That's this year over, next one please

2016, eh? What a year to be alive. I tried to make 2016 a bit less shite by not moaning about it, but I did moan about the moaners which is just as bad. Anyway, as December is nearing its deserved end, it's time for review, reflection and resolutions. How convenient that I keep a blog, so reviewing my plans for this past year is easy.

I made a number of resolutions (*click*), some of which worked out to a degree and some did not.

Overall, I probably didn't laugh more. There was a major increase in the laughing amount during my Ukulele classes but that was offset by the mopey months before, when I contemplated the sadness of being lonely. Anyway, it was a good resolution and I shall hang on to it.

1. Laugh more

No speed dating! Plans were made but then my friend's grandad suddenly died and we all didn't feel like it anymore and then forgot. More boys? Equally, nope. I think 2015 was peak boy for me.

Did I get fit? In a way - I have established a weekly yoga routine, so that's something. Should be good enough for now, together with my cycle commute and the occasional hillwalk. At least I hope that it's good enough, as I gave up swimming before I even started. But I do want to check out the fitness machines in the park behind my house. What a luxury to have them there. I just need to get over the feeling of looking silly on them. Of course I'll look silly on them, so what.

2. Use fitness machines in park

As for new resolutions, there's something about food. Food stopped being the enemy years ago when I decided that life's too short for diets. However, I have treated food poorly, taken it for granted, and not given it the attention it deserves. My pasta and cheese binges surely don't make the pasta feel appreciated. Any successful attempts at cooking I negate by shoveling the food into my mouth while watching a TV show. My mum must have sensed something, because she gave me this book a few weeks ago:

It is inconceivable that picturing myself at dinner with Mr Darcy won't make me be nicer to food.

3. Do food better

And finally, reflection. What else happened in 2016? I went part-time and now work four days a week. This was a great decision and there is no going back. I started to study statistics. I took up the Ukulele and signed up for the fiddle. My Uke teacher said with my mad Uke skills I'm already halfway there - he's a charmer. And finally, in addition to yoga, I've also established a meditation routine and am all zen now.

So, 2017, bring it on.

North Berwick to Dunbar

I did another long walk yesterday. The stretch between North Berwick and Dunbar is the final section of the John Muir Way - and the only one I have walked to far. And conveniently, both towns can be reached by train.

John Muir Way

North Berwick is a seaside town 25 miles northeast of Edinburgh. It sits beneath a hill, North Berwick Law, which was formed by a volcanic plug and then shaped by time and Ice Age. North Berwick Law stands out in the otherwise flat area and can easily be spotted from as far as the Pentlands or Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh. In fact, I climbed it once with my friend Colin. It looks quite tall from afar, but we were up and down in an hour and spent the rest of the day on the beach. 

I left North Berwick at 10.30 am and followed the well-signed route south, past North Berwick Law. The route desription on walkhighlands.co.uk (*click*) said that East Linton would make a good stop for lunch. The walking was flat, I saw few people, most of them with dogs. It was quite a long walk to East Linton, maybe 7 miles (10 km), and by the time I got there I was quite hungry.

The pretty town centre had a couple of delis - both closed - but no cafe or tearoom. I passed a co-op supermarket, but I was really after a hot drink and some soup. I started to wonder if the walk description maybe suggested I should have my packed lunch here rather than talking about dining options in East Linton - when I spotted the pub. I had soup and a coffee by an open fire and was more than happy.

I didn't stay long though, as I wanted to get to Dunbar and the final section on the clifftops before it got too dark for walking on clifftops. Leaving East Linton I walked along a river Tyne (but not the Newcastle one), across field, and when the sun started to set I reached the saltmarshes of the Tyne estuary. Pretty cool, I hadn't expected any saltmarshes.

Walking through John Muir Country Park I then saw something odd. It started with the Lamas. Then ostriches. Sheep, goats and donkeys. And then a huge castle-like structure with slides and ladders, and a little monorail. One moment in the wilderness, and in the next I find myself in a safari park.

The sun properly set when I just spotted the red cliffs of Dunbar. I skirted the golf course (you are never far a way from a golf course in Scotland), and the sky turned pink, and the cliffs turned too dark to see. I arrived in Dunbar at 4 pm.

Dunbar's centre was astonishing. The Christmas lights were wild and colourful, but when I looked more closely I saw that they were in fact sponsored by local businesses: "Season's greetings from all at Torness", or just the name of the firm with a tree or a star. Odd, but cheerful. 

My train home was very busy but warm, so that was nice. I even caught the connecting train to my local station. But when I got off there, Network Rail or Scotrail or whoever I can blame had done quite a blunder: The road that crosses the rails next to the station was closed for roadworks. However, the pavement alongside this road is the only way to get from platform 1 to platform 2 - and this was also closed. So, only one half of the train station was accessible from each side. People living north of it can only take the trains towards Edinburgh, or coming from Glasgow. Unfortunately, coming from Edinburgh, I was on the wrong side. So after walking 15 miles already and being only an 8 minute walk away from home in theory (I could almost see my house) I had to walk another 2 miles to cross the rails in a different place.

The route

North Berwick Law

Dangerous Ford! With a footbridge next to it.

River Tyne

Baby lama

The bridge to nowhere

Pink skies

Local businesses outshining each other

Sponsored Christmas decoration

Stramash

Such a musical week!

I met with my friend Francoise to jam - she on the piano, me on the Uke on Friday. On Sunday, I sang Christmas carols with my choir at the Summerhall christmas market, and today I sang more carols with the annual Christmas pop-up choir in the office. And I don't really know what Stramash means, but I was in one tonight, when my music school had their end-of-term gathering, the Stramash, where all the groups performed a couple of songs to each other.

My Ukulele 101 group was combined with the Ukulele session group, and we performed Patsy Cline's Tennessee Waltz, and then Andrew Lloyd Webber's Christmas Dream, together with the accordion 2 group.

And since making music with other people has been so much fun I signed up for fiddle classes next year. And maybe I'll start a band. Never too early for New Year's resolutions.

I'm back

It's been a bit dead over here, but I'm finally done moping now. I'm back to old form, open to new adventures and fun challenges!

Maybe it was the last weekend that did it - I hung out with my bestie Colin, and made gingerbread cookies with his girlfriend's little boys. They had a Wookie cookie cutter! Colin said choir wasn't the same without me - awww! I hadn't been going since summer as it clashed with my Ukulele group.

Or maybe it's Printer Guy who's back in the game. Remember Printer Guy (*click*)? He ticks all but two boxes: He is no laird and has no castle.

Or maybe it's because I remembered the time when I was newly single and spent my first holiday on my own, went to San Francisco, and kissed three guys in one night. Such fun.

But who can tell why we feel how we feel, all I know is that I'm done being sad, so there we go.

So, for the month of December I'm setting myself this challenge: 30 cards in 30 days. This is inspired by Kat who, last month, sent me the earliest Christmas card (and gift!) ever. Do I actually know the addresses of 30 people? Well, we'll see.

Same trip, different season

Winter walking

Callander in the morning with a view of Ben Ledi.

Still autumn...

... in the Trossachs.

Autumn in the Trossachs

Here are some pictures of my 50 km walk in the Trossachs last weekend, starting in Aberfoyle, finishing in Killin, with a scenic drive home along Loch Tay and the misty Tay valley.

Oh America, what have you done?

Brexit suddenly doesn't seem as big a deal anymore. Can we please fast forward four years?

Ben Ledi

My friend Ben and I walked up Ben Ledi last Sunday. The autumn leaves were in yellows, reds and oranges, and we walked over the clouds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stereotype

When I went on the scrambling weekend a while ago, there were two instructors - a chatty, charming one, and a quiet, earnest one. First, I liked the charmer better, but then the quiet one grew on me.  He didn't say much but when he did it was useful. There was one thing he said to me that keeps popping up in my head, even now, weeks later.

A couple of guys were taking pictures of each other on the ridge. I was in the field of view, so I offered to look scared to make them look more badass by contrast. To this, the quiet instructor said to me "Don't be the stereotype."

I'd hate to be the stereotype, that's the last thing I want to be! 

Hallowe'en

We did a cute song at Ukulele class on the occasion of Hallowe'en coming up - Mysterious Mose. Enjoy!



Hope you can open it wherever you are!

Autumn is coming

... So I took some pictures.

 

   

Yoga binge

When I feel sad I go on binges. Nothing seriously bad, no booze, only something to distract me from thinking about it and feeling the sadness.

In the past few weeks since my recent breakup, while being mostly fine (honest!), I've developed another bout of binge-watching my favourite TV show, Doctor Who. There have been 122 new episodes since they revamped the show in 2005 and I had watched them all before. Three times I think. I'm now through 45 of them or so for the fourth time. Having to stay in and study for the Open University course I'm doing isn't helping either, it's enabling my procrastination. My flatmate's partner, who is staying with us these days, likes to mock me and hum the Doctor Who theme whenever he sees me.

The other thing to drown my sorrow in is hot chocolate. Both, the doctor and hot chocolate, make me feel warm and fuzzy inside. Temporary and superficial it may be, but hey, I'll take it. Still better than compulsive online shopping. I need to watch myself there - it's the new season for all my favourite brands of outdoors gear - check out the new North Face Summit Series, and Icebreaker's new colours!

At the same time I've (re-)started yoga. I'd meant to take it up again for years and I finally took up the introductory offer of a yoga studio near where I live. Two weeks of unlimited yoga classes for a fixed price. And as I like to save money I went six times during these two weeks - yoga binge! It was great, I now hardly remember my back issues. It is also hot yoga, which means yoga in a room heated to 30 or 40 degree Celsius, depending on the class. This is meant to make you stretch better.

I tried three different types of yoga there. A more dynamic kind with flowing movements, called vinyasa, or power, cardio- or flow yoga. Lots of fluid movements, like variations of sun salutations. Lots of downward and upward dogs and - my favourite (not) - planks. Not really my thing, too much effort. Also, I'm not doing yoga for the exercise, I get enough of that from cycling.

Then there was the other extreme, yin, where I didn't even work up a sweat - in 40 degrees! This one was more about stretching "the deep tissue", whatever that means. Apparently, not the muscles are getting stretched but the tendons and joints. For this one we went into quite uncomfortable, but not strenuous, poses sitting or lying down and tried to relax into them for minutes. Interesting, but it didn't feel like it was doing much. Maybe it would grow on me.

And finally there was the "classic" type where there were poses standing up, sitting and lying down, usually needing a lot of balance, which were to be held for a few breaths. Definitely made me sweaty, but this was more about building flexibility and strength than cardio fitness. Maybe I should stick with this for a while.

Yoga definitely makes me warm - if not fuzzy - inside and out.

Reindeer and Ptarmigans

I discussed my recent breakup with Kat and where to find eligible young men if not on the internet and how about fun group trips such as skiing holidays etc. That turned into talking about future trips which generally makes for more interesting conversation anyway. 

She once did a navigation course in the Cairngorms at Glenmore Lodge, an outdoor training centre near Aviemore. So just for fun I looked them up and saw that they had an Introduction to Scrambling course on this upcoming weekend. 

The weather forecast looked good so I signed up.

I came back with bruises and scratches all over from hugging the rocks while slowly sliding them down, but it was a brilliant weekend and below are a few pictures. I saw reindeers and ptarmigans!

Fiacall Ridge - we scrambled it up.

The gear: helmets and ropes - that's it.

Fiacall Ridge

A great day for views

Getting tready for Christmas.

Princess2

After the princess incident last week, today was another memorable cycling day. Most of my commute is on cycle paths, but there are a few short bits on the road. On one of those, a car turned in front of me, cut me off, and made me brake sharpish. Not great, but I think the driver realised how close it had been and will surely watch out for bikes next time. And I would have forgotten about the incident right away had not a taxi driver, who had witnessed everything, slowed down right next to me and asked me if I was alright. Awwww. Made my day.

Princess!

On my daily commute to and from work on the cycle paths, I usually have to navigate slow cyclists, dog walkers and their dogs, passive-aggressive pedestrians, angry mums, children, dog poo - which is all preferable to cycling in car traffic.

But occasionally, my timing is bad and I have to share the cycle path with high school children on their way home. Some ignore me, some make space, some jump in front of me or shout abuse after me. One boy once stuck a stick between my spokes - I don't think he meant to hurt me, he was just curious. Fortunately, the stick broke.

Today, I passed a group of adolescents who had made space for me, so I said thank you. And one of them said you're welcome. And then he shouted "Princess" after me!

The end (for real this time)

Five months after the first date we have now come full circle. My man and I are done, over and out.

What went wrong? Hard to say, many things. Liking each other and having similar values was not enough. Maybe our personalities and interests were too different, maybe our personal issues weren't compatible. I wasn't myself around him a lot of the time, and at first I thought that was just because we didn't know each other well yet, and I just went along with it, but then I got used to it and stopped noticing it. Not ideal.

I would prefer it if I knew exactly what went wrong and how to fix it, but I don't and he doesn't, so I'll go with that sometimes things just don't work out.

So I talked things through with friends and did a bit of wallowing, and strangely, now I'm fine. So, going forward, I need a new strategy. Here's the best plan I currently have: I'll buy a cottage in the highlands and get kittens!

Isle of Mull

The best part of my Mull trip was the walk around the Treshnish peninsula in the north of Mull (*click*). Beautiful, remote, varied. Not a hard walk, but long enough to make a day of it at a leisurely pace, especially since the weather allowed for many scenic breaks.

The place everyone recommended us to visit on the other hand, the island Iona, was underwhelming. Busloads of tourists come over to Mull from Oban on the mainland several times every day, only to be driven across the island, ferried from Fionnphort over to Iona, visit Iona Abbey, spend some money, and go back to Oban. We still found some nice spots there, but next time on Mull I'd rather visit the island Ulva, which seems touristically less exploited.

A few miles south of Fionnphort, a farm road leads to another island, Erraid. Erraid is a tidal island, which excited me a great deal because you can walk over at low tide on what looks like a beach, only that it has two coasts. And you might get stuck if you don't make it back in time. By the time we found the island, we could still walk over, but it had got too late for a proper exploration. Another one for my next Mull visit.

On the way to Oban, probably somewhere in the Trossachs

Tobermory on the Isle of Mull

Calgary beach in the north of Mull

Sculpture park in Calgary

Calgary Bay

Treshnish islands

Treshnish headland

View south from the Treshnish coast

Beach near Erraid, a tidal island

Mull-Oban ferry