Edinburgh Festival

Last night visited Edinburgh to go and see some comedy. Got train from Glasgow (one-way single, on Norm's instruction). On arrival at Edinburgh, Norm discovers that his return ticket is not a waste after all as they are running late trains. Bob, Jon and myself however have to look forward to paying full amount to get back, brilliant, great start.

We had a struggle finding a pub to watch the rugby in. Scotland were playing Ireland so we thought that would be a good start to the day. We eventually settled on a Wetherspoons and enjoyed pear cider and a rare Scottish win with trys and everything. The rest after that becomes a bit of a blur.

Weather not so nice but still had to go for chips on the bench, its tradition now! Chips scoffed, off to another pub before meeting Niels at the Pleasance. I was only going to see Simon Amstell so I sat and was taunted as 'Robbie William in disguise' and asked for beard growing tips for an hour while the others went off to see Rob Deering.

On their return it was a quick turnaround to see Amstell. I do remember it being funny but the individual jokes were lost in my residual haze of pear cider and lager. Not sure if its is an indictment on the Festival, but as usual the best laughs were had on the return train at the end of the night.

Photos of the day

Apremont Wedding 26-30 July 2007

Ange & Steve's wedding in Apremont & St. Cristoph where we stayed. Many thanks for the hospitality of both sets of parents. As well as the wedding a great break was had by all invited.

My Photos

Renny's Photos

Paul's Photos

Blood Red Shoes

Today I have been mostly listening to Blood Red Shoes. Let me know if you hear they're coming to Glasgow.

Lots of folk will mention the obvious similarities to White Stripes, however they sound completely different still loud though and the girl is a lot cuter than Meg (sorry Meg).

Ben A'an - A kick up the Trossachs

It was a late start since we weren't prepared so Ben A'an is suggested since it's a small hill, but a fun climb and great views. Jon and myself got train to Westerton where Niels picked us up. It's not long until we get to the north end of loch Achray and the car park for Ben A'an walk. The route through the larch is steep and the atmosphere is very muggy. The sweat is pouring off me already. The fact that whole families with young children are coming down looking remarkably fresh disturbs me. I'll have to comfort myself with the fact that we must be doing it a lot faster! The sun stays with us and we get to the top in 30 - 45 minutes I think. The top is busy with people taking in the lovely views across Loch Katerin to Ben Venue and the Lomonds. We have a long lunch in the cooling breeze before heading back down. Once in the wood again the humidity hits again. I don't know we're never happy. Too hot one day blowing a hooly the next. These are the pleasures I suppose of walking in Scotland.

Control

New film by photographer Anton Corbijn on the life and relations of Ian Curtis is due for release in the UK this coming September. Looks really good. Check out the Youtube trailer. Looks like it did well at Cannes too.
To view other videos on Control. Click the menu button on the Youtube clip.

Glencoe, Sunday 1st April 2007

No April fool today - beautiful weather persists all day.
Clear skys once again lead to lovely spring conditions. A firm pack with corn snow was available in the Main Basin. Flypaper and Spring Run were open but the walk out put me off. Good fun messing about in spring conditions. The Glencoe park looks like its getting there too, The unbroken sunshine and warm temperatures had some folk skiing in shorts and T-shirts, incredible.
Drove up on Sunday morning having got the train from Glasgow to Cardross. Drive up was as spectacular as ever. Deep blue skies and snow scattered mountains. Went up on my own as all others couldn't make it or woosed out somehow. I've got to make the most of it since this is only my second shredding day in Scotland this season. Very poor, still more than many others I know.

Glencoe, Friday 23 March 2007

Took the Friday off work and headed up on my own to Glencoe. A beautiful day from the outset and a lovely drive up the A82. Although Coe has not had much snow the Main Basin was full and enough was there to warrant the best part of a day up there.
Temperatures were quite warm, but the night before had been clear and the snow pack was very firm. The runs had great visibility and both Flypaper and Spring Run were both open although they involved a walk at the bottom back to the Cliffy.
Views from the top were incredible with an inversion cloud banks at the back of the mountain rolled by revealing the tops of neighbouring hills.
Since I was on my own and I needed to get back to Glasgow for a night out I threw in the towel about 2 but it had been worth it as this was my first and potentially my only snowboarding in Scotland this season. This had been due to my earlier Calf injury as well as poor snowfall.
Well I have a few more days to take off work in the following week so maybe I'll get another chance. I'm keen to try out the new Glencoe Snow Park should it get finished in time. Check the links page on Ruanaich.com for more detail.

Coe blown off

Well for the first time in ages we've come all the way to Coe and the weather has got the better of us. There is a ton of fresh and we cant get to it. Winds gusting too high, although I've seen worse.

Friday at Glencoe

The first live blog from the slopes. Motorway delays held us up, but we needn't worry. Lifts closed on arrival due to high winds. Lots of snow around and a bit misty as we wait out the storm. This must be what its like in Alaska! I should be so lucky!

Shred withdrawl

Going a bit stir crazy as I have the week off following the Austria trip. Missing snow & the social! Prospect of a few beers tonight, maybe snow tomorrow or weekend.
Shout if you fancy it.

Mayrhofen 2007

A week long trip to the Zillertal Valley. We stayed on the outskirts of Mayrhofen with short bus rides to the access lifts. Europe had a blight of snow and I was concerned, but the full area was open and we had little to worry about. The weather wasn't the best but that didn't stop us. I'm also glad to say my torn calf wasn't tested too much and riding felt fine.
Nightlife was typical with lots of Eurobeat thumping out of the Apres Ski clubs which is why we found ourselves gravitating toward the Gasthof Neupost, which we dubbed the "Swingers Bar" due to the rather amourous older folk who frequented the place. Average age was about 80, but they were all still up for it.
Good days riding was had even after a few very boozy nights (Except our afternoon at the Hintertux Glacier, where I think all of our performances were compromised). However the new alternative has to be our new style Vodka party which was the result of all bars being closed and trying to tell ourselves the water being distributed from my hydration pack is infact alcohol! This results in feeling great in the morning after having had a very enjoyable night!

The best wipe-out of the trip.
(Check out the following 2 clips, showing other angles)


Deirdre's phone clip of the same incident.


Bev's camera clip, revealing the truth.

Snow will have to wait - Torn calf

Well it's 18th Feb and still not been on real snow this season.
It has been about four or five weeks since I tore my right calf muscle (walking across the road after cycling home from work) and have been trying to protect it and have it fit and working again for the holiday (24th). Yesterday I managed to tweak it again, just as I thought things were improving.
It is nowhere near as bad as it was originaly but I can definately feel the strain.
I'll just have to find out how it handles once I get to Austria. Fingers crossed and here's hoping for a bountiful season at home once I get back. Presuming of course I can still snowboard.

Scotland 21 Wales 9, all penalties.

A bunch of us descended on Murrayfield to watch the 6 nations game. Amongst our numbers we had 2 Welsh. Although the game was messy, and neither side proved worthy, Scotland were triumphant and we could rub our Welsh friends noses in it for the rest of the night. The crowd sounded like the Welsh had us outnumbered. Indeed Flower of Scotland sounded a bit flat at the start.
The hosts outscored the Welsh three penalties to two in an energetic first half but as the game wore on the already low quality dropped further.
Rhys Thomas's sin-binning invited the Scots to score but Nathan Hines, Allan Jacobsen and Paterson all fell short.
Paterson's reliable boot built up a lead Wales could never claw back as the game petered out to a tepid conclusion.

Vegas / Tahoe / San Fransisco 2005

This has to go down as the best trip ever!

Fernie Canada Part 2

The continuing saga!

Fernie Canada 2000 Part 1

Fernie was the first Canada trip we did and one of the best.

Italy 1999

2 Stus, Niels and me in Italy

Banff 2003

The guys head for Banff in canada and make the most of Sunshine and Lake Louise ski resorts.

Happy New Year 2007

Just recovering from the chemical effects of Hogmanay. We spent a few days over the New Year in Arran as guests of Elaine and Ali. (Thanks guys). With news of impending storms we took the earlier ferry over to Arran on the 30th December. The crossing was smooth and hassle free. As a precursor to the following night we partook in a few beverages in order to warm ourselves up.
Hogmanay started with howling winds and a bigger sea. A few more arrived for the nights event and the weather steadily grew worse. We heard that Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle and Belfast had all had their New Year celebrations cancelled due to the weather. However we still had hope, and new that the small community of Corrie on Arran would not let us down.
Early in the evening of the 31st, the power went down, it seemed like most of the island was out. The candles were broken out and lit up, we had a fire of sorts, but what would happen with the organised Hogmanay Ceilidh? We need not have worried. It was a bring your own bottle event anyhow and the locals ad rigged up a generator to power the amps for the band.
A good night was definitely had and saw us dancing into the new year.
We had to return to the mainland on the 2nd only to find out that the rough seas had come over the harbour wall at Ardrossan and damaged most of the cars that had been left at the ferry terminal. Not a good end unfortunately. Never underestimate the power of nature I suppose.
Still thanks to Elaine and Ali who put up with us - it was a great break.