Scotland in the Snow
It was with a mixture of sadness and excitement that I packed my Hustler into it’s travelling bag this month and boarded a plane for Scotland. Obviously I’m excited to see my friends and family, many of whom I haven’t seen for a year, however, the Basque Country has come to be a place I don’t care much to leave.
As I boarded the plane in Biarritz, (comfortably warm in only a t-shirt), the sun was setting and throwing up a beautiful backdrop to Larrun, Mantale, Aikao Harriak and even Ernio in the distance. I subconsciously stopped at the top of the boarding ladders and set off a chain reaction of people bumping into the person in front of them!
Arriving in Scotland there was a dense, freezing, fog, that was destined not to lift for a couple of days, and so it would be a full 48 hours before I saw home. Finally, on Sunday the fog lifted, revealing a spectacular landscape that was frozen white, inlaid with sparkling jewels and coloured by the low winter sun.
Time to ride my bike.
I was out almost every day, rediscovering local trails that I hadn’t ridden for over a year. The trails were sometimes frozen solid and as fast as a racecourse, at other times muddy, and treacherous, before becoming snowy and fun and, finally, ending up as icy and unrideable. Lots of friends have joined me over the past few weeks and it’s been great to ride with them all.
Over Christmas we have had to forgo our traditional Christmas
day family trip round Golspie and even the Fyrish club’s boxing day bash was cancelled. Tomorrow I was hoping to meet some people from Singletrackworld for a blast but the bike will languish, unuseable, in the garage. The snow is beautiful and it’s great to see it but I have to admit I’m praying for a thaw so I can get on with the important business of rediscovering old trails and riding with friends.
Some of these pictures were taken by me, some by Mark Forrest and some by Big Stu. Check out their flickr sites for more excellent pictures!
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