Monday Motivation

August 18, 2014 by TartanJogger ♥ 5 Comments

Well, where did that weekend go? It whooshed right past me!

We had a fantastic run at the Tarbert 10K. The weather wasn’t great, but it was such a fun race with the BEST support of any race I’ve taken part in.

I’m afraid that I’ve been really busy lately, and I’ve yet to fill you in on both the Kilt Run and the TT10K, but I’ll get to those whenever I can: bear with me!

You might remember me ~~complaining about~~ mentioning my ankle being tender during this summer, which had curtailed my training this year. Well, it has taken it’s toll, and my ankle is yelping at me after Saturday’s run. I know now that I’ve definitely done the right thing postponing the GNR and my first marathon attempt.

This quote really got me through Saturday’s run: I was really relaxed, and quite content to sit near the back of the field:

I have another busy week ahead – I’m sure you do too – enjoy!

A Break from the Games, Back to the Village

July 31, 2014 by TartanJogger ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

I thought you might appreciate a little break from my posts about the Commonwealth Games. While I’m watching the gymnastics, including another gold for Team Scotland, I thought I’d share a local Tarbert festival, which I missed this year.

While @TheWelshWookie and I were sunning ourselves in Tenerife, my family were at our house, enjoying Tarbert Seafood Festival! I enjoyed last year’s festival so much that I split my review into two posts, which you can read here and also here.

They had fabulous weather, and they told me that there were even more stalls than there were last year. They enjoyed sampling the seafood delights:

Enjoyed a little beer:

and basked in glorious sunshine.

Stacey was a winner this year: she won a fishcake! No, not a fishcake, but a Fish Cake! Nom nom nom.

And on the Sunday, they enjoyed the music at Beer on the Pier. They took the boys over to the outdoor gym, and were able to enjoy the music from the other side of the harbour. Smart thinking, guys!

There is no way we’ll be missing the festival in 2015 😀

The Vikings Were Here!

July 22, 2014 by TartanJogger ♥ 11 Comments

The week before we went to Tenerife was a very special one in Tarbert.
For months, villagers had been working on building a proper Viking longoat. It was made by hand, using traditional techniques. And, it was ready to celebrate the inaugural Tarbert Viking Festival, and the traditional boat festival.
So, during the week leading up to the festival, the village was overrun with Vikings, who sailed the boat to ‘raid’ local villages. It seemed like lots of fun!

We missed the main event on the Saturday, which was a reenactment of Magnus Barefoot’s historic claiming of Kintyre as part of his kingdom. In 1093, Magnus and his Viking hoard laid claim to all of Scotland’s islands. An island was described as any body of land that his boat could circumnavigate. When he arrived in Tarbert, he and his men carried the longboat from the East Loch to the harbour, thereby circumnavigating Kintyre. Hence, Kintyre is known as the Mainland Island 🙂
On the Friday, the Vikings made a victorious return to Tarbert from their marauding and we celebrated with a big barbeque, music and a ceilidh.
The weather was great, and it was lovely to see the village busy.

The music was provided by villagers, and was brilliant. There were folk groups:

And choirs:

A barber shop group:

And even this guy did a few songs…… do you recognise him?

We had a famous attendee: Rory McCann, who plays The Hound, Sandor Clegane in Game of Thrones. To be honest, he didn’t seem very pleased to have been spotted. I asked if he’d allow me to have a photo taken with him, and he said ‘no’, and walked off 😦 Good casting, maybe?
Anyway, we had a lovely evening, and it set us up very well for our holiday!

Have you ever been refused a photo or autograph before?

SCHOOL’S OUT FOR SUMMER!

June 27, 2014June 27, 2014 by TartanJogger ♥ 11 Comments

Sorry, I felt the need to shout that out!

This evening, @thewelshwookie and I are going to enjoy some music in the village, as its the Viking Festival this weekend. It’s also the traditional boat festival, and for those coming along, it will be a great weekend.

We’ll miss the rest of the weekend fun in Tarbert as tomorrow we’re off to see my brother Joe bungee off the Titan crane! Eek!

And then, on Sunday, we’re off to our other favourite place on the planet, Tenerife.

Can’t wait to see this beautiful island again!

I’ll be posting from time to time over the next couple of weeks, when WiFi and time allows.
Do you have any plans for the next fortnight?

Celebrating World Gin Day!

June 17, 2014 by TartanJogger ♥ 19 Comments

I mentioned yesterday that @TheWelshWookie and I had been to one of our very favourite places on Saturday: Portavadie Marina.

We were looking for any excuse, really, to take a trip on the new hybrid ferry, MV Lochinvar 😉 What better excuse than to go for lunch – and celebrate World Gin Day – at Portavadie!

The weather was absolutely beautiful: it was gloriously sunny as we strolled down to the ferry terminal. We popped into a few shops on the way, buying bottle of white grape & elderflower presse for adding to gin later on in the evening.

The first thing we noticed about the new ferry was how quiet she was! The engine, being a hybrid, merely purred, making for such a pleasant journey. The interior lounge has much more seating than before, and there are two observation areas with seating on the upper decks. Impressive!

We arrived at Portavadie, and walked around to the marina. We saw that construction is now under way on the leisure complex: I can’t wait until the pool and its facilities are built!

As we entered the restaurant, we were greeted by Chris, who’s service is always fantastic. We took a seat on the sofas while we perused the lunch menu, and ordered a Botanist gin each. Oh, my. It’s definitely my absolute favourite gin of the moment: it’s from Islay, which is much more famous for its whisky. We had a chat with Ian, the General Manager, and it was so great to hear of the future plans for Portavadie: it’s exciting times ahead!

When we were ready we were seated for lunch. Most of the other guests had opted to sit outside, but I much prefer to eat indoors (I’m weird, I know). I had the smoked haddock with mustard potato salad and pancetta crisp; @TheWelshWookie had Tarbert scallops with black pudding and roasted potatoes. Both were -ma-zing!

Of course, we also had dessert. I had a white chocolate mousse with mini toffee apples and raspberry sorbet; @TheWookie had pineapple crumble with coconut ice cream. Yum.

After taking a stroll around the marina, having a look in the shop (of course), we had another G&T before heading home on the ferry.

We had a fabulous day, as ever!

Did you celebrate World Gin Day on Saturday? Do you prefer to eat indoors or outdoors?

Marathon Training Tuesday

May 27, 2014 by TartanJogger ♥ 16 Comments

I ran today! Woo hoo!

Today’s Hal Higdon marathon training called for 3 miles. It was great to get out there. I sported my Great Run t-shirt for the first time 🙂

As we headed to the harbour, it was sunny and a little warm, but by the time we got to the end of the first mile it was chucking down! But, it actually felt really good to run in the rain.

When I uploaded my Nike+ SportWatch data, I saw that the Nike+ running site has had a facelift, and I like it! 😀

I was really pleased with the pace tonight.

I also received an email today from the organisers of the GB Relay. It contained a link to the contact details of participants, so I’ve emailed the people on either side of our stage, so that we can arrange the baton handover. Hopefully it will all go very smoothly!

Did you run in sunshine or rain today?

The Garden

May 20, 2014May 20, 2014 by TartanJogger ♥ 20 Comments

While I was out running, in the rain, on Sunday, I was admiring the fields full of bluebells and the primula that were blooming by the side of the road.
@TheWelshWookie and I had decided to run the Glen road in reverse: and it turned out to be tougher than expected! So it was good to be distracted by the beautiful plants and the lambs gambolling in the fields.
When we got back, I realised that our own garden is getting to that point in Spring where the colours are beginning to pop and burst out all over. The fushia, clematis and roses aren’t yet out- they’ll give some late summer and autumn colour. But the peonies and azalea are showing off their style!
Wanna see?

How’s your garden looking at the moment?

A New Arrival

May 13, 2014 by TartanJogger ♥ 19 Comments

On Saturday, @TheWelshWookie and I went for a little run around Tarbert Harbour. It was a damp day, with blustery showers, but we were lucky and managed to time our run between them: more by luck than design, I hasten to add 😉

And, the village has had a new arrival: our brand new ferry is here, and almost ready for action!

Our current ferry, MV Isle of Cumbrae, is a lovely little lady. But she’s a bit tired and ever so slightly old fashioned. But we’ll miss her.

Her replacement is a hybrid ferry, both diesel and electric, and she is much bigger than her predecessor.

She’s MV Lochinvar, and can carry 150 passengers and 23 vehicles. She’s brand, spanking new, and only the second of her hybrid-kind in the CalMac fleet.

I can’t wait until our next visit to Portavadie, so we can see what she’s like inside and on the water 🙂

When was the last time you were on a ferry? Where did you go?

Sunshine Shake Out

April 24, 2014 by TartanJogger ♥ 21 Comments

It’s a gloriously sunny day in Tarbert, and @TheWelshWookie and I have just got back from our last shake out run before Sunday’s RnR Half Marathon. It felt great!

It was also warm, which I think was perfect preparation for Sunday. The forecast is for sunny spells, and a high of 21 degrees/70f so the weather should be good.

We’re now completely packed, and ready to head to Edinburgh tomorrow: bring the adventure on! 🙂

I’ll try to blog at some point next week, but please check out my instagram account or my twitter feed for more regular updates while I’m away.

Adios, amigos!

Race to the Altar Recap :)

April 14, 2014 by TartanJogger ♥ 45 Comments

Hello everyone! @TheWelshWookie and I competed our Race to the Altar on Friday, and have had a wonderful weekend with our families. This weekend involved plenty of fun, wonderful company, fantastic food and drink: it was everything I hoped for, and more!

Cheers!

As you know, our Wedding Day had the theme ‘Race to the Altar’, and we had lots of running touches throughout the day. We had:

A huge banner outside the venue, marking the Start Line to the race that is the rest of our lives together:

Each table was named after some of our favourite races, along with one of my ‘Wednesday Wisdom’ quotes!

Our cake topper were runners:

We had podium candles:

And a balloon arch over the cake table 🙂

We also had Nike IDs made especially for the day. We’ll be running in these in Madrid!

Our favours were personalised medals. The guests loved them!

We had a wonderful day, with a gorgeous Nuptial Mass in St. Margaret’s Church, Lochgilphead. I was delighted to see that the church was full!

Our dinner and dancing was in the village hall in Tarbert, and the band we had, The Democrats were fantastic! @TheWelshWookie and his brother got up on stage and did their rendition of The Beatle’s ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ which was fab!

We also had some ceilidh dancing thrown in, which was such a lot of fun.

At the end of the night, we finished the dancing with some Scottish classics: ‘Caledonia’, ‘500 Miles’, ‘Auld Lang Syne’ and Runrig’s live version of ‘Loch Lomond.’ Brilliant!

As the guests were leaving, and only those staying locally were left, we had some races up and down the hall! A perfect end to a great day! 🙂

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TartanJogger

Adventures in living well, quotes and very slow running

Tag: Tarbert

Monday Motivation

A Break from the Games, Back to the Village

The Vikings Were Here!

SCHOOL’S OUT FOR SUMMER!

Celebrating World Gin Day!

Marathon Training Tuesday

The Garden

A New Arrival

Sunshine Shake Out

Race to the Altar Recap :)

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