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making a molehill out of a dram

as mentioned below, the islay whisky festival (fèis ìle) began this weekend and continues until next sunday (31 may). i will be called upon to exhibit my meagre percussive abilities on one or two occasions during this week, so it's always possible that time will be of the essence, leading to a lack of daily updates. there will definitely not be any post tomorrow, and possibly not monday either. but i'll be around and about at sometime this week.

saturday 23 may 2026

are we trying too hard?

it's not unusual to read letters from folks on islay complaining about the state of the roads. i'd imagine it's a scenario played out all across the land. for reasons that have yet to be explained, britain's roads are crumbling in the face of either poor, or poorly funded, repairs, though not always for the same reasons. in the most recent missive to catch my eye, right at the start of this year's islay whisky festival, the author claimed to have walked a four kilometre stretch of the road between port charlotte and portnahaven and counted a total of over 200 potholes. it's a stretch of road that does, in fact, seem to have escaped the ministrations of the local council, as i cannot recall it ever having been included in the annual repairs notifications. as a result, it more closely resembles an abstract patchwork quilt than a main road.

i mention the whisky festival predominantly because it is largely responsible, both directly and indirectly, for much of the decimation of the island's roads, yet is subject to somewhat of a paradox when it comes to benefitting the infrastructure of the island that helps it lay the golden egg. the national treasury reputedly benefits to the tune of over £200 million per year from the duty applied solely to islay's single malts. but when it comes time to repatriate some of that money to keep the roads alive, we encounter an offshoot of the nationalism issue. for the government gathering the whisky shekels, is not the government responsible for funding road repairs.

if you take the number of articulated trucks required to service the distilleries by way of the supply of whisky's constituent parts, and the taking away of the finished product to be bottled or matured on the mainland, their number and weight does little to aid the tarmac. then you have to factor in that the majority of islay's distilleries have their production waste (pot ale) collected in 40ft road tankers, which ply the roads seven days a week (the scottish environmental protection agency - sepa - do not allow the disposable of waste into the sea, even though it is mainly organic in nature). then last, but not least, are the thousands of visitors who arrive on these shores every year, intent on enjoying as many distillery experiences as they can fit into a single visit.

add all this road traffic together, and you have the perfect recipe for decimation of roads already in a state of disrepair, and unlikely to see any remedy while the scottish government (the one which does not benefit from the duty applied to scotch whisky) continues to reputedly underfund the local councils.

i'm sure the more astute amongst you will appreciate that despite britain's roads being traversed by both motor vehicles and bicycles, it is the former that create the greater damage to their surfaces, yet the latter that often has to suffer the consequences. the only arrow we have in our armoury is a better ability to avoid the bulk of the destruction, if only on the single track examples. but anecdotes about the pitfalls of cycling on britain's roads are more usually employed to gain sympathy from those who could care less. the more productive of discussions ought surely to revolve around encouraging the non-believers to at least try cycling as an economic, pragmatic and environmentally sound means of transport?

or is it possible that the latter tactic is in danger of over-egging the pudding? i cannot be the only one who despairs of receiving phone calls from anonymous companies keen to offer me the lowest of prices for my electricity and gas (though the latter is a tad pointless as the hebrides have no mains gas supply). why are they so reluctant to learn that, were i wishing to avail myself of better prices, am i not big and ugly enough to research matters on my own? is the population of britain so helpless and ineffective that it is incapable of looking after its own energy costs? however, if you agree with that contention, are we, as confirmed velocipedinists, not frequently guilty of practising the same? if cycling is so great (and it undoubtedly is), is it not capable of its own public relations offensive?

a bike biz report from the recent taipei cycle show stated that, "the pandemic boom is over, inventories are still working down and the new normal looks leaner and slower than anyone had hoped." taking that at face value, there seems to be a notable separation between the much-vaunted joys of cycling, and the need for the bicycle industry to save itself from itself. at the risk of stating the glaringly obvious, the cycle industry wants to sell more bikes for financial gain, while, in principle, you and i want more bikes sold because we think it's great. the evidence would point to those two aims being somewhat different in intent.

so are we all trying too hard? has the industry become guilty of fostering incessant change in the hope of repeatedly attracting shop floor sales? and is our congenital habit of turning the conversation to cycling at each and every opportunity just a bit too much for the unconverted?

if you agree, the next big question, is "what, if anything, do we do about it?"

saturday 23 may 2026

living in hope

travel guides and whisky pr companies delight in referring to islay and jura as remote, an adjective entirely subjective in its appropriation, and largely dependent on your point of view. i dare say that, if you were hoping to depart the island on a friday morning, and, for whatever reason, the ferry was cancelled, then suddenly the island might well appear as more remote than you thought on the day of arrival. but having had need of visiting scotland almost two weeks ago, the fact that the ferry left at the appointed hour in the morning and returned from kennacraig as timetabled in the evening, at no time was i particularly aware of the reputed remoteness of my abode.

you might even be considerably less inclined to describe islay by its distance from the scottish mainland, were you to arrive and depart by aeroplane, from and to glasgow airport. barely has the aircraft levelled out above the clouds, than the steward or stewardess announces a need to ready oneself for landing. and as a delightful aside, mid-flight, the cabin staff offer some water and a tunnock's caramel wafer; almost as scottish as a single malt.

of course, even living here will curate the occasional period of remoteness, particularly on learning that the daily newspapers will either be delayed until about 4pm, or, as has frequently been the case recently, not at all. i will agree, however, that when the island appears on youtube movies or tv documentaries, it does appear considerably more remote than it feels during day-to-day living. even when sitting some 50km from home, on the shores of the north atlantic ocean, to the average member of the peloton, it incurs few, if any, sensations of remoteness.

but it is perhaps unfair of me to express this as a point of view. i have lived in the hebrides for almost forty years, plenty of time to decide whether this is the life for me, and to become used to the foibles of living on a remote scottish island. but if you've only chosen islay as one part of your scottish hebridean holiday, intending only to stay a few, all-too-brief days, should matters not proceed as desired, perhaps the suffocating walls of remoteness begin to close in.

just prior to lunchtime on thursday afternoon, i received an e-mail from the manager of the islay rum distillery in port ellen (about 15km south of bowmore). he had with him an american cyclist who, he informed me, had destroyed one of his cleated cycle shoes due to an unspecified happenstance, and was wondering if there was anyone on the island who might have a pair of size nine cycle shoes, preferably with a working pair of cleats to fit a shimano spd, offroad pedal. on the reasonable assumption that yours truly had the very items he required, i phoned the distillery and spoke to the hapless cyclist, offering to have the very items sent over to the distillery by way of one of my office colleagues who lives within shouting distance of the rum distillery.

however, prior to leaving the office, i received another call from the manager to advise that the fellow had contacted a bike shop in oban (about 80km north of islay's mainland ferry terminal) to which he expected to travel by bus earlier today. i didn't enquire further, but given that the oban bus does not leave from kennacraig, but either from lochgilphead (30km distant), or inveraray (69km), quite how he hoped to arrive at either town with only a single cleated shoe, i really didn't want to know.

apparently he had arranged for a suitable pair of shoes and cleats to be sent next day delivery to the oban shop, allowing him to continue with his hebridean odyssey. but to briefly return to the discussion over the remoteness of the area, i replied to the distillery manager expressing my hope, on the cyclist's behalf, that next day delivery to oban was a tad more reliable than it is on islay.

it would, of course, be the wrong side of overkill to head out on a cycle tour carrying a spare pair of cycling shoes, particularly in light of the cost of many. however, a spare pair of cleats wouldn't break the bank and would occupy very little space in the panniers or bikebags. but the aimed moral of the above story revolves around the local knowledge that things taken for granted in suburbia, are likely to be considerably different on the islands, or the more remote villages on scotland's west coast. i have frequently witnessed visitors standing at village bus stops on sunday mornings, blissfully unaware that there is no bus service on that day. not even to meet the ferries. there are several locations around the island where there is no mobile signal of any description, and ev chargers are very thin on the ground.

so inured are we to the so-called essentials that we lack, that i'd struggle for a while trying to identify them and extend this sentence.

if you're intending to cycle to any of the islands, do your research in advance, and take spares of anything you think might prove to be a problem. ideally, you would embrace all that you find (or don't find), but as the years pass by, it is noticeable that mainland visitors appear to have become more and more cossetted by the facilities they have (temporarily) left behind, expressing incredulity that things are different on the outer edges.

just saying.

friday 22 may 2026

what the heck

the hebridean whale and dolphin trust (hwdt), based on the island of mull, about 60km north of islay, has led the way in the conservation of whales, dolphins and porpoises in the waters of western scotland for over three decades. though travelling to mull is possible only by first reaching oban and taking a calmac ferry to craignure, on clear days (such as yesterday for example), the hills of mull are clearly visible from the north western parts of islay, interrupted only by the isle of colonsay in between. on tuesday of this past week, the trust invited me to attend an exhibition of work carried out by children of port charlotte primary school, following twelve weeks of visits to the school by members of the trust's outreach team, visits which included a trip to see their research vessel, silurian.

the exhibition, also attended by parents of several of the children, was held in port charlotte's natural history trust building, situated below the island's youth hostel, some 17km south west of bowmore. but importantly, any cyclist would have to pass by debbie's cafe in bruichladdich to reach there, whether coffee forms an integral part of your diet or not.

at the time of receipt of my invite last week, the forecast for tuesday was highly commendable, ideal, since i have no other means of transport other than my trusty bicycle. unfortunately, islay's public transport system is not geared to getting anyone where they need to go at the time they need to be there. it might have been possible to arrive timeously in port charlotte by bus to attend the presentation, but there is a high likelihood that i'd have had a long wait for transport home.

so bicycle it had to be.

i believe we've had this discussion before, but i fail to comprehend why meteorological reports are referred to as forecasts, when they frequently change by the hour. suffice it to say, by the weekend, tuesday's weather was looking decidedly inclement, with winds hovering around the 50kph mark accompanied by persistent rain. so, in order to forestall any recriminations, i e-mailed my potential host to advise that, should the forecast ultimately turn out to be accurate, given my velocipedinal status, i may be forced to cancel, and asked if they might send a few words and images from which i might choose.

lest you think, however, that i have joined the ranks of the wimp, when it comes to riding in poor weather, i should point out that my fondness for riding in any conditions has not altered one whit. but it has always seemed a tad disrespectful and possibly unpragmatic to spend time indoors at such a gathering while dripping on the floor, shivering in the cold, and continually apologising to attendees for one's dishevelled constitution. in short, i really don't care if i get utterly drenched on the way home, but i'd prefer not to arrive in such a condition.

so, having resigned myself to the notion that i would not be incorporating a bike ride into my tuesday, i proceeded to continue with my other work. only, unexpectedly, the weather cleared, and as i passed the front door of the office, i couldn't help noticing that the rain had dissipated and there was blue sky midst the overhead clouds, encouraging me to cast aside any misgivings, and head home to drag the specialized from the bikeshed and pedal off into the wide, grey yonder.

just under half way to my destination, the rain commenced once again, but in relatively minimal quantities, before once again disappearing into the ether, ensuring that i arrived in port charlotte dry enough to blend in with the crowd. well, blending, apart from a rapha jacket, a pair of bib-threequarters and cleated offroad shoes.

you will recall that i earlier made mention of debbie's forming an important of the scenery, a visit to which it felt rude not to include on the return journey. there is nothing more comforting on an overcast day, than an excellent soya latte.

if you're struggling to discover a moral in the above tale, it's surely recognition of the fact that weather is simply weather, and should never be considered as a hindrance or obstacle to going for a bike ride, whether purposeful or not. conditions in this case were considerably better than originally expected, but i am convinced that simply taking the bull by the horns, and the bike by the handlebars, is a far better option than hiding indoors, citing weather conditions as the reason for so doing. eventually, not only will you start believing your reasoning to be pefectly sound, but there's a good chance that you'll end up spending more time finding excuses not to do something, than on reasons why you should.

remember, nothing's ever worse after a bike ride.

hebridean whale and dolphin trust

thursday 21 may 2026

gravel rides edinburgh, fife & the lothians - markus stitz. vertebrate publishing paperback. 139pp illus. £15.95

the sight of wout van aert winning the marly grav in valkenburg last weekend, if nothing else, underlined that, irrespective of author markus stitz' appreciation of the activity, gravel might well be viewed as every bit as important as the giro d'italia, particularly in the eyes of visma lease-a-bike. as jonas vingegaard attempts to capture the pink jersey in italy, the man who one would perhaps expect to assist the dane in taking his first podium top step in milan, was allowed to fly solo over limburg's unmade roads.

however, before anyone rushes to acquire a copy of 'gravel rides edinburgh, fife & the lothians' in the hope of learning how to emulate the belgian, the other side of the gravel coin depicted in markus' latest volume, tends to concentrate on a less frantic approach to gravel.

mr stitz has an enviable reputation in the world of gravel, having expertly navigated the world of social media to bring the joys of bikepacking to the great unwashed. while his last book from the vertebrate publishing catalogue concentrated on rides on my side of the country, this latest volume provides something of an east coast balance, presenting 15 gravel bike advetures around scotland's capital city. as with his previous explorations, the author has conveniently categorised the rides into three sections: easy, straightforward and challenging, ranging from an economical 17.2km to a somewhat alarming 244km around fife, added here as a bonus ride. thankfully, the accompanying challenging rides listed are curtailed to a less strenuous 56.9km (mark beaumont's edinburgh bypass) before topping out at 89.1km (the great polish map of scotland), starting at the city's haymarket station; ideal if arriving from other regions of scotland.

gravel riding is reputedly on the rise, though increased sales of gravel bikes may have more to do with the current state of scotland's (and britain's) roads than intrepid desires to explore the undergrowth. the majority of the velo club have moved to either cyclocross bicycles (yours truly) or gravel, in order to ensure we remain true to the rubber side down mantra adopted by most of us. but gravel is sufficiently new on the horizon to have acquired recent acolytes, many of whom may find themselves, if not ignorant of the locations, certainly apprentices when it comes to finding their collective way around its twists and turns. which is just where markus is ready and willing to help.

and, to paraphrase julie andrews, the best place to begin is surely at the beginning. to this end, the author explains not only how to use this book, but thoughtfully includes advice on access and legalities, including scotland's outdoor access code, wild camping, and taking care to avoid any deer stalking activities (a real concern even on this side of the nation). since the whole purpose of the book is geared (pun intended) towards exploring the region by bicycle, markus defines what he considers to be machinery capable of allowing comfort and joy midst the gravel to be found en-route. the advice not to leave a bike shop maintenance visit until the day prior to the grand départ is particularly pertinent.

then of course, there's the not insignificant question of just what to wear when attempting to be gravellous. it would take a brave and possibly foolish approach to dress in similar fashion to the aforementioned wout van aert (visma skinsuit), though i note that markus has creditably omitted this from his comprehensive list; ticking off each items on his lengthy checklist would make for a pragmatic initial approach. it is to be hoped that the majority of those heading out into the hinterlands will enjoy a relatively incident free bike ride, but the time to consider what you might do if or when things go wrong, is not in the middle of nowhere on scotland's east coast. in which case, it well behoves the reader to pay attention to the section on what do do if there's an accident.

and no book about cycling in scotland would be worth its salt if it failed to mention midgies.

each route opens with an overview of the terrain and location, augmented with a route profile, distance, ascent, required o/s maps, and parking with ev charger access. aside from being a hardy soul on the bike, an excellent videographer and writer, markus is no stranger to the digital camera, decorating each chapter with superb, illustrative photography. and though many will use smartphone maps or gps files (available for download) to navigate each ride, it's worth considering carrying paper o/s maps as backup, lest the batteries fail on your electronic devices. or perhaps confidently rely on the quality maps included along with each and every route, accompanied by more than comprehensive step-by-step directions.

accepting the knowledge of experts in every field of life is not to be underestimated, particularly if you're a tad unsure of just where you're going, and where you might end up. while markus can't help you ride your bike, he can help enormously at the pre-planning stage, ensuring that the ride itself is as enjoyable as you always hoped it would be.

wednesday 20 may 2026

adventure books

oh yes they did

i have employed this anecdote on at least one previous occasion, but since i believe it has a certain pertinence to today's monologue, with your permission, i'm about to use it once again.

in the 1980s, buoyed with the relative success of my percussive career, i decided to expand my drumset via the addition of a second, larger, bass drum mounted rack tom. the original drum atop the bass was 12" x 8", while its new accomplice would be a still-traditional 13" x 9" tom. the kit i owned at the time, was a beverley, a set manufactured by the premier drum company, in a tactile, gold foil finish, a wrap offered by the aforementioned premier company, but with a slightly different texture. however, it occurred that the majority of those to whom i would be playing, would scarcely notice, let alone care about the difference.

visiting a premier dealer in glasgow, i placed an order for the suitable replacement, configured to be placed on the right hand side of my drumset, necessitating the tom holder being fitted to the left. assuming it to be drumshop humour, i was mildly surprised when the shop assistant informed me that there may be a slight wait for my order, as the factory was currently producing left-hand drums, but would switch to right-hand products at the end of the month. you may not know anything at all about drums, but i'm willing to guess that you'll be aware that they are round. that being the case, why would there be right-hand and left-hand designated products?

the answer revolved around placement of the manufacturer's badge, intended to face outward and advertise the brand to a less than caring audience. thus, if the badge on my new drum were to be seen correctly, the tom holder would require to be on the left, if the drum were to be placed on the right hand side of the bass drum. it transpired that the premier drum company manufactured tom toms to be seen on the left during one month, before switching to right-mounted drums on the following month. this odd state of affairs persisted until the company was bought over by the yamaha corporation who advised that they simply placed manufacturer badges on both sides, thus obviating the problem completely.

glaringly obvious when pointed out.

my rather convoluted point revolves around the recognition that certain manufacturing advances, however simple, can genuinely solve a hitherto unforeseen or undesirable problem, as illustrated above. no doubt there are similar examples that pertain to the cycle industry, but purely from personal observation, this particular industry usually seems hellbent on either reinventing the wheel, or creating a solution that subsequently has to seek out a problem. and to my mind, absolute black are rapidly becoming a prime example. i will agree that most recently, i offered untrammeled praise for their hydraulic brake piston press, which promises to make the replacement of disc pads a tad more efficient than before. but one can only recognise that they persist with the production of oval chainrings, a shape which many contend, achieve nothing whatsoever.

they also produce those fashionably enormous derailleur jockey wheels, which look ridiculous, and, according to shimano, do not achieve the promises made. but they have now released valves designed for use with tubeless tyres, a product which appears to fulfil precisely what you'd expect, at a lower weight, yet similar price to the aluminium competition (£22.95 per pair). it strikes me that the bulk of purchasers will be just like either you or i; recreational cyclists with aspirations above our station, for whom the promise of a few grammes of rotating weight reduction would achieve precisely nothing whatsoever. while absolute black are quoting weights of around two grammes less than their peers, is there anyone alive today who could detect the difference? manufactured from a carbon reinforced polymer, while they resemble a standard presta valve, absolute black has adopted 'a bottom-sealing mechanism, inspired by early valve concepts dating back to 1915, where the sealing interface sits at the base rather than the top.'

i am not a fan of tubeless tyres, a club in which i am joined by many others, but i'm readily willing to admit that none of the problems i have experienced with the tubeless system have involved the valves. and though this rests entirely on yours truly, i have been unable to figure out how it's possible to fill the tyre with gloop with the valves in situ (though i have every confidence that's my problem and not one experienced by absolute black).

try as i might, i can see no point whatsoever in this particular product; as mentioned above, i have experienced no valve problems whatsoever during my limited experience of tubeless setups. and anyone who thinks that two grammes less of rotating weight is likely to make any difference whatsoever is definitely a flying buttress short of a cathedral.

cycling is a wonderful activity or sport; stuff like this seems completely pointless, the sole saving grace of which is its comparable pricing.

tuesday 19 may 2026

no time like the present

last week, while staying at my daughter's house in glasgow, we travelled south to attend a funeral, a journey i had originally intended to make by bus from buchanan bus station directly to the bus station closest to my ultimate destination, whereupon, i would have covered the last few kilometres by taxi. in effect, this would also have formed the return journey in the opposite direction. however, when ultimately four of us were to make the trip, it was adjudged more pragmatic to travel in my son-in-law's motor car. though the location of the crematorium was known to us all, to ensure that our arrival would be timely, an iphone was attached to the central screen on the car's dashboard, and via an app on the phone, a photographic, constantly updating rendition of our intended route was clearly displayed to the driver.

in fact, once out of glasgow, the route was quite direct, and the imagery on the centre screen was probably a tad surplus to requirements. but seemingly gone are the days of poring over automobile association road maps across several pages, and making copious notes, which might subsequently be referrred to as the journey was undertaken. later that same day, my daughter drove my son and i to glasgow airport for the return flight to islay, using the same means of route finding.

i have to say that my status as a fully paid up luddite really wanted to disapprove of this navigational augmentation, but due to a strange fascination with the process, coupled with its inherent efficiency, i simply sat back in the rear seat and enjoyed the trip. though i figure i could have handled the section from the kingston bridge along the m77, and subsequently the a77, there's not a chance in christendom that i could have driven us out of suburban glasgow. however, my unconcealed admiration for contemporary navigational wizardry has failed to impact upon my month-long experimentation with cycling minus any gps device attached to my handlebars.

framing it as an experiment is, i agree, somewhat melodramatic, for there will be entire pelotons of cyclists who have never bothered to affix anything more than a cycle computer, or simply ride with bare bars. the fact that i have opted to make this sound like something more scientific is effectively a construct to make it seem as if thewashingmachinepost has more serious intent than is actually the case.

that dubious explanation notwithstanding, how have i survived so far?

well, at the risk of being disappointingly underwhelming, i have surprised myself by coping admirably. as i have made plain on several occasions, the main reason for having a garmin clamped to the bars in the first place is due to my preference for underlining the difference between yours truly and mathieu van der poel, by riding without a wristwatch. in order that i know just how slow are my weekend perambulations, the clock on the garmin was, i believed, an absolute necessity. the accompanying data was, for the large part, surplus to requirements; in any case, in the light of my advancing years, the actual and average speed displays now bordered on the embarrassing.

it has since occurred to me that perhaps all i needed to do would have been simply to limit the garmin to a single data-field: the time alone. but that somehow seemed a smidgeon counter-productive, and certainly wouldn't have provided this opportunity to pull the wool over your eyes and convince you of the sociological importance of that which i may or may not end up proving. as it transpires, i've simply not missed having that screen in front of my eyes; there hasn't been a succession of stares downward when i have been aided and abetted by a worthy tailwind, or the need to see just how much grovelling is taking place when ploughing into an icy headwind. and not once have i inadvertently taken the device with me when intending to affix front and rear lights to the bicycle.

the intention is to continue this experiment until the end of may to provide a definable sample, but it's definitely looking good so far.

monday 18 may 2026

told you so

everybody has 'one of those weeks'. i'm sure there are many for whom every week is like that, and i count myself fortunate that i'm not one of them. but every now and again, several factors agglomerate over a short period of time, ensuring it becomes a collection of days that you hoped would not arrive, but ultimately, you'd like to get out of the way as quickly as possible. last week was mine, though, thankfully, it's the first occurence in many a long year. i don't propose to go into all the needless details, but suffice it to say that everything came together in a newspaper production week, ensuring that matters would be as awkward as they could be.

i am not in ther habit of travelling to scotland very often, quite content to enjoy life on a hebridean island for the majority of the year. but after waiting almost a year for a hospital appointment related to my health scare in march last year, on monday i'd to travel to oban, 90km north of the ferry terminal at kennacraig, for a scan to ensure that my heart is doing what everyone hoped it was doing. because of the idiosyncracies endemic in scottish bus timetables, it's a trip that would normally require an overnight stay, since it would be totally impossible to return in time to catch the evening ferry back to civilisation. however, fortunately, there is such a thing as argyll patient transport, whereby, i was met at the ferry terminal by a gentleman with a motor car, driven to oban hospital, where they kindly moved my appointment forward by half-an-hour, allowing me to arrive back at kennacraig in time for the 6pm ferry back to islay.

though incidental to the principal thrust of my narrative, both ferry journeys were aboard the mv isle of islay, the turkish-built vessel of which i was honoured to be present at the launch in march 2024. and just to add the icing on the calmac cake, the captain invited me up to the bridge for part of the outward journey.

some folks have all the luck.

my second visit to scotland in the same week, took place on thursday, requiring a return flight to glasgow to attend a funeral, arriving back on islay on thursday evening because i had agreed to read for a maths exam at bowmore's secondary school on friday morning. this was for a pupil with reading difficulties. in between, on tuesday and wednesday, i had to produce this week's issue of the islay newspaper, ensuring scant time to catch my breath.

thankfully, with the exam concluding at lunchtime on friday, i was able to ride my bike south west to debbie's with sales copies of the newspaper, providing the ideal antidote to the previous four and a half days. believe me, that was one of the finest bike rides of recent times, even though it only amounted to a smidgeon under 30km.

however, to return to monday's hospital appointment, the scan, which was diligently and expertly carried out by a cardiology nurse, turned out to provide good cause for celebration. after her lengthy deliberations in front of a computer monitor, she announced that my heart had made an excellent job of repairing itself (reputedly the original damage was considerable, but given my squeamishness about such matters, i have never read the copious notes provided by the cardiology department at glasgow's golden jubilee hospital).

at the time of my first cardiology follow up visit in june 2025, having enquired about my proclivities for exercise, the nurse had opted not to recommend me to a local exercise class, claiming that my weekly cycling and walking activities were likely in excess of anything such a class might provide. it would seem that her obervation was particularly perspicacious, given the initial results provided by the above-mentioned scan. of course, this has now made yours truly even more impossibly smug than before, since i have long claimed that cycling cures everything.

in this case, it would appear i was correct.

sunday 17 may 2026