easy on canal tow path. Still I got an eye opener.

Roll on next week and see what happens

New Year's Swim

When I arrived in at work for my first day back after the Christmas holidays, few people were saying things like "well done" "fair play""crazy" and "I saw your picture in the paper".

By the time I got to my desk there were about half a dozen people following me/waiting for me.

Totally confused I try to find out whats going on - apparently there is a picture of "me" in the Sun (Jan 2, pg 13) ice swimming. Having broken through 3 inchs of ice we all went for a swim. "Not me" and then they show me the picture - it took me two looks before I was convinced it wasn't me.

Total doppleganger (in a small poor picture) but scarily similar. I couldn't believe it. I then had to put up with scores of people asking about the swim "It wasn't me" "are you sure, it really looks like you" "yes, i'm pretty sure its not me, but it does look like me"

Happy Halloween

Considering that it's a lovely night, it has been a very quiet evening .
So far, only 4 people have been to the door (four very bad jokes) and only a few fireworks.
It's not even that they are not coming down the cul de sac, there seems to be no noise out there at all. Having said that, Ciaran didn't want to go out either so he decided to stay in and help with the sweets. We also watched the "Frighteners" - about the only scary film I have that he can safely watch.

Happy Halloween to all the monsters and witches I know.

Whitelee Windfarm

It was a beautiful day today so we headed out to the Whitelee Windfarm. It seems like everyone else in the EK area had the same idea also, so it was a bit of a challenge actually getting onto the site. Once on the site there is plenty of room - the place is massive - over 140 turbines and 90km of trails for walking and cycling. Its a clever idea to make the grounds into a park it both allows people to get up and close to the turbines and opens up what was moorland and commercial woodland.
The visitor centre is run by the same crowd that do the Glasgow Science Centre. There was plenty of info on the environmental aspects and the generation of electricity from wind, but not a huge amount on the mechanical aspects of these turbines.

The bit that is hard to appreciate is the immense size of these turbines. Yes, you can see them for miles, turning slowly in the breeze. And I had been up close to them before on Myre's Hill where we have our turbine lab (I'll need to check will Ali just where on the Whitelee's map Myre's Hill fits in). But you cannot appreciate just how big or powerful these things are until you stand under one when the wind is blowing.
The two pictures here show the same turbine, which is number 40 from the map. On the first one you can just make out the green shed at the base of the turbine, while on the second pic you can see it compared to my Dad.
Once the site quiets down Ciaran and I will have to take the bikes out and cycle some of the paths...

Birthday party

It was Ciaran's birthday party yesterday.
His grandparents were over since Tuesday night and he had a few friends around for a small party during the day and then we went out for dinner down to Troon's Jade Dragon.
Sounds simple?
My folks booked their flights ages ago, got a good deal but their weekends mixed up and with the school holiday wouldn't see Ciaran at all. But then they were supposed to be at a retirement party so the may have to come back early if they could get the flights. But then the ex had to work and change our arrangements. Perfect. Now my folks get to see Ciaran. But since they can't get the flights changed they may have to attend the retirement party. So they might not make their planned trip anyway.
So, for Ciaran I thought an xbox party would be a good idea. Until the console died the week before the party. Out of warrently but Game were willing to have it fixed under the sale of goods act free of charge. It was only collected on tuesday so the chances of it being back by saturday were slim. Sunday night and my mum confirmed tht they would be coming over for the week as originally intended.
By now of course there are no tickets left to book for the 'The Jacobite' the Harry Potter steam train run from Fort Wiliam to Mallaig but maybe some available on the day. With no xbox I thought we could all do the train run (but not the steam train as it finished for the season) and looked at prices for that.
Tuesday and Ciaran and I agreed that perhaps the xbox was nt happening and what other options were there. Bowling was considered. Ciaran would get me four names by wednesday
By wednesday I had a replacement xbox from Jim who would bring his in on thursday and the train run was put on hold. I never got the names though, but as the xbox waas back on it wasn't an issue. On thursday Jim was late in and forgot the xbox but would bring it friday, if I would come in for it. Ciaran called and confirmed 5 names which with him and me would be too many for the car to take safely, but we now had an xbox so that was ok.
Friday i went in and got the xbox then bought munchies for the party. Friday night telephoned the guys to confirm attendence and duration.
Saturday was cool. 4 guys showed upa nd they xboxed for a while , ate for a while and then played with Ciaran's soldiers for a while before heading home again. Almost like a quiet cub's night.

Once everyone was gone and everything was cleaned up we headed down to the jade Palace for dinner. As ever very good, but almost too much to eat, and that was with Ciaran picking from the platters.

Penne Pollo a la Ciaran

Ciaran made his penne pollo a la Ciaran tonight.
Basically its seasoned chicken mixed with peppers and corn in a creamy sauce served with penne pasta. The secret is in the seasoning whcih included crushed red and yellow chilli peppers, garlic, black and red peppercorn, oregano and basil. the sauce is Cambells (now knorr) condensed chicked soup. It has to be server with penne so that the sauce can get into the inside of the pasta

Oil in Water 2009

Oil in Water 2009 - a different hotel but at the end of the day I really cannot see the difference between these hotels. For the rate we are paying we get good rooms, plenty of hot water and reasonably quiet, so no excuse for not getting a good night sleep. i think that there is a step above the level we are at, but for simple overnight stays then I don't think we need move to that level (as if that would be authorised for us anyway) So far, the worst I've had is the threat of a ghost in Snodland, but then that gives the Priory a bit of flavour that the typical travel lodge can't match.

We had out first solo flight, Alick and me. Ming-less: for only the second time since he started the clubs Ming has not been able to attend the workshop/club meeting and has had to leave it in Alick's hands. My job is to keep him away from the sea food.


People think these events are a jolly, but they are a lot of work. Yes, its out of the office (and all that means) and there is food and drink, but you are working from the minute a delegate sees you and that doesn't include any setup work you may have to do.
This time, we have the speaker's dinner on Wednesday night. Then as we don't have access to the room we have to setup first thing Thursday morning. The change of room layout for the Club meeting on Friday should be taken care of by the hotel, but then Alick and I will have to dismantle and pack all the gear to get back to EK as Hazel and Fiona are heading back Thursday evening.

The Speaker's Dinner was very good - out for Chinese at Zen Oriental on Bon Accord Crescent. It was a nice meal and gave me a chance to meet the speakers I hadn't met before. Had a few beers before heading back to the hotel where a few of us stayed up for a few more drinks.

Early start Thursday for breakfast and setting up the room. Best to leave Hazel to issue the orders and simply do what's asked/told. Doesn't take as long as expected but at least an hour before the scheduled start the first delegates being to arrive. In order to meet everyone, albeit quickly, I volunteer to man the badge desk. Minor panic as some of the speakers are late (locals) but not enough to delay proceedings. Things get off to a start while the Nigerian delgation decide whether to shower or attend the lecture.
Thursday went really well and the feedback looks positive. No major disasters that I noticed which is probably all that matters. I spend an hour in the pool/sauna and then meet Alick, Jon, Wolfgang, and Greg for dinner in the bar. Later on Stefan comes back from his walkabout in Aberdeen and joins us for another beer or so. A good but long day.
Friday is a little more relaxed. The club meetings are les formal and Alick and I got enough info over the last 2 nights to be informed of what the other club members feel for the future. Again we have tardy speakers but after making adjustments they arrive and nothing has to change. We have a full busy interactive meeting which overruns by almost an hour due to the conversation.

Afetr getting the room sorted and our gear packed Alick and I head back to EK getting there about 1930. I drop Alick off for about 2000 and finally get back to Troon for 2100 and fill the hire car for collection. I think Ming will be pleased.


**After this was written we found out that Ming had been sent ot St John New Brunswick instead of St Johns New Foundland. Sadly he found ut from the taxi driver when they couldn't find his hotel. It didn't stop him though - he got to the right St Jihns the next day and gave his 2 courses.

Straiton Hike

Went out this morning for the first of this year's hikes.
Had a great day. The weather was fantastic and we had a great turnout - about 21 in total including Mums, dads, and little sisters.
Afterwrads dave and I managed a quick beer while Shirly and dylan went for an ice cream. All in the name of supporting local business.
Roll on the next outing.

Limited Shelf life

I got a flyer through the door about a manager's special event being held this weekend where I bought my current car. As we had no other plans for today Ciaran and I decided to head out and see what they have. Ciaran would have loved to get a Prius or a Celica or MR2 but there was little chance of that - Prius doesn't suit my drive (or pocket) and both the mr2 and Celica are out of production. In all honesty I didn't expect to buy anything and was only interested to finding out what my 7 year old car would be worth. I will admit that i wasn't happy with the car though - over the 2 plus years I've had it its had a series of electrical problems in different systems. An expensisve and difficult thing to resolve.
So we arrived at the garage and looked about for a bit before being approached by the salesman. As we were 'interested' in the Auris (the Corolla replacement) we were offered a test drive in the 5 door TR model.
Once we got back to the garage the haggling started. In order to get my info I went along with it all - specificed what model I would want, features and the trade in value for my old car. Of course, what he ofered wasn't near what I would like for it (but then is it ever?). He ran the numbers and came back to me - way to much, but I expected that. He offered a bit more for my trade in and re-ran the numbers. If I took their finance deal they would add more onto the trade in so he re-ran the numbers. Much better this time, almost reasonable. however, I had a service/MOT due and my preferred colour would not be available for 16 weeks (Tpyota build to order). They would pay for the service/MOT and any work if the new car wasn't available by then. The salesman explained that the weekend deal was only for the weekend and that their bonus depended on them hitting the targets, which, at 1600 Sunday evening with only 2 hours remaining, they still hadn't.
By this time the deal wasn't that bad and I was seriously considering it. I then asked about the steering wheel audio controls. "Not on this model, only on the next one up." "Oh, its funny how its the little things you get used to" "Wait here". Off he popped and when he came back asked how fixed was I on the colour I choose as he could get me the next model up, in silver, next week, for the same price, if I signed now.


Went and bought a new car today, I get it next week. Got a great deal. Not a colour I would normally go for, but silver is neutral enough and I'm looking forward to it.

Blair Drummond

We had our annual Staff day out today, this year at Blair Drummond Safari Park.
Like most of these events it was alright, not fantastic, but certainly a nice gesture by management.
The park is nice and you certainly can get quite close to the animals, depending on their nature, sometimes very close. Yo also get an idea of how big some animals are. I was amazed at just how big the camels were, despite seeing them often enough on TV.
There was also the play park, the pedal boats, and the zip line, so it was a busy day despite the weather.
Still, at the back of my mind, there was an uneasy feeling. seeing the animals captive was a bit depressing despite knowing that their natural habitat was probably under threat ad that the animals almost certainly wouldn't be alive if they were not in captivity somewhere.
Still I think it took a hard heart not to feel pity for the tiger as it lapped its enclosure. The info board told us about the hundreds of square km thta a normal adult would range in and it compared poorly to the few acres available.