Rolfe Bars
Ages ago, years probably, there was an article in Climb about making high energy food by some bloke that does lots or Arctic sled dog stuff. All i could remember was that there was a recipe for energy bars, and that the guy as well as being a knarly explorer type was also sponsored (or something) by a food dehydrator company.
Anyway this article played on my mind a bit - I even looked through all my back issues of climb - but I couldn't locate the article. Then the other day I saw him, that bloke, in an advert for food dehydrators.
He's called Gary Rolfe, he lives in Greenland and he's a dog musher, and he's got a dead comprehensive website, with all the articles he's written on, including Do It Yourself The Hard Way - the article i read 2 years ago, and couldn't find again.
Hurrah for the power of the internet. Who knows i might even get round to baking at some point....
0 comments »St. Abb's Head
Yesterday in the Borders was grey. But at least it wasn't drizzling like it was Edinburgh. After watching the rugby (of course) we headed out on the bikes. From Duns to St. Abb's Head.
On the road to the light house at St. Abbs Head we where so busy looking at the hill that goes up that we failed to notice the one we where coming down was steeper. Abandoning the bikes on the ground by the lighthouse, we went to look at the sea birds that the cliffs are famous for. I was a bit disappointed not to sea Puffins (who wouldn't be), but the sheer quantity of birds was pretty cool. The coastline round here is rugged, which set against the benign farmland of the borders, can cause some stop and stare moments.
The work above is from Lesley Skeats, who was artist in residence at St.Abbs - She manages to capture it pretty well, without over sentimentality In fact I like them so much that if i ever get a better job I have promised myself one of her paintings.
So that hill back up - it was pretty steep. But made harder by me managing to think I was in bottom gear, when in reality I had 2 spare (doh!).
Distance: 40 Miles
Time: 3-3.30 hours (no clock), including break.
There is also a bit more red on our round Scotland map now
Just waiting
First day of tickets sales for the Edinburgh international book festival and experience tells you that the best events sell out quick. But there's some authors that you really want to see. Answer? go in person and sit in the queue for the tickets at the EICC.
Arrived at EICC about 8.45 am, 15 minutes after the doors open, to find a number based queuing system in place and the waiting area very full of old women (well, predominately old women). The average age seems to be about 65 - most people are older, but there is a few mothers with toddlers pulling the average age down. I wonder why this is and conclude that they are well read and dedicated, but also retired, and free from the duty of work on Monday mornings.
Slowly the numbers in the queueing system creep up 9-19... ...29-39... ...69-79...
The announcer reminds the chosen few to make there way to the booking hall at the West of the building and I wonder how many people actually carry compasses in their handbags (any sense of direction inside the EICC seems quite a feet).
...129-139... ...179-189...
It's around this time the news of sold out events starts to come through. News that both The Hungry Caterpillar and We're going on a bear hunt have sold out leave me felling slightly gutted. I hadn't got either of these on my list, but they sound good, and I wonder now why they weren't. I'm also surpirsed to hear Vince Cable is an early sell out (beating 'Cherie' and 'Paddy' who sold out much later in the morning)
...219-229...
A 1pm physio appointment, meant i had to leave (it really fucking hurt 'by the way') and come back - hoping my number wasn't up yet - by the time i made it back at about 1.45pm it had been, but only just - so the nice man i had been chatting to earlier about what my chances of missing my slot where let me through.
So there you go tickets for Margrat Atwood, Will Self, Douglas Copeland, Monica Ali and Alasdair Gray all safely purchasd.
Tips for next year -
- Arrive at 8.30am
- Take a book (doh!) it'll be along wait
- even better take a laptop - and try internet booking at the same time as waiting in person
- If you can find an accomplace - take shifts, on person go to collect the number - then someone else take over about 10.30/11.
- keep the day clear of other appointments
Vantastic
Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz...
So, in what might be a break with tradition, we finally managed to actually do something we said we were going to (yeah alright, so we can be 'quite' laid back sometimes). It took a while to get round to it, but we got a van!
It's a Silver Merc.
Not very green, lots of people seem to be saying. I'm justifying this by the fact that we got it in part so we didn't have to fly (not that you HAVE to fly anywhere). So instead of short breaks to european cities it'll be trips up north, and longer trip to europe via the ferry. It's also somewhere to sleep, so it's tents and kipping in the back rather than hotels. I don't drive to work anyway -M does sometimes, but he's going to less (on ya bike!) . Fuel consumption wise it's not too much more than the old car.
So justiifcation over - here's lots of cool stuff
- You can take climbing stuff and bike stuff and walking stuff, and other stuff - no more having to decide, just take everything!
- You can sleep in the back
- The CD player works
- It make you feel like your in the A-team
- The suspension isn't buggered
- The brakes are well good (still getting used to that)
- There will be lots of adventures.
We already tested it out at a party in the Lakes last week - cool being able to drink then sleep in the carpark, but cold. We are now planning France trip for July. The possibilities are endless. I'm dead excited!
0 comments »Mountain Top Finish
Inspired by the Giro, we decided to re-create our own mountain top finish. Luckily it's not just those continental types that build roads over hills, and conveniently locate car parks near the top.
The Ben Lawers Nature Reserve has a car park and visitor center at a handy 430 meters. It's even handier if you are walking up Ben Lawers or doing the neighboring Tarmachan Ridge.
From the car park it’s downhill, steeply at first, then steadily, all the way to Feranan. Here you leave the A-road and head along the undulating road up Glen Lyon. At the wonderfully named Bridge of Balgie turn left over the river and start heading up. You then have 350m to go up in 5 miles until the road's high point of 549m. Here there almost certainly won't be legions of spectators, but it feels pretty good all the same. Then it's just a short decent back to the car park, avoiding the hikers which wander sheep like all over the road as they return from a day on the hill.
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A stop off at a chippy is almost certainly a good reward.
