It's been a looooonnnnng three weeks!

For an active person like myself (most of the time!) being unable to do much due to injury or illness is the worst thing possible. I've been very frustrated and bored since breaking my collarbone, I just can't sit and do nothing (now that I've retired anyway.....).

To give myself something to look forward to, I've rebooked the second part of my Scotland trip, which has provided a bit of a bonus in that I have two more rides scheduled, having booked for six nights in the north east rather than the four in the original itinerary. The owners of the Aden House bed and breakfast where I was booked in rang me on the Saturday after my accident to enquire how I was, and to say they'd waived the fee I'd have had to pay due to my late cancellation, a very lovely and unexpected gesture! I promptly then worked out possible dates and settled for the week of September 13th, and then set about considering what new routes I could plan.

The River Spey and Thomas Telford's bridge at Craigellachie

For the first, I decided on a marriage of two of my favourite interests - whisky and old railways. I found the Speyside Way online, a long distance trail running from Aviemore to Buckie, using a disused railway track for much of it's way, and thought that would provide some stunning scenery. Investigating further, I realised there were a few distilleries either on or not far from the trail, so plumped for Craigellachie as a start point and worked out a circular route heading south down the Speyside Way, coming off at Cragganmore and returning via some quiet B roads. Initially this included passing by 13 distilleries, however in the last couple of weeks further investigation and planning has raised this number to 21! I hasten to add that I will be photographing these, not nipping in for a wee dram at each!

Tarlair swimming pool

The second route I planned involved a return to somewhere I'd remembered as a name, rather than actually having been there, but my sister tells me we did go. I remember a drive with my Nan and it seems this was on a trip to Tarlair, an outdoor swimming pool in Macduff on the north east coast. Having found some photos of it on the net, I still don't remember visiting, but it will still be interesting to check it out. It's been disused since the mid 1990s, and is now a Grade A listed building, which a "Friends of Tarlair" group are trying to restore. I wish them luck with that.

Having at least something positive in the near future to focus on, I also decided to invest in a smart trainer so that I could maintain my fitness in the garage. It's quite fun, although can never replace the feeling of being out on the roads or the trails. It does try its best though - there are actual tourists and tractors on some of the video routes that you have to slow down for at times in order to overtake! At least I shouldn't fall off while using it, although second time I went on it I hadn't checked that the rear wheel was securely attached to the direct drive and had a small wobble!