West Kip

The forecast for today was bad but the reality was not so bad so  I decided to put my half-formed plan from Monday into action and go and see what a hill felt like with all my new physical arrangements and refinements. Just after I'd set off from the Red Moss car park I ran into a friend coming out of the hills on his mountain bike. We did our nursing training together. I am now working at a level two grades down from when we qualified while Ian is working two grades up - however - we are both as skint as we've ever been. For Ian its because he's got two children now. He told me he'd cycled over from Hill End and had hoped to have a nice refreshing pint at the Flotterstone Inn but discovered he only had a £1. Sad days indeed. Well actually it cheered me up. (The moral of this story is not "It could be worse, you could have two children." even if it seems like it is.)

Pretty soon the midgies found us so he set off home and I set off up the hill. It really wasn't too bad. I thought it might not be because I tend to go at the hills in a low gear and just hold it steady and that's what I did today and it was fine. I didn't even get the usual burst of fast heart rate at the beginning. It stayed pretty low and steady all the way up. Oddly it jumped up for a while when I set off back down again but soon settled down.

It was very nice to be back out in the hills. They were looking moody and dark and there was a bit of a wind blowing but it was quite warm and I was fine in a vest. From the top you could see the romantic twin towers of the Cockenzie Power Station at Prestonpans. I feel like I'm clawing some of my freedom back. I was tempted to carry on to Carnethy but didn't want to push it. Maybe next time.