Daily Archives: June 10, 2018

No grey mornings here – loads of sunshine met our bleary eyes and it took a little effort to get moving after the “counseling” session the night before.  But move we did – to Largs to catch the ferry to the Isle of Cumbrae where we were to spend the day cycling around the island.  It sounds more ambitious than it is: the circumference of the island is just over 10 miles.  After renting our bicycles in Millport, we ventured around the island anti-clockwise (counter-clockwise for the Americans 🙂 ) enjoying the incredibly blue skies and mild temperatures.

With one circuit completed, we made a short stop at the smallest cathedral in Britain: the Cathedral of the Isles, one of two cathedrals in the Scottish Episcopal Church Diocese of Argyll & The Isles.  It is a lovely wee church dating back to the early 19th century and we admired the stained glass and worship space before heading back out into the screaming sunshine to find some lunch.  We got a table outside one of the cafes across from the beach and enjoyed a lovely lunch before hopping back on the bikes to tackle the clockwise trek.  We took a “short cut” that cut down the length of the ride by about a mile but included climbing straight up hill before a long straight back down into town.  Since only one of the four of us is an avid cyclist, it made for a challenging end to the day.  Nevertheless, we made it and finished up the day with well deserved ice cream (two scoops for me: tablet and Fry’s peppermint cream!) Then we headed home for another lovely BBQ (tuna this time) and more conversations about solving the worlds problems.  Tonight’s topics included welfare dependency, childhood obesity, and personal responsibility.

Data for today:

Steps: 10,615 (5 miles)
Miles cycled: ~19.5
Sunscreen applications: 2
Bottles of wine consumed: ?

We awoke very early not to our alarm (which was set for 4am) but to a barrage of texts that came in just after 3 am letting us know that the Capitals had won the Stanley cup. Great news to start the day. And what a day it has been. Out of the flat by 5 am and on the road to the airport. While we’ve done this drill plenty of times in the past, t’s much easier to manage when it’s already daylight at that hour. Return the rental car by 6 am and then a short walk in the grey morning – but you knew that part – to the terminal to check in for our 7:35 flight to Glasgow. And the chaos ensued from there.

No business class upgrade for this short trip so we waited in line with the rest of humanity to check our bags. Then to the security line which was actually pretty well run. I can’t say that for the rest of the airport operations. Reykjavic airport is not ready for the volume of passenger traffic that now flies through it. There are no gate waiting areas – but lots of duty free shops – and not every gate has a jet bridge. We managed to get to the general vicinity of our gate just before 7 am to see a mass of people milling around in a sort of queue but not a queue. There were 4 gates with flights leaving within 30 minutes of each other but the gates weren’t all open and a mass of humanity was milling around trying to figure out how to queue for the right gate. Right as we thought we had time to nip into the shop to get some Skyr, they opened gate D33 and the crush was on so the yogurt plan was abandoned and we proceeded to inch forward for the next 40 minute or so. Apparently, our gate was one without a jetbridge so they were bussing us out to the plane on the tarmac, one busload at a time. So 40 people would go and get dropped off and the bus would come back for the next load. Chaos! We then got to sit on the tarmac for a while and ended up leaving nearly an hour late with no indication of why or apology.

A short 2 hour flight to GLA (where they were out of any snack I could eat) and we landed to bright sunshine. We picked up the rental car – a ginormous Peugot hatchback – and headed to town to find some food. Cafe Wander suited the bill and I got a jacket potato with chicken mayonnaise and bacon and Frank had the ubiquitous lentil soup and a ham and cheese panini. Then a little wander up and down Buchanan Street peeking in the shops (and caging their wifi) and it was time to head to the coast.

The sun was with us the whole trip and when we got to Troon, it was time for shorts and t-shirts. We sat out in the back garden enjoying the sun and discussing all manner to topics over beer, wine, prawns, and an amazing grilled tenderloin. We continued with the drinks and discussion until the wee hours.

Data for today:
Steps: 12,830 (which should be 6 miles but is really probably due mostly to shuffing in place in the airport)
Minutes between landing and drinking my first IrnBru: 15
Number of cool features on the Peugot that we exclaimed over: 5