I'm on the verge of so many colds at the moment - drawing outside demands wooly hat, long-johns and the fingerless gloves I don't possess. I am beginning to wish I'd booked a holiday somewhere warm. This is a famous pub just around the corner from work. It stands just near the old city wall and the building was put up to mark the opening of the nearby infirmary. Thus the name. It's where you go for a 'cure' the next day.
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Our old celebration of thwarting those early terrorists on the 5th seems to have passed me by this year - probably due to Guy Fawkes night being mid week and coinciding with a deadline. I popped up to the castle today - a working garrison and its war museum being part of the National Museums five sites. If we go up out of hours to install part of an exhibition you have to pass the lone, armed sentry - a bit of a shock first time around. Today there were kids in the forecourt drawing which was really nice to see. It seemed fitting to note some names of the fallen. Earl Haig - who gave his name to the Scottish poppy appeal - was overlooking the proceedings upon his horse.
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Really chilly again today with a blustery wind from Scandanavia. Blue skies for the most part though. This was drawn on a back street just near where I drew the cheesemonger earlier in the year. Quite a posh part of town. The building on the left was put up in 1650 and now home to a Thai restaurant. Noise around is car tyres on cobbles - you can hear them a mile off. Cobbles are a nightmare on a bike! We hit a deadline on Friday at work and off to Osaka next week so hope to update from there.
New site, Urban Sketchers, hitting the airwaves from November - courtesy of Seattle's Gabi Campanario. We appear to have someone in every continent - bookmark it today for your drawing fix!
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Today I took a wee reminder in bike maintenance. The bike co-op does day training for few shekels and despite it taking up a full day of your weekend, I'd recommend to anyone. I was a bit concerned when we started by repairing a tyre - a well trodden area for me - but comfort zones were soon being challenged. Even in sections I did know about there was always one new thing I learned - be it adjusting the springs on cantilever brakes or tricks for tweaking gears. And some interesting technical terminology. Flange didn't even get a chuckle compared to some of the jargon.
Now I just need all the tools. And a stand. And patience.
I like weaving between back streets in a city - as well as seeing how the place is serviced they are also a calm within the madness. Atholl crescent lane sits behind Shandwick place and the road mimics the curve of the more grand frontage. The lane looks a lot more like how the city would have looked a hundred years ago - few cars, few signs, little noise - at one point during rush hour all I could hear was a church bell. visually, the down pipes are just as prominent as the repetition of the gable ends - cobbles camber down to large stones which act like a gutter - I like the function.
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"Their bodies were obliterated. but the spirit held firm!"
I dare you not to laugh.
I think the reason Edinburgh is such a good place to live in is because it isn't really a city. Now the nights are drawing in, the 3 mile loop around Arthurs seat is becoming more and more of a useful route after work. 4 times round including getting to and from home allows for a good wind down. When you reach the top of the short, but sharp, climb you feel completely out of the city despite being at its centre. The views from the top are cracking - The city sits behind you as you climb - the moon was rising over the North sea and Denmark to my east tonight - beyond the Pentland hills to the south lies England and finally as you finish the plateau the ever present castle with sunset faces you to the west. There's greenery everywhere - or sea. It's why Edinburgh is known as a town despite being the capital city. At the weekends it only takes 20 minutes to be surrounded by fields and cattle. It's not a bad gaff.
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Have a bowl every morning!
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I'm beginning to put together a list of things I want to buy in Japan. Eye glasses were what started the list and now I seem to be thinking of anything vaguely needing updating. I've always bought cyber-shots as my camera of choice but they're really only good for short distance and macro especially. I've been thinking about switching brand. And then I saw the new design released in Japan. Aye Chawawa!
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Magic weather the last few days. With snow up in the Highlands it's been pretty much winter clothes even in the central belt - out on the bike. No gloves today though and it was pretty warm with the gilet on. I left my camera at the folks - thus the lack of photos recently - this landscape is not bad from my cheap phone. Trying to get into West Lothian a bit more - I need to extend my ride options and leaving west would cut out a lot of the city.
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Today I went to Linlithgow and back which was in under two hours - I'll search some of the smaller roads from now and try and link up to another staple which is the West Calder loop. My next ride will almost certainly be to the clachan to the far left of the map - I could mix it up with a tour taking in Houston, Renfrewshire and Dallas in Ayrshire.......
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Bang on the first of October we hit Autumn. I sat out drawing this with a coffee and jacket / jumper / cap but still walked away with the feeling a cold was coming my way. I have escaped so far. George street is a typically middle-class shopping area - I listened to the incredible diction of 4 year olds with mothers in pink shirts with upturned collars. I think if I'd put my cap on the pavement I would have got offerings.
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Most people moan about the roadworks in Edinburgh at the moment. It's quite tiring. It must be tough for bus users, taxi drivers and the emergency services - not to mention business suppliers. I really don't mind them though - I actually found myself wallowing in the glory of passing a huge tailback on Laurietson place the other day on the way home from work........
]]> As I waited at the temporary lights by the fire museum I noticed a woman with a dog taking out a yellow card from her rain cape and waving it gently in the air. I cycled by her slowly and noticed it was an aid for the blind and stopped to help her. How demeaning it must be to have to shout. The mirrored glasses were par for the course but the Irish accent was a pleasant surprise. You suddenly look at the prospect of crossing from her perspective and it get's quite scary - very little where it usually is, no beeping green man and frustrated drivers looking for a speedy exit from their standstill. At Haymarket it takes a bit of co-ordination even for the fully sighted at the moment.We had a chat as we crossed and I failed to point out kerbs which she eventually got over. her dog wasn't much use either - sensing an opportunity to slack off as another human was there to do the piloting. I confirmed location and headed off thinking about how useful a reminder it is to come across disability, remembering the awakening I had got when restricted to crutches. How difficult our lives really are!
There's some interesting products on the RNIB site - check out the designer watches.
Shieldaig - Applecross - Bealach na ba - Shieldaig
50 miles
Despite the weather getting better as we neared our destination, it would have had to have improved considerably to shake off the wet and mirky conditions which hung over us from the Forth bridges to north Perthshire. In the end we settled for what was not an unpleasant September day on the Applecross peninsula. The views started to take over from conversation and Gregor was keen to swap accelarator for the other, rotating type of pedal. Shieldaig is a lovely wee village with its houses hugging the shore overlooking the nearby island in the cove.
]]> As we rolled out it was cloudy but bright and still - which added to the foreboding feeling which came with the inevitable climb. We opted for the anticlockwise route but it is by no means an easy ride down the coast - more like interval training up and down the undulating road. We passed a large group of bikes and then, sporadically, some riders who were involved in a duathlon. As people cheered us on we soon realised that, even at a modest pace, we were taking the lead and by the time we got to Applecross were being radioed ahead as the sprint out. We came clean and pulled up early by a marshall to explain the mix up - perhaps we really should have gone elbow to elbow at 30 miles an hour.
After tea at the hotel we started ramping up the 2053 feet climb - the UK's biggest - and onward into the mist. Buzzards, Eagles and Deer lined our path but soon the six mile climb started to draw our concentration. The climb itself, I have to say, was a lot easier than I had anticipated - I had had worries of not being able to get over - but such are the myths and legends which the Bealach has entered into. "How did you fair?" I asked a fellow cyclist in Applecross - "I didn't make it" he said as if he was a ghost commenting on his own death.
The climb warrants respect of course - such was the concern in my head and mutually during conversations with Gregor last week. He had raced it last year and there's a big difference between racing and riding - and that's where my apprehension had developed.
There were long, steep straights on the west face which really test the stamina but soon we'd plateau'd, taken the obligatory photograph and headed off into the damp, misty greyness both of us hoping our brake shoes would work. There was no view which in retrospect was disappointing but at the time just meant we had to follow rear lights in front of us to get an idea of the road shape. After a few hairpins it became a really enjoyable descent despite a wet and varying road surface.
relief at sea level was accompanied by a relatively pain-free eight miles back to the van and pub with only one climb of note en-route. Definitely be back to see the views. A pint followed by dinner and bed at Gregor's aunts house in Inverness. Findhorn Sunday am and then home.
sparrow and the workshop are very good. They played Edinburgh last night to prove it!
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