Tagged “hill-walking”

Today could be summarised as “a good walk followed by a good craic”.

Mark and I (along with Jura) made the short trip to The Whangie where we enjoyed a hike and a blether. On our return to Glasgow we met Clair and Gillian at the Rum Shack and gulped down some jerk fish and chips and other carribean-themed delights from their menu, plus a couple of pints. A good Saturday.

The last week was challenging at work. A minor restructure is underway and with it the possibility of redundancies. My job isn’t at risk; it affects team and group managers rather than me directly. But it will impact upon people I know, like and respect. It may also lead to teams merging or disbanding altogether so there’s an air of unease.

To unwind after that week, Friday night consisted of watching Scotland play Finland at Hampden. A 2–2 draw to send Steve Clarke’s men off to the Euros.

On Saturday morning I headed to Cathkin Braes for a walk with Rudy. What a view you get up there! You can see pretty much the entire city, and even beyond as far as Ben Lomond.

Later that day I visited Davie at his mum’s place in Troon. He’s over visiting from the U.S. following George’s death. I spent a little time chatting with Marguerite. Her garden is really beautiful.

Davie and I went to River Garden Cafe, Auchincruive for a lovely lunch and walk. We chatted about family and life in general. From there we had a drive around some of his old haunts in Ayr including a stop at Renaldo’s for ice cream before a walk on Ayr Beach.

While I was in Ayrshire I got the bad news that Linda, a dear friend of Clair’s family, had passed away. It must have been a real shock for poor Mel.

On Saturday evening Clair and I had a lovely dinner at Maison by Glaschu.

On Sunday we dropped Rudy at “his gran’s” (he’s a dog but anyway, it’s his gran!) then we headed for Bridge of Allan for Alexander’s first communion with the charismatic Father Louis at the controls. Mick and Laura had us back at theirs afterwards and it was nice to chat to a few of the other guests.

A busy one, but a good’un.

On Friday night Clair and I went for pizza at new joint in town, Frank’s Pizza. It turns out that friend of the family Peter works there and he showed us to a table at just the right time before it became really busy. I went for the sausage and peppers pizza, we shared a portion of Frank’s fries and Peter hooked us up with a new honey dip flavour to try too. Everything was really tasty!

On Saturday morning I made the hour-long drive to Biggar and enjoyed a walk with Rudy on Tinto Hill. It’s a medium-level climb and the weather was decent. Although there were lots of other dogs they mostly gave us space.

Later, Clair and I went to No. 10 down the road to meet Mark, followed by Sophie and Anya. I had an interesting chat with Sophie where it turns out that some of the coaching techniques I’ve been learning at work (active listening, asking questions rather than offering solutions) are things she does all the time in her job as an educational psychologist.

We continued on to the Stag and Thistle where we were joined by Tom, Lou and wee James, up from London. They’re still having bother finding a flat here but hopefully not for much longer. Craig F and Alan M soon joined. I couldn’t chat to them for long before leaving but it was nice to see them.

With Clair off having fun in Skye, the boys (me and Rudy) have been spending some quality time together. On Friday night we watched Dune 11. Rudy wasn’t too bothered but I really enjoyed it. It looks absolutely stunning, especially the all-white gladiator scene. And I thought the heavy, growling soundtrack marked a return to form for Hans Zimmer. While watching I munched on a paneer palak from local heroes Kebabish which, let’s be honest, is inifinitely better than popcorn.

On Saturday with the sun shining and some post-curry guilt, we set off early and walked up Drumgoyne Hill. It was steep but really good fun.

Today I met Mick, Richy, Kris and Colin at Balmaha and we climbed Conic Hill. It was a decent day for it and we all enjoyed the chance to catch up while getting a good dose of fresh air. Mick and Richy were even brave enough to go for a dip in Loch Lomond afterwards.

Later, we drove to Colin’s place in Kilsyth to freshen up then went on to the Coach House Inn at Auchinstarry Marina. After a bite to eat I could see the conversation was headed toward those same old stories. And I had resolved in advance to have a quiet night unlike our last get-together. So I dropped them at the next pub then headed home, leaving it to the professionals.

Had a great day with Mark and Alan on Saturday climbing Ben Lomond. Although I’m not much of a hill-walker I reckon that’s the third Munro I have bagged.

We were staying overnight at our friend Jim’s family cabin at Rowardennan and it was a short walk from there to the mountain. The start is steep and the weather progressively worsened until the rain was horizontal, but nonetheless we reached the summit (3200 feet above sea level) in around two hours then skipped back down in just one more hour. We were pretty proud of ourselves to complete the walk in just over three hours!

After that we enjoyed steak pie, fish and chips and victory pints at the Rowardennan hotel. A perfect day.

Mind you, over the last couple of days I’ve been feeling pain in muscles I didn’t know existed!