I reeelly, reeelly AM going to blog soon. Just give me a couple of days!!

Communifeckation and Counselling.

The Genetic Counselling Dept of Raigmore Hospital in Inverness is very laid back. Which is just as well, as Spook was 15 mins late for his consultation despite the letter warning him how busy they were.

We were delighted to discover that we both had appointments at Raigmore at exactly the same time and would be able to travel together, have lunch, and make it all very pleasant. Mine wasn't an appointment, but a communication course.

As we fell out just at the stressful point of leaving on time (not quite), communication consisted mostly of sweary words. This continued for some time as slow cars and vans got in Spooks way and corners seemed to be taken at high speed. The day before, we had been chatting with a young Englishman who had really enjoyed his journey from Inverness to Fort William recently, about how we tended to overlook the beauty of this stretch of the A82. Bad driving could make it a tense experience. Spook assures me that there was no bad driving taking place with the wheel in his hands, but I did spend a lot of time clutching the grab handle, his thigh and not quite the steering wheel, but nearly. We were blocked by a closed canal as we approached Inverness so we took an alternative route. We were blocked by the canal at another point. We were blocked by the railway crossing (never ever been blocked there before) and every red light going. We were both late and not liking it. At the last minute I thought Spook should take a junction we had just passed in order to get to his place of appointment and once he went round the roundabout, I realised he had to get rid of me first and so he had to go round the roundabout again. We weren't on two wheels, but if he'd still had his 2CV, we would have been. He was still yelling "where the hell am I supposed to be?" when I shot out the car and through the maze of corridors to find my venue. They were still at the introduction stage, so I was alright.

The genetic counselling was on account of himself having Haemochromatosis. My understanding of this was that he could no longer drink any more than one glass of red wine at a time. (he makes too much iron in his blood.)(and he drinks too much.) I had taken to telling his friends that they were killing our beloved Spook if they encouraged him to drink. I was very pleased about all this. As it is an inherited condition, he was to attend this appointment. He was overjoyed to discover that the counsellor said I had to be tested too, so both being at the hospital turned out to be very handy and I got invited in for a test and some counselling.

Spook got the all clear in continuing to drink as he likes to, despite me giving the guy the wink. It was obvious that they had done some male bonding. When we went to the supermarket, I lost him to a phonecall from work, so did the shopping myself. I found him in the wine lane, still on the phone but frantically gesticulating to a picture of Wanaka's Rippon Vineyard on one side, and a bottle of Benromach whisky on the other. He looked as though he was reborn. We settled for some Kiwi wine, though the Wanaka stuff wasn't available.

By the end of the day we'd had a great time. He was off the hook, and my communication skills had improved.

Photo's are one I managed to take on the way to Inverness when both hands were free, Spook and Frazer securing the Saddlespan tent, washing the Saddlespan, the clean saddlespan ready for 10undertheben, the wee caravan that No Fuss looked after for the Six Day Trials, the stagger that Spook and I went on, up the croft with the 2 dogs after consuming the Kiwi wine.

Go to www.nofussevents.co.uk and click on the dvd of 2010 10undertheben for Stu's latest creation.

I recommend taking a look at www.ukworldtrial.com and clicking on the 'I love trials' video at the bottom right. No Fuss are putting in the infrastructure for this event. Stu, who films all the No Fuss events filmed this great fun video. Meg did a great sales pitch to Stu at the weekend, trying to sell a 2nd hand mountain bike to him so he could gift it to his bride in a couple of weeks (she was on commission.) He didn't bite, but tried to catch her pitch on film. Not a hope.

Phew!

The warm sunny day never happened, but a lot of people had a great day out. I have no idea why you would ever consider 10hrs of a tough 10mile lap, with a lot of mud, slidy roots and rocks a good day out, but once those endorphins kick in.................I marshalled for the whole event and got sooked into the phenomal efforts people made, from novice to pro. I was happiest cheering folk on, never once wishing I was on the bike. Great ambience, and proud to have had a wee part in it.
The endurance for No Fuss was for it to not be all over the next day. They had an off road half marathon to organise today with about 90 people taking part. Early indicators are that it was a big success and likely to be worth repeating next year. A googly-eyed Spook is heading for bed. The Kiwi couple who made a huge effort to take up the prize they won to come over and do this event, have their own marathon ahead, in getting back home - Ash willing. They were a lovely couple and very worthy winners.

Sssharing The Secret with Spook.

Tonight was the opening of registration for 10undertheben at Nevis Range. This included free passage on the gondola and a pasta meal at the top. There was also an opportunity to peruse a choice of 3 Benromach whiskys. A peaty one, a 10 year old and an organic smoky one. The Benromach men are very charming and relaxed - the perfect complement to our own charming and relaxed Frazer and Spook! This is their 3rd year of sponsorship of the 10 events. After talking folks through their drams at registration the first year, they got tempted to take part in the event itself and this will be their 2nd year of competing, so No Fuss and Benromach are blending well. Faced with 2 nights of sleeping in the open, protecting all the gear, Spook took full advantage by tasting all 3 whisky's and had a warm glow when we left him and came home to our cosy beds. I am hoping those clouds around the sun were clearing, rather than gathering.....

There are a lot of people hoping for a warm, sunny day tomorrow.

Contrary May.

I've just been on a wee tour - over The Lecht to Deeside, over Cairn O'Mount to the Angus Glens a few times and up The Drumochter Pass to home. I stayed with the Guru and crossed the hills to visit Mum who is on holiday in The Glens. It was a typical May with sunshine and the lambing snows. I couldn't see where I was going in the blizzard on the Cairn O'Mount, and I refused to join Mel as she made a snow angel and tried to encourage me to live for the moment as I chittered in the brisk, chill wind. The daffodils at Fettercairn were amazing. I thought they only grew flowers like that in Holland. It was great to get a view of the North Sea, and the fertile lands that the Scottish Lords presumably claimed a long time ago. I thought it was poignant to take a photo of this graffiti, as it was announced on the radio at 7pm tonight that we have Tories at 10 Downing Street now. With only one Tory MP voted into Scotland last Thursday, it gave this a little more resonance. I know I shouldn't gave space to vandalism, but.................

Nearing the top of the Ben - few years ago.

Benlicious.

Spook got up at 4am and took the first photo of today's blog. He declared it a great place to live and got back up at 6am to go for a cycle. It can be quite tiring living with that kind of attitude.

I left Meg at work, Spook manning his town centre spot for the motorbike people, Finn and his mates at the Downhill Mountain Bike event at Nevis Range, and I headed off up for a wee half Ben. Saturday is a very busy day on the hill and there were guided groups going up in their masses. This made it extra sociable for me as their guides were Ben Race Stalwarts. These 2 expert dudes in the dark glasses will have done about 40 Ben races between them, most under 2hrs. I got hugs at the half way point before heading down the grassy bank (pictured). They took the long way and were there ahead of me. One of their group looked up and saw me on the bank and said "look at that crazy bloke running down the grass!" Then I was rewarded with whoops of encouragement from the whole group, followed by a critical appraisal of my running style from the men in black. As they are at the front of the race and I am at the back, they have not had the pleasure of seeing how it works back there.............and it's not pretty.

There were more hugs when I met up with the lovely Emmy who was guiding in the company of young Ruairidh. Ruairidh's father was kindly waiting at the bottom with a pint of water and a whisky and I stayed there for hours in the sunshine, getting the 'craic'. Spook was probably right about it being a great place to stay.

Finn has played rugby 4 times this week, and Meg and him were in the park last night, playing rounders with loads of kids. Finn has been at the park most nights. It was a great winter, but you cant beat the long daylight hours for getting a bit of extra vitality.

The Hills are Alive with the Smell of 2 Stroke.

It's been a lovely Bank Holiday. The High Street was buzzing with motorbikes and all their supporters.

Spook was away on a Whisky Trail in Moray-shire, taking part in a flag carrying cavalcade from Forres via the Dava Pass to Grantown on Spey. It was quite a posh affair with horse-riders in fine attire starting the task at a distillery (photo lost in transition) before handing over to the cyclists who took it through some pretty wet trails to finally arrive at Grantown 25 miles later to the sight of a huge pipe band and the towns main street lined with thousands of people. They reckon the whisky festival brought 18,000 people to the area from all over the world. Spook was given this assignment, as one of the No Fuss sponsors is Benromach Whisky who run the smallest working distillery in the country (world?) with 3 members of staff. Great whisky and much of the golden nectar available at the end of the ride, but our intrepid sweetheart had to take a bus back to Forres before driving home again. Life in Events management is varied indeed.

Meanwhile, back in The Fort, No Fuss looked after the SSDT stand (Scottish Six Day Trials) and Meg and Alice handed out free bottles of water for the World Trials people who are staging the Championships at Nevis Range on the 24th 25th 26th of June. The organisor of that event had aske Spook and Frazer if they could find a couple of sexy ladies to hand out the water, but Spook said they didn't know any!!!!!!!!! It is hard to forgive this bold statement of fact, but the wholesome teenager approach was a good one.

Singletrack magazing should be available now on the shelves of WH Smith. There is an 8 page article on No Fuss from the 3 days spent with them recently. Worth a look, I believe.

Tai WHAT??

It's been a mostly damp week, with wee sunny spells, and some cold spells. The festival at the canal was cold AND damp, which was a shame after all the hard work that went into it. The wheel chair dancers (The Jacobite Warriors) were magnificent. The warrior at the front is 90 years old and put long hours into rehearsals, in often cold and draughty places with street dancers strutting their stuff around him and getting to grips with some ballet manoeuvers. Finn was bemused by the Tai Chi group who barely moved (he said). The subtulties were lost on him.

With the weather being so unpredictable, and not enough playmates around, Finn exhausted the cat with his xbox demands.

Spook had a trip to Manchester via Edinburgh, getting up at 2.30am, driving to Edinburgh to meet Frazer who's family circumstances had taken him there, and taking the train for the 3hr journey South. Then returning the same day. He took it all in his stride, though was shocked at the sheer numbers of people in the city of Manchester. Edinburgh did not seem so congested, though the tram work is causing much chaos.

He had a great day on Monday, taking part in a promotional DVD for Orange mountain bikes in connection with No Fuss's Tour of Ben Nevis event.

Today he and Frazer are setting up a stall which they will man all week in town for the Six Day Trial folk. It was lovely that Friday dried and warmed up, so that there was a good feel in town for the people who pour in for this event and for the May weekend. Pity about the local idiots who miscalled visitors from their standpoint outside the pub, and pity about the cold, damp day that has arrived today.

Meg baked a beautiful cake at school, and Finn got a very positive report card which demonstrates how well he has fitted back into school life here. At this point, Meg has only produced the cake and not the report card - but she has gone to work at the bike shop and I assume she has simply forgotten about the card!!!!!

We hear that the South Island has just had 6 days of heavy rain and that Wanaka and Queenstown are on flood alert.