All things Scotland …..

A short prose accompanied by some photos from my trip back home in August.

The long haul home was relatively uneventful :

- A pleasant 3 hours to Sydney in Emirates business class enjoying a 3 course meal and fine wine.

- Another 3 hours in transit at Sydney airport with lots of walking and  a bit of shopping

-14 hours  to Dubai but sadly in Emirates cattle class. The section of the plane I was sitting in was full of young children, including the babe that cried THE ENTIRE FLIGHT. I just adjusted my dose of sedative ( read: doubled ) to ensure I got some sleep.

The Big bird in Dubai

- A couple of hours WAG spotting at Dubai airport and the sheer joy ( its the little things!) of paying AED 40 for a long shower and putting on clean underwear and the new shirt I purchased in Sydney. Followed by a some skulking in duty free to "test" various lotions and a spray of perfume.

- 7 hours to Glasgow….. and I am back on Scottish soil. Weeeeee!!! First thing Mum said when she saw me was "Oh, you look really tired".  Yep.

Hugging Sir Chris Hoy's golden postbox

It had been two years since I was last in Edinburgh; I love the feeling of coming back home and the warm, comforting familiarity of being back in the place I grew up.

Things I love about Britain:

Mummy.
Marks + Spencers
Sainsbury's on the go healthy snacks
Fat Face
Red post boxes
Old dry stane dykes
Some really old buildings
White Stuff
Oatcakes
double decker buses
Public transport availability
Castles or ruins of castles springing up in random places as you drive by
Tea.
Scotsman newspaper
BBC radio and TV.
Royal Commonwealth Pool ( 50m)



Things from NZ I really miss when in Britain:

Brett and Jemima.
NZ white wine - can't be beaten, ANYWHERE
Really good lattes+ flat whites with deep flavour+ properly frothed milk.Not Starbucks.
Early opening cafes with great cafe food- even at winds.
Bright sunny days with not a cloud in the sky.

See you in a month, Mum!

Anyhoo, had a few days in Edinburgh to get over the jet lag and reacquaint myself with  swimming in a 50 m pool as well as sort out a rental car for Mum and I's trip up north……..stock up on a few Clif books + a new short sleeved thermal from my favourite shop the Tri Centre to wear on race day.

See you in a month, babe!

Mum and I headed north on the Thursday, 2 days pre race. It was a bit mizzly as we crossed the Forth road bridge into Fife but started to clear as we hit the outskirts of Perth then took the road towards Braemar. We stopped for lunch at some wee country inn/hotel and had a tasty bowl of home made soup then grabbed a take away coffee and i couldn't resist but to purchase a couple of baked treats. The road was rather rolling and windy here so progress was a little slow but we trundled on until Braemar and got out to stretch the legs. I hadn't been to Braemar, Royal Deeside since a primary 7 school ski trip to Glenshee. It is very typical of a well to do Scottish market town and given we were in the region of the Grampians  the buildings are all a grey stone ( granite , I think) , very tidy  main street with hanging baskets in abundance and two large hotels with a few little shops dotted in between. Not to mention the backdrop of the mountains and an old  red telephone box. Love it.

After that we drove through the Spittal of Glenshee ( you drive up to a pass where the ski field car park sits then descend towards Balmoral )  in a real pea-souper ( dense fog for those who don't understand Scottish colloquialisms).  I think visibility was ~ 20m or so. I was worn out by the time we emerged from the mirk as the sheer concentration and slight terror had sapped my energy. 

A few more windy B class roads and a slight disagreement as to which direction as we came through Keith - headed for Aberdeen until Mum pointed out we should be headed north - and then found the road to Cullen,  another winding road through farming country; fields dotted with cows and we also passed a field of donkeys! Eeeeh-ooohhh.

Home for the next 5 days.

Cullen is a small town on the Moray firth - origin of one of Scotland's more famous dishes, Cullen skink ( its fish chowder basically). A pod of bottle nose dolphins live in the bay and we were lucky enough to see four of them leaping and bounding through the water on our last morning.

Anyway, before I go into laborious detail and get bogged down in what would become a very long blog, I'll give a list of highlights of the northern sojourn:-

- A visit to the Baxters village in Fochabers to stock up on shortbread, oatcakes, preserves…
- Family catch up with Jean, Sylvia and co in Fraserburgh
- A very tasty lunch at the Mountain cafe in Aviemore, the menu had a few dishes I didn't expect to see in the UK but then I discovered the chef was a kiwi!
- Fresh salmon for dinner at least 3 nights.. yum.

Cullen looking towards Buckie

-  Discovering this  gem of a place and the deli on the main street selling fresh cheeses, venison, locally made pates, coffee, smoked salmon. A foodie's heaven.

-catching up with an old friend Therese, who now lives up in Aberdeenshire with her husband and three year old daughter. We met up in Huntly for a coffee and caught up on all the news- had been six years since our last get together!










We drove back home down the A9 via Aviemore, Grantown on Spey and over Drumochter pass to get some different scenery. It was a stunning, sunny day - not a cloud in the sky and 21 degrees. Scotland is a marvellous place in fine weather :)

I had a sore throat the following day which then developed into a full blown head cold and cough but i guess I can't complain as I rarely get sick or get colds and the best time to get one is when you are at your Mum's house, don't have to go to work and are recovering from running an ultra the weekend before  and wouldn't be doing much training anyway. Well, good for us Type -A people anyway :)

Edinburgh Highlights :

- going to a show at the festival fringe; Alistair McGowan the impressionist. Very funny, thankfully only an hour or so long as the hall upstairs at the Gilded Balloon @teviot was akin to sitting in a sauna.

- took Mum and Alan for dinner to www.urban-angel.co.uk . Highly recommend as an eatery in Edinburgh. Casual dining, food and wine list was excellent. I chose the haggis - a real treat. Mmmmm.

- great summer weather and the buzz of the city when the Edinburgh festival is on. Can't beat it!

- a 50m Olympic pool to swim in..at the Royal Commonwealth pool. A reminder of how much I miss QE2.

- Old buildings, older buildings, really really old buildings.

- A visit to the museum to see an exhibition about Mary, Queen of Scots.  #culture.


Then, the long haul back to Christchurch via Dubai, Bangkok and Sydney. Again relatively uneventful apart from the long queue waiting to get through passport control in Dubai and being stuck behind Mr and Mrs Moaner-from-the-north-of England who were apparently discontent with absolutely everything  including the airline, arab, the USA as a whole, other airlines…. why the hell travel anywhere then?!!!

There was a slight delay both landing and leaving Bangkok as a plane had skidded off the runway earlier that day which meant one was closed. They didn't tell us that of course but when it appears on the BBC world headlines that pop up on the screen, doesn't take a double digit IQ to work out…..?!

The best bit was the roller coaster ride as we approached Christchurch. The good ole' norwester was blowing like buggery; confirmed when the plane dropped ~ 50m unexpectedly then was getting thrown from side to side by the wind. I could hear some children screaming, however they were the kind of screams you hear on a fairground attraction - I was having a bit of a white knuckle ride myself!

Returned home to a freshly painted and decorated house with new carpet laid…. poor Brett had been living in the garage while I was away and we had our earthquake repair work done. Looks fabulous!

Once i was over the jet lag ( took AGES!).. time to get back on the bike and knuckle down to some triathlon training. First race of the season on 9th November a half ironman  down in lake Hood, Ashburton.

Catch ya soon for the next instalment…..

A couple more pics to make this more interesting...