Had a trip up North at the weekend without my Sat Nav for the first time in ages.  What a nightmare looking out for speed cameras is.  I really feel sorry for the people of Scotland and their Nazi like speed enforcement policies.  “Ahh, a nice wide straight section with good visibility, bollocks to overtaking, let’s install a speed camera!”

Always breathe a sigh of relief when coming south when I pass the last camera just before the border and can relax and concentrate on the road, rather than the verge.

There is no greater road than the A68 late at night with no traffic.. It’s just magic.

Spent Saturday biking up at Kielder and then over at Newcastleton.  Excellent day, although bloody cold.  Snow on the top of the fell at Kielder. Check out the Kielder Trail Reevers for details of the trails up there.  Did the red route which was good, but not as good as the routes available at places like Glentress.  Worth a visit though if you’re in the area.  Doubletrack decent from the top of Deadwater fell was a bit different and quite hairy in the snow.

Managed to get gallery to interface with wordpress, so all manner of pictorial loveliness is now possible… maybe.

See pic in sidebar and WPG2 link top right.

Why is it that Italian Restaurants frequently seem to feature guys with huge peppercorn grinders. Does the size of the novelty grinder have any bearing on the quality of authenticity or the cuisine?

I’m a sometimes keen runner and want to do the GNR again this year, however looking at the entry online it’s now going to cost the princely sum of £40.00 to enter. Anyone else think this has just become a licence to print money from Nova? The fact that the server is totally overloaded with people trying to get an entry would lead me to believe it’s not putting people off.

Open entries (if the server wakes up) area available from www.greatrun.org this weekend.

New Year and new blog to replace my old web site. I’m not going to claim that there’ll be anything stunning contained here, just some random thoughts and general rants rather than an “all about me” type webpage.

So, New Year… I spent mine in Edinburgh doing the traditional Hogmanay celebration. What a disappointment! Seriously Edinburgh, sort it out. Paying a fiver to stand on a cold street for hours, trapped with overpriced lager in plastic bottles and 40 toilets for 100k people is not my idea of a good time. It’s BORING guys.

Edinburgh’s a good laugh, just ignore the official organised event and go around the bars. Make sure you’ve got a view of the castle area at 12 and you’ll see the fireworks, which are the only bit really worth seeing. Sorted.