Lochs and Glens

The Doubleus have just returned from a trip to the past. During our cycle trip in South West Scotland with Pete and Jen we lived in wooden shelters and spent some time in the 1970s.




Read the full trip report on Doubleu Wheels.


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McAustralia

The Doubleus have fled the European winter looking for warmer weather and brighter times. Australia always seems quite american to us: it might be the wide open spaces and blue skies, or that it's full of large, loud people. There are some differences though: you're not encouraged to shoot the wildlife and the loud locals are usually harmless. Even Ronald feels he has to try and fit in with the local "culture."





We've done the usual: Rocks, Opera House, Botanicals, Darling Harbour, Chinatown. We took the obligatory ferry out to Manly, to visit the beach and see the sights from the harbour. I even persuaded Mrs Doubleu to hire a bike over in Manly.





The route out to the north head of the harbour entrance was hillier than we thought and the midday sun warmer than we expected. Were we missing the snow in the French Alps? Not too much.

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Late Christmas

The Doubleus have just spent the weekend in London visiting Maria, John and Fin, who is now walking. Jeff was his usual superstar-self on the East-coast mainline, and "enjoyed" celebrity status once more on the tube (Japanese tourist pushes Canon in face), but was a bit disturbed to find Fin pushing a pretend dog around. Not one to hold a grudge, JD quickly set about winning Fin's affections and was rewarded by Fin feeding him Mrs Ball's chutney flavoured crisps within 24 hours.

We enjoyed a late Christmas pressie session around Maria and John's living Christmas tree that was still up! Fin was very excited by his life-size Gruffalo, but not entirely sure about the disturbingly life-like baboon that Tony and Chris had brought over from Cape Town. We were joined on Saturday by Pete the Vet, who promptly pronounced, "That thing is gonna give Fin nightmares when he gets a bit older." I think he may be right, it's already given me nightmares: I spent a disturbed night on a camp mattress and woke to find myself under it's beady stare on a few occasions.

After the rigours of chasing down a bag thief on Friday at Heathrow, Claire wasn't looking forward to the yomp back across town to Kings Cross. Particularly since I had my picked up "the latest addition to the stable": a giant singlespeed I'd bought from Rob on eBay. However it was all gravy and we made our train with time to spare. Just hoping that the guard still has my bike when we pull into Newcastle.




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Crannog in Midwinter

The Doubleus are going to be joined for Christmas this year by the Irving clan. Meyrick had a rather uneventful trip up from London despite the weather. On the other hand, the overnight flight that Tony and Chris took from Cape Town via Istanbul was one of the last to land at Heathrow before the snow and ice really took hold. Reward for this was a 2 hour wait on the runway followed by a 2 hour wait on the tube followed by a 4 hour train trip to Newcastle.

Feeling that they hadn't done enough travelling, after a few days this "hardened northern posse" decided to brave the snow, ice and feezing fog and venture up to the cottage at Gatehouse.

Temperatures of minus 12'c greeted us on arrival. But a crystal clear night sky with a full moon gave way to a very crisp still day with a perfect blue sky. So after a warming breakfast of porridge (what else in a Scottish winter?), we set off for our walk with Jeff in Laurieston Woods.

Jeff was a little perturbed to find one of his all-time favourite drinking streams frozen solid. Not one to let his spirits be dampened, he quickly got stuck in to a bit of ice skating! It looked such fun that by the end of the walk we'd all had a go!

The Weddoes play Bizarro

I recently drove through a blizzard to see the Wedding Present play the hometown gig on their Bizarro Tour. I say "hometown," but David Gedge now spends most if his time in Southern California than Leeds (you can hire his Santa Monica pad whilst they're on tour). And I say "The Wedding Present," but obviously DG is the only member from the original line-up.




After dealing with ice and snow on the way to Leeds city centre, Mark and I met up with Simon and warmed ourselves on Thai food and Tiger beer, before we were treated to a storming gig.

TWP warmed us up with "Heather" from the "Seamonsters" LP and "Something and Nothing" off their first EP "from more than 20 years ago," Gedge said, "and I know what you're thinking: how do I still look so good?" I think the Grecian 2000 may have something to do with it, David.

They then launched into the complete "Bizarro" LP which was still stunning all these years later. Sadly we weren't treated to the B-sides from the singles (The Weddoes cover of "Box Elder" was the first Pavement song I ever heard), but we were treated to a few extras before the obligatory statement: "This is our last song. We are The Wedding Present and we don't do encores."

I can't wait for the "George Best vs The Seamonsters Tour" that must surely be in the offing.

An excellent night couldn't get much better could it? Well, yes. The purchase of an "All the songs still sound the same" T-shirt was followed by it being autographed by DG; no wait for a taxi in -5'c; Sierra Nevada Pale Ale waiting in the fridge; and a satisfyingly swift victory for England in the Adelaide Test.

Powder Hound

We were woken at 5am by a whining Jeff Dog. His mountaindog genes were kicking in: he'd seen the snow and was desperate to be out.




After fortifying myself with porridge and strong black coffee, I was ready to hit the slopes (and by that I mean the hill at the bottom of Salisbury Gardens). It turned out I needed 2 dog handlers for the shenanigans I was planning, so Mrs Doubleu and the lodger both had to suit up in appropriate arctic gear.

After "giving" me on my snowboard a 50m head start, Jeff was released to chase me down. He quickly caught me as I speeded down the hill, and savaged my mittened hands before pushing me to the snow and leaping all over me. Repeat several times with no ski lift to get to the top: it was hard work and Jeff wasn't making it any easier with his newly acquired attack-dog skills... but I would have my revenge.




It wasn't deliberate but I ran him over! I felt dreadful when I realised I'd cut his paw open. Thankfully he didn't seem to have notice and even though he would eventually need staples, he was still galloping around, chasing snowmen, with a grin on his face.

Adirondack Wanderings

Now that The Doubleus have decided they are not emigrating to Canada AND have seen Niagara, there was just one item left on their Canadian "bucket list": canoeing in the Algonquins.

Well, after the stress of selling the Highlander and the anxiety of waiting for the "check" to clear after we'd driven all the way to Pennsylvania to deposit it, we weren't going to drive back 4 hours north of Toronto.

Instead, we headed to upstate New York, to the wilds of The Adirondacks. Same canoeing, different lakes, difficulty with the pronunciation and perhaps less chance of being eaten by a bear. We set out from Floodwood Pond after a 5 minute talk from St Regis Canoe Outfitters: what could possibly go wrong?


A very mellow day followed with paddling across ponds, lakes and down creeks. We watched ducks swimming and a heron fishing. Even the 1/3 mile portage, where I had to wear a 2 man canoe as a hat, wasn't too bad.

All was going well and we arrived back at base on schedule (ie before dark). My arms were aching after a full day's paddling - but guess what: Mrs Doubleu's weren't! She's either super-fit or (and I suspect this is the most likely explanation) she was only pretending to paddle. Just one more lift up the bankside when: crack! I think I popped that rib again!