The month kicked off with a trip to the Tarbert Village Hall to see Skerryvore. They weren’t my cup of tea (too much soft rock and not enough ceilidh) but they were well supported and most of the people there seemed to be enjoying themselves. I read the Wiki entry regarding the lighthouse which was built on the skerry in the mid 1800’s and some story it was! We used to try and visit at least one new Scottish island a year and I suppose with kayaking we still do but a trip to Tiree and then to the big skerry would get us back on track.
A new entry procedure for the Carnethy Hill Race meant that unlike in previous years, I have managed to get a run so training has started with a vengeance and I’ve been out running most days and even managed a longer outing which you can see here. As ever, the ground is pretty wet but some long overdue snow and frost meant that for a few days at least the bogs had something of a crust.
We also entered the Scottish 6 Days Orienteering event taking place this summer in Moray and have started to think about doing some of the bigger Scottish events too. If I can keep up the training, the threat of doing one last Bens of Jura may still just be possible but it’s by no means certain. What does seem more likely though is that as soon as we can predict a spell of settled weather we will pack up the kayaks and go. I’ve researched a trip to the Summer Isles and will try to get a few others in the “bank” so that we can accommodate any last minute changes to the weather.
Suse has been popping up and down to Glasgow and Edinburgh and whilst she was away, I finally got down to putting doors/drawer fronts on to the drinks’ cabinet in the living room to make it toddler-proof. I think it turned out well despite the motor in the planer/thicknesser deciding to imitate its tumbler-drier cousin from last month and bursting into flames. When the replacement arrived, I reckoned I was on a roll so put together a new cedar box and a shoe rack for the hall.
The wood that I used for the box and rack was slab wood from the cedar that we had planked a few years ago. I’d had it stashed in the garage and it seems to have dried out very nicely. Time will tell but at least we have somewhere sensible to put all of the shoes, hats, gloves and scarves etc that were breeding in dark corners of the hall.
One of the Glasgow trips also involved a visit to see Emily and Richard in Stonehouse to help with the second fix electrics in the kitchen. The kitchen is certainly progressing and it’s looking very likely that it will all be finished in time for the big event. More about this later.