back from the west coast...

and an amazing 5 days spent with my sister and family and friends and also 2 days alone biking the very remote Kyntyre Way
aswell as time exploring on west coast beaches,ruin castles,standing stones...and experienced the full brunt of west coast weather of rain...wind...and eh sideways rain...and between all that midges the size of sparrows on a remote and amazing penulsia and some great local hospitality...
and some serious cider samping :)
heres some pics...posts to follow next week...

Packed to go....

on another micro adventure...

heres everything im taking for 3 days and 2 nights camping...

on bike as well as the frame bag;
orange 15 litre drybag has my 3 seasons down Blacks sleeping bag,
blue 10 litre drybag has the henessey hammock,
15 year old map holder, waterproof,simple,brilliant...

in the frame bag goes cooking gear and food: enough food for 2 days here...
gas stove with removable cylinder,simple,clean,controlable for simmering pastas,
Tiso 1 litre non stick pot & lid....storing my paclite montaine jacket & trousers,
plastic cup with sealed container and fruit tea bags (no milk) and pot cleaner cloth,
food,2 pasta meals,4 cup-a-soups,3 porrige packs,in sealed bag...
fire strike,lighter,clothes pegs,
spork,
6 cereal bars,
midge net and Avon skin so soft works for me...

and in the Karrimor rush backpack backpack;
the usual bike tools, and air shock pump and an old eye droplet bottle full of squirt dry chainlube...

and for the next trip...
hip flask, (glenmorangie)
first aid kit, plasters,paracetamol,steriden strips,bandage,sting relief,
travel tooth brush/tooth paste,ear buds,and eye drops,
buff,now swapped for my new merino buff,
camera film case in cling film with vasaline (if you cycle you know why!)
mobile and wallet both in sealine bags,,
and a 5 litre drybag with evening/sleeping change of clothes-merino socks,long johns and longsleeve top...

in the now renamed epic designs gastank bag the cannon compact camera sealine bag and tachyon 2010 xc sports camera and a gorila pod tripod that fits both cameras...

and my usual cycling gear;
shimano MT90 goretex boots,
hub in the forest socks and scree gators,
Endura 3/4 humvee trousers and liner,
Endura baa baa merino wool short sleeve top,
troy lee gloves,
giro xen helmet,

the modified front bag mount...

made from an accessory mount with a section of flat bar,ODI bar ends and bar plugs now has 2 plastic reflector mounts which the straps go through stopping the bag moving and avoids contact with control cables...

there is no end to purposes for those reflector mounts, usually get them free at bike shops and as meerkat says on tv... simple!...

at last i can now go camping comortably on a bike that is easily rideable offroad while still doing decent daily miles...taken 3 years and this bike and gear to do this...
as you can see the frame bag is not protuding at all...and still has room in it...


still a weeks summer holidays to go yet...

Friday beachride...

Been a few weeks since i last had the pugsley out so went for a beachride,
avoiding the 6 mile road ride to Aberlady i cut through the old WW2 RAF Drem airfield to luffness woods...

made the most of the very low tide at 11.30am and for a change headed out across the mudflats just after the wooden bridge on the reserve at Aberlady bay...
was a bit slippy on the mud beside the Peffer burn until i got up onto the sand bank...great fluffy clouds today...

and out to the Peffer Estuary...Arhurs seat and Edinburgh Castle on the skyline...

from here its 2 miles east along the low tide line...

passing the WW2 midgit submarines...


the westerly of the two is in better condition...although this now there is a large trapped water hole around this submarine,in winter they always are more exposed and the bay is better to cycle as the sand bank isnt as often rippled like it was today but hard and smooth...
sadly the eastern submarine is starting to break up, when i was a kid and my dad brought us out here you could sit inside the subs and see all the brass fittings and copper pipes...not now..nature is winning the fight and reclaming them to the earth...

on we go along the beach around the old man and up over the rocks onto Gullane point...

great view here west back over the reserve and bay and across to Edinburgh...

and east over gullane beach to the black rocks and the crater...

it was boiling hot with the tailwind which made riding easy along the sand..i was soaked in sweat but with wearing an endura baabaa wool short sleeve top i bought with birthday money i was- smell free!..merino wool rocks!,
on we go along a real low tideline past an accessable Eyebroughty island...

look at all the plastic washed up here...its disgusting...

and then fidra island with its lighthouse comes into view...


cruising down broadsands (yellowcraig)

and alot of sand has shifted here...exposing another old WW2 coastal defence anti invasion glider pole base...you can see the row of them in the distance...

down around point gary and into North Berwick...

the beach at Gullane,Yellowcraig, and again here at NB on the east beach were packed with familys hence no pics or film...and why i prefer winter for beachriding...i did get another bike hanging from sign pic on the way home!,,,

heres some film from the beachride...



after leaving North Berwick i rode home on the John Muir Way and did some more film...endocam 3...one of my favourite bands when i leftschool late 80s...now do you know who it is?...

youube surfing....local history..and a legend 70 years ago...

funny how when you have a drink music is always involved...which lately has led to this while surfing on youtube...
cool to see the pentland hills on the skyline i have been riding the last few weeks...diggin the MK2 escort police cars!...


i remmeber watching this film in my teens as an apprentice greenkeeper...
i also remember a couple of old boys that played golf daily on the links at gullane where i worked,i never thought much about it at the time but these two old boys were spitfire pilots in WW2...and one of them was stationed here in East Lothian at RAF Drem...now these old boys are sadly long gone to my knowlage but there outlook on life was i remmember whatever the weather-rain/sleet/snow/ they were out golfing..why?, not just because they enjoyed there retirement but they did something of such importance that they valued there lives and there freedom the rest of there lives that they lived...
with only a few weeks to the airshow here again at east fortune i again look forward to the yearly visit of the spitfire and its music of the merlin engine...
and i find myself watching a machine that still fasinates me and when again i see one flying here in a few weeks time i know my eyes will water as it flys over feet above my chimney and does the infamous victory roll...
i have been reading "the last enemy" the first book ive ever read written by a real WW2 spitfire pilot Richard Hillary and it is fascinating...his discription of the first time flying a spitfire and giving the Rolls Royces V12 1000 bhp merlin engine full throttle and the adrenaline rush that follows...and the book is scary...when he describes seeing his friends being shot down and burnt alive trapped in there cockpits...you realise just how short life could be for these brave young men...
20 seconds of bullets was all they had...it was a game of skill,chance,and luck...
most were in there early twentys...i think this is the best film on youtube that sums up " the few"

midweek pentlands group ride...

woke up to rain today...first rain for weeks..lovely though as its cleared the air and that close sticky heat of wednesday
continuing the week at home biking holiday...again this wednesday evening i picked up friend paul and drove up to Bonaly in Edinburgh for the weekly The Bike Chain Edinburgh wednesday ride as advertised on singletrack world forum ...
Mark the TBC shop owner and a few other regulars couldnt make it but there were loads more turned up at Bonaly shop at 7pm...22 blokes and a big group of woman for there group ride...

and this weeks route was all different to last week except for the finaly down scalectrix that paul and i did with rob the week before...
some fast guys up front meant the pace was quicker this week...a bit to quick in the heat..it was real close and sticky...skys to the west were darkening with the forcasted rain for thursday...
a regroup and breather after some nice pine woods singletrack...

then some more singletrack through the pines...



alot of water getting downed at breaks!...man it was warm...

its great going a group ride and not leading...just follow and enjoy the trails,scenery and banter...

we rode around alot of resovoirs tonight...didnt know there was so many...
this sheep track above one kept you focused...



after a long grind up a gravel path another breather... and a group of riders passed through going the other way and a new friend Gavin was with them,he was with the group i showed around East Lothian back in febuary...
they also started out from Bonaly but at a later time...
they sped off to enjoy the descent we had just rode up while we headed up the quad track for the last descent down scalectrix...

this evening we had already had one rider fall into a burn-from about 8 feet!... luckily he was unhurt...paul had a rear puncture (a nail) then we had a mechanical...one of the young lads mech hanger broke...

but look at what the chain did..it somehow opened and reclosed around part of the mech!...

none of us have ever seen a chain do that before...the nice chap in the pic kindly removed the mech and cut the chain down so the bike could be ridden home singlespeed...
street lights were coming on down over Edinburgh as we headed down scalectrix...
managed to ride down it off the brakes just using the heather between the twin quadtracks to buff a bit speed for the tight left hander...must be hitting over 30 mph down there...was a bit scary but what a buzz!...
again tonight i met some new folk, i loved riding the on-one 456 too...
it really comes alive when you point it down hills...
a great evening ride,great scenery,great trails,great banter...