Wee Adventures & Keeping Going

Wee Adventures

Chyrel from ‘Ride All the Way‘ commented that I don’t share personal stuff often, so maybe a little overdose now?

I blogged a while back that my granddaughter was coming over & adventure was to be the thing whenever we were together. So, what did we get up to? Well she’s nine, going on ten so any activity would have to be appropriate. Once she & her mum arrived it was down to the river to clamber around the rocks & see what was happening. In the big pool was a large salmon, past its best, but still quite a sight.

The ‘Auld Brig over the Scottish River Tyne

Salmon in the Scottish River Tyne

Then it was off to the sea with more rock hopping and rock pool exploration. A pal had lent us her caravan so it was beach time for a while. While there the biggest thunderstorm we’ve had for years swept across the cove. It was amazing, with multiple strikes and thunderclaps going on for a long, long time. Shiona slept through it all, apparently they are very common in her part of South Africa.

Lightning over the North Sea

Lightning over the North Sea

Next up a visit to nearby Eyemouth harbour where you can feed fish to the resident seals. The seagulls are way to cheeky and one swooped down and took the bait out of her hand before she could lower it to the waiting seals, ah well, live and learn.

Seal at Eyemouth waiting patiently to be feed

Then a bit more beach combing & rock hopping, with some amazing rocks, including one that was just like a flag. All different kinds of rocks here too, brought down from further inland by the glaciers from past ice ages.

A Flag Stone?

A crag beside the sea

Back home we managed a wee bike ride round our local park – lovely. Then came Jupiter Artland with some pals, an art in the environment project just west of Edinburgh, it includes art you can climb over, ‘The Light Pours Out of Me’ – a crystal lined grotto/ pit and many other strange things.

Jupiter Artland

The quartz pit Jupiter Artland

The lining of the quartz pit Jupiter Artland

A couple of days later it was rock climbing, abseiling and rock scrambling on volcanic rock then up to the summit of North Berwick Law. There used to be real whale bones here from the town’s whaling past, but now decayed they’ve been replace by fibreglass.

Climbing the slab on Berwick Law

Maybe slightly tilted?

The summit ‘Whale Bones’ on North Berwick Law

This led us to Yellowcraigs for a spot of tree climbing and more rock pooling. The Scots pines here have been twisted by the winds into strange contorted shapes, great to play around on, if done gently.

Yellowcraigs – twisted pines

So the end came at last with a visit to ruined Innerwick Castle, built on a sandstone outcrop and another victim of Oliver Cromwell’s army on their trip to Scotland. We clambered around the ruins and over the sandstone for a while before leaving for the nearby coast and the limestone outcrops of Skateraw. We managed to find several fossils in the limestone pavement.

Remains of the tower at Innerwick Castle

The entrance to Innerwick Castle

Clambering over the sandstone at Innerwick Castle

Coming back from Innerwick Castle

Limestone pavement, Skateraw

Fossils at Skateraw

Far to soon the skies beckoned and a sad farewell for another year.

Keeping Going

Once they had departed I had a bit more time for cycling again. For some reason I’ve been going strongly recently with some quick (for me) rides. Why I’m not sure. I don’t do specific training and I did have a couple of weeks off the bike with a bad cough, aches etc. But maybe time climbing steep hills in Herefordshire, cycling in Portugal and Majorca have given me a boost.One ride at 19 mph+ for 15+ miles and a few longer ones at over 18 mph. I’m supposed to get slower as I get older, luckily it doesn’t seem to be working that way for me. But more importantly I am still loving being out on the bike, slow or fast.

Yippee! Alastair