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Monday, 02 May 2022
Watching Dolphin Watchers and Dolphins

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Seen at Chanonry Point over the weekend. This is one of the best places in the world to watch dolphins from shore, and we were fortunate to see some although they moved slowly further and further out into the Moray Firth.

Posted by bigblue on 02/05/2022 at 05:45 PM
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Wednesday, 27 February 2019
Sunrise

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Another cold morning but Spring is on its way!

Posted by bigblue on 27/02/2019 at 08:35 AM
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Thursday, 31 January 2019
Day and night

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Day and night in Nanterre

Posted by bigblue on 31/01/2019 at 06:14 PM
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Friday, 28 December 2018
Cyclists! Look out for each other

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Why shouldn’t everyone look out for each other? I’d go so far as to say it would be nice if we did it without thinking.

Posted by bigblue on 28/12/2018 at 02:40 PM
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Friday, 21 December 2018
Yellow vest is the new snow?

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I suspect there is less chance of snow this Christmas

Posted by bigblue on 21/12/2018 at 06:17 PM
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Friday, 21 September 2018
Paris Gare du Nord

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At night, with a taxi rank full of queuing customers but devoid of any taxis.

Posted by bigblue on 21/09/2018 at 10:27 PM
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Tuesday, 21 August 2018
Queen Elizabeth II

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This is my more usual view from the Eurostar train, of this bridge over the Thames. My least usual view of the bridge is here.

Posted by bigblue on 21/08/2018 at 05:05 PM
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Tuesday, 31 July 2018
Where you going to sleep tonight?

Weird to think that a year ago I was engaged in the most epic bicycle ride of my life: London Edinburgh London. My soundtrack to that ride was Amy McDonald, with this song. It was largely in my head, but occasionally belted out on a long empty road when I needed to pick my spirits up.  There is something adventurous and exciting in this song that brought it to mind while I was on this most adventurous of rides.

The best part of having a soundtrack in your head is that you can mash it up with other songs. Strangely, I mashed up the chorus of This is the Life with the chorus of the Cranberries song Zombie.  It somehow worked.

So what are my long term reflections on London-Edinburgh-London?  I remember in the immediate aftermath of the ride, discussing with friends that I had no desire to do it again. I remember saying that it was a brilliant ride that was spoiled by the time-limit which added constant pressure to keep pushing on, night and day. There were large sections of the ride where the natural beauty of the country couldn’t be appreciated because we were riding through it at night. And there was the physical pain obviously in various parts of the body.  Even then, I had a notion in the back of my mind that I could change my mind. A year later, only the romantic memories have stuck: I know the ride had ups and downs but I am 100% certain I will do the ride again, if possible.

Here is an overview of the route, from my live tracker:
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Stats:
1,441 km
11,128 metres of climbing
73.5 hours of cycling
114 hours elapsed time

Posted by bigblue on 31/07/2018 at 03:49 PM
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