Wheely good time
(L-R: Me, Ian, Suzy and Julie at the Falkirk Wheel: Falkirk, Scotland)
I’m not looking my best here, but everyone else looks fairly respectable, so I felt churlish not posting this photograph just because I look like a tired teenage boy. The reason I look so dishevilled was the cycle ride along the Forth and Cyde canal from central Glasgow to Falkirk and its famous wheel. The wheel is in place of a long series of canal locks, simply wheeling the barges and boats from high to low and vice versa. It is still a major tourist attraction in the area and though I have been there several times, it is still a striking addition to the landscape.
We four braved the suddenly cooler weather (Saturday was 28 degrees celsius and Sunday – this day – the temperature dropped to a chilly12) in order to check the route for a charity cycle we are organising. There will be more on that soon, I’m sure. Anyway, it is a substantial ride on my battered, gearless Raleigh Transit road bicycle at thirty miles, but we all managed it intact. There was a hazy period after a brief lunch stop when I lost all circulation in my fingers. It was a painful hour that followed; I was unable to judge if I were holding the handlebars or not, or whether my brittle fingers were caught – I could feel nothing coherent in my hands. Thankfully this passed and the going became more bearable again. I have to admit, the ‘Falkirk 2 miles’ sign pepped me up when it appeared. I had enough energy to just make it across the railway car park three miles further uphill from the Wheel. Crossing the rail bridge to the correct platform was one of the more grueling moments of the day. However, pain aside, the scenery is lovely, the going is quite steady and the attractions of the canal are low key, but many. I saw herons, swans and their cygnets, ducks, boys swimming in the canal and many many fishermen trying their luck along the way.
Just a quick one today, I’m afraid – I am exhausted from completely solid work the past few days since Ying left. I have managed to squeeze in minimal socializing of an evening but that’s all the time I have taken off. I was frantically cutting, calling, emailing and drawing, scanning, photoshopping and stamping all day.
– Today Rosie is going to a fitness class, handing over keys, visiting her Gran and going to a networking event in Glasgow, Scotland –
