Skywatch Scotland 19

Is this Saltire in the sky a sign from above that Scotland's independence is imminent?!! The picture was taken near Crieff just before a mountain bike event.

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Training starts for "The Strathpuffer 2010"

We're entering a team for the Strathpuffer 2010 24hour race to be held at Strathpeffer on the 16th /17th January next year and cold weather training started today! (Believe me its cold at Glentress at 6am!) The team as yet has to be finalised but we've a few rivals we'll have to put in their places so training will be compulsory!! Today's ride was windy and wet but as usual great fun and strange to say no real mishaps, this blog is going to have to drop the mishap bit in its title if this sort of behaviour continues........I'm sure it wont.

Todays picture of a muddy Baz was taken at the top of Spooky Wood.

Scenic Sunday in West Lothian

Small boy, big castle/palace.

One of my grandchildren looking not particularly happy at being photographed in front of Linlithgow Palace, birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots amongst others!

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Skywatch Scotland 18

This photo which at first glance looks like surf breaking over a reef was taken by a friend of mine from his micro light aeroplane as he flew over the Isle of Skye on the west coast of Scotland, and is in fact the top of the Cuillen Mountains showing above the clouds.

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Another one bites the dust!

One of Baz's mates, Keith, who comes from Inverness did Glentress with us on Sunday and Baz as usual decided he had to be tested big time on the hardest climbs we could find. Now Keith's a fit lad but he's also a big lad and weighs in at 16 and a 1/2 stone and by the time we'd done 3 hours he wasn't fussy if he never saw another hill to climb again! Result was, one smirking Baz, and one red faced and puffing Keith, no doubt returning to Inverness plotting revenge. The picture was taken at the mast at the top of the black route and shows Baz admiring Keith's very bling bike.

Scenic Sunday passing Stirling Castle

This photo was taken from a car doing approximately 70 mph on the motorway as we passed by Stirling Castle, the weather was so nice it seemed too good a chance to miss!

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The Hairy Coo....short in length but big in technicality!

The view from the top of the course on a cracking October's day. The course itself is only about 3 and a 1/2 miles long but has a hard 1/2 mile climb at the start and is jam packed with technical sections that threaten to throw you over the bars. In fact a few did just that!

Baz and I did a ride round the course before the race hence the cool, calm and collected look.

These guys are just nuts and one of the reasons we go to events like this is to meet up with folk like them!

An after event photo as we compare cuts, bruises and the odd sting after landing in a bunch of nettles (Baz!!!)

Skywatch Scotland 17

Summer came late this year, but better late than never. This is the view from the seafront at Prestonpans looking back towards Edinburgh with Arthurs Seat in the distance.

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Bill the badger spotted again!

Further to last night's appearance in Bluebell Wood, Bill, as I now call my new found badger buddy, ran across in front of me tonight again. Once again there is no photographic evidence to back up my blossoming friendship with this furry and not very cuddly creature. I'm definitely going to have to give Mr. D. Attenborough a ring to find out how I go about catching the little bugger on film! Any suggestions gratefully received..........as long as they're sensible that is.......

Wildlife in the dark

I did a 13 mile cross country cum road ride tonight and saw more wildlife in just over an hour than can usually be seen throughout the day. For a start going along the track through Bluebell Wood I could hear something running alongside me just to my left. Suddenly a huge (in my opinion anyway it was huge!) badger appeared in the track in front of me and proceeded to scurry along with its strange scratchy sort of gait just in front of the bike. Fright number two was when I was coming back down the road into Roslin Glen at a fair rate of knots and two deer did a kamikaze dash right across the front of me. In between these two scares there were numerous sightings of probably several hundred rabbits and the odd fox out on the prowl. I think I'll have to mount a camera on the handlebars in readiness for all this nighttime activity.

Baz's consideration for his old man!

We, being Baz, Clive and myself , did a road ride today, or at least a mixture of a bit of cross country and road. We'd only gone a mile and a half when my rear brake failed, due as it happened, to a pin somehow detaching itself from the brake lever. Baz, ever the helpful and considerate one, declared that I should be able to manage with a front brake only, but considering that some of the steeper hills are descended at over thirty miles an hour I preferred Clive's advice of returning to the garage (or workshop as its known) and fixing the problem!
Anyway the additional three miles put our mileage for the day up to thirty three and a half, so the training for the Hairy Coo goes on!

Scenic Sunday in Midlothian, Scotland

What can be better than an early Sunday morning bike ride on a crisp, sunny Octobers day?

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One week till "The Hairy Coo"

I started this blogging malarkey a year ago in the run up to "The Hairy Coo" mountain bike race at Comrie Croft near Crieff. Next week its time for the Hairy Coo challenge again and Baz and I will be doing it this year. We are, hopefully, fitter than last year but until the actual day arrives it might all depend on the weather. Today my better half and I did the Musselburgh to Seton Sands coastal path and the picture is of Port Seton harbour in what turned out to be quite a reasonably warm day for almost mid October.

Skywatch Scotland 16

A sign of the times we live in........ though the skies are blue the trucks lie quietly in their yard.

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Scenic Sunday in the Scottish Borders

The view looking down the Tweed Valley from near the Three Brethern in the hills above Selkirk.

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Skywatch Scotland 15

When I first caught a glimpse of this sunrise last Sunday morning only the very tip of the sun was showing. By the time I had the camera ready more or less all of the sun was visible.

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