Sunday 2 April 2017

Sun's out, legs out!

Yes folks, the day has arrived - my first ride of the year in shorts! Here's the proof in case you need it (you really don't, but this is the closest I'm likely to get to a selfie....)
You might need to turn down the contrast on that one 😎
Other commitments meant I missed the DPC NC500 club ride today, and I'm conscious I haven't done a hilly ride yet this year so I decided to take myself off to the Corn Kist cafe at Milton Haugh for lunch.  It's a great cafe, and comes after you've passed the 'summit' of the ride so you feel you've earned your lunch, which in this case was the house special, Stornoway and onion marmalade toastie. I've had it before and I'll no doubt have it again as it really is delicious - the only thing that would stop me ordering it would be if they have macaroni cheese on, but they didn't today.  The lemon and lime bitters is always welcome, and I've not seen it anywhere else so it's what I usually order.

From there it's only a few miles down to Arbroath. I have a bit of an obsession with millenium mileposts and I don't think I've ever taken a picture of this one next to the Signal Tower museum so thought I'd best add it to my collection.

 The play park by the leisure centre was really busy despite the wind, and the kiosk was doing a roaring trade in ice creams, but the beach itself was pretty quiet.
Not the worst view in the world! I had a stronger than expected head wind all the way home, so just dropped the gears and enjoyed the view and the wildlife.  Sadly I'm no wildlife photographer, plus I didn't really want to stop once I'd got going, so you'll have to take my word for it but today's bird spots include a lapwing between Monikie and Crombie, several curlews between East and Westhaven and I'm guessing this is a kestrel that was hunting by the track out of Arbroath. It's a terrible picture but the best I could manage!










Not much to report on the beer front this week, other than a bit of a cautionary tale about returning to a beer you liked a long time ago.  I first had a ruby Leffe in Lille in 2010 and was disappointed not to be able to buy it in the UK.  Fastforward to Friday and I'm delighted to see Asda now stock it so treat myself to a 750ml bottle. I say treat myself, I've had a lot of fruit beers since then and I'm going to say every single one was nicer than this. Imagine a combination of cherry cola and strawberry laces and you're about there - which isn't to say that's not actually quite a nice combination if that's your bag, but not really what I'm looking for in a beer! Ah well, you live and learn.

Now for something slightly different - not a review, but a podcast recommendation. Anyone who knows me is pretty well aware of my obsession with the band Lux Lisbon (yup, I'm listening to them as I type).  Tom from the band, as well as being a talented multi instrumentalist and producer, is a song writer, and this year has set himself a challenge to write and record a song a week. If that sounds crazy, it probably is, but I've been enjoying listening to the podcasts and hearing the new songs here.  If you've ever had even a passing interest in the song writing/recording process it's well worth a listen.  It's also given me a bit of a push to crack on with this blog so no excuses in future!

No comments:

Post a Comment