Bartimaeus

The end of May sees us still not back on the boat.  The main news from Ortomarine has been about the boat that has got ahead of us in the queue: Dexter's Star.  It has been awarded the Favourite Boat in Show at Crick.  We always knew we had picked a good boat builder - now we just need to get their attention!

We're very pleased for the owners, Paul and Anthony, who have had a tough winter - their previous boat was made unusable over Christmas following the breach at Whitchurch.

I've been continuing with daily cycle rides.  Since early April I've managed at least 25 miles every day.  At the start I was often wearing hat and gloves even if I was able to take my waterproof coat off.  Recently, I've been too hot in just a vest top.  During the recent heatwave, Kenny and I reprised a favourite ride: train to Bridge of Allan, and then home via Dollar and the Forth Road Bridge.

During the warm and sunny weather, I would have expected to persuade Clare to come out on the tandem.  Unfortunately she had a bout of shingles down her right arm.  She wasn't sure if holding the handlebars might become sore, and didn't want to risk it.

On one particularly pleasant day though, I suggested that we could take the train together to North Berwick.  I brought my bike and locked it up at the station while we had a potter about.  We were joined at an outside table by a robin who clearly knew where to expect crumbs.

After some sight-seeing and lunch, we walked back up to the station together and Clare had a proper look at the pair of yarn-bombed bikes that adorn the platform.  Neither of them were suitable for her return journey, so we stuck with the original plan - she took the train and I cycled.

Last weekend was another event we have usually missed while on the boat: Pedal on Parliament.  Kenny and I cycled down together, and immediately met up with Cath and Michael.  More than a thousand cyclists joined us as we cycled through town to the Scottish Parliament.  I have been campaigning for better cycle facilities all of my adult life.  Things are slightly better than they used to be, but there is still a long way to go.

May's heatwave has given way to a showery June.  I'm still managing to fit my daily rides in, but I'm back to guessing where the driest slot in the day will be.  Today I set off in a few spots of rain which soon eased as I'd hoped.  It started to rain just as I got on the train, and it was raining a little in Edinburgh as I left the station.  I still arrived home dry though.