NickTheTrick

Happy New Year! Ok, but this entry is from 5 months ago, so need to rewind my memory a bit. August saw me off to the California for another interminable week of meetings with work. This time evenings if not the meetings themselves was perked up somewhat by the inclusion of our favourite Geordie, Barry (see pic), into the fold. Our hotel seemed even more stale than the last. My room view, fine, except for the never-ending car park that stretched forward below me and spanned most of my vision. That is Milpitas! Well one evening I went to visit one of my US workmates who kindly cooked for me and we chatted mainly about our other work mates - it was certainly nice to get away from the hotel for a bit! Anyway, fast forward ... read more

I thought I'd chronicle a few days of snowboarding here in Bonnie Scotland for posterity in years to come. It's not every year we get snow like we just had in the last few weeks, and who knows what the following years will bring,,, the demise of skiing in scotland, or a shift in gulf stream and a new beginning? So we had about a foot of snow just at the back of Edinburgh, in the Pentland hills, usually the home of ramblers and mountain bikers, but for 2 weeks boarders and ski mountaineers were to be seen in the mix. I made it up on 4 separate occasions, one of which was after work, i.e. at night time. The snow conditions at from half way down to the bottom were perfect, a good foot of ... read more

Route map:http://www.bikemap.net/route/586134 Day 3 started with an amazing dawn looking over towards the low hills on the south of the Crinan Canal, steeped in some eery low clouds. 3rd day fatigue was setting in, especially as clean clothes were wearing thin, but onwards we rode. Our first destination was out north along the flat flood plain to Kilmartin. There we breakfasted proper (did we have bacon rolls?) at the church cafe, and had a nice wander around the churchyard, admiring some very old Celtic tombstones. From Kilmartin the route wended its way uphill to the start of Loch Awe. Loch Awe is a long loch and on the day we passed extremely calm. The reflection off the surface of the water was almost magical, especially looking through the trees that separated the bank from the road. ... read more

Thought I'd write up last year's trip before it fades away. Route map: Route map: http://www.bikemap.net/route/586038 Day 1 saw me and Mike get an early-ish (10am!) train from Edinburgh to Glasgow. On arrival at Queen Street we headed due south to hit the River Clyde from where I could sort of get my bearings. We hoped to track down national cycle route 75 which would take us all the way south of the river to Gourock. As we approached the north bank at one of the many bridges the skies looked a bit menacing - its well known it always rains on the west coast! The cycle route was easy to find - it was mainly under construction (should be complete by now!), so we were able to pick our way on the riverside path and ... read more

Well the trip is now over. I'm back in Dundee and procastinating over preparations for a move to Edinburgh and the start of a new job on monday. My trip back home with coach, train and plane was incredibly hitch-free. I woke up on time from my hostel in Kabelvag (hard not to with my alarm set to Fight for Your Right to Party by Beastie Boys - it gives me heart palpitations when it goes off). I didn't fall back to sleep. I ate a nice breakfast. I got the bike ready for the 5km into Svolvaer. My bike didn't get a puncture or anything on the way. I found the bus stop. The bus arrived and despite everyone skipping the queue there was plenty of room for me and my bike. The driver didn't ... read more