awayday

 Alva Highland Games..we watched instead of racing

 the fell....and the runners...not for me!!

 Dunfermline...the older streets could be Belgium...

Ambleside sports

 Up at 5am....out soon after 6....coffee and egg roll in Thornhill after an hour...then a further two hours to Ambleside...
We,the cyclists do the usual job of filling in the gaps between fell running, wrestling, athletics, hound trail running...

 The fell run.   And the big sprint....won by a woman!

 sheltering from the sun,with one of my daughter's competitors and teammates from twenty years ago..she is on a comeback after a ten year break.
We had good racing, Womens' events for a change with nine riders....and I wasn't last!

 and here is Femke with the Pirate. She borrowed wheels,but is back riding the first frame built for her.

She lives in Cumbria and the spring at their farmhouse has dried up for the first time in memory.  We drove home past Thirlmere and it was a shock to see how low the water level was.

on the grass...

 Four days of grasstrack racing..we are "fillers" in the general events..

 the fell run course

Alva, near Stirling...then next day to the West and Rosneath..

Under every tree..a piper trying to stay in tune! With a rough track and long grass, I missed out on this one.
Loch Lomond on the way home.

Its there somewhere...honest....

Next day,a complete contrast...Burntisland,opposite Edinburgh,on the Forth...and the games held on the public links in fair week...

 and then the long drive over the Rest and be Thankful to Inverary on the West again..somewhere we must visit again, with camera and drawing book,to enjoy and go leisurely.
The games were held on the shinty field of Inverary Castle, the home of the Dukes of Argyll, and head of Clan campbell.

 the estate gardeners,mending the divots raised by the Heavies...

 and the Inverary and District pipe band...world champions...

 and me,bringing up the rear,making up the numbers!

and above all,the watchtower,once on alert for invaders

We longed to stay longer once the games had finished...but at 4 pm
 with a hundred miles to drive.....