Mum arrived on Thursday the 19th of May on an easyjet flight from Geneva. Her flight was due to touch down in Edinburgh around 4 pm. Kim and I had arranged lunch with her Grandparents Margret-Jean and Lyndsey in Perth. We went to a really nice restaurant by the river called 63 Tay street. We all order the same meal, Rainbow trout, it was absolutely delicious. We carried onto to the Airport and picked Mum up; she wasn’t dressed for Scottish weather! Back in Dundee we checked into Balgowan house, Helen was very hospitable. Next we took Mum and showed her my flat, she recognised a few of my walls she had seen on skype. Next we picked up fish and chips and headed up the Law, we sheltered behind the plinth, admired the view over Dundee as we ate our Fish and Chips, quickly! It was cold up there and Mum was frozen to the bone. On the way home I picked up the Victoria sponge cake which I had made for Mum with Kim’s help ;-). And we enjoyed a couple of slices at Mum’s room.
Friday I had to work so I left Kim and Mum to their own shopping devices. Friday night Mum and I went grocery shopping then she came round and ate at my flat. We had chicken wraps and listened to my Marathon podcast.
Saturday morning we were back on the road to Edinburgh, we timed our run to pick up Dad’s delayed flight from Washington. I had fun negotiating Edinburgh’s bus lanes, and got into a wee bit of trouble with some of the drivers. We parked the car and left our luggage at the office then we went for Lunch. I though a large meal of pasta would be just the ticket, so we went to an Italian restaurant near the race start point, London road. Dad was a wee bit Jet lagged. We decided to walk off our meal around Edinburgh. We walked to the entrance of the castle and down the royal mile, calling into St Giles Cathedral. We checked into our accommodation mid afternoon. We had to negotiate some road works on the street and I got some friendly advice on parking from a local. A few issues with the quality of accommodation but it served its purpose I suppose. Then we went to the local Pub and watched Northampton lose in an exciting game of rugby to the Leinster, the final of the Heinekin Cup. It was game of two halves for sure, Kim was gutted! Saturday night as expected was low key. Beans on toast and game of Quiddler.
Sunday, Race day! I went through my normal pre-race prep. Banana, oaty bar, and porridge for Breakfast; as well as an electrolyte boost from a special racing drink. We planned out meeting points then the support crew started off walking while I finished off some last minute toilet business! I met Kim near the start and realised I had forgot my electrolyte booster gel, so I had to run back to the hotel and grab it. Back at the start line I was warm, and had a quick stretch. Bang we were off. I was targeting 3:45 pace for the duration of the race, and it started off well. I was helped with a good tail wind and some great support from Kim, Jean, Sarah and Mum and Dad. ½ way through the race I was on track for my target time, but I didn’t feel fresh, my energy levels were not where I expected them to be! I carried on until the turn dropping my pace slightly. I hit the turn at the 18 mile mark and I was buggered. The head wind took it out of me as well, and it all turned to custard from there, I just wanted to get to the end! My pace slowed to 4:30 then 4:45 then 5:00, I was pretty much crawling. I saw Mum and Dad when I was at my worst point, the dreaded power station straight into a very gusty head wind. Jon picked me up with about 4 miles to go and he was a great boost, however, I was having every runners nightmare, I was hitting a massive wall. At 25 miles I had to stop, I felt dizzy like I was almost on the verge of collapsing. I had a large sugary drink and this seemed help. A spectator yelling “Come on don’t stop! Only 1 mile to go!” This seemed to spur me on and I got to the end 2:55, glad to finish, but not in the happiest of places. At the finish line I met up with Kim and Alan and Jane. I was starting to cramp, but Kim helped me out with some stretches. We all went for a post race snack at an Italian snack bar near the start line. I had a craving for a chicken sandwich. When the Stone-wiggs departed we went back to our accommodation and Mum and Dad crashed out (they had been great supporters walking probably over 13 miles during the course of the day). I had a bath to rest my legs. Kim had to fill it up with hot water from the kettle, because we had no water out of the tap!! Then Kim and drove to the Cally Sample rooms and caught up with Jon and co to get the post race analysis. I had a couple of beers. Self reflecting on the race I was disappointed because before the race I had felt fitter than the Lochness marathon when I ran 9 minutes faster. I guess things didn’t come together for me on the day. Maybe my diet was slightly wrong because I seemed to be low on energy. At the end of the day I will look back on the race as a learning curve.
I would to openly thank everyone for supporting me on the day. I really did appreciate the support.
The next day it was pouring rain and quite windy. We dropped Kim off at the train station and carried on up to the Falkirk wheel. The weather was starting to now become quite wild. The centre wasn’t opening for another 10 minutes but the staff took pity on us standing in the rain and opened up early. The Falkirk Wheel is a rotating boat lift connecting the Forth and Clyde Canal with the Union Canal, it opened in 2002. Replacing the 11 original locks which fell into disrepair. It carries a combined weight of 600 tonnes but because of the balanced counterweight it only takes the power of eight electric kettles to turn the wheel. A truly masterful piece of engineering. We sat down in the cafe to a nice coffee and a muffin as the rain hammered into the windows. Next stop was Stirling castle, located in Stirling, is one of the largest and most important castles, both historically and architecturally, in Scotland. The castle sits atop Castle Hill, an intrusive crag, which forms part of the Stirling Sill geological formation. It is surrounded on three sides by steep cliffs, giving it a strong defensive position. Its strategic location, guarding what was, until the 1930s, the farthest downstream crossing of the River Forth, has made it an important fortification from the earliest times. Most of the principal buildings of the castle date from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. A few structures of the fourteenth century remain, while the outer defences fronting the town date from the early eighteenth century. Several Scottish Kings and Queens have been crowned at Stirling, including Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1543. There have been at least eight sieges of Stirling Castle, including several during the Wars of Scottish Independence, with the last being in 1746, when Bonnie Prince Charlie unsuccessfully tried to take the castle. We had an animated guide, a real Scotsman, who hated the English and retold some interesting stories including parties at the great hall, the battle of Stirling, gargoyles on the outside of the buildings. After the guided tour we explored the Museum then as we were leaving we were approached by Castle attendants and told the castle was being closed for H&S reasons, too windy! I agree it was insanely windy. I got a bit of a telling off as well as I tried to walk down a passage way. We got lost trying to get out of Stirling, we refuelled and got some sandwiches and ate them in the car, because it just wasn’t safe outside! We headed toward Loch Lomand, via country roads. This turned out to be not the smartest idea. With extremely large trees falling across the roads and blocking us. Once I got out to check and blockage and something flew into my eye. We had to back track and find a main road. Even these roads were dodgy with a lot of debris on the road. Dad had to take over the driving as my eye was giving me grief. This turned out to our second bad decision of the day, as he missed a turn-off and we ended up on the outskirts of Glasgow, a significantly longer trip. Nevermind, turns out the road we were going to take someone died when a tree crushed their car. After getting lost on the outskirts of Glasgow we finally got back on track driving past the Erskine bridge and the main road up to Loch Lomand. We arrived at Culag guesthouse in the pouring rain however we were warmly invited by a Irishman ‘Patrick’. This guy was hard case, never short of a quip or a joke! He told us about a time when he used to bet with Kiwi’s about which way ducks would turn in the ponds. We asked about a meal in the Pub up the road and whether it would be open and he replied “As long as there is someone there with a pulse, the pub will be open” Unfortunately he was blatantly wrong! Due to the power outage they sent all their guests down to another restaurant with a generator further down the road. We tried this place as well, but perhaps as expected they were full and we didn’t have reservations. So back to the room we went and mum whipped some really nice raw ‘mousetraps’ (cheese and ham on bread). It was nice and relaxed, a little too relaxed for Dad and he started falling asleep so Mum and watched a documentary on the Wolf’s lair before going to bed.
Tuesday, was reportedly going to be a better day weather wise so our spirits were buoyed. We enjoyed a delicious breakfast with Patrick. Mum and Dad had the smoked salmon and I had the kippers. After settling up Patrick and skimming rocks on the lake we carried up around the scenic Loch Lomand. Mum particularly enjoyed the wild blue bells. The waterfalls in the hills were raging and the hillsides were lush and green. We stopped many times to take pictures, we were in cruise mode. Dad received good news from work and I managed to talk with Kim after being out of phone reception last night. Next stop was the quaint riverside village of Killin. The river was raging and the showers were coming through hard and fast so we ducked into the local cafe for a homemade scone and a coffee. Back in the car we started driving along Loch Tay then we cut up the hill to Ben Lawers, where I once went for a hike. We continued over the pass, alongside a Dam and down to a glen (valley). This was back country Scotland and the scenery was amazing, with some grand country houses. Back onto loch Tay and we soon reached the head of the loch, a place called Kenmore. We tried to find a nice cafe but nothing grabbed us so we carried on up to Aberfeldy. It was here Mum and Dad walked through a gallery with a great collection of work, it was here that I found a really nice set of earrings and necklace for Kim. Then we were directed across the road a really nice cafe/bookshop. We had a bite to eat and another coffee. From there it was back to Dundee and I left Mum and Dad to an evening just to relax at the Balgowan.
Wednesday I was back at work so the plan was I would drop my car off to M+D in the morning and bike to work. Unfortunately it didn’t go quite to plan... I managed to drop the car off ok and get my bike out, but that’s when it all turned to custard. I successfully managed to lock my keys in the car boot! So I had to go to work, and hope that Mum and Dad could get help from Richie the owner of the B&B. He had a friend who had a go, but all they managed to do was successfully put dents in my door frame. I returned at lunch time with a work mate Colin. We wedged the door open and tried the boot button, no luck. Next we tried the door lock, no luck. Then as we had to return to work we had a go at fishing the keys out themselves. Dad tracked down a bamboo pole and with a piece wire in an extremely delicate operation we managed to fish the keys out! The crowd cheered, phew! Lesson learned, have a spare set of keys! So Mum and Dad managed to have an afternoon in St Andrews. I met up with them after work and we picked up Kim and all went out for dinner at the recommended Blue Marlin in Montifieth. The seafood was very good and the company even better, a good time was had by all!
So in summary, this holiday had a bit of everything for Mum and Dad; a sporting event, cold showers, hurricane winds, torrential rain, falling trees, lost drivers, crazy Irishmen, power cuts, Locked cars and ash clouds! Who would want to spend a boring holiday on the beach, when you can get this much excitement in Scotland!
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