Tiso Outdoor Experience

In the entrance to the Tiso 'Outdoor Experience' shop in Leith is this magnificent working compass. The shop was very busy when we were there, and I couldn't get a photo without someone's foot or leg in the way. Unlike the centre of town, where tourists and locals alike keep out of the shot about to be taken with almost painful politeness, these lovers of the outdoors were intent on their shopping. I don't blame them, as the sale was still on. In the end I gave up trying to get a clean shot, but I rather like the foot in the corner and the movement of the coat. They show the size of the compass, and give a flavour of the bustle in the shop. Recession or not, Edinburghers were kitting out for the great outdoors.
We were there to look for a new rucksack for my daughter, who will do the expedition for her Duke of Edinburgh's Bronze Award in March. A two day hike in the hills and an overnight camp in tents. In March. In Scotland...If I'm lucky she'll take some good photos along the way - she was the photographer for yesterday's post.

The entrance doors leave you in no doubt that you're about to boldly go. Thankfully the serrated edges of the ice axes are covered in plastic.

Visited by The Damned?

The graveyard is a wonderful mix of drunken tombstones, large monuments, iron railings, and long grass, it is one of the most peaceful that I have visited for quite a while.

Such a pretty village really deserves to have a beautiful old church, alas, this one has a church built of brick which dates from 1738. An earlier, much larger church had fallen into ruin by 1735, more is the pity.

Once a year St Andrew's Church hosts the Christmas Craft Market, always a great place to pick up a bargain.

And the title of this post - well that refers to my previous post about the recording studios. The Damned are among the many groups/singers who have recorded music there. I just wondered whether they had walked a few yards down the road and had a meander around the church yard.

Lunch Ride to Mineola

I had been meaning to ride to Mineola on a Wednesday for lunch. Wanted to check out their tenderloin sandwich (a Wednesday Special) at Toby Jack's Mineola Steakhouse.
Sunny say, nice temperature, with a breeze from the WNW. The wind direction was a problem, I was not looking forward to pedaling up the hill into the wind on the way home.
When I got to Margaritaville, I notices some changes. The area has cleaned up and the bike racks moved over to the East side of the trail. There is a new (second) grill there. Looking good.
After lunch, I started pedaling up the hill, sucking on a shot blok. It was an effort, but made it. Tool it easy down the hill. Just before the trail head, there's an open space. The wind was sooooo strong there, I had do shift way down, and hoping to not bonk. Made it, but my lets were toast.
Needed a day off the bike to recover.

Ballina coast

It had taken me a long time to get around to actually completing this ride. The first attempt last year saw a run of flat tyres that basically forced me to turn around and go home before I ran out of patches, the second attempt last month saw a flat tyre followed by a crash on wet cobblestones (isn't it amusing when a subdivision built in 1998 tries to make a grab at "history"?), so Saturday had a feel of "now or never about it".
I took a slight inland route down the Tweed Coast as far as Cabarita to avoid the sprawling and somewhat ugly suburban development that's rearing it's ugly head south of Kingscliff. It seemed to work because the inland route was much prettier. Chinderah, surprisingly seemed like a quiet, relatively low-key place. It would be a theme for much of the day. The ride down the Tweed Coast was relatively uneventful, I've been here many times. There was a headwind building up, but that didn't bother me unduly.
The first place to stop for additional water and so on was Ocean Shores. Probably once a small sea-side village, but now sprawling untidily over the hillsides surrounding it. Parts of it still have the village feel about it, but that's slowly changing. There is currently some massive roadwork going into re-routing the Pacific Highway (again) in this area. It's been going on for two years now. This must now be the most re-designed road in the country. There are still parts of the old highway that can be used, that was a charming place (contrary to what the tabloid press used to say about it), winding through forests and over ridges with coastal views.
The new highway by contrast is a charmless place, useful only for convenience. I was glad to leave it behind at Byron Bay. Byron itself seems to be defying it's reputation for attracting the "alternative" crowd, yet the town centre seems determined to become another Gold Coast. There are resorts springing up everywhere (all of which look the same), but on the edges of town there are some very pretty areas.


After negotiating the southern exit of Byron, the next town was Lennox Head. This place has still managed to obtain some of it's charm. It's always refreshing to visit a quiet, windswept beach that isn't surrounded by "resorts", and just be surrounded by the ocean spray. There is a little tinge of sadness about such places these days, as I don't think this experience will be available in this part of the world in a generation or two. I might spend a little more time here in the next few years to make the most of it.

The wind was picking up on the final stretch into Ballina. Again, it didn't seem to worry me (although it did slow me down), perhaps it was just the knowledge that I would be changing direction soon anyway. Ballina was reached soon enough, but while the surrounding areas were pretty, the town itself definitely wasn't. I negotiated another treacherous patch of roadwork and continued on my way, finding the turn off to Teven, where the drama would really start.

I had passed up opportunities to take on more water in Lennox Head and Ballina because I expected to refill at Teven, and because it wasn't a particularly hot day. The problem arose when there wasn't water (or much else) available in Teven, pretty though it was. I struck out for Eltham before deciding that Nashua was closer, but there was nothing there either. Fortunately I'd drunk enough water *before* the ride that I had a little in reserve now. Eventually I made it to Bangalow and managed to top up the reserves.

Now it was just a matter of returning to Mullumbimby and finishing it off on the familiar Burringbar route. There was a decent climb a few kilometres out of Bangalow, followed by a screaming descent, then another climb up the ridge. Again there was more "roadwork" but this time it was unsigned (not that I trust signs anyway). Roadwork or not, the views on the ridges definitely make things worthwhile.

The final ride into Mullumbimby was easy enough, except that my usual water station wasn't available. Apparently they've decided the drought is bad enough that faucets need to be removed from taps to prevent their use. Oh well, Burringbar was only 20km away. There was some climbing to do to get there of course, but again the scenery made it worthwhile.

I detoured down the old Stock Route road to avoid the roadwork. It says a lot when taking a dirt road is easier than negotiating the surface of a highway. Burringbar was reached easily enough. The lights went on there as night started to arrive, with the final ups and downs to get to Murwillumbah. Often at this stage of a long ride I'm thinking only of getting home, but I was really enjoying the night air this time.
I took my time winding through the rainforest of Urliup, again a dirt road to savour before "development" takes over in a few years. The final climb of Bilambil was basically the only stretch of the entire ride that caused any problems during the entire 291km, but it was negotiated easily enough, as was the final suburban coastal strip. It was surprisingly quite for a Saturday night, but traffic is rarely a major concern for me anyway.
Ultimately I was glad to have finally managed this ride. Despite reputations there are very few coastal cycling experiences around here to compete with what's offered in places like Victoria, Tasmania or New Zealand. I'm glad to have finally discovered one.

My Word for

Here are my two girls playing in our Williamsburg condo.  I still can't believe that I have two girls.  Darcie still doesn't seem real sometimes.  Weird.
My special word I've picked to focus on this year is NURTURE.  That word conjures up warmth, coziness, and love.  I want to become more of a nurturer this year especially to my husband.  He often gets left out with so many others to take care of who demand my attention.  
So hopefully by keeping that word in front of my eyes every day, I'll become it.  I'm bound to become better just for the trying.

(End of) summer reading

Summer reading has slipped into end of summer reading. Three library books and two bought ones this time.

Being British, one is meant to look forward to Wimbledon as the essence of summer sport. That, or cricket. I used to be an avid tennis watcher, but in recent years I've found it edging towards tedious. It's been replaced in my affections by the Tour de France. Already I'm counting the weeks until next July. Three weeks of drama, extreme sporting endeavour, baroque tactics, and glorious French countryside. To compensate for the end of the Tour this year, I tracked down a couple of books in the library. First up, the autobiography of the British/Isle of Man sprinter, Mark Cavendish. A fascinating account of the life of a professional cyclist. I can't begin to imagine going from race to race, living on the road, staking everything of split-second decisions in a crush of other cyclists. I daresay he couldn't imagine the tedium of my day-job in front of a computer.



One of the things I particularly like about the Tour is the ironic commentary by Gary Imlach, Chris Boardman, and Ned Boulting. Ned's book about what goes on behind the scenes of the Tour was in the same vein.



Getting serious now, my attempt to learn some Albanian. I'm going back to Kosovo in the autumn, and want to be able to say more than 'thank you'. However, you will notice the pristine condition of the book. I have signed up for an evening class in another language, so I may have bitten off more than I can chew right now. When I was younger I soaked up new languages, but I can actually feel the language-learning part of my brain grinding and protesting.



My current read, a book about the wonder of the night sky and natural darkness. It's a subject about which I'm passionate. I need properly dark nights. When we drive north in the winter up through the central highlands, I feel something in me relax at being surrounded by the night. And on the return journey, it affects me physically every time as we come within sight of the orange skyglow of the central belt of Scotland. Read this book, visit the Campaign for Dark Skies website, or just go outside and notice how little of the night sky you can see.



I didn't mean this juxtaposition, but it so happens that a satellite image of North Korea at night will show only a faint point of light where the capital is, and the rest of the country is in darkness.



And finally, my failure of the summer. I could not make headway with this book. It was acutely perceptive, and was indeed 'a majestic work of scholarship', but it was just too heavy on the literary criticism for my summer mood. I have to admit that I read the first chapter and the last, and was very sorry to have stalled on any book by Francis Spufford, but I did not have the stamina for it.



What should I do now? Get another pile of books, or hunker down with Albanian?

Bouldin Creek Walk and Bats

Weird, unique, quirky, unusual, maybe even kooky, definitely batty - that's Austin for you. We had quite a day.

On our 10K (6.2 mile) walk today it seemed something quirky or unusual was around every corner. There will be a lot of photos and you can judge for yourselves if you think Austin packs a lot of surprises.



Extended Stay Suites on South 1st St at Barton Springs Rd. was our start point. Within a few blocks, our route took us on Dawson Road where we had the option of walking on the street or hiking through West Bouldin Creek Greenbelt. We chose the Greenbelt.

On a SnoCone food truck.

The Greenbelt

After the Greenbelt we hooked up with Dawson Road again, then started winding through many neighborhoods.

Collector of classic cars.

On our itinerary were libraries, parks, schools, history of local architecture, churches, food trucks, SoCo (South Commerce) and tattoo studios (no we didn't get a tattoo). There were beautiful flowering trees and shrubs along the way too.

Bamboo, even.

Park with lots of fountains.

This park looked like so much fun - especially since it was in the 90s.

At Green Pastures Restaurant, peacocks have a home. There are also beautifully carved peacock sculptures. We even found babies.

White peacock (not sure if it's albino, no pink eyes)

Look at those gorgeous feathers!!

Mama and babies.

Peacock sculptures.

Baby peacock.

Isn't he magnificent?

Green Pastures Restaurant

Mural at a mechanic's shop.

Phoenix - tile work.

Toadstools.

"Your Essential Magnificence" shrine by James Talbot

The day was HOT and we were dragging. Nothing a good cupcake won't cure. Our next stop was Sugar Mama's to have a cupcake in air-conditioned comfort. I had a Pinup cupcake (vanilla with chocolate buttercream frosting) and Bob had a mint chocolate chip bar (kind of like a brownie). Delish! A good break from the heat and some quick energy too.



Special cupcake flavors today were mud pie and French toast.

Sugar Mama's interior

Sugar Mama's sign

Mural on the side of Sugar Mama's Bakery.

The houses in the neighborhoods we walked ranged from cubist to modern to common.

This home looks Italianate.

The area that really pepped us up was SoCo (short for South Commerce). We would describe SoCo as bohemian, hip, trendy, and fun. If you go, look for food trucks in addition to traditional restaurants.

SoCo (South Commerce in Austin, Texas)

Zebra disguised as Carmen Miranda.

Costume shop: Lucy in Disguise with Diamonds

How do you like the classic RV below?



Lots of murals around the SoCo and 1st Ave. area.

On south side of "Roadhouse Relics" building.

Roadhouse Relics specializes in making authentic-looking relics. Even though everything in the store looks old, it's not. They sell well-made reproductions.

Mural on a tattoo studio.

Gingerbread cottage - looks like something from England.

Bouldin Castle.

Along someone's driveway - hubcap row.

Very large yard art!

Passion fruit flower.

At the end of our walk, we needed some ↓↓↓↓↓↓. The heat really saps your strength.



Driving back to McKinney Falls State Park we saw this cool mural on a Chevron station in town. It shows a number of reasons Austin is famous: Stevie Ray Vaughan, the State Capitol, the Colorado River, and bats coming out from under the Congress Street Bridge.



When we returned to the 5er we had lunch, then Bob called a special
phone number to find out what time the bats were estimated to fly out.
The window of probable bat departure was 8:15 to 9:15 p.m. We rested
until it was time to head downtown.

Our evening included viewing bats flying out from under the Congress Street Bridge. Austin, Texas, has the nation's largest urban bat colony living under the bridge, estimated at 750,000 bats.

We parked at the Austin American-Statesman parking lot on the southeast side of the Congress Street Bridge at 8:00 p.m. and walked along Lady Bird Johnson Lake until we came to the bat-viewing area. Yep, this must be the place.

People line the Congress Street Bridge.

Congress Street Bridge downtown Austin, Texas.

Many people also hang out on the lawn east of the bridge.

An others kayak, take a tourboat or paddleboat to watch the bats.

Downtown at dusk.

It's really hard to photograph bats because they're so fast. I gave it my best shot. The bats came out at exactly 8:15 p.m. By 8:30 p.m. we were back at our truck.

Mexican free-tailed bats.

The people are in focus. The bats are fast!

After our bat viewing, we went back to the park, made a nice campfire, roasted hot dogs, had coleslaw and then made S'mores. We're getting the most we can out of our state park experience. We're having a wonderful time.



The end (of a very long day)!

Stay tuned for tomorrow's blog. Whew, what a fun day we had in downtown Austin.

Travel Bug out.