Scottish Cycling Mini Adventures 2019

Sometimes you don’t need more than a couple of days to disconnect from the routine of daily life, recharge your energies and refill your soul with the beauty of nature.
Over the last few years we had a few of this “mini adventures", sometimes they are bike packing kind of trips, and sometimes just improvised last minute ideas, no matter what, so far they always turned out to be valuable experiences which have enriched our memory bank.

Gran Canaria

March 2019

We established a bit of pattern in having a winter break in some warm island, and this year we opted for Gran Canaria, our base being the little town of Agaete.

Patagonia!

December 2018

This year we were determined to avoid Christmas and related crap, and what place is better than Patagonia? This is all we saw about Christmas... 

Alta Via 1 - Dolomiti

September 2018

"The wonderful things in life are the things you do, not the things you have."

Reinhold Messner

Before starting the walk we spent one day in Bolzano and went to visit the Messner Mountain Museum located in Castel Firmiano, this was really a great place to visit and to find the right set of mind for the walk to come. Not only the location is beautiful (the fortress offers fine views of Bolzano and the Texel mountains), but the structure, richness and sense of peace and the impossible adds up to the overall experience. The itinerary starts with pictures of a young Messner climbing barefoot and on others people shoulders, then it went on to explore other parts of the castle, with Buddist's statues, symbol and chants everywhere, on top of paintings, expeditions and climbers all over the place, it was a true hymn to mountains. And the main quote I will remember from this place is:

“The most important thing is to know where the mountain is”

Cycling in the Lake District

(Happy Birthday Paul!)

7 to 10 July 2018

What a better way to pre-celebrate Paul's birthday than a good cycle around the Lake District? We wanted climbs and that's definitely what we got...possibly a bit too much really but what doesn't kill you make you stronger, or just very sore...

We based our routes on the Cicerone “Cycling in the Lake District” guide, very nice and handy wee book with many maps and practical details, although the steepness of the climbs can't never really be described

West Highland Way (second half)

2-3 June 2018

We realised we hadn't done much hiking this year and the feet were starting to hitch. In preparation of our big hike in the Dolomites in September, and with "good" weather forecasted, we headed for a 2 day hike along the West Highlands Way. I walked the route years ago, and last year I run the half Glencoe Gathering marathon. While running through those places I thought Paul should definitely see them and the route was added to the “to do” list. We only had 2 days though, so that we opted for the best bit, Bridge of Orchy to Fort Williams, with the idea to climb Ben Nevis on our last day.

Caingorms Loop

05 to 07 May 2018

Stonehave to Ballatear – 75km / 646m up

The start of the journey was not the most auspicious. We could only book the 10.30m train to Stonehaven as the previous ones had no bike spaces so that reluctantly we had a late start, perfectly sincronised with the tens and tens of football fans heading to Aberdeen for the match...the horror, never ever again please!