weight loss tips

Win a spot on the September Up & Running 5k or 10k course

August 27, 2014 by Blog Editor

Following on from the Robert Plant post, who would you invite round for tea?

Yep, it’s nosy question time again! We’ve just opened up registration for the final Up & Running courses for 2014, thus I’m making my last attempt to lure you into our international running club.

The 5K Beginners Course starts on Monday 8 September and the 10K Course starts on Thursday 11 September, each going for eight weeks.

Here’s what you get…

an eight week training plan to get you race ready, designed to gradually increase your strength and fitness while avoiding injury
a daily blog chock full of support materials, like running techniques, drills, videos and inspiring videos
unlimited support from expert coach Julia Jones, for all your running questions
access to our private community forum
a delightful sense of wellbeing as the year draws to an end, having achieved something so epic!

I’m giving away five free places. All you have to do is leave a comment on this blog post and tell me:

If you had to invite someone famous round for tea, who would it be and why? (And optionally, what would be on the menu?)
Which course you’d like to do.

Entries close 11PM GMT on Monday 1 September.
There will be five winners and they have their choice of 5K or 10K course
The winner can gift the prize to a friend if desired.
Winners will be randomly selected.
Winners can be from anywhere in the world. Previous winners are eligible to enter again. Remember the Courses are for women only.

Come over for your tea, Robert Plant

August 15, 2014 by Blog Editor

Do you think Robert Plant ever Googles himself? I bet he doesn’t because he’s Robert Plant. He’s quietly aware that he’s magnificent and has no need to click through to the 25,675th page of search results to find some random loon banging on, ROBERT PLANT IS MAGNIFICENT. But I’m going to do it anyway.

Last night I was re-watching his set from Glastonbury 2014 (there’s still three days left to catch it on BBC iPlayer) and kept thinking that he’s ace in so many ways. So I made a list.

He was in Led Zeppelin, one of the greatest bands of all time, but he doesn’t go on about it. I also saw the documentary Robert Plant: By Myself earlier this year, where talks about their massive success and how great that time was, but he’s kinda modest and matter of fact, and it’s clear that he’s had this whole other life since then.
He never rests on his laurels. He’s always evolving, dabbling with new sounds and genres and collaborating with new people.
He doesn’t strut around like it’s still 1970 with the bare chest and unfathomably snug jeans. He is where he is, and looks totally cool with that. As you would be, if you were Robert Plant.
That Glastonbury show is full of classic Zeppelin tunes, because he knows that’s what the people want. He’s not one of those folks that get uptight about playing the old hits…
… but he makes them new. He and his incredible band cooked up cool versions that mix “African Trance, Psychedelia, and 21st century warped dance beats”. It wasn’t at all cringeworthy and at no point do you think WHERE’S JIMMY?
(It was a different experience seeing Tom Jones at the Belladrum festival last Friday night. He did It’s Not Unusual with a quasi-reggae beat! And the famous brass intro was nowhere to be heard! That’s the best bloody bit, TOM!)
His band is full of brilliant musicians and they feel like a band. He steps aside and listens appreciatively during their solos, letting them have their moment.
He looks like he’s having fun the whole time and still sings like he means it. Not phoning it in for the dosh.
In one song he lets the guitarist’s son wander up to the front of the stage to dance around. How many stars would put their ego aside for that? He’s Robert Plant, he can share, nae bother!

He’s the perfect blueprint for rock stars on how to grow older gracefully. Stay curious, never stop learning and evolving, be generous to others, keep your mane in good nick… all while retaining your original magic and charisma. He’s at the top of my fantasy Famous Folks To Have Over For Dinner list. No, wait… what the hell would you cook for Robert Plant? That’s too much pressure!

Photos: hypervocal; anchorshop.

Pool party

July 30, 2014 by Blog Editor

This crumbling beauty is Tarlair Swimming Pool in Macduff, Aberdeenshire. It was built in the 1930s in Art Deco style and is one of only three surviving outdoor seaside pools in Scotland.

The pool’s outer wall was designed to be fractionally below high-tide level, so the waves could roll in over the edge, refilling it with clean sea water twice a day.

In its heyday it was the place to be, but it closed in 1996 after the impact of indoor heated pools and cheap overseas holidays took hold.

The pool then fell into decay. At once point there was a proposal to turn it into a lobster hatchery! That would have been sacrilege for this glamorous old duck.

We’d stopped for a nosy on the way back from visiting Pennan, the tiny village where one of Gareth’s favourite films Local Hero was made. Apparently not the original phone box, but Gareth and all the other Children of the 80s wandering around with cameras seemed happy enough…

… anyway, I bloody loved this pool! Well, I loved my fantasy version of this pool. Imagine sitting there in a figure-flattering 50s swimsuit and a gigantic hat, sipping a cocktail. Sunny but not skin cancer sunny. Watching bronzed blokes stroll by from behind giant sunglasses.

Of course the reality would have been children bellowing over their fallen ice creams, and truly shitty weather 90% of the time.

Good news: local Macduff residents had a Save Tarlair campaign and eventually a £300,000 essential repairs programme was announced.

It doesn’t look like there’s enough dosh to restore it to a working pool, but it’s good to know it will be around.

Life: you’re doing it all wrong

July 26, 2014 by Blog Editor

Chalky hands + battling ropes = happiness

Do you ever have those grumpy, paranoid weeks where you feel like you’re the most incompetent person on the planet? That you have nothing of interest to offer and you’ll soon be living in a cardboard box? I’m sure studies have found this phenomenon is 73% more common amongst the self-employed, as there’s no one around to tell you to please be quiet and go make a round of tea for the team.
Thank goodness for exercise to restore perspective. I switched my weekly personal training session to 6.30AM as part of Operation Morning Person, which after a decade in operation has finally stuck. Today Shona let me loose on the battling ropes, those weighted rope thingies that you wave up and down. Holy whole body workout, Batman! I could only manage short intervals but afterwards I felt calm, determined; brain realigned with body.
We tried to figure out the name of that cat by calling out test names and seeing if he reacted. Hey Tiddles. Bawbag. Fluffhead. Heisenberg. He never really reacts to us anyway so the results were inconclusive. Gareth now generally calls him Donut; I call him Marcel Kitten (that’s one for the Tour de France nerds).
The Commonwealth Games start in Glasgow TONIGHT! Bring on the lawn bowls and weird Australian team uniforms! Back in the mid-naughties I worked for a member of the bid team and the 2014 Games sounded impossibly far away. I remember typing up various letters and documents and thinking, I will be so old in 2014 but I’ll be all glamorous and together by then. Ahh, youth!

Cape Wrath + the remotest public toilet in mainland Britain

July 2, 2014 by Blog Editor

Cows on the beach, Durness

The third day of Northern Jaunt consisted of exploring the fluffy edges of the west coast. For such a relatively small area – at some points we were barely 60 miles from Inverness – the contrasts in the landscape were mind-boggling. First we headed north from Kinlochewe, along Loch Maree then around the coast to Poolewe then taking the slower coastal route back down to Ullapool. We lucked out with another fine day so could take in all the grey jaggy mountains, white beaches and stonking sea views, with no company but the occasional campervan or motorbike.

We took a spontaneous detour around the Assynt area, another sticky-out bit north of Ullapool. This is where you trot out words like rugged, dramatic, spectacular then mop the drool from your chin. The weather had turned all misty and moody but that just added to the experience. From Lochinver we went along a crazy single track road that included this sign:

Beware of the toads

Then came dozens of lochs, full of lily pads in full bloom. Gareth said I would regret not stopping for a pic and now I do! It was such a weird sight; like nowhere else in Scotland. I love this country so much. I can’t think of anywhere that packs so much contrast into such a small space.

Confusing.

We took another detour to Stoer Head, where in the middle of bloody nowhere you’ll find a lighthouse, assorted sheep and seabirds, and apparently The Most Remote Public Toilet In Mainland Britain.

Loyalty card. First visit is £1, but subsequent visits are only 50p!

There is some controversy as to the legitimacy of this remote loo claim, but I was busting so didn’t really care.

We get it!

View from the loo

Finally we headed north again into Sutherland, where the landscape gets even more spectacular. Total photographic fail there; I had to sit back, shut up and drink it all in. The mountains are grey and rocky and desolate and ancient and you can imagine some epic murderous TV series being filmed there. Ahhhh I loved it so much. Me have no words.

On the fourth and final day we had a quick walk along a beach in Durness…

Further Beach Cows of Durness

Cowpath

… then on to the main objective: a visit Cape Wrath, the most north-westerly point of mainland Britain. It’s called CAPE WRATH… how can you resist a name like that?

Although part of the mainland you have to catch a ferry to get to Cape Wrath. I feel this wee boat really stretched the definition of ferry…

Cape Wrath ferry

Much of the cape is owned by the Ministry of Defence and is used as a military training area, including a live firing range. We had to wait about 90 minutes once we got over there as they were cleaning up from exploding some top secret things.

You shall not pass

Finally we were able to journey across the bumpy road to the lighthouse…

No neighbours to get in your face

… with some beautiful beaches along the way.

One of the bays on Cape Wrath

… but mostly miles of bleak moorland that’s perfect for testing your evil weapons.

Finally we got to the lighthouse and enjoyed the cliffs and seabirds swirling around…

Next stop, Canada

… plus Mainland Britain’s Most North-Westerly Cheese and Pickle Sandwich.

Please note that there is NO PUBLIC LOO on Cape Wrath (perhaps under threat from the Stoer Lighthouse people). So if you do want to indulge at the cafe, be careful about your beverage consumption.

Mainland Britain's most northerly cheese and pickle sandwich?

Tasty

Once ferried back we drove the 2.5 hours back to Inverness, which seemed very sedate after all that dramatic scenery.

I spent ages drawing this stupid squiggle to show the trip route now I’ve realised I totally left out CAPE WRATH. I am not going to redo it a 15th time, so just imagine that top left-hand corner is also conquered!

Map of over-ambitious holiday planning

Escape to the north

June 28, 2014 by Blog Editor

The foxy Loch Maree

Last week Gareth and I went on a four-day jaunt around Skye and north-west Scotland. We lucked out with 75% blue skies. Between this trip and Islay last July, I feel like I’ve used up my Good Scotland Weather allowance for life!

I don’t know what possessed us to plan 850 miles of driving in such a small time frame. Some of those miles were due to a ferry cancellation, but every time we stopped in yet another stunning, chilled out locale we’d say, “Why the hell didn’t we just stay here for three nights?”. I think it’s a hangover from my backpacking days when I felt like I had to cram in as many places as possible before I got deported.

I want to slap a general disclaimer on this whole post and say my iPhone snaps don’t do this stunning landscape justice. The clarity of the water and the scale of these mountains was overwhelming. It was falling in love with Scotland all over again. Also, many times there was so much glare from the sunlight (gasp) that I couldn’t see what I was shooting.

Our first stop was Mallaig and this beach where the film Local Hero was partially filmed. The sand was dazzling white.

The beach fae Local Hero

Then off to Skye…

The Cuillins on Skye. Ahh I wish you could see how huge and menacing and awesome they are.

Middle aged holiday highlight: two of out the three B&Bs we stayed at provided face cloths/flannels. I always pack my own as I haaate when they only give you soap to wash with. I don’t feel clean unless I can get a good scrub happening. Is anyone else with me on this!?

This is a big ass cliff, with Kilt Rock in the background. At 10pm! Love the Scottish summer nights.

Talisker Distillery

If you’re ever in Skye and visit Talisker Distillery, be sure to go to Talisker Beach as well. It is stunning. The sand is a moody silvery grey and the bay is utterly peaceful. Look at other people’s pictures to get a better idea!

Shit photo of beautiful Talisker Bay

Walking back from Talisker Bay with new pals

After Skye we headed for Kinlochewe which is at the end of Loch Maree, one of my favourite lochs in Scotland.

(By the way, Loch Ness is one of the most batshit boring lochs in Scotland, IMHO. That’s why they had to make up the Monster; to get you to go there.)

On the way to Kinlochewe the evening was so clear and bright that we couldn’t resist a detour over Bealach na Bà, the notorious pass over to Applecross. It’s full of crazyass hairpins and dramatic views. The haggard clutch of our car was begging for mercy (it’s done 230,000 miles!).

This is steep as hell!

This be steep as hell, too.

View from the top of the pass with G for scale – clear skies across to the mountains of Skye

Mountains near Kinlochewe

Closed, dagnabbit!

Stay tuned for the last two days, including more cows on a beach and a visit to mainland Scotland’s Most Northerly Public Toilet! Yep, we know how to party.

weight loss tips

Photos: hypervocal; anchorshop.

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