It’s seven o’clock on a Sunday morning and while the majority of Edinburgh hasn’t even woken yet with a craving for bacon, eggs and fried bread I’m rolling away from home on a 30 mile training ride. Read the rest of this entry »

On 22 June 2007, 15 eagle chicks were flown in from Norway to RAF Kinloss, Moray, to start a new phase of reintroduction of (white-tailed) sea eagles to Scotland. East Scotland Sea Eagles, a partnership between RSPB Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage and Forestry Commission Scotland, is the third phase of a successful reintroduction programme which began on the island of Rum in 1975. Read the rest of this entry »

The recurring, intractable problem faced by myself and other hill-walking fathers is hot to reconcile diverging goals within the family. For example, how to combine a picnic for small children with a walk for an energetic father; or how to head off discord between sons and daughters, who want respectively to race like mountain goats over every hill in sight, or simply to go for a walk.

Fortunately we have the Pentlands nearby. Read the rest of this entry »

The Challenge - to let Cousin Andrew over from the States have an interesting, cram-as-much-as possible day in Edinburgh before he set off for London. The Solution - buy an Edinburgh Pass, and let him loose around the city to visit as many attractions as possible. I picked him up from the airport early in the morning and by flashing our passes we enjoyed a free ride into town on the Airlink bus. Read the rest of this entry »