islay

intending firmly to cycle i took my broken body plus t and geo to islay this weekend. we did a checklist before we went. everything seemed fine. except we'd forgotten loads including geo's birthday present. no matter.
the scottish 'summer' had taken pause and the sun was shining(ish) for a glorious crossing.

there were even cetacean sightings!

in the end we did very little. not least because this was what greeted us in the morning.

as i put it to geo, there's the beach, there's the sea - why would we want to go anywhere else. much splashing about, kayakry and general lying about in the sun ensued. so much so that while my bikey tan lines were barely blushed the rest of my pearly white northern european flesh got a proper cooking. still, nothing like an evening stroll in the sunset to ease the pain...

in the end no cycling was done, not least because of hayfever/cold but also because i just couldn't risk aggravating last week's injury. back yesterday for some proper manipulation but a world of stretching awaits before pushing it on the bike again and, unfortunately that puts 10@kirroughtree completely out of the picture for this weekend. i'm not even sure if i'll be fit for the triathlon next month.

still, islay was lovely and well worth going back for a proper look round. on our return we found the garden awash with strawberries so made a bunch of jam as well as strawberry and blackcurrant vodka as a wee perk me up on the long winter nights.