Monday bike style: the school run

A photo dredged up from last year – the girls ride to school along the river

Give me space

Cycle campaign – seeing this image a lot on buses and signs – hopefully car and white van drivers can read.

nice walk up a hill

very short up Macbeths hill in Perthshire ….

Dunsinane Hill (/dʌnˈsɪnən/) is near the village of Collace in Perthshire, Scotland. It is mentioned in Shakespeare‘s play Macbeth.

It has the remains of two early forts. This is believed to be the site of a battle where Malcolm Canmore defeated Macbeth in 1054. In reality this was only a limited defeat for Macbeth, who was not fully defeated and killed by Malcolm Canmore until 1057, at Lumphannan near Aberdeen.

The pronunciation called for in Shakespeare’s play has the accent on the first or third syllable, with a long ‘a’. However the correct pronunciation has the accent on the second syllable, with a short ‘a’. The correct spelling of the name is Dunsinnan, Gaelicdùn, ‘fort, hill-fort’, + ‘Sinnan’, perhaps a personal name.

The best access to Dunsinane Hill is from the rear of the Perthshire village of Collace on the Northern side of Dunsinane Hill, between the village and the quarry. There is a small parking area there suitable for 4 or 5 cars from which a clearly defined path leads directly to the summit.

The impressive ramparts are still very obvious, though the interior was much disturbed in the 19th century by antiquarians attracted to the site by its Shakespearean connection. Unfortunately, little of value was learned about the history of the monument from these unscientific excavations.

The girls loved the walk although not as much as the bits of snow …. and the ability to run away from Jolene and Granny and hide in the gorse and heather …..

The transport for nursery trips

Sometimes the simple things are so good – dropped the you gets (elfin iPad) youngest off at nursery this morning. She only goes 2 days a week but it is good that she know fits the tag-a-long as she is getting more chance to pedal on the 6km trip there, in preparation for more solo rides.
There are hopefully enough lights, reflectors and Dayglo jackets to allow even the most myopic retarded car driver to spot us.

A SURLY big dummy geared up for kids – c…

A SURLY big dummy geared up for kids – check out the blog on the right for more info. Or click the Yuba tag on the right to see our set up – two kids and an electric motor …….