Sustainable travel

Well, in my opinion climate change is a definite. Just this past week we have had everything from warm and glorious blue-sky days, to dark, windy and constant rainfall weather systems, with literally just hours apart.  It really is just a case of opening the curtains and looking outside for the forecast.

Monday was a fantastic day. It was pretty cold first thing but there wasn't a breath of wind. Taking advantage of the good weather I set off at 9.30am on my bicycle to tick off five chores I had to do that day. The route took me all over my home city of Edinburgh, at one point up a rather steep mile-long hill on the south side of the city. I attended a hospital appointment, picked up theatre tickets, dropped an item off at a friends, attended a meeting (after a Starbucks refreshment on the way!) and helped a friend out at this house. It was very satisfying to do all these things over the course of the day using my bicycle, powered by my own energy.

Tuesday looked like another great day, so I set off on my bicycle for my usual one-hour circuit in the morning in glorious blue skies with not a breath of wind. Twenty minutes later I was furiously pedalling home trying to stay ahead of an ominous black cloud. I didn't make it and arrived home freezing cold and soaked through.

Wednesday. Now we were thrown into an Indian-style monsoon! Waves were pounding the beach nearby and the rain was dense and heavy, not letting up all day. I was out in it several times during the day, wrapped up in waterproofs head to toe, but it still got through.

An Australian couple stopped me at one point to ask directions to an outdoor store where they could buy camping gas, and for directions to get out of the city to go north into the highlands. They were camping. Then they asked when I thought the rain would go off. I couldn't resist and replied, what month is this?

Scotland has always had a mixed bag of weather, with rarely two days the same, but this year has been more varied than usual and the weather systems have definitely been stronger and wilder.

It pleases me that at least I'm doing my bit to reduce greenhouse gases by using my bicycle to do most of my journeys in the city. Not to mention the benefits to my weight, fitness and the fortune I must be saving in fuel and parking fees.

Outdoor Cure

A number of years ago I injured my spine and had a very successful, though risky, operation to fix the problem. Occasionally it flares up and hurts like hell, and at the end of last week this is exactly what happened. From previous experience I knew that walking, especially on uneven ground, can help.

It was poor timing because I had been planning to get away into the highlands with my tent for a few days because of the settled beautiful autumn weather. However, all was not lost because just 10 miles from my house is a range of hills called the Pentlands, and so, late morning, I found myself setting off into the regional park.

It was a quick and relatively easy walk to the top of the first hill, Allermuir. It has a trig point at the top and used to have a brass viewpoint indicator, pointing out landmarks near and far, but it has been removed recently for repair by the National Trust for Scotland.

The route up the hill starts at the bottom of Europe's largest artificial ski slope. I hadn't been in this area for over two years and as I walked past the centre was surprised to see it had grown and they have expanded the area. There's a lot of ground damage from the construction but over time I'm sure this will repair. The route then follows what they have named the Capital View Walk. This path had also been upgraded and to me was suitable now for 4-wheel-drive vehicles. The upgrade was unnecessary in my view and has created a scar on the landscape. The path winds it's way round the base of Allermuir and turns south through to the next glen.  I turned off the path earlier and took a more direct route up.

Soon at the top it was time for my favourite pastime: lunch. I shared the top with a number of people out for the day in the hills together with the token cute dog called May.

The views were spectacular on this cloudless day. Edinburgh and the Firth of Forth lay below me to the north, with the view stretching almost 100 miles to the edge of the highlands and the 2883foot high mountain Ben Ledi. To the south west the hills opened up creating a natural glen that contains two of Edinburgh's reservoirs.

Lunch over I set off over the neighbouring hills, and though there was a lot of people out enjoying the day there was enough space to feel I had it all to myself. I turned south down toward Glencorse reservoir then sat for a while, listening to the bird song and watching the world go by. There wasn't a breath of wind and despite it approaching mid October there was enough heat in the sun to sit without a jacket.

Completing a circular route I finished my 4 hour trek in the hills feeling inspired and satisfied. My back pain seemed no better but time would tell.

Two days later things had started to change and my back was feeling a good bit better. I set off on my bicycle to ride a 30mile round trip to my childhood town of Penicuik (penny-cook). I had lived there from age 11 to 15 and the route is fantastic for bicycles as it keeps you off roads for much of the way.

There wasn't a breath of wind as I picked my way along what would be called "rails to trails" in America, passing the remains of old railway stations across old iron bridges and through several tunnels. The sunlight was broken up through the trees on either side, creating dancing patterns on the trail, and the leaves of the trees already fallen scrunched under my tyres.

Just an hour and a half later, I arrived in Penicuik. I took a little tour of the main high street and up to my old high school. Memories of my high school days are not good unfortunately, but I'm happy that I've probably achieved way more than the bullies from those times. I was saddened by the closed down look of the high street, now a pedestrian precinct, and as I sat there in the warm autumn sunshine eating my lunch I could picture myself 35 years ago wandering the street during school lunch break.  Just yards away, now gone sadly, was where a bicycle shop used to be where I bought my first bicycle at age 14. Little did I know then that one day I would cycle across the USA.

With the sun at my back I turned for home. It had been a great run and all the more special as it marked the day one year ago that Pauline and I finally finished our great adventure in America.

Another two days later and my back has all but cured itself thanks to the outdoor therapy.

Now that's a breakfast!

A number of years ago, in more fun times, I was on one of the many hillwalks with my friends Pauline and Andrew, on this occasion in the Cairngorm in the highlands of Scotland.

We had just finished and were heading out of the hills when we popped out of the forest into a settlement called Rothiemurcus and headed straight into a small cafe there called the Ord Ban. Sadly the Ord Ban is no longer, but on that day Andrew and I had the most fabulous treat.

They served up this delicious French toast with smoked bacon and a sweet sauce ladled over it. It was heavenly, and the other day I recreated it as a treat for breakfast.

Here's what you need:

2 think slices of wholemeal bread. The artisan type, not the soft floppy type by Sunblest or the likes.

1 egg. If you can find them, duck eggs are the best.

6 rashers of good quality smoked bacon.

Real maple syrup.

Toast the bread. Beat the egg then coat all sides of the toast in the egg. Fry in olive oil. Grill the bacon until it's how you like it, then stack a plate with the toast, bacon, more toast and the last of the bacon. The finishing touch is to smother it in maple syrup.

Fantastic!

It brought back fond memories.

I believe that this dish originated in Canada, which doesn't surprise me given that maple syrup is key to this dish.

Enjoy.

As an aside, an alternative venue for breakfast, should you find yourself up near Rothiemurcus in the shadow of the Cairngorm, is Glenmore cafe just five miles up the road. Their bacon rolls are legendary and you get a free show of Scotland's cutest mammal coming down to feed right at the windows of the cafe, the red squirrel.

Hoping to get back there some time soon for the autumn colours in the surrounding forest.

Photo by Gary Lowes

Storm Bound

What a past few days it has been in Scotland.

Just last week I was enjoying day after day of fantastic autumn weather; cool days, beautiful colours starting to appear and blue skies.

Then on Sunday all that changed.

A storm blew in, fuelled partly by the leftover energy of tropical storm Nadine in the Atlantic sucked in by low pressure in the Bay of Biscay moving north, and dumped a months worth of rain in one day in some places. The wind rattled the windows and ripped the leaves and branches from trees. I spent part of the day mesmerised by the sea, just 20m from my house, as six foot waves tumbled and crashed onto the beach. A fantastic sight and an impressive sound as the sea roared.

The following day the storm was starting to lose its energy but it was still wild. Then all was quiet, and a walk along the beach revealed a rather different landscape from just a few days before. The sea had sculpted the mile and a half long beach into a new shape and decorated the surface with all manner of drift wood material. It reminded me of west coast north American beaches on the edge of the Pacific. Today the beach is still the same but soon I suspect the clean up tractors will start to remove the debris, which is a shame in some ways as it looks great right now.

There has been a lot of people flooded out of their homes in England and it reminded me of the people of Minot that we had met, who had lost everything in a major flood, during the cycle across the US in 2011.

I have to admit that I love the wild weather. Maybe I wouldn't be such a fan if I were to be flooded out of course, but the changes that occur at this time of year are always of great interest. It's the end of nature's life cycle for the year, transitioning through to winter.

In last weeks blog I was out enjoying the autumn changes on my bike, but what a difference a week makes.

Free potatoes

Once again we are entering my favourite time of year, Autumn, or for my American friends, the Fall.

There's something quite magical about the change in the air as it turns cooler, but not cold. The first signs of gold are starting to appear on the trees and bushes in my garden, and the sunlight has a sparkle to it like no other time of year, with a little warmth still there in it's rays.

Most days are calm, blue skies with sunrise later in the morning and sunset becoming increasingly earlier in the evenings, shortening the day.

Spring, summer and winter all seem to be increasingly hard to pinpoint these days, with the weather in chaos globally, and it is true that autumn is getting later each year, but it has a distinct smell and colour to it that leaves you in no doubt that change is on the way.

Walks and cycle rides are particularly enjoyable at this time of year. Just a few days ago I was out for a late night walk, on my way home from friends, when something caught my eye as I passed the end of a road leading to the beach.

Just a few yards up was an adult fox with it's distinct red coat, out on its nightly prowl, foraging for free food no doubt. We stood staring at each for what seemed an age, before the fox calmly trotted off in search of some morsel's scent he had picked up on the night air.

Today, on a glorious day, I was out for a couple of hours run on my bicycle locally. As I trundled along, my mind elsewhere, I was marvelling at the sight of farm workers harvesting a field of potatoes. I stopped and watched a while, with memories of childhood flooding back, when I would work in the autumn holidays to help harvest the potato crop. As I watched I noticed that the machinery had already cleared the field nearest to me, and all along the edge where missed potatoes. Not one to let anything go to waste I clambered down and filled my saddle bag.

Just like my foxy friend I too had found a free treat, and I'm sure they will taste all the better for it.

Finished

Today the film I've been working on for two years, Sleepless 'til Seattle, was finally finished.

The edit decisions of the film were complete about a week ago and the past seven days have all been about tweaking the technical issues with the film. It very nearly wasn't of course, when the main storage device collapsed last week.

Back in September 2010, having just returned home from cycling the Camino in Northern Spain with Pauline, the idea was first suggested by Pauline that we should cycle across the USA together. This would be just one section of her bigger round the world adventure.

Ideas went back and forth of where to start and whether to go west to east, the accepted direction of travel, or east to west, which would be against the prevailing wind. But there had been a later than usual record snowfall, and some of the passes we would have to cross in the Cascades and the Rockies were not yet open in May and unlikely to be so for many weeks yet, so the decision was made for us.

I came up with the idea of making a film all about it early on, but this would end up presenting challenges not just technically but personally on a daily basis.

So we met up in Plymouth and set off in the direction of Seattle from Plymouth, camera in hand, with no idea what to expect.

Six months later, and the adventure of a lifetime behind me, I was back in the UK to start post production on the film. That was last October, so it's been just a month short of two years in the making.

I am surprised now, all things taken into consideration, just how much this low budget documentary has actually cost. And it isn't over yet. There are many high costs ahead in terms of providing an exhibition quality version plus all the festival entry fees and postage. FedEx to the States for example is £40 each time, on top of the entry fee. It all adds up.

I think had I known how much it would cost at the start I would probably not have done it.

But it is the  emotional cost that has been too high. On reflection I missed so much of the adventure, with my focus on capturing all the footage and interviews most of the time. This had a direct effect on my fellow adventurer too of course, and I marvel now at her high level of patience throughout. I had also decided to make and post video diaries along the way, and this was definitely a mistake. It meant whenever we got a day off I would be working away trying to complete the next instalment, so I never really had a chance to relax.

The frustration of not getting "thee" shot on occasion also led to high stress levels, and at the end of the day it was meant to be a fun and chilled out ride. But despite all this it was an incredible experience, and the people of America that we met along the way will stay in our hearts forever. All said and done we have a great visual record of the adventure.

These things are easy to see on hind sight. I know I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Pauline, and a very big apology. I hope one day to have an opportunity to make it up to her. Hopefully something positive will come from the film for both of us which may in some way make it all worth while.

It is now in the process of being made ready to send on Monday to it's first festival, Sundance.

When it works

You must be a new reader of my blogs if you don't know the entire past 9  months of my life have been consumed with a feature film project.

I'm about one week away from finishing it completely.

Or was.

I'd been having problems with the project crashing on me, and very recently I was getting issues with the playback of the film on the computer with it constantly freezing on me. I knew there was a problem somewhere but couldn't track it down.

Then two days ago the external drive array holding the entire project files had a drive fail. The whole project went belly up. However, the saving grace is that I use a storage device called a RAID. I wont get into technical details as I hardly understand how it works myself, but apparently all I need to do is replace the faulty drive and it will repair itself.

In principal that's reassuring, but at first attempt I was told it will take weeks to get the new drive, which would be pointless as I need to send the finished project to it's first main festival in 10 days! However, with a bit of pressure from me, the manufacturer's support team have come up trumps.

As I write this blog I am waiting on UPS overnight to deliver a new drive to replace the dead one, then the company will take remote access of the system and attempt to fix the problem, which I find amazing and a little scary at the same time.

It is a fantastic system, superfast, developed by Apple and Intel and made by Promise Technology.

At least it's fantastic when it works.