~Windy Wandering~

Stop!

2012-02-10T06:46:00.001Z

After the doom and gloom 'film's dead' message spread by the media following the announcement that Kodak had filed for bankruptcy protection earlier in the year, Kodak have now announced that the film side of the company is profitable and will continue, but digital camera production will stop. Ironic?

More here

Water

2012-02-09T07:49:00.000Z

Derelict House, Leurbost

2012-02-08T22:39:00.000Z

Quality Assured - Revisited

2012-02-07T18:21:00.001Z

A change to my blogging template and the 2 Holga pics that I mentioned a week or two back. It was an unusual day - there being too much light for 400 ISO film in a Holga :-/

So, to ensure optimum exposure, I held the polarising filter from the E620 over the Holga lens, but didn't manage to get my thumb out of the way in the second pic :-x

Nice touch, eh? ;-)

Old Bus, Leurbost

2012-02-07T08:28:00.004Z

On the Beach

2012-02-05T09:50:00.001Z

No sign of snow here. Plenty of wind and rain, but no snow. The sun was shining on Friday, and Deanne and myself took the dog for a stroll on the beach (The Braighe). It may have been sunny but there was a cold wind blowing. Some digital shots from the occasion.

Groynes, The Braighe

2012-02-05T09:06:00.003Z

This was my last post on 'Stornoway the Holga Way', but as the blog was not getting much traffic I decided to import everything to'Windy Wandering' and delete the blog.

If you're interested, I've opened a tumblr account and now have 'Wickerman' up and running. It's dedicated to all of my Holga work (and pics are not limited to Lewis only).

Thanks to all who followed 'Stornoway' there's a warm welcome waiting for you at 'Wickerman' ;-)

Lifeboats, Isle of Lewis Ferry

2012-02-04T17:35:00.001Z

'Beam me up Scotty!'

2012-02-03T09:33:00.000Z

Holga Sunrise

2012-02-02T07:21:00.000Z

First light on Feb 1st. Captured with the Holga 'digital' lens.

Willow Glen

2012-02-02T07:17:00.001Z

Holga Cheating

2012-02-01T19:02:00.000Z

Did you know that you can get Holga Lenses for digital SLRs? I ordered one off Ebay, it arrived yesterday , all the way from Hong Kong and these are the first snaps. Taken in poor light with the ISO cranked upto 3200 :-)

An Lanntair, Stornoway

2012-01-31T06:56:00.001Z

3 in a Row

2012-01-30T13:17:00.000Z

Thanks to some reasonable weather, for at least a part of the last 3 weekends, I've made it out on the bike on the last 3 Sundays. 100km down in January is not too bad a start for a Hebridean year.

Pentland Road

2012-01-30T10:56:00.001Z

Power Lines, Acha Mor

2012-01-28T17:56:00.001Z

Quality Assured

2012-01-28T10:01:00.001Z

The sun shone yesterday and I took a lunchtime stroll up to the war memorial with an Olympus E620 hung around my neck and a Holga 120N in my pocket. I took a couple of shots with the Holga and a 'few' more with the Olympus. In fact I took rather a lot with the Olympus, reviewing the result, altering settings, changing modes and making 'x' number of other adjustments along the way.

Here's one of the digital snaps. I chose monochrome, black and white, electronic red filter and a polarising filter over the lens to get the best contrast between sky and cloud. I even looked at (and adjusted) the levels in photoshop to ensure optimum contrast and exposure.

Back at work (in my other life I'm a 'Biomedical Scientist') I got into a discussion with a colleague about the obsession with 'quality' within our role. Every morning we are faced with a huge list of tasks to do before we even consider carrying out a test - analyser maintenance, calibrations, quality control, reagent checks, temperature checks (rooms, fridges, incubators) etc. etc..... In fact there are so many routine quality tasks that I employ (I'm the manager too) Medical Laboratory Assistants, who (for very little money) play a very important role in carrying out the various QC tests, making all the checks on equipment and reagents and performing some of the maintenance and set-up tasks so that the 'professional' staff can actually find the time to do the job that they are paid for.

Don't get me wrong, quality control/assurance IS important and in the lab I work in the professional way expected from someone in my role (and expect it from those around me too). However, it's refreshing to get away from work and shove it all on the back burner.

I think this maybe where my ~~obsession~~ passion for toy cameras and cheap film (some call it lomo) originates. OK, some days I'll take the dSLR and happily click away in search of the perfect shot, but I tend to get more satisfaction from 'snaps' (to use a friend's term) taken using a Holga and some Fomapan - and these snaps are the ones that appear to create most interest (did I forget to mention that I've even had a recent request to submit 2 snaps for inclusion in a toy camera book).

So roll on simplicity and imperfection. Hipster? I'm the godfather of the movement! Take away my pixels (if you have to) but please leave the cheap film, and the Holgas, and the vinyl, and the fixed wheel bike, and.............

The Braighe

2012-01-27T17:56:00.001Z

Bayble Seascape

2012-01-27T07:32:00.001Z

Cemetery Gates, The Braighe

2012-01-26T07:00:00.001Z

Bayble Island

2012-01-24T06:29:00.001Z

Fusion Takeaway

2012-01-22T10:38:00.001Z

Somewhere on Kinder - remembering Kodak

2012-01-22T10:23:00.001Z

I took this shot on Kinder Scout, sometime in the 80's. At the time, the only camera I owned was a Rollei B35, and my film of choice was Kodachrome 64. I now have a choice of many different camera's and (with Kodachrome gone from the shelves) my colour film of choice is Kodak Portra.

It's sad to read of the trouble Kodak is going through. Hopefully, by filing for bankruptcy protection, the company will survive and Kodak film (in one form or the other) will be with us for many years to come.

I'd Rather Go Blind

2012-01-21T10:32:00.000Z

Etta James 1938-2012

I want my sun-drenched wind-swept Ingrid Bergman kiss

2012-01-21T10:12:00.002Z

A walk on the beach on New Years Day a Holga held at arms length and pointed in the general direction and a kiss 'snatched' in the moment as the shutter clicks.

Which brings me back to 'serendipity'. A happy accident or am I just a crap photographer and if I shoot enough snaps then, on the law of averages, I'll get a few I like? Come on now, don't hold back, be honest! ;-D

Gate, Willowglen

2012-01-21T09:56:00.001Z

Snow - Castle Grounds, Stornoway

2012-01-20T10:06:00.001Z

Post #500 - Imagine a World Without Free Knowledge

2012-01-18T13:02:00.000Z

Wikipedia is protesting against SOPA and PIPA by blacking out the English Wikipedia for 24 hours, beginning at midnight January 18, Eastern Time. Readers who come to English Wikipedia during the blackout will not be able to read the encyclopedia. Instead, you will see messages intended to raise awareness about SOPA and PIPA, encouraging you to share your views with your representatives, and with each other on social media.

Serendipity

2012-01-17T23:34:00.000Z

A few months ago now I described myself as '"a student of the Wiesmier school of serendipity in photography" in an 'Artist's statement' thread on Filmwasters, and I suppose this shot says it all. An unintentional triple exposure - the first as Deanne walks away from me, the second as she turns around when I call and the third standing at the point and looking back to Chanonry Point lighthouse. Truth is, that although I really like the result, it was completely unintentional. I don't remember not winding on the film, I thought that I had?

From Wikipaedia: Serendipity - A "happy accident" or "pleasant surprise"; specifically, the accident of finding something good or useful without looking for it. The word has been voted one of the ten English words hardest to translate in June 2004 by a British translation company. However, due to its sociological use, the word has been exported into many other languages. Julius H. Comroe once described serendipity as : to look for a needle in a haystack and get out of it with the farmer's daughter .

Whilst on the subject of Wiki some of the links in this post will be broken tomorrow - as I notice they are having a 24 hour anti-SOPA black out of English-language wikipaedia in protest against proposed legislation in the US that has potential to damage free and open internet - well done wiki, I agree the internet should remain free and open for everyone, everywhere.

Bayble Pier

2012-01-17T10:40:00.001Z

Castaway - Dry Dock, Stornoway

2012-01-16T16:05:00.001Z

Big Red Building, Stornoway

2012-01-15T08:48:00.001Z

Read me like a book.....

2012-01-14T09:18:00.000Z

That's fallen down between your knees
Please, let me have my way with you

(It's Only Natural - Crowded House)

Telephone Box, Fortrose

2012-01-13T07:54:00.000Z

Colour?

2012-01-12T07:33:00.002Z

It's entirely coincidental that I chose to run a roll of colour film through the Holga 135. It's ironic that the world decided to turn black and white for the occasion.

ICE technology (nothing to do with the weather conditions) and photoshop removed the obligatory dust marks and scratches (one of which runs the whole length of the film) that come FOC with every film processed at the local photo lab.

Whisky Bar - The Anderson, Fortrose

2012-01-11T20:49:00.002Z

Church of Scotland, Fortrose

2012-01-09T22:22:00.000Z

Stornoway Town Hall (in the rain)

2012-01-09T22:13:00.001Z

The Ullapool Road

2012-01-08T14:54:00.000Z

Arnish Battery

2012-01-08T14:19:00.001Z

Stornoway Waterwheel

2012-01-07T09:23:00.001Z

Holga 135

2012-01-07T09:07:00.000Z

I mentioned previously that I got a Holga 135 for xmas allowing me to play around with holga technology with the ease of 35mm film. It's a wonderful little camera, fits nicely into my coat pocket (so ideal for the cycling jersey) and I love it :-)

These were deliberately overexposed, taken into the sun using a soft surround filterand a quick click and release in 'B' mode.

OK, I confess, it wasn't deliberate - B mode was a mistake - the switch had moved in my pocket (I've now covered it with insulation tape) but at least I remembered to remove the lens cap ;-)

30 Years of Togetherness

2012-01-06T08:06:00.001Z

December 31st 1981 - I went to a fancy dress party and met a French maid. I was dressed as a 60's throwback beatnick/hippy type with pointy toe boots, straight leg black jeans, grand dad shirt and waistcoat. At the end of the party I asked the maid for a date.

8pm the 1st January 1982 - I was sitting on a rail at Stafford's Market Square bus stop watching a young girl walk casually towards me and I thought 'wow!' (and probably a lot more unmentionable young male thoughts). She was dressed in lace up furry boots; jeans that I think she must have sewn herself into; a long, green, baggy polo neck jumper; her hands in the pockets of an open, flapping duffel coat. I was dressed as a 60's throwback beatnick/hippy type with pointy toe boots, straight leg black jeans............. because that's who I was at the time - a youth obsessed with American Blues, the 60's British Blues movement and the Blues/Rock bands spawned from that era.

On that first date we went to the 'Malt and Hops' for a drink and chatted about ourselves, blues and rock...........this new year, we spent a weekend away at The Anderson in Fortrose and celebrated 30 years of being together.

A lot has changed over the years, but the 'magic' is still there.

Happy New Year, everyone, and all the best for 2012

ps. It's not my cigarette, I'm holding it for the photographer.

River Creed

2012-01-05T07:55:00.001Z

Tree, Lews Castle Grounds

2011-12-29T22:57:00.001Z

Beth

2011-12-29T22:52:00.002Z

More multiple and long exposures on my new Holga.

Calm Within The Storm

2011-12-28T17:00:00.001Z

Getting a bit blowy again outside :-(

Stornoway Waterwheel

2011-12-28T13:33:00.001Z

Old Gate, Acha Mor

2011-12-27T18:01:00.001Z

I think it's overrated too..........

2011-12-27T13:37:00.006Z

An homage to Andrea

I got a(nother) new Holga for crimbo. A 35mm this time. Not the BC version, so not the same soft edges and dark corners that I get with my 120s, but the same restrictions and a chance to play around and waste some film on a different camera. And 35mm is so much cheaper than 120 :-)

Goathill Park

2011-12-27T10:07:00.001Z

Goathill Park, a photo by windy_ on Flickr.

Walking the Dog

2011-12-26T13:27:00.010Z

In this weather? You've got to be kidding!

This was taken (using a rather nice borrowed Petri rangefinder) a few Fridays back, when ice covered tracks made it very difficult to stay upright.

Now, it's the wind and rain that's the problem - today (and yesterday) we have been battered by 60-70 mph gusts, and not even a sign of a severe forecast from the met office!

So, stormbound in Stornoway for xmas - 'throw another log on the fire and open another bottle of wine, dear' - after all, I'm not going anywhere in this weather, am I

Merry Xmas....

2011-12-24T19:57:00.004Z

to all who wander here from time to time. May your wanderings in the new year be joyful :-)

Windy

Santa (don't) stop here :-(

2011-12-23T10:25:00.001Z

Bah Humbug!!!

Chaos

2011-12-23T07:38:00.004Z

2 days to go 'til xmas, my last day at work then a 4 day break (I miraculously swapped my weekends on-call duty).

As per usual the town is crawling with last minute shoppers. To add to the chaos, the island was hit by a 2 hour power cut yesterday lunchtime. I believe that shoppers in local food stores had to abandon trolleys and leave the shops as tills and card readers were effectively 'stopped'.

Lews Castle

2011-12-21T15:49:00.001Z

Off Kilter

2011-12-21T07:38:00.006Z

Jake, dressed up for his final xmas party at the Nicolson Institute. The UCAS application has been submitted and, come summer, school's out!

The original was in colour, but I've desaturated it for Andrea as I think she would prefer it that way. I can't do anything about the digital wizardry ;-)

Trees

2011-12-19T21:23:00.001Z

A couple of photos of trees that I took during a short walk on Friday (whilst new tyres were fitted to the car). Taken using a very nice petri rangefinder that I currently have on loan from Andrea :-)

Rust (Goes To) Sleep

2011-12-19T08:11:00.006Z

After much deliberation, I have decided to call it a day for one of my other blogs 'Island of Rust', leaving me with just the 2 blogs - Windy Wandering (my main focus for musings and mumblings) and Stornoway the Holga Way (an outlet for holga snaps taken around my 'home' town)

'Rust' has been imported to 'Wandering' and rusty snaps will appear here from time to time. Thanks and goodbye to my 'rust' followers, and if not already following 'wandering' I hope to see you there.

'Island of Rust' gone but not forgotten 'cause 'Rust Never Sleeps'

Stop my life, I need time to think

2011-12-18T22:12:00.004Z

Bloody hell, where has this year gone? This time next week xmas is nearly over!

The Way Through The Woods

2011-12-16T08:56:00.000Z

Lews Castle

2011-12-16T08:55:00.001Z

Footpath, Cearns

2011-12-14T07:41:00.001Z

War Memorial

2011-12-13T22:45:00.001Z

Wire and Wool

2011-12-13T22:41:00.001Z

Keep Out

2011-12-13T07:20:00.000Z

Winter Walk

2011-12-12T20:26:00.006Z

More fun with the Pentax Espio, a double exposure this time

Should I Be Driving?

2011-12-11T20:20:00.003Z

No, I don't have triple vision. Taken on a Pentax Espio - autofocus and exposure and then hold a holga prismatic filter in front of the lens. A rather cool result. And for the record, I was in the passenger seat at the time the picture was taken.

RAWR!!!!

2011-12-09T08:04:00.002Z

" alt="rawr!! ">

'I'm a scary tiger!'

'Yeah, whatever'............

Snow

2011-12-06T14:11:00.006Z

The snow's here and I've just done 4 nights on-call in a row. Not feeling at my best today so I left work at lunch time and came home. I'm now heading off to bed for an afternoon nap.

Here's a picture taken in sunny Brittany in 1993 - probably on the Rollei B35, but I can't be certain. Not a flake of snow in sight. Alex and Josh have also grown a bit since then :-)

Bye ;-)

Gate, Stornoway Castle Grounds

2011-12-06T14:07:00.000Z

A Bit More Redscale

2011-11-28T20:36:00.004Z

Another go at redscale. At first I thought the process hadn't worked properly (again). But, after comments from fellow filmwasters, I decided to play with the scanning and it appears that there was an element of colour correction from the scanner.

All sorted now though - You've seen the next shot before, a different result however, when scanned as a 'positive' and then 'digitally corrected'.

Creative Commons

2011-11-24T07:28:00.002Z

My Flickr account has a 'creative commons' licence on the photos. I allow the pics to be used elsewhere if I'm given credit for it. A number of pics have been blogged and re-blogged, the one above has even been used in the Guardian Blog at some time in the past.

This one is the latest :-)

Setting Sun

2011-11-22T07:09:00.016Z

Not something I see very often at this time of year as my office doesn't have a window. This picture was taken in Stockbridge back in June when the sun was shining and I did see a sunset. Stockbridge has 2 suns. It would be nice if they could send the spare sun to Stornoway, we could do with a wee bit more.

What? They wont let us have it? Oh, I see, the second sun's not real. It's just a 'trick' of the filter. Nevermind, I'll just have to make do with my light box and keep taking the tablets.

That reminds me, tablets!

Last night, driving home from the Co-op, a 'record' (not that I'm old or anything) was played on the radio (at the start of the Jo Whiley show). It had a rhythm and beat that I found somewhat 'uplifting'. I arrived home, it was still playing, and for the first time in ages I sat listening until the end to find out what it was. It was The Chemical Brothers (with Noel Gallagher) - Setting Sun. Can't believe I haven't heard it before, but then I didn't hear a lot of new music in 1998, the year I moved to Stornoway.

Tablets? OK! I'll go and take them now! Calm down, don't get your 'knickers in a twist', it's only vitamin D ;-)

Monday Morning

2011-11-21T07:26:00.003Z

It's wet and dark outside, and it's the start of the week :-(

Did I mention how much I enjoyed my holiday in Tuscany?

Filmwastin' Take 2

2011-11-20T10:29:00.006Z

Another shot from my first attempt at redscale. This one being a bit more redscale than some of the other pics.

I have a Petri 7 on loan from Andrea - I was on pic #16 before I realised there was no film in the camera (so not really film wasting).

Beth also developed a roll of film that she had in her Petri SLR. She practised rolling film onto a reel with a roll of polypan (bulk loaded, 'cheap as chips' - good for practice then and not really a waste).

New(ish) to film photography, she forgot the built in exposure meter - half the film was over exposed - but there are some good results (be warned Andrea, there are a couple of you)!

Last night Jake was looking for AA batteries - 'Some in that Minolta over there' said I. He picks up the camera and 'Oops, my bad!' I hear him exclaim as he opens the back of the camera and exposes the roll to light. 'I take it that's the battery compartment on the bottom' he mumbles apologetically as he closes the back and disappears, with batteries, 'sheepishly' out of the door.

All part of the fun of using film :-D

Spoke too soon

2011-11-17T07:18:00.003Z

It's pissing down outside :-(

Another picture from a (rare) sunny day to lift the mood.

Sunshine Superman

2011-11-16T22:00:00.003Z

Monday....

Tuesday....

Wednesday....

Grand weather we're having at the moment :-)

'Sunshine came softly through my a-window today
Could've tripped out easy a-but I've a-changed my ways........'

Redscale?

2011-11-15T18:52:00.005Z

OK the lomo thing's getting to me and I had a go at redscale and actually got some interesting results.

The wikilink tells you what it's all about, but basically, I took a roll of Kodak Gold 400 and rolled it backwards into a 200iso DX coded cannister then shot the roll through the Pentax Espio.

The film was developed by the local photo shop - I had to wait about 10 days because his machine was broken and he needed a part. No problem with waiting, I've got a backlog to earlier this year waiting to be developed. I thought he may have found the dead cat in his developing tank whilst it was being fixed, but alas - no. The film came back covered in marks (and I'm not complaining at £2.00 a film for develop only)

Lest we Forget

2011-11-11T07:33:00.004Z

Field of Remembrance, Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T21:55:00.000Z

Digby Chick

2011-10-31T19:56:00.001Z

Walk the Line

2011-10-31T18:48:00.001Z

Filmwastin'

2011-10-30T20:04:00.006Z

My favourite camera at the moment is a Pentax Espio that my mother gave me. It's an auto focus/exposure point and shoot thingy with a rather phallic zoom. I've been playing around with the different functions (B shutter mode, double exposure etc.) and tried things like putting a magnifying glass in front of the lens to distort the image.

It has DX coding - uncoded film is shot at ISO 25. I've just finished a roll of polypanF as such, but haven't developed the film yet so I'm still waiting on the results. I've replaced the polypan with Kodak Gold 400 - rolled the wrong way into a 200 ISO DX coded cassette - a first attempt at redscale.

Using an automatic point and shoot, no need to think about aperture or shutter speed. Shoot at will and experiment - then wait until the film's developed to see the results (no instant digital fix). Some shots make you smile and go 'wow', some you just want to 'bin' and some give you ideas to try something a little bit different - as Andrea commented when we met in the co-op a few nights back - 'just filmwasting'

Bread

2011-10-29T19:09:00.006+01:00

Home made bread straight from the oven (with jam)

Om Nom Nom!

It's All About The Bike

2011-10-28T09:29:00.006+01:00

According to Robert Penn it is and that's the main reason why I've taken today off work. Since getting back from Italy I've had 1 day off in the last 18 (1 day more than Andrea I believe) and I have a free weekend. So I've decided to make it a long one - get the bike cleaned and oiled, get some of the backlog of film developed and just chill.

Coincidently, I notice that Robert Penn chose a 'Rourke' frame set.

Can't remember this guys name? He came from Stoke, he was wearing a Rourke Jersey and we met in Gaiole before L'Eroica. He was riding a renovated Holdsworth Professional - which just happens to be what I used to ride. My first lightweight frame back in 1975 and the frame that I won the GHS 10 on.

Italian Style.............

2011-10-26T22:06:00.007+01:00

Belgian 'grit'..............

Lazin' on a Sunny Afternoon

2011-10-23T20:23:00.005+01:00

Since getting back from Italy I've been busy. Had to catch up with all the on-call swapped for the fortnight away, and yesterday was my first 24hr break in 2 weeks. Still got a few films to develop from the holiday (the L'Eroica ones are finished) and still haven't got around to cleaning and oiling the bike.

Despite the fact that I've worked 13 out of 14 days, I haven't really missed much. The weather has been wet and windy for most of the time and it hasn't been cycling weather. Hope it improves for next weekend when I am free.

There were 4,000 participants in L'Eroica - it may have been sunny but it wasn't a day for lazin'. Well not until arrival back in Gaiole where (like the 'heroes' in the photos above) I could sit back, relax, and enjoy a nice cold beer.

Street Artist, Florence

2011-10-20T23:04:00.006+01:00

Watching the world go by

2011-10-19T07:25:00.001+01:00

Raison d'etre

2011-10-17T19:24:00.002+01:00

Sweet Gene Vincent

2011-10-16T18:25:00.007+01:00

On my way to Italy I bought a 'Best of Ian Dury' CD. For those of you who are wondering wtf I'm rambling on about and how this is any way relevant to a picture of me waiting on the start line of L'Eroica? - I give you this video ;-)

Picture taken by Deanne using the Pentax Espio

Monte Sante Marie

2011-10-16T09:41:00.011+01:00

Some rode..........

Some pushed...........

and some carried.

I didn't see anyone crawling ;-)

The climb from the second 'ristoro' at Asciano was a monster. 135m ascent in 6.5km over ruts and gravel with the mid day sun beating down on your back and reflecting back into your face from the white road. All part of a 12km section of strada bianchi. I used all of the skills acquired from 40 years of cycling (road, track, MTB and cyclo-cross) - plus a large measure of brute strength thrown in - and managed to ride it all. At the top, I collapsed under the welcome shade of an olive tree, pulled my bidon from my bike, closed my eyes, and thought how glad I was that I hadn't been tempted by the raw eggs, Chianti or Grappe on offer at at 'Asciano ristoro'.

Due ruote e una Rollei una strada bianca

2011-10-15T09:14:00.007+01:00

I used to have a blog called 'Two Wheels and a Rollei' through which I shared cycling snapped with my old Rollei B35. The blog lost it's way somewhere along the line and I folded it some time back.

For L'Eroica I modelled myself on my formative cycling years, the 1970's - the era of Merckx, De'Vlaemink and Zoetemelk (my childhood heroes). It therefore seemed appropriate to carry (and use) a camera from the same period on the ride.

A selection from the ride - '2 wheels, a rollei and a white road' - shot on retro 100 and developed in aculux.

My italian is not that good, infact the only words I seemed able to use correctly during my holiday were 'Grazie' and 'Si', I'm hoping that google translate has given me the right title for the post.

Stornoway Proof?

2011-10-12T19:49:00.009+01:00

There was a rather gorgeous display of wooden bikes and accessories on display at L'Eroica (from 'Cerchi in Legno Ghisallo'). It could be the answer to the rain and salt responsible for oxidation of any steel frame exposed to the Outer Hebrides climate.

Even Deanne got excited and couldn't resist the urge to play - and I've managed to resist the obvious pun and innuendo ;-)

The Dust Settles

2011-10-08T20:52:00.003+01:00

A quick 'I'm back in the UK' post. Stopping the night at my parent's and heading back to Stornoway tomorrow.

L'eroica was hot (about 38C) and the ride was wonderful (I think the Irish would say 'good craic'). Eve and myself did the 135km route in 9 1/2 hours (including rest stops)and, although completely knackered at the finish, we both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves - probably the best bike ride in the world :-)

Ready To Go

2011-09-26T22:31:00.003+01:00

All packed and ready to go. Heading off on the first ferry tomorrow, flying from Prestwick at 7am on Wednesday and in Pisa before lunch. All essentials packed (including coffee bags, Marmite and vegetable Oxo cubes). Closed the box up and realised I hadn't packed the Isostar and Nutrigrain so had to open it again.

Looking forward to Sunday's ride? An understatement - I'm almost peeing myself with excitement :-D

ps. nice one Cav :-)

Goathill Road

2011-09-25T10:03:00.001+01:00

L'Eroica Final Preparation

2011-09-24T08:19:00.013+01:00

Last Sunday I joined Stephan and Eve on the gravel tracks of the castle grounds for what may be my last training ride before Italy. The weather's pretty grim outside with wind and rain battering the windows and rattling the slates and, worryingly, the Met Office are showing wild weather right through to late next week. On Tuesday (the day of our ferry crossing) the forecast is for gusts of up to 47mph - possible ferry cancellation strength :-(

Fortunately the local weather station and metcheck disagree showing 20 mph winds with gusts of around 30mph. Fingers crossed they're correct and that the ferry sails and we get away :-/

Over the next three days we will be keeping a very close eye on the forecasts to see whether a change to the Tarbert-Uig ferry or an earlier sailing is needed.

During last Sunday's ride, Eve took a tumble on the ascent of Gallows Hill, when her wheel lost traction on the steep gravel and (thanks to good old fashioned clips and straps) she couldn't release her foot from the pedal :-(

Fortunately (apart from a few cuts and bruises) everything is OK and she is now in possession of a pair of 28c Pasellas, courtesy of my Bob Jackson fixie :-)

On a sadder note, Stephan - the 'Big Smit' (eat your heart out Mig we have a challenger for your title!) wont be travelling with us so I wont be getting the beers he owes me for fettling assistance and loan of kit :-(

Seriously tho', aggrevation of thrombophlebitis and small clots in his leg are preventing him from flying - on Doctors orders - so our group is down to 4 with only Eve and myself riding. Take care Stephan, gentle exercise and rest and get well soon there's always another year.

Eroba for L'Eroica

2011-09-20T23:37:00.006+01:00

Eve's mount for l'eroica - a 1961 Eroba Race, equipped with Campag Gran Sport gears/hubs and Mafac brakes - lovely :p

It belongs to their friend 'Vic', who received it from the RAF in 1961. So it's as young as (or as old as) me - depending on whether your glass is either half full or half empty ;-)