Yoga heaven
When I first started yoga about 10-11 years ago a friend at university introduced me to an Iyengar class in Partick and pretty soon I was going to 3 classes a week (including one on a Sunday morning- that’s dedication for you)! When I first started I couldn’t touch my toes, I could barely arch my back and my ankles were so stiff I found kneeling & sitting back on my feet agony. But despite the pain I enjoyed it so much I persuaded my younger sister, my then boyfriend and my mum and dad to take it up! It’s taken quite a while to improve my flexibility but I am now able to do the wheel (Urdhva Dhanurasana) (involves lying on your back then pushing yourself up on your hands and feet into an arch) which I did for the first time since I was 10 years old a month or so ago – I was ridiculously pleased with myself!
I haven’t been able to practice yoga solidly since I first started it. When I moved to Ipswich it was a yoga desert – there wasn’t an Iyengar teacher within 25 miles and the classes I did try were disappointing (arm wafting / miserable teachers). I did find a good teacher in Stortford but I fell out with her when she cancelled 2 classes then refused to reimburse me for them!
By chance, I was talking to a new colleague at work and she told me about an Iyengar teacher in Stirling and I went to her class for the first time on Thursday night having already done an hour of yoga that day at uni (she is part of the same yoga group as my first teacher from Glasgow). So all together I did almost 3 hours of yoga that day and was knackered! I really felt it in my muscles on Friday –ouch!
The teacher Lyn was a bit eccentric – there were 2 Carols in the class who she calls Little Carol (who was quite short) and Big Carol (who wasn’t particularly big). I had to try and keep a straight face when she started shouting out things like ‘Good, Little!’
It’s been a while since I’ve been to class where the teacher uses the proper Sanskrit names for the postures and some of them I couldn’t remember so I had to watch what everyone else was doing - Mukta Hasta Sarvangasana had me wondering (freehand shoulder stand, in case you don’t know either – looks weird, pretty impressive, but I can’t do it! Kind of looks like someone’s dropped you on your neck and you’ve stayed there). See 2nd row of yoga postures in the piccie!
When I first started yoga about 10-11 years ago a friend at university introduced me to an Iyengar class in Partick and pretty soon I was going to 3 classes a week (including one on a Sunday morning- that’s dedication for you)! When I first started I couldn’t touch my toes, I could barely arch my back and my ankles were so stiff I found kneeling & sitting back on my feet agony. But despite the pain I enjoyed it so much I persuaded my younger sister, my then boyfriend and my mum and dad to take it up! It’s taken quite a while to improve my flexibility but I am now able to do the wheel (Urdhva Dhanurasana) (involves lying on your back then pushing yourself up on your hands and feet into an arch) which I did for the first time since I was 10 years old a month or so ago – I was ridiculously pleased with myself!
I haven’t been able to practice yoga solidly since I first started it. When I moved to Ipswich it was a yoga desert – there wasn’t an Iyengar teacher within 25 miles and the classes I did try were disappointing (arm wafting / miserable teachers). I did find a good teacher in Stortford but I fell out with her when she cancelled 2 classes then refused to reimburse me for them!
By chance, I was talking to a new colleague at work and she told me about an Iyengar teacher in Stirling and I went to her class for the first time on Thursday night having already done an hour of yoga that day at uni (she is part of the same yoga group as my first teacher from Glasgow). So all together I did almost 3 hours of yoga that day and was knackered! I really felt it in my muscles on Friday –ouch!
The teacher Lyn was a bit eccentric – there were 2 Carols in the class who she calls Little Carol (who was quite short) and Big Carol (who wasn’t particularly big). I had to try and keep a straight face when she started shouting out things like ‘Good, Little!’
It’s been a while since I’ve been to class where the teacher uses the proper Sanskrit names for the postures and some of them I couldn’t remember so I had to watch what everyone else was doing - Mukta Hasta Sarvangasana had me wondering (freehand shoulder stand, in case you don’t know either – looks weird, pretty impressive, but I can’t do it! Kind of looks like someone’s dropped you on your neck and you’ve stayed there). See 2nd row of yoga postures in the piccie!
Hiking boot hell
Thursday night is late night shopping so I came home early and popped into town with Michael to try to buy him some proper hiking boots in preparation for Saturday’s hill walk. He said he’s not going to spend money on something that has had zero design effort put into it- I pointed out that hiking boots are never going to be a thing of beauty! The only vaguely pretty boots were £150! So no new boots and sore feet!
Hill walk up Cruachan, East Loch Lomond –Sat 9 Feb
We arranged to go on a hill walk up Cruachan, a small but steep hill of 536 metres, with ‘GRUFF’ the young person’s walking group based in Glasgow. I got told off by a colleague at work for mispronouncing Cruachan (the emphasis is meant to go on the ‘Cru’ part not the ‘ach’) but who knows how to say even half the place names in Scotland!
Moody light over Loch Lomond at InversnaidWe left home at 9am expecting to arrive at the meeting point, the Inversnaid hotel, by 10.20am – with Michael McCrae behind the wheel we arrived at 10am half an hour early (the ‘Oh Shit’ handles were well used, Vanessa). What didn’t help was that the rest of the group were all late and so the walk didn’t begin till 11am – not the best start!
West Highland Way by Loch Lomond
The road to Inversnaid appears as a thin line beside Loch Arklet on the map – that’s because it is a single track rough road with passing places (which we needed to use cos 3 coaches full of ‘Lochs and Glens Tours’ oldies passed us leaving the hotel – I’m not sure how they got there on such a narrow road)! The views on the drive made us feel like we were really isolated, far from Stirling and could’ve been back in New Zealand. The route took us past the Lake of Menteith and all these Lochs: Ard, Chon, Katrine, Arklet and finally to Loch Lomond. We passed by a wee place called Stronachlachar- try saying that with a mouthful of haggis!
The hotel overlooked Loch Lomond which I hadn’t realised was so big and stretched such a distance from Ardlui in the north to Balloch in the south. For all you fact junkies, it’s 24 miles long with the largest surface area of any fresh water Loch in the UK! It even has almost 40 islands on the loch one of which, Inchmurrin, has a hotel on it that Sarah worked in when she was a student. (I seem to remember someone telling her one of islands had wallabies living on it brought back by from Oz some eccentric landowner)!
There were about 20 people in the walking group, more than I expected, of varying levels of fitness. We started off on a stretch of the West Highland Way along the lochside. It was really mild and I was starting to regret wearing so many clothes (5 layers!) but I needed them at the summit. The way up used a rough road so was fairly easy but steep and then we were off road in the boggy moss and peat (not a tree in sight) which was harder work and slippy.
The hotel overlooked Loch Lomond which I hadn’t realised was so big and stretched such a distance from Ardlui in the north to Balloch in the south. For all you fact junkies, it’s 24 miles long with the largest surface area of any fresh water Loch in the UK! It even has almost 40 islands on the loch one of which, Inchmurrin, has a hotel on it that Sarah worked in when she was a student. (I seem to remember someone telling her one of islands had wallabies living on it brought back by from Oz some eccentric landowner)!
There were about 20 people in the walking group, more than I expected, of varying levels of fitness. We started off on a stretch of the West Highland Way along the lochside. It was really mild and I was starting to regret wearing so many clothes (5 layers!) but I needed them at the summit. The way up used a rough road so was fairly easy but steep and then we were off road in the boggy moss and peat (not a tree in sight) which was harder work and slippy.
Caterpillar of GRUFF walkers going up the hill There was no rain but no sun to speak of either so although we got an idea of the great views from the top I’m sure they’d be absolutely spectacular on a clear day – you can see practically 360 degrees and see several lochs and other mountains. There was even a small loch near the top which if it'd been a nice day you could have had a swim in!
Michael at the top of Cruachan getting blown in the wind
Me at Cruachan SummitWe coped well with the walk and kept up a good pace although Michael’s ankle is a bit sore and swollen today from where he slipped a couple of times. We walked around 7 miles and it took 4.5 hours taking it easy. I remember being the last one up the hill and the last one down when I went hill walking aged 17 with a bunch of people from school – either I’ve got fitter or my companions have got less fit!
We didn’t see any wildlife on the mountain except for 2 big ravens hunting for rabbits. Funnily enough the only exotic wildlife we did see was by the side of the busy A84 in Stirling where a buzzard was eating its catch! (I think the large birds of prey we have seen near the castle and the park are buzzards). Unless you count 2 long-horned goats grazing outside the hotel as exotic!
Michael didn’t really enjoy the group walk experience cos of all the hanging around in his wet jeans in the cold wind waiting for the slowest people to catch up, but you have to go at the pace of your slowest member. It’s certainly a totally different experience to just the 2 of us going together and pleasing ourselves if we want to stop and take photos etc. I like the fact that someone leads the walk (and reads the map for you!) so you can go to places that you wouldn't necessarily know how to find yourself, so I might go again.
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