Wild Weekend...

40th birthdays are often celebrated here in Scotland, a kind of milestone, and sometimes for some a bit of an achievement making it -:),
At the end of the day its just a number...but an excuse to celebrate something with friends,
Friday evening i had my last ever thirty's beachride on the pugsley at Peffersands with friend Jason, an evening of cycling and jellyfish...lots and lots of common jellyfish have been washed ashore...




Jason did a really kind thing and filmed making a film for me, i could get used to this-having someone else make the films!,


Anyway this is in wide screen HD, unlike my Go Pro efforts though im waiting on more memory to arrive by post for the PC and soon i will be able to use the right editing software and go HD quality too,
Check out Jason`s channel on Youtube , watch out for a lot more fatbike films coming soon,
check out his slow- mo bits, ace!, thanks Jason...



Big party in the garden and man cave Saturday evening went on until 5am, and typical of the Scots there was a serious amount of booze drunk...i was totaly buckled by dawn on Sunday morning, we did the right thing not opening the whisky..it would have been carnage...














Here is Mikes smoker cooker made from an old BBQ found dumped and a 45 Gallon drum...


Door welded on the base can be used to draw air,it is a section from another drum...


The grill, tray and top are from an American made Weber garden BBQ, not cheap to buy,free if found dumped like this!, its grill and lid fits perfect over the drum...


The drum top cut out sits on 4 bolts acting as arms, this plate holds the coal tray-
which is an old baking tray drilled to draw air...


My Alaskan Salmon wrapped in foil to cook tasted amazing on here!
The Winton Massif cycle gang got me a voucher for a microlight flight from here at East Fortune and i got another from friend Al so its going to be great seeing our coast from the air,Thanks so much guys!, i will wait a month until the fields turn golden, hopefuly ican take a camera to film and take pics,

Sunday morning and the mother of all hangovers...
best way to sober up is food and a bike ride, down to North Berwick, the first really warm Sunday and the town beaches were mobbed...


We met my big bro and wife and dog who had been walking the coast,
after an ice cream we rode west along the coast, kids had been drawing and digging all over the exposed low tide sands, here some sort of space travel theme was going on...
The Earth...


A space rocket...


Saturn...


And the Sun...


We left the day visitors behind and just had more jellyfish for company...


The common jellyfish dont sting, most are around 6" across, a few are bigger, this one about a foot across...


Near Marine villa we stopped to answer my mobile phone-1st time i took it riding for months -:) and a couple stopped who were running along the beach,
Peter and Mary are now friends on Facebook, they stopped to ask about our bikes, Peter took some pics and we had a chat about what we do, us cycling and our bikes and them running along the coast, i suggested `coast runner` would be a good blog but Mary already did a blog on running called yak hunter ,
Turns out this is a blog similar to mine... and on 19th June Mary posted a picture from a race finnish with my Sisters partner Ian!, small world eh? -:)
Marys partner Peter has made some great wee films, some are on his facebook page, i will post a link to them once i find where else there posted for public viewing,
What a great weekend...

And 40 year olds can do wheelies just as well as 39 year olds...-:)

pentland Hills again..bike and run...

Stayed the weekend at edinburgh with my sister ,ian and nephews and niece...
saturday ian took me out a cycle over the eastern pentlands...
myself riding while ian a competent and experianced hill runner went on foot...
the route he took us gave some interesting stats and comparisons between hill running and mountainbiking...
parked at castlelaw hillfort...

beside the MOD ranges...


the hillfort is of historic importance...

with imformative signs...


the original time team?...


a 1200 year old earth house...

which would have once looked like this...

setting off we headed for castle law hill up a very steep landrover track...

we were about the same pace up here,i was down to 2nd lowest gear and it was hard going on the steep bits...and it was hot that didnt help...
least the views east were good,bit of a haze out to the coast but clear and hot here...

then ian cut direct up a fence line for the summit and sent me on to take a landrover track around and up the northern side of the hill...

as the picture shows this was really steep,dry and loose underfoot and i had to hike-a-bike up...even my feet were slipping with the steepness...then i spied a singletrack trail in the heather and things got easier to push until near the top and i rode up to meet ian who was there just before me...12 minutes according to his stop watch...

cracking view over glencourse and loganlea resovoir`s...

next we set off again for the towering Allermuir hill...i set off ahead enjoying a seriously steep descent and while in the heather singletrack grip was ok it was sliding about further down on the loose rubble track until i could let off the brakes and really fly down to the main track...
Allermuir Hill ahead...

i was way ahead of ian now as i tore down the landy track and over the cattlegrid followed his instructions and climbed up the singletrack along a fence line up to the summit,down the gears until none left and again a hike-a-bike up to the top...
i pushed up having to stop for a breather and pictures...as ian started to catch up again...

and we reached the summit at the same time...again it took 12 minutes!...

some walkers had just left and we had the views to ourselves...
and what views...
north across Edinburgh to arthurs seat...

to the west...


and to the east over Caerketton Hill...

and south back to Castle Law and the track we descended...

i took advantage of the trig point and ian there to get a pic i have wanted for a while...wasnt easy to do in the strong wind!...

we then descended a steep grassy trail down to climb over Capelaw Hill to near Bonaly resovoir you can see the quad track of the trail ...

again a short very steep climb and a bit hike-a-bike then over the top on the grassy way i caught back up with ian who had easily passed me on the climb...

we rode/ran together for a bit before he sent me ahead to enjoy the descent down to a track junction...nice view over Bonaly resovoir before the descent...

ian arrived and guess what?...yep 12 minutes again to get here!...
we followed a trail along the east side of the woods at Bonaly resovoir until another juncton of trails...


and had a few minutes breather as i held the gate for two horse riders...


then again following ians directions i kept right and had a cracking descent down a dried out rutted track to an old water pump house...



i got a few minutes breather before ian arrived...

which i needed for the track ahead back to Castlelaw fort and car park...what a stinker climb!...i had to bike-a-hike it for a few minutes after spinning out beside some 2 feet wash out ruts on the track then once near the bend i could ride again...

by the time the cattlegrid came into view we passed earlier ian was half way up the hill,it was back down to low gears up the climb then after that all down hill on the landy track..i soon caught up with ian and we chatted abit before he encouraged me to go ahead and enjoy the descent...which i did!...

that was a harder route for myself to cycle than ian to run...usually he dosnt stop!,
i have always had alot of respect for hill runners (fell runners in england and wales) as it is so basic...just a decent pair of running shoes and away you go...
we go mountainbiking or walking with enough stuff packed into a back pack for any weather etc... and these guys just have a T shirt,shorts and socks/shoes..no water nothing and run for miles into the hills...2 hours for ian with out water...
and when it comes to steep ascents like today they make it look easy...hats off to all of them...
i think it also is the most basic instinct of sports that goes back to early man running down animals for food...
we went to morrisons though for food and beer and a fish supper to eat out in the garden in the roasting evening heat...
that was a short but hard workout so was nice after dinner to take the gang out cycling and stretch off...its great there old enough to go out on there own now...

the boys friends all turned up and i followed a gang of mini mountainbikes through some really nice wooded trails behind buckstone below the braids...will need to go explore more up here...the kids went to get more friends who were at a street BBQ and i was offered a beer...well be rude not to!,back again up the hill then i headed back to get a shower and sit out in the garden and later the fire was lit and we sat untill dark after midnight...

Henneys Cider...one of the nicest off the shelf cider,no additives etc...

things got a bit blurry after 4 bottles of this and a bottle of black sheep ale...

a great weekend and start to the holidays...