Glasgow bike week

It's Bike Week in Glasgow.  This is a council run initiative to get people on their bikes.  Every year during bike week, they set up a gazebo on the Broomielaw on one morning, and hand out free breakfasts to people on bikes.  Today was that day.
Unfortunately for me, I passed at 0710 and they were still setting up.  The free food didn't start till 0730.
Ah well, never mind.  I did get a quick chat with a friend Collin, who's involved with the council on the cycling side of things, and we've arranged to do lunch on Friday, so it's all good.

Power cuts and days off.

On Wednesday, we all got sent home from work early, as there had been a fire in a sub station, and all the power in the work went out.
The next day the place was still closed, so there was an unplanned day off. So, I jumped on the bike and cycled through Pollok Estate towards Shawlands, with the idea of grabbing some breakfast there before heading home.  That's when I got a text from a mate from work saying that there was a couple of folk who didn't know the place was closed and had turned up, and they were in a bar in the town, so I changed plans, and headed into town, and had breakfast in the bar with them before heading back home.

Breakfast in Alfredo's

When Karen got home from work at lunchtime, we decided to head to Hill House in Helensburgh.  It's a house designed by Charles Rennie Macintosh, and it's one of the National Trust for Scotland properties.  I'm not a fan of Macintosh, but it's a really nice house.  Well worth a visit if you're in the area.

Hill House in Helensburgh

On Friday, we headed to Callander to do a wee walk from Callander to the Falls of Leny.

When we set off from the car park, it was a bit overcast, but all the way to the Falls, it was pretty nice.  The route follows a cycle path, and ahead of you, Ben Ledi looms in the distance.

Eventually, you come to a concrete seat, and to the right is a little path leading down to the falls.

Falls of Leny

On the way back we followed a wee path through the woods, along the side of the river.  Eventually this lead back to the cycle path, and back to the carpark, where, it started raining just as we got to the car.  Fortunately it didn't last long, and we had a wee wander round the town before heading back to the car with a bag of chips.  Once again, just as we got there, the heavens opened, and we sat eating chips and waiting to see if it would clear up.

When it became obvious that it wouldn't, we just headed back to Glasgow.

All in all a good day, despite the rain.

Good weekend

That was a pretty good weekend.

On Saturday, we headed to Drymen to do a 7 mile walk along forest trails.  When we arrived, we discovered the Drymen Gala was taking place, so we hung about till the parade had passed and got some pics before carrying on with the walk.

Pipe band playing in the Drymen Gala day parade

Initially the walk was through some really nice countryside, and there was some decent views of Loch Lomond.

Loch Lomond

Unfortunately there had been some pretty major logging taking place, so the path we were supposed to be following was blocked by fallen trees.  This meant we had to take another path, which took us further up the hill that we should have gone, meaning we met the West Highland Way earlier than we should have.  The logging at this point meant that there was pretty much no forest at all, just acres of tree stumps, which doesn't make for much in the way of scenery.

A forest once stood here.

Further along the Way, we got back into some nice wooded areas, and as we approached Drymen again, it got really nice.

Giving the scenery the thumbs up

Back in Drymen, and it was time to relax in the beer garden of the Drymen Inn, with a well earned pint.

At that point in time, this was the best tasting pint ever.

For those of a geeky persuasion, there's a link to the walk here.

Non-genre reading

I'm struggling to read any genre books at the moment (Song of Fire and Ice aside).  I'm just not in the zone at the moment, and can't face SF/F/Horror.  So, the current reading material is I'll Never Get Out of this World Alive by Steve Earle.
I've previously read his book of short stories - Doghouse Roses - which I can highly recommend.  Especially the tale of the witness to an execution.  That is one hell of a story.

Anyway, hopefully I'll get out of the rut and back to normal, but for the moment, it's non-genre all the way.

New bike gear

Got myself a pair of Endura Hummvee 3/4 bike shorts yesterday.  OK they were £49.00, BUT, that's equivalent to a month's rail travel, so after getting back on the bike for a month, they'll have paid for themselves.
Also, they're reinforced, so won't wear out the same way the cut-down combats I usually cycle in, do. The constant rubbing against the saddle eventually takes it's toll.  These should last a good bit longer.

Weekend stuff

Saturday karate was pretty good, although the warm-up included bunny hops, and damn if my legs aren't stiff now.  It's definately worked muscles that don't normally get such a hard workout, so that's all to the good.

On Saturday night, the friends who had looked after one of the cats while we were in Jordan were over.  I've not drunk that much in a long time, and I've certainly not seen 3.00am with a beer in my hand for a good few years.  I *may* have been a little tipsy.

On Sunday, we headed over to Cafe Byblos for lunch.  We'd forgotten that the West End Festival was on, so finding a parking space was fun, but soon we were in and having some really nice Lebanese food.
While we were having lunch we got a text from a friend asking if we fancied meeting up for a drink! So, an hour later, I was topping up from the night before.

I posted on FB about not being 20 any more, and got a real slagging from friends saying it did no harm now and again, and that I was sounding like a pensioner, and to get a grip :-)

So yeah, that was a fun weekend.