Alice Springs and Uluru mini-break

We got back from our 4 days/3 nights excursion to the Red Centre - well, that's what they used to call it anyway. Today it looks distinctly greener than they've seen it for many years after a number of storms hit the area when we were there. We were both fortunate and unfortunate with the weather - we got a rare chance to see this semi-arid zone having some precipitation bringing the desert plants to life all of a sudden, but we also managed to escape getting wet ourselves as every time we ventured out it was hot and dry. On the other hand, some thin clouds blotted both the sunset and sunrise at Uluru and we never quite saw the big rock at its finest, with the changing colours and shades as the sun rises and falls, but overall it was a great experience.

Before going on to the full story and photos of this, here's a couple from last Tuesday when we met up with David and Lorene for lunch. They drove us down to the Henley Beach Hotel and afterwards to Glenelg for ice cream:

Chris drove us to the airport on Wednesday morning on his way to work. We didn't mind being there a bit early, but we were disappointed to find out that the only lounge there was Qantas and we couldn't get in there as we were flying cattle class. Never mind, it's a nice airport and Muffin Break filled the time.

Arriving at Alice Springs airport for the first time, you get a real feeling of the outback - no long travelators there - you walk from the airport through what seems a bit like the bush to the terminal building:

We were picked up and taken to our hotel, where our room was ready for us, so we dumped our bags and grabbed a quick lunch before our next pick-up for the Alice Springs afternoon tour, which encompassed:

• The School of the Air
• Telegraph Station
• Flying Doctor service
• Reptile Centre
• Anzac Hill memorial

The first one taught us how kids are taught remotely over the vast distances of central Australia's Northern Territories - and we finally managed to buy fly nets here, which we had been told were essential for our visit to Uluru the following day.

The second one was the most interesting for me - a well preserved site from the very early days of communications, with some lovely walks and mountain bike paths all round it. We didn't have time to do any of the walks, but there was a little hill there - Trig Hill - and I worked out I had just enough time to climb it and get back in time for the bus leaving:

On to the famous Flying Doctor service - memories of old black and white TV series which started in 1959. Here's the opening credits for you nostalgia freaks - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smCe8TBF3po.

 

 

The Reptile Centre not only let us view the most dangerous snakes in the world - virtually all Australian - but we also got a tutorial on what to do and what not to do out in the bush, with particularly detailed instructions on the procedure to follow should we be bitten by a snake. It felt a bit like a Health & Safety talk, but it was surely sound advice.

 

Our last stop was at the war memorial on Anzac Hill, from where you get fine views of the town and surrounding countryside:

 

 

We were returned to our hotel at dusk, just in time for us to jump in the pool to cool down after a hot and sweaty afternoon. We dined on site that night.

 

An early start on Thursday for the five and a half hour drive to Uluru/Ayer's Rock resort. Yes, that's right - five and a half hours (including stops) - it's 467 kms! The coach was comfortable and the ride easy. Our first toilet and refreshment stop also afforded us the opportunity of camel rides (declined!):

 

 

Further on was the Mount Ebenezer Roadhouse:

 

 

then it was the Mount Conner viewpoint:

 

 

to the uninitiated, it looks a lot like Uluru. Locals call it fooleroo.

 

 

You can see why this area is called the Red Centre - the dust and grit gets everywhere. On the other side of where Jo's standing, there's a large salt water lake.

 

The real thing we wouldn't see until later on, but you can see the difference now between Uluru and "fooleroo", can't you?:

 

 

We got to Ayer's Rock resort in good time to check and have a spot of lunch. The Sails in the Desert hotel was lovely - pity we weren't going to be spending much time there.

 

Our afternoon/evening tour took us to the Cultural Centre where we learned about the local indigenous Anangu aborigines, who regard Uluru as a sacred place and, as a result, photographs are not allowed in certain areas - but we more than made up for it in other areas. Our guide took us round part of the rock and told us a few of the Aboriginal fables:

 

 

 

At the sunset viewing area, we met a couple of young girls from Dundee who took this photo for us:

 

 

We also met a guy, originally from Edinburgh, and his wife, and we sat beside them at dinner, which was held indoors at the Cultural Centre due to the threatening storms.

 

Friday morning was a really early rise - we were being picked up at 4:30 am to head for the sunrise viewing point at Uluru. The sky to the east promised much:

 

 

Slowly, aided by an almost full moon, Uluru came in to the light:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Those eyes and that face kept haunting me - and I don't mean Jo.

 

Next stop was the range of 36 domed rocks at Kata Tjuta, which were as impressive, or even more so, than Uluru itself:

 

 

 

I'm not sure I captured their full majesty in any of the above photos - they were very impressive. There was a gap between a couple of the domes - Walpa Gorge - and we took a walk through there:

 

 

By 10 am we were back in our hotel, where we showered, changed and packed for the long coach ride back to Alice. There were still storms in the area and when we hit the Stuart Highway again, the sight from the front of our bus was a little alarming:

 

 

 

We got through safely in the end and settled in to our hotel and ordered room service for dinner.

 

In the morning (Saturday), we awoke to the sound of another storm overhead. By now, the Todd River was in full flow - so much so that, when the rains eventually subsided and we went out for a short walk, we heard the sound of kids laughing and went to have a look and found an Aborigine family wallowing in the muddy waters - they probably had never been able to do this before in their lives as the river bed is usually just a dry sandy base:

 

 

In the town centre, we spotted an artistic wall:

 

 

So that was it - a hugely enjoyable break.

Start of the working week - for some

Chris and Kelly were back at work today after a 2 week break - well, I say it was a break, but in reality, they've had the Lesinas then Jo and I staying with them all that time, so they've had little or no time to themselves. We'll be rectifying this for a few days at least when Jo and I fly up to Alice Springs and on to Uluru on Wednesday.

Since my last blog posting, Jo and I - like the proverbial Mad Dogs and Englishmen - went out for a walk in the 40 C heat on Friday. In terms of miles, it wasn't that far, but we had to stop several times to rest and re-hydrate. We stopped for a brief rest at the former swamp on part of the Kaurna Heritage Trail:

Jo is trying to look cool and natural above, but the reality was she was boiling up - this close-up gives a better picture:

On Saturday morning, Chris took Miller for a haircut and then, in the afternoon, he drove Jo and I out to Brewboys' tap room for a few beers:

On Sunday, Chris took his new mountain bike up to the hills for a trail ride, then met his best pal Anthony for lunch. The rest of us planned to go out for Sunday lunch too, but we had some logistical problems as there were 5 of us, with two child seats taking up the rear seat of Kelly's car, so I decided to cycle down the coast to Henley and meet the rest there. When I got to Henley, it was mobbed - there was a huge religious festival going on on the pier (jetty to my Aussie friends), which I later discovered was the Greek Orthodox Christmas celebration of the Blessing of the Waters by throwing the cross in to the sea - there's an almighty scramble to be the one to recover it. There were so many people on the old wooden pier that I thought it would crumble and sink - but it never did.

Anyway, Kelly and Co made it down to Henley and we had lunch at one of the outdoor cafes in Henley Square, after which I watched a bit of an Aboriginal dance, put on as part of the G.O. Xmas celebrations, then cycled back to Semaphore.

Back at Chris and Kelly's, I spotted this lovely butterfly come to rest in their garden:

Today (Monday), Jo and I walked down to Grange - a distance of about 10 kms. It was a still, warm, cloudy morning and the flies were out in full force - we had to walk along the beach at the water's edge for the last few kms to try and escape the worst of them. It brought to mind my Dad's oft-heard quote about his posting to the Middle East during World War II - "Egypt's great - 10 million flies can't be wrong".

We dipped out of walking the return 10 kms, but, instead, caught the bus to West Lakes shopping centre, did the food shopping there, then caught the bus back to Semaphore. Jo cooked tonight's meal - chicken fajitas - giving Chris a very well-earned night off from cooking duties. The only downside to today was that Asher threw up a couple of times before dinner. Hope it's just one of those things that young babies have, and nothing worse than that.

Tomorrow (Tuesday), David and Lorene are coming up to Semaphore to see us - after a couple of previously planned meetings had to be changed.

More cycling

After my unfortunate experience with Chris the other day, I went out with Kelly for a longer, but easier, ride and I was out again on Thursday morning in the heat for a short ride - didn't last long as we're heading towards the 40 C mark. It's got a lot hotter since the Lesinas left last weekend.

Jo and I looked after the boys on Wednesday whilst Chris and Kelly went on a "date" - lunch and cinema. Our reward was a couple of pints with Chris in the evening at Sweet Amber Brew Cafe:

Nice place - look forward to returning there for Chris' 40th in a couple of weeks.

Our second reward came on Thursday lunchtime when Kelly took us back to Penfold's Magill Estate for lunch. We did a tour of Penfold's original premises, opened 170 years ago:

It's now Friday morning and Kelly's done her early morning gym session and now Chris is out on his bike at the BMX track, which I had a look at yesterday:

Not ready for that yet!

That's about it so far. Today Miller is heading for the water slides and we're being dropped off at the Wheatsheaf Hotel to drink ourselves silly. Tomorrow (Saturday) we're heading south to meet up with Chris' parents David and Lorene.

I was asked what's happening to River Dee Radio in my absence? I won't be missed - there's plenty of other presenters and a couple of the other Headbangers are doing occasional live shows, but I thought I'd make sure there was some fresh content on our nightly cycle so made up two shows before I left and these are now being transmitted on Saturday and Sunday nights between 8 pm and 9 pm, but you don't need to wait until then to hear them - just click these links:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/519b8kyt69iedf8/Favs%2020-11.mp3?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/gsa21affbghbw8f/Favs%2010-1.mp3?dl=0

A few years ago, each of us compiled our favourite tracks so I decided to reprise these. I'm not sure they would all still feature in my current Top 20, but decided to go with it anyway. I had to divide it in to two shows, which meant, as there are only 10 tracks on each, there was a lot of non-music time to fill, so there's more waffle than usual from me on these recordings.

Lastly, here's the Strava video of my cycling stats for 2016:

https://youtu.be/-w8tH_iMgKw

2017 so far

We didn't see the bells in, Adelaide time, but I hatched a cunning plot to observe Scottish time and celebrate New Year at 10:30 am on 1st January over a fine brunch of bacon and eggs, washed down with a dram and some shortbread, while listening to Radio Scotland welcoming in 2017.

Kelly and Chris had made an early morning start and had hiked up Mount Lofty with their friend Matt, but I wasn't up to it at this time, primarily because of my knee, so I stayed behind with Jo and we looked after the boys. It was another coolish morning, although Kelly perhaps went a little bit over the top with her apparel:

Jo and I went for a short walk after brunch and the rest of Ne'e'rday just seemed to disappear.

This morning (Monday), Chris took me up to the bike trails at the other side of the city. They turned out to be a bit more technical than I'm used to and I came off a couple of times. The first fall was a fairly gentle controlled one, going down a tricky slope, but the second one was almost inexplicable as I was cycling down a fairly gentle slope and came through some dappled sunshine and couldn't see the trail clearly, so I panicked a bit and squeezed the brakes too hard, causing them to lock and skid on the gravelly surface and over the handlebars I went. Analysing it afterwards, the v-brakes are not as responsive initially as the hydraulic ones I have on my own bike and I over-reacted by squeezing too hard. Schoolboy error.

Of course, it would be my false knee I landed on, wouldn't it? The ride was curtailed, which was a pity for Chris, who hadn't had a chance to use his new mountain bike much recently, but we posed for the photo afterwards anyway:

Here's the damage:

This afternoon, we all drove in to the city to do a little bit of shopping - I bought a new pair of thongs/flip-flops, merino cycling pants and a waterproof cover for my rucksack, while Chris picked up a light rain jacket in the summer sales, but these were mere diversions for the main event, which was a visit to Scroll, a specialist ice cream parlour where they prepare the ice cream scrolls in front of you:

Poor little Asher has been excreting from all orifices these last couple of days and threw up in the shop, but he seems none the worse for the experience this evening:

Hogmanay

It's New Year's Eve, mid-morning, but it seems much later to me. I drove Lucy, Cade and Braeden to the airport early this morning to catch their flight to Sydney, so I was up before 3 am. They've completed the first short hop but have now got a 14 hour plane journey to LA to look forward to, with a 7 hour stopover there before shuttling on to SFO and then Medford - but they still arrive on New Year's Eve, Oregon time. The joys of international travel.

Since my last post, we've had Christmas, of course - and a lovely day in Inverurie with Gary, Carole and Luca, plus Liz and Fergus and Guthrie. We had a super meal, but missed out on Carole's famous lime chocolate cheesecake, as Liz had a rather unfortunate accident, with the 3 dogs the grateful recipients. Here's Luca in full flow with Guthrie and Gary looking on:

Luca directed the present opening after dinner - and woe betide you if you weren't paying full attention, or were distracting the master of ceremonies.

Monday morning was the start of our long journey - not to mention it being Boxing Day and our 44th anniversary. Whereas Christmas Day was positively balmy - Aberdeen was the warmest place in the UK, just failing by fractions to beat the Xmas Day temperature record of 15.6 C - we awoke to a reasonable covering of snow the morning after. Cairn o' Mount was closed, of course, but our driver managed over the Slug Road OK and we thought it would be plain sailing after that, but, just north of Dundee, we hit a patch of ice and slalomed our way across the dual carriageway. Fortunately, we had an experienced driver who steered in to the skids and recovered the situation. My right hand might never recover, however, after the vice-like grip Jo exerted on it.

The rest of the journey went well and, despite a late departure from Glasgow due to de-icing the wings, we made our tight connection in Dubai and got to Adelaide nearly an hour earlier than scheduled on Tuesday night.

On Wednesday, we spent most of the day with Lucy, Cade and Braeden, as they had just 3 days of their holiday left before returning to USA. A traditional walk down the length of Semaphore pier first:

The plan was then to take the train in to the city and perhaps have something to eat at the Asian Food Court in Central Market, but our train was late and we were fast running out of time, so opted for Plan B, which was a walk up to Port Adelaide:

We were keen to see whether any visible progress had been made on the restoration of the City of Adelaide:

We walked back to Semaphore and had tea on the upstairs decking at Lickerish. Back in Derby St, I hit the wall at 8 pm and toddled off to bed.

Plans to head to Cleland Wildlife Park on Thursday had to be aborted - there had been overnight storms for the second night in a row and they had to close the park until further notice whilst they cleared up - so we reverted to a journey in to the city and to Central Market for lunch:

Cade and Lucy went for a short pedalo trip on the River Torrens afterwards:

Notice how brown the water is after the storms?

We got back to Derby St in good time for Chris' BBQ. Matt and Abby had come over for the occasion and the usual team photo was taken:

Miller has got two little figurines - an old man and an old lady - and he calls them Grannie Jo and Granda Ian:

By Friday morning - Lucy's last day - they had managed to clear most of the debris and open the Wildlife park again, so off we drove up the hills to Cleland, where we spent most of the morning in the low cloud, but the boys enjoyed viewing and feeding the animals, especially the kangaroos and wallabies.

Chris, Kelly and the boys arranged to meet us for a late lunch in the pretty little nearby German town of Hahndorf. None of what happened before at Cleland Wildlife Park seemed to stop Braeden from eating Kangaroo Fillet for lunch.

We had time for some silly tourist photos:

Nobody was all that hungry in the evening so we just took a short stroll along Semaphore esplanade and some had fish and chips before heading to bed to get a couple of hours' sleep before the early rise.

As I complete this post, Kelly's at the gym and Chris and Jo are just about to head off to the cinema to see Star Wars' latest, so I'll be holding the babies for a short while. I'll see if I can summon up the strength for a short cycle later on.

Xmas Eve

We're almost there now. Ross and Lizzie arrived here last night (Friday) - they're spending Christmas Day at Lizzie's family home, whilst Jo and I are off to Gary and Carole's in Inverurie.

Jo and I are all packed - we've got our boarding passes and the chauffeur drive company have confirmed our pick-up just before 8 am on Monday morning.

I've had a few cycles this week but I guess it'll be a while before I'm back on the bike again. A few calories have come on board over the last couple of days - the usual Friday night session followed our first ever live recording on River Dee Radio. Pretty tense at first, but we got through it OK. The mixing desk may look small, but there's more than enough controls there to confuse an old head like me:

Today (Saturday) was the traditional Xmas Eve Oldies football match - not that I can play any more, but it was nice to join them all afterwards in the Burnett.

Hope everyone has a nice Christmas.

Friday night blog

It's now Saturday morning and I'm pretty near up to date with most of the things I had to do - all bar some o/s CAMRA work, and, of course, starting to pack - it's just 10 days until we head Down Under. In fact, Lucy will be off there today or tomorrow.

We had our 3rd Headbang of the year last night over at Gary Grant's place in Finzean and it was the Xmas lunch for our cycling group on Thursday, so the holiday pig-out has already started. Jo, too, was out for lunch on Thursday, and we both returned from our respective gatherings a bit full and boozy and didn't need any more to eat that evening. I did manage to record another show for River Dee Radio, however, and it should be on the schedule soon - hopefully from tonight.

I had my first physiotherapy session on Tuesday in Inverurie. My next session won't be until we get back from Oz, but I've been given the usual set of exercises:

It's like deja vu from 3 years ago when I was recovering from my right knee replacement, but I've had to order new ankle weights as the old ones are leaking sand all over the place now.

We're heading for the hills soon - out to Finzean Farm Shop for a coffee. Bye for now.

Monday night

Here I sit - it's Monday night and I've still not progressed my action list much - although we have sent off all our local Xmas cards - I took them down to the West church on Saturday for them to distribute. Jo has done her longer distance ones, but I hadn't started, so Jo offered to write them out for me - all I have to do now is address them and personalise a few.

I'm halfway through preparing the stats for our cycling dinner on Thursday, preparing the videos for our Headbang on Friday night and putting the shows together for our next few recordings for River Dee Radio. Got a lot of CAMRA work to catch up on too.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) I'm taking my bike over to Inverurie - Luca has asked to cycle home from school and to and from his running club with me. That'll be the 3rd day in a row on my bike - although it's hardly going to be an onerous ride.

We had a really nice time with the Grays and Grigors at Gleneagles last Wednesday/Thursday. A game of golf, a cycle and 2 visits to the lovely spa plus a boozy in-house dinner - what's not to like? Here are the girls in the main bar in the hotel enjoying an aperitif:

We met up with Barry and Dawn for afternoon tea at the Wood House, Kippen - that's Kippen, not Killin, as I initially wrongly input to my Sat Nav:

I thought I'd set this up in the same order as the one taken 60 years ago - but I was wrong:

There have been some lovely sunrises and sunsets recently - although I haven't properly captured any of them yet. The view from our bedroom window is a little restricted:

Tuesday tales

The clock's ticking towards the holiday period - lots to be done before then, including:

• Record more shows for River Dee Radio, to be played when I'm away in Oz
• File my online tax return
• Prepare the music videos and programme for our next Headbang on Friday 16th
• Prepare the annual stats for our Cyclists' lunch on Thursday 15th
• Organise numbers for the annual Xmas Eve footy match
• Complete all the pub surveys and update CAMRA's online records

I've already distributed all the North Sea Ales round Deeside and done the surveys for all bar the Banchory pubs, but the online updates are quite time-consuming.

I've finally sorted out our travel insurance as well. We'd had such a good deal with our Black Card which offered free worldwide travel insurance for both of us, with no exclusions and no medicals required, but we recently got notified that the bank were ceasing this benefit. Instead, they could offer a new type of account which included this, but did not cover pre-existing medical conditions, which would have to be assessed separately - so we've done this and, naturally, had to pay an additional premium. This becomes an increasing problem as we get older, however - eventually we'll be uninsurable and therefore unable to travel extensively.

Talking about travel, let's think ahead folks. In March, 2019, I'll be 70 - if I'm spared - and Kelly will be 40 a couple of months later. Time for another family get-together somewhere methinks. Suggestions on a postcard - if you remember what they were.

I was out cycling 4 times last week - twice for CAMRA deliveries and one night ride too. On Friday, I drove down to Aboyne and cycled from there up to Tarland to deliver North Sea Ales, and then looped back through the trails north of Loch Kinord and back on to the Deeside Way back to Aboyne again. As I was on my own this time, it gave me time to stop at Tomnaverie Stone Circle for the first time:

Not very clear in this photo but the two upright stones either side of the wide flat one perfectly frame distant dark Lochnagar.

We had dinner at the Masons, with the Kilgours, on Saturday night. Very nice, but we ate way too much and Sunday was a slow day.

We'll be heading off to Inverurie soon and tomorrow (Wednesday) morning, we're off to Gleneagles to stay with the Grays and Grigors for one night, hopefully including a round of golf - my first since Tenerife. Fingers crossed.

The letter came through yesterday for my physiotherapy for my knee. Unfortunately, Banchory's not available until January, when we're away, so I've arranged it for Inverurie next Tuesday, prior to picking Luca up from school.

Officially winter

The meteorologists say that 1st December is the official start of winter, but it doesn't feel like it - it's got pretty mild these last few days after some freezing weather last week.

Dawn came to stay for a couple of nights - I picked her up at Aberdeen bus station on Sunday afternoon. Jo had made mince and tatties for dinner and we veg'd out in front of the TV for the evening - Strictly, X-Factor and I'm a Celebrity - none of them shows we would normally watch, but Dawn's a fan so we sat through them, criticising in a GoogleBox kind of way.

Dawn was working at Camphill on Monday afternoon so I drove her there, taking my bike with me so that I could go for a cycle while she worked. In the evening, we went to Banchory Lodge for dinner - and very nice it was too.

Tuesday was a beautiful crisp, clear day so we decided to go for a walk prior to brunch. Dawn's bus home wasn't until 13:45 so we had plenty of time. I parked the car up at the castle at Crathes and took this photo before we walked down to the Milton for brunch:

After we'd eaten, Dawn and Jo browsed the small shops at Milton of Crathes - first Rustique:

Then we crossed over to the Wee Boorachie:

Now we had to walk back up to the castle to get the car. We took one of the alternative trails and I took a wrong turn, which set us back a few minutes, but soon we were back on track:

Although it had got a little milder, there were still remnants of ice round the static ponds:

Having seen Dawn off, Jo and I then headed to Inverurie, where Luca proudly showed us his winner's medal from the weekend judo tournament:

Apparently there were also two Olympic judo athletes present - one a paralympian - and they signed Luca's belts:

Luca's school project is Europe and he's chosen Moldova as the country for his project. This is his drawing of King Stephen the Great from the 15th century:

Wednesday started with a bang - as I came out of our shower, the whole glass door fell off its hinges. I grabbed at it, tweaking my shoulder in the process, but couldn't stop it crashing down across our en suite, smashing the porcelain on the lid of the cistern - debris everywhere:

In the afternoon, when Jo went swimming, I cycled up to Feughside to deliver some more CAMRA quarterly newsletters. On return, I stopped at Bridge of Feugh to photograph the residual ice there:

We had our first ever night cycle last night - and it went pretty well, sticking to off-road sections of course. This meant I missed the first transmission of our latest show on River Dee Radio - a St. Andrews Day special - Scotland's Greatest Album - http://tunein.com/radio/River-Dee-Radio-s274232/. It'll be on rotation now every evening from 7 pm to 8 pm until the next show is made - we've scheduled to start this next Monday.

Freezing Friday

It's been a great week of bright, sunny and still weather - but freezing. Minus 6C when we woke this morning. Bit tricky cycling, but I've managed a couple of short rides, the latest of which was this afternoon, out delivering CAMRA's quarterly newsletter to the local outlets.

Our new settee arrived yesterday:

Jo much prefers it to the old one, which is now with Ross and Lizzie in Edinburgh.

Dawn's coming up on Sunday and staying for a night or two. She's got a job to do in Aberdeen on Monday afternoon.

Headbangers show 2 is now on River Dee Radio between 7 pm and 8 pm nightly - http://tunein.com/radio/River-Dee-Radio-s274232/. Show 3 is being worked on - hopefully finish it tomorrow afternoon.

The GP had a good look at my left knee on Tuesday. I told her about the problems I was having with it and the fact that the surgeon had told me when I got my right knee replaced that my left knee would eventually need done too - but it didn't feel the same as the right one did prior to the operation. She therefore suggested a period of physiotherapy initially and, if that doesn't work, then it would be the orthopaedic surgeon.

I've finally booked our road trip to USA next year - and it's quite an odyssey:

• Fly to Atlanta 29th June and spend 3 nights there
• Pick up hire car and drive east to Savannah for 3 nights
• Make the short journey over to Hilton Head Island and spend 5 nights there at Marriott's Harbour Club at Harbour Town (http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/hhhht-marriotts-harbour-club/?scid=bb1a189a-fec3-4d19-a255-54ba596febe2)
• Shortish drive north to Charleston for one night
• Drive west to Asheville for one night
• Then Nashville for 2 nights
• Memphis for 3 nights
• Fly to Oregon on 17th July
• Return home - 14th/15th August

I'd always talked about doing a bit of a musical/blues heritage tour - my initial grand plan many years ago was to pick up a Winnebago and drive to all the musical hot-spots, including Nashville, Memphis and Clarksdale, but also New Orleans and Chicago - and possibly Austin as well. In the cold light of day, the logistics of that are pretty horrendous - and the Winnebago idea only works if you can find suitable places to camp/park - and it appears that most of these are well out of town, so I've opted for city centre hotels instead and restricted the itinerary to a more manageable level.

As I've said before, there's no point in us waiting much more at our time of life to do the things we want to do - do them now, while we're still spared!

Edinburgh etc

Got back from Edinburgh on Sunday evening. It was cold down there - but I think it's even colder here - although beautifully crisp, with lovely blue skies. The hard frost put me right off going out on my bike today, however.

We took the train down, arriving just in time for lunch on Friday, which I'd booked at Tom Kitchin's gastropub, the Scran and Scallie (https://scranandscallie.com/) - and it was really excellent - especially the Plum Tatin, washed down with their recommended dessert wine. Here we are:

Anne and Leslie came down later and joined us for dinner at night at the Loon Fung, preceded by a couple of pints at the Cask and Barrel.

On Saturday morning, Jo and I walked down to Ross and Lizzie's new flat. They're settled in now, having been there for 3 weeks, but their work plans have been deferred a little, so they're now looking for some casual work to tide them over until the New Year.

Ross had made some soup for us - and bacon butties - a nice breakfast.

From there, it was the Wine Gang's Xmas Fair for the rest of the afternoon. Some nice Aussie wines there, including Penfolds:

We had dinner on Saturday night at the Guildford Arms. Sunday morning was relaxed - a late breakfast at the Filling Station in the Omni Centre, then coffee and a scone in Jenner's before catching the train home.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) I'm off to the Doctor's to see about my knee, then we're off to Inverurie as usual, but I have to be home by 9 pm as we're finishing off our latest recording for River Dee Radio. Apart from that, nothing much else planned for this week other than a CAMRA branch meeting on Thursday evening.

I've booked our flights to USA next year now. We're flying to Atlanta, Georgia late June, then doing a big road trip, which takes us east out to Savannah, then Hilton Head Island and a Marriott property there, then up to Charleston, Asheville and further west again to Nashville and Memphis, after which we fly up to Oregon for a month.

Oh - and we've just ordered a new settee for the TV room - it arrives on Thursday.