recovery

Having enjoyed a week of recovery from the sleeping sickness (many thanks for all your kind wishes) I returned to running on Saturday. I thought I might be a bit stiff or slow but after a few miles warm up enjoyed a flat out gallop along the beach at Aberlady. The weather was pretty good for a summer that has not impressed very much although there are usually a couple of decent hours, even on the rainy days.

My recovery was a breeze compared to the Berlingo. I think vehicles age in dog years. Ours has just passed it's mot for another year. It had a hip replacement (steering bearing) on one side a while back, and while that cleared up the worst of the aircraft noise at motorway speeds and we could again speak without shouting, it was a fair guess that the other hip would need doing soon as well, so while it was having it's mot (brake hoses replaced) we got the second side done. And cruised down to Gullane in near silence. Maybe we can plan trips further afield?

you can see why they call them damselflies

I spent a long time trying to get a decent shot of these 2, having a great deal of trouble trying to see the results on a screen made invisible by the sun. (Not that I'm complaining!) All but a couple of shots out of focus.

Then onto the beach where the tide was well out. 

We had had coffee from Falko's and there was quite a bit of shouting and singing.

Making the most of the chimneys before they come down in Sept.

Mary did a much better job of taking the photo at the right moment than I did for her.

whole place to ourselves

One of these wee blue jobs that doesn't hold still for a second and tends to close it's wings while ground bound. Selfish.

Jason had mentioned the East Fortune airshow was today but apart from a couple of unmissable things there was more to see where we were. Happily the Red Arrows approached from offshore while I was trying to apprehend a Fritillary and I looked up to the superb spectacle of them heading inland with smoke on.  

This was the Fritillary in question. Now I hope everyone recalls the identifying 3rd spot in, which makes this a....? Yeah me neither. Also I took a couple of shots next to one another (similar to how a 3d camera works) and had the idea if I flipped between one and the next it would give a kind of 3d feel. And yes there are 2 of them here on a hot date. Which is the reason they weren't able to escape my attentions quite as rapidly as normal.

Some twigs and grass, with those aeroplanes in the background, out of focus.

The route plan for today was a longer run. Starting from Gullane we did the usual route through the golf course to Aberlady, across the bridge to the beach then along the coast to Yellow Craigs, then back on the road, making for 14miles or so. I spent most of the time chasing butterflies then doing intervals to catch Mary who was pressing on. It felt great for about 10 miles but legs and feet were a bit trashed with all the rock hopping and uneven terrain. Mary was feeling similar and wondered whether she required new shoes. I think it was just the rough ground. Great training for half marathons. We picked it up for the last few flat miles and tend to do the last mile from where the trail leads out to the road from Archerfields, at 10k or half marathon pace, whatever is left in the tank. We had a breather directly before and I thought I was pooped, but surprised how much I was able to lift the pace for the last mile plus. 

 small tortoiseshell
Another daft name. (Neither small nor particularly like the shell of a tortoise.) I did wonder whether it was actually small tortoise's hell. Big thanks to this one getting so engrossed in a thistle it didn't notice me standing nearby squinting into the screen.

nearly definitely a six spot Burnet

I think this would make a nice jigsaw. 

Someone was asking recently about images for jigsaws, or was that a dream?

more from the airshow
Thought this might be a Tupolev or something soviet until I found the list from East Fortune and saw it was a Lockheed P3C surveillance aircraft from the Norwegian Airforce.

Mary struggling to race down Gullane High St.

Great run on a day considerably nicer than the forecast promised. We had parked near the public toilets and saw this incident below. It turned out someone had locked their dog in their car. The second key had been eaten by same dog a while back so they got the recovery dude to break into the car via the front windscreen and recover the dog. When we arrived he was struggling to retrieve the flagging dog. Which survived fine. Less so the BMW windscreen. We thought little of it and headed home. Just about Longniddry the brakes failed. Luckily there was nobody directly ahead and the van coasted onto the roundabout a bit. We drove past the roundabout then parked just yards after the station car park. 

Mary called the recovery firm she has insurance with and 2 hrs later the recovery dude (yes, same one) came and put the Berlingo onto the flatbed and drove us home. An inauspicious finale to the day. It will be going back to the mechanic on Monday morning to be fixed.