Well that was a quick year!

I can't believe where the time has gone, it has been over 3 months since I last posted and now the new year is upon us and we can look forward to the slow crawl towards Summer. I really do hate the Winter nights.

I'm not sure where to start in order to cover all that has happened in the last 3 months so I will keep it brief and mostly update with some photos, as they speak louder than words.

What I will say is that my move here to Innerleithen has definitely been the best decision I have made in a very long time.

Bodhi has settled well into my life and he keeps me amused every single day with his antics. He is such a loving dog and will try his very best to please you at all times. His training continues though, as he still is not trusted off the lead. His nose and ears can seek out any living creature at 100 paces and would disappear into the forrest at the first whiff of a squirrel or mouse. I am currently working on his recall with a whistle and voice commands and it seems to be working.

In order that he can run fast and be "more dog" he is running along side me in his trail harness when I go jogging, although his looks of disgust at my slow pace can be a tad disheartening.

His trail doggyness does not end there though, just recently he has been with me on my bike. His pulling power for a relatively small dog is immense. The hope is that he will learn to run next to the bikes on the trails eventually, but in the mean time he makes a great training aid both on foot and on the bike.

First day of trail dog training.

Bodhi is not the only special boy in my life these days though, call it fate but like Bodhi I have met my forever match. Nuff said, I'm happy and that's good in my book. :-)

Ok now some photos, hopefully some exciting plans for this year so will continue with my ramblings throughout 2015.

Christmas day selfies.

Happy beaches.

I'm so handsome.

A very wet new years day walk in the Pentlands.

So, so tired!

Will never tire of this view.

Do I have to Mummy?

Where to?

No more selfies, I smell rabbits.

Snowy bike days.

Peace x

All photos by Caroline Harvey

7350 Days Later.

It's been a while since I last posted which I apologise for but I've a good excuse. 

I moved house!

There are times when I can procrastinate over small or even trivial decisions that may or may not make difference to my life, but when it comes to making big decisions I am fairly brutal and they are often quick and instantaneous. 

Giving up a career, taking time to travel, moving house away from my city and my friends. Yup lets do it, go, go, go!

As the title suggests, I had been the owner and resident (minus 1 year) of my flat in Edinburgh for a substantial amount of time and when I started to think about that I was beginning to find it quite depressing. The history of me and the flat goes back to when I was a child bride :-). Oh the hopes and dreams! Well maybe not, but it didn't stay a marital home for too long and soon the flat became my home. Some may say that this was an ominous beginning but hey you got to live somewhere and it wasn't the flats fault I married a twat.

Anyway we grew together and decorated quite a few times in those 7350 days. The TV programme Changing Rooms had much to answer to in a few of those years. Suffice to say there were quite a few ups and downs at number 42.

History is history though and it was time to move on and make some new memories. For many years I didn't know where I would actually want to move to. The only thing I could afford within Edinburgh would be smaller than I had already and even I am not old enough to downsize just yet. East and West lothian I've never really fancied for various reasons. So where, that was the big question.

Having taken up mountain biking a year or so ago and making frequent trips down to Glentress and the Innerleithen trails, I started to think about living in either Peebles or Inners. After research I decided that Innerleithen would be a good bet. It is a busy little town with lots of local amenities, walking and biking trails and actually not too far from Burgh either. Could I have found my Location, Location, Location?

That was it decision made, and so 12 weeks of madness began.

The sign went up and I was on the market, so to speak!

Preparing for my first weekend of viewing was taken up with much frantic cleaning and tidying up of all the things they tell you to hide to create space etc. No one came. Oh well next week. I think it was the 3rd weekend before anyone showed, just one lady, but she seemed to like it. I was giving my "this flat is great, area is great, neighbours are great" speech and had my fingers crossed that my sales pitch was working. It must have as she came back the next day with her sister for a second look.

Short story of the next sequence goes something like this; offer in, offer accepted, offer reduced due to her solicitors incompetence, I asked for cheeky in-between price, accepted, woop woop.

In the midst of these few days my downstairs neighbour complained my balcony was letting water seep through to his living room ceiling. Crap timing to say the least, 20 years and relatively few neighbour dramas. To say I was unamused was putting it mildly. Something else to fix before I leave.

Now I had to find somewhere to buy, luckily I had been trawling the net and had made pro and con lists for various houses. I made an appointment to see the one I thought had the best potential as my new life partner and low and behold it was love at first sight. Boom. Cheeky offer in, offer refused, reasonable offer in, offer accepted. Boom Boom.

To cut short the whole very stressful event, there were varying degrees of nonsense from all parties building warrants etc but eventually it all came together and the day before my moving date my solicitor phoned with the news that "missives were concluded". Those are by far the sweetest 3 words anyone has ever said to me in a very long time and I think I gave out a squeal of delight and maybe danced around a little. Nobody was looking!

Emptying my loft  took about 5 weekends and endless trips to the dump.

Tiles removed from balcony. I had them replaced obviously.

My spare room or box room as it came to be known.

Game on. OMG I'm actually moving.

And so it was on August 8th 2014, 7350 days after I moved in, I packed my goods and shackles and departed for the countryside.

I was beyond excited. 

It is a strange phenomenon that we, or at least I, spend hours reading reviews etc about the latest gadget, trainer, bike etc that i will spend my hard earned cash on, but when it comes to spending thousands, 2 look rounds and Bobs your Uncle you've bought a house.

Thankfully my new house has lived up to my expectations so far. The interior is slightly more "50 Shades of Beige" than I would like but I already have the colour charts at the ready for a more primary colour makeover.

One of my new views. A good weather window.

View towards Caddon Bank, bike trails R US.

A gift from my favourite wee boys.

View from top of hill of doom.

Mmm that's not good.

Ah yeah, it be broken then.

However, it has not all been smooth sailing since moving in to my new abode. In my keenness to get out and explore the new trails and paths, 4 days after moving in, I fell coming down a hill whilst out for a run and broke my wrist. I couldn't believe it, not only have I never broken a bone before I was actually in the midst of telling myself "now be careful as these rocks will be slippy" when Bam, my feet disappeared from under me. I landed at first on my backside, thankful my keys in my back pocket protected my fall. Not! Then as if that wasn't painful enough I then flipped sideways and went face first into the hillside and rocks. I smacked my chin and put my tooth through my lip, but my left hand took most of the force.

I got up in that, did anyone see me fall manner, and gave myself a check over. Blood, yes. Limbs broken, no. Anyone around, no. Ok good to go. I jogged slowly back down the hill wiping my lip as I went. Eventually I stopped to check my hand as it was throbbing and saw that it was not quite the shape it should be. Oopsy. Thankfully I found a fiver on the way up the hill, so went to the Scotmid to buy the obligatory frozen peas, only cost £1, still 4 quid up, hoorah.

After a few phone calls to my Mum and various friends, I iced my hand then went to bed. Another long story short I had to go to the hospital and they told me I had a fracture on my radius and put me in a stookie.

This may not sound like a funny story but it really is. My two very good friends and running companions have also fallen whilst out running recently. Beth was the first, badly bruised ribs and a smashed watch amongst her injuries. Heather was second, she fell and got stitches in her chin and messed up her hands and knees. I am hopefully the 3rd and last of this tripping up disease that seems to have befallen us all.

To make matters funnier, it was Heather that drove me to the A&E, she was still fairly heavily bandaged from her injuries. To say we looked like a "right pair" is a bit of an understatement.

The downside of injuring myself does mean that all the events i have been training for and were upcoming have all and to be abandoned. There is always next year.

I have a garden though.

One handed art work to tell people I've moved.

Phew can still hold a glass.

Oh Yes!

I have an apple tree.

The pointy hill is where I fell.

I have since done a couple of exploratory walks and found some great routes for when I can actually run again.

Top of Pirn Hill.

All things considered I love my new house and look forward to new and exciting times ahead. I even have a new coffee machine, so you can get a decent cuppa if you are passing my door.

Peace x 

All photos by Caroline Harvey

My New Love.

It's been a while since I posted but have been busy with various bits and pieces and have just not found the time to sit down and post. So here is a round up, more pics than words probably.

When I first started this blog, it was mainly to give information to friends and family of my year long trip to North America. At that point in time my main sporting focus was rock climbing and hence the name Caroline's climbs and photos. Since returning from that trip the amount of time I have spent climbing has steadily dwindled, I had lost my need and passion to continue at the same intensity, and to be honest I felt kind of lost without it.

I have now thankfully filled that gap in my life again, and as I think I have mentioned before, I have taken up mountain biking.

I love this activity so much and at the moment it is mostly what I do in my spare time. It has the same qualities that climbing used to bring to my life. I love the concentration and focus I need to have in order not to crash. I love the adrenalin rush you get when you complete a difficult route. I love the technical aspects of trying to ride fast and smoothly. I love that you learn every time you ride. I love that it gets me out in the fresh air and to beautiful places. I could go on but I think you get the drift.

I have now been to all 7 Stanes trail centres and this weekend brought it home that sometimes you just lose your head and find it hard to tackle obstacles. Similar, for me at least, when I used to lead climb outside at the start of the season.

Dalbeattie was the centre that managed to break my good spell of mental strength and I got the "fear", which in mountain biking can be dangerous, because it is at those moments that you pull the brake too sharply, take the wrong line etc and things just get messy!

However, I made it round with only one slight tumble but I am now determined to hone my skills further and try my best to keep them fears at bay.

When I've not been biking, I have been running and trying to get into the Pentlands when weather and daylight permits.

Morning Pentland run.

Trail at Aberfoyle.

Running at John Muir Trust Festival.

Running over Pentland hill tops.

Snow biking at Carron Valley.

Hard work but snow much fun!!!

Biking at Newcastleton.

Biking at Glentress.

Rainbow.

Biking at Mabie.

Way home from Dalbeattie.

Single speed fun, sadly not my bike.

I am so glad that I was introduced to this sport, even at my age, because along with all the reasons mentioned earlier it is pure and simply fun.

Peace x 

Lovin' it.

The first full working week is over, thank goodness. It's always a thought knuckling back down to the dull repetition of work but in order to enjoy your free time, you got to make some bucks somehow!

The great thing about the end of the week is of course the weekend and this weekend was made all the better as the weather was fabulous. Cold, but fabulous.

Of course when the weather is good it makes the thought of going out and exercising so much easier and enjoyable. When the winter mornings are still dark and the urge to hibernate under the duvet is strong,  it is amazing to see a beautiful  blue sky take hold of the day. Even if there is no blue sky if it's dry and not blowing a gale, you've got to jump at the chance to get out and enjoy the few hours before darkness comes in again.

Saturday morning was one of those cold and very crisp mornings and having not run since the beginning of the week it was a great opportunity to head off the pavements and into the hills, or at least closer to them. The small amount of pavement and roads that i did go on were incredibly slippy with black ice, but thankfully I did not become a cropper. No speed records were made, but a successful 8ish miles were completed.

Sunday was mountain biking day. Yippee! Although the blue skies had been swapped for clouds it was dry, but still very cold and frosty.

The decision to head to Glentress and tackle the black route was made. I was especially looking forward to this trip as I recently treated myself to a drop seat (Rock Shock Reverb). This is a fancy seat post that you can lower and raise with the push of a button. This may seem a slightly pointless gadget to some people, but to me it is absolutely amazing. I like a high seat for climbing the hills but like it quite low for the downhills and on a varied trail this can be quite tedious and time consuming to do manually, but with this gadget you can do it on the move. It made me so happy it was beyond ridiculous.

Getting to the top of the black route is quite a leg and lung buster and is broken up with some technical downhills, but all the puffing and panting is worth it, not only for the views but for the great downhill at the end. To come down, we took the direct route that followed mostly red and then blue trail markers, and apart from having a few frozen gear problems it was a great run.

To top off a rather splendid January weekend, we stopped in at the Whistle Stop Cafe in Innerleithen. They have a gluten free menu that delights an especially hungry and slightly chilly me. A bowl of chips, a piece of carrot cake and a latte, blissful.

Now that, in my book, is a great weekend.

Morning run.

Morning bike ride.

Peace x

All photos by Caroline Harvey.

Wheelie good fun.

I love my outdoor activities and since being introduced to mountain biking about 6 months ago I have fallen in love with it. I loved my cycling anyway, but sometimes I am not prepared to fight with the traffic and am less inclined to do winter road cycling. With mountain biking however there is thankfully no traffic and I'm more prepared to get wet, cold and dirty.

At first I was very apprehensive of the downhills and feared the stones and tree roots that could be found on the trails. Now, although not as daring as I may have been about 25 years ago, I have gained in confidence and can tackle most trails, even some black routes!

The uphills are always hard and I usually huff and puff my way up to the top, hoping that at some point the ups will get easier. They never do! Although my times have improved, so I must be getting fitter. The feeling of getting to the top is always great though and the thigh burn is worth it when you get to whizz all the way back down to the bottom.

I have been lucky enough in these few months of taking up the sport to have visited several of Scotland's trail centres. They have all been very different in technical difficulty, layout, size etc but one thing they have all had in common is that they are all manmade trails.

I had an extra day off this weekend and was very much looking forward to heading down to Glentress for a good burn round the red route, but sadly the storms we had mid week stopped all my fun. I decided to check the website before leaving but it had not been updated for a few days, so texted the forrest Ranger to find out the extent of any damage that the winds may have caused. He promptly replied saying that the trails were being checked, so sadly the centre was closed until all reports were in.

Gutted, what to do now? It was a gorgeous day and I did not want to waste my precious day off. So jumping on my bike I started out on a route that would take me along the Water of Leith and then up to the reservoirs at the base of the Pentland hills.

It was an extremely cold day and I found that the ground was completely frozen, even where it was exposed to the sunshine. As I was puffing my way up the steep Currie Kirk road I thought that it might be a good idea to actually go over the Pentlands and follow the trail that I normally run.

 I have walked and run around these hills for many years and have always cursed the people that use it as a mountain bike trail, as the bikes have gradually eroded many of the paths and caused huge ruts in the ground that make it extremely hard to run over.

I reasoned this time that the ground was frozen so hard that my one trip round was not going to cause any further damage. Most of the paths were actually covered with ice, so much of the time my wheels didn't actually touch the earth!

I have to admit that it is a very good route to have on your doorstep, especially when you don't pass another soul the whole way round, but the extent of the damage caused by the number of people that use the hills is evident (walkers and runners included). There is extensive path building underway on the way over to Glencorse. At the moment it looks like a huge digger has just run up and over the hill and left this big ugly scar. I presume that the plan is to cover this in large chuckie stones, which is a shame because this is not very enjoyable for anyone to walk/run/cycle on.

I think it's always a shame when this happens, but it is inevitable when specific paths are so well used. It is great that so many people go out and enjoy this fantastic area of countryside that is literally a stones throw from the city, but when large paths are built it slightly ruins the look and feel of the hillside.

A gorgeous winter day out.

Huge path dug out of the hillside.

Very frozen big path.

My proposed Sunday ride with Beth in Carron Valley was also called off due to a storm damaged trail, so wanting to get out and keep up my mtb fitness I had an early morning ride up the Water of Leith. However with the temps being back above freezing the path is now very wet and muddy and I got rather filthy. I knew that I was getting splashed from my front wheel as I could see my very dirty jacket, legs and shoes but did not realise just how filthy my face was. I did get a few strange looks from some dog walkers and people in the garage forecourt when I took my bike for a power wash.

Not my best look! I have a mud beard.

Hopefully the trail centres will be open again soon.

Peace x

Mmmm interesting having just googled to see who has responsibility of ownership for that part of the Pentlands, I have found  that it is actually the land owners that are making a larger access path up the hill for their vehicles. Maybe I shouldn't worry as much as I do about the erosion after all.

All photographs by Caroline Harvey.

The meaning of life.

As the years go on I have become less and less enamoured with birthdays, they seem to come round faster and faster and obviously as each one passes I get older and older. This year was no different and my age changed to the number that is now the same as the one on my front door and according to Douglas Adams is the meaning of life. That is yet to be seen but I definitely had the best birthday I have had in a long time.

The day was very dull as I had to work and it was a particularly boring kind of day but the evening was  wonderful. Scooting away from work on the dot of 5pm, I headed out to see my partner in crime and then onward to Glentress.

Since being introduced to mountain biking a few months ago, it is now one of my new favourite hobbies. So when asked what I would like to do for my birthday, I suggested that it would be great to go and do an evening ride followed by a lovely home cooked dinner, and that is exactly what I got.

The rainy weather that had plagued the whole day even disappeared and the night was clear and crisp with the stars and moon brightly shining in the sky. All geared up with my new birthday biking glasses and waterproof shorts, we headed out to trundle round a short version of the blue route. It takes just under the hour and is a great post work work out.

Feeling relaxed and happy to be out and about on such a beautiful evening, it was even more fabulous to get back to the van and have my already prepared birthday dinner. My wonderful chef did not let me down as a truly delicious lamb dhansak  was produced from the food flask, followed by chocolate and banana cake.

Once we had polished off our delectable dinner it was time to head home to get freshened up and settle in for the night with a lovely glass of wine. What more could a girl ask for, best birthday ever.

So very, very true.

Trueblood Tee, fangtastic.

Moonlight, bikes and food.

We returned back to the trails today for more fun, but this time on the red route which has a lung and leg burning climb but is worth it for the downs. It was slightly on the damp side so lots of mud on the paths and quite a fair amount on me by the end of the run. Great fun though, I like getting muddy! 

Peace x

All photographs by Caroline Harvey except the one of me which was taken by the equally muddy but lovely Mr T. x .