www. hic

Islay
Originally uploaded by Lidwit.

Less than a week to go and are we excited... oh hell yes! Why??

It's time for our Whisky Walking Weekend hence the www.
We're dumping the rugrats on the Daddies and we're off for a girly weekend tramping round Scotland's tropical Isle ostensibly to train for the Moonwalk... oh who are we kidding? We're off on a freedom ride to Whisky World. Point of interest - have you ever noticed how Walt Disney sounds remarkably like Malt Whisky?

Now obviously, as we are raising awareness of Breast Cancer and the ways it can be detected or even to some extent avoided, we have to point out that alcohol is a known risk factor. With that in mind we are clearly not going to be silly about this. Everything in moderation, as my Gran was always fond of saying. So we will be considering the potential hazards of over indulgence and imbibing only on what is medically necessary to anaesthetise our poor, aching, blistered feet. We will have a moderate amount of Bruichladdich, a moderate amount of Laphroaig, a moderate.... you get the picture.

So we had another 9k stroll around Broadwood in the rain this morning where we discussed the mutual humiliation experienced at our respective job interviews through the week before getting down to the business of planning the minutiae of next weeks jolly. After our interviews we were both in need of some retail therapy to ease our stress with the result Red has invested in some new trainers and I in a pair of lightweight breeks that fold into their own pocket for traveling. Unfortunately they don't iron themselves when they emerge from said pocket but what did I expect for £40?

Round the bend

Kilsyth in distance
Originally uploaded by Lidwit.

Are we insane???
We took another walk on the Forth & Clyde canal - this time continuing on along a 7m stretch from Auchenstarry Basin to The Stables Restaurant in Kirkintilloch and back again. Just 14m and my legs and back were really beginning to feel it. How on earth will we ever cope with nearly double that distance? As much as I'm loving the walks I'm now beginning to doubt myself. What if I really can't do this by June 16th?

I'm going to blame my poor attitude on the fact that spent the night in sleepless contemplation of a forthcoming interview and didn't have nearly enough to eat or drink before we set off. Not very wise. I realise that I need to buck up a bit - particularly as Red and I have an entire weekend of walking planned for a fortnights time and we do intend to cover a full 26m in the process.

Ambitious?? Well yes but then we are counting on the anaesthetising effects of our ventures into the land of distilleries. Ooooh piggy heaven. We'll either float the distance on small fluffy clouds or we'll walk twice as far because we can't make a straight line. Either way - I fully intend to enjoy it. In the meantime, it's on with the shorter hops along the canals and around the lochs of our local patch. Who knows - maybe one day we'll even take a detour and visit the Twechar Attractions!!! Who knew these delights were on our doorstep???!!!

Recycled

Bedrock Bicycle
Originally uploaded by Lidwit.

We may be shrinking but not from walking. Despite having a quieter couple of weeks while Red dealt with work and conferences and I took care of interviews and job offers we did still manage to squeeze in a couple of circuits of Broadwood Loch. Sadly that's about all we managed but at least it was something.



But that's all behind us now. It was a glorious day today and better yet Red had some time off so we spent the afternoon walking a disused railway line that has been recycled as it were and is now Cycle route 75 from Gourock in the West to Edinburgh in the East.



Okay so we didn't actually walk all of it. We met up at Hillend Loch just outside Caldercruix and joined the line for 5 miles along to Blackridge then turned and did it all again in reverse.



Along the way we encountered some very bizarre sculptures and some stunning scenery. Being a gloriously sunny day didn't hurt at all which is more than can be said for my feet. I didn't realise quite how comfy my new trainers were until I wasn't wearing them. There's a mistake I won't be making again.



It was such a nice day in fact that I even let Red persuade me to relinquish the camera for a nanosecond during which time she snapped a very rare pic of yours truly. Honest, I do actually attend these training walks. It's not a ruse. Anyway, this was a lovely easy walk and definitely one we would repeat, perhaps by cadging a lift to a different point along the line and walking a longer route in one direction



That will be us for another couple of weeks as we deal with Easter holidays, families and kids. That doesn't mean we'll be forgetting the training though. In fact we're planning a girls weekend minus distractions at the end of the month and to be honest we're pretty excited about it. More on that one later.