A LADY AT LEISURE
‘Make me run and I will have a sense of humour failure and collapse before we reach the first lamp post’
A lady at leisure I
WORDS FIONA ARMSTRONG ILLUSTRATION BOB DEWAR
’m aching all over and it’s hard to put one foot in front of another. It’s my own fault, of course ‘Don’t do it, Mummy,’ my
daughter warned. ‘You’re too old – you’ll kill yourself!’ Mountain biking is for neither the ancient
nor the fainthearted – especially when your bottom hasn’t touched a cycle saddle for twenty years. But the chance to film a feature in the wilds of northern Dumfriesshire was just too tempting: it’s such a magnificent part of the world. The Forest of Ae hosts one of Scotland’s 7Stanes cycling sites, and it’s a glorious, back- to-nature place. It’s also a money-maker. In fact, riding a
bike is bigger business than you can imagine: 400,000 people do it every year in the south of Scotland and it contributes £11 million annually to the local economy. With its death-defying leaps and tight,
treacherous corners, the 7Stanes is very much a macho thing. But there are gentler rides too, and with gorgeous girls like Victoria Pendleton setting the cycling pace, more women are now being encouraged to take up the sport. So, there we were: me and the film crew, setting out on a 9km ride through the forest trails – most of it, happily, on the flat. I tell you, it was a piece of cake – until I woke up the next day. Perhaps
I really am too old for
all that. But, the older you get, the
less you really seem to
care. My now-elderly mother was in her sixties when she came careering
down Glenshee, hollering for people to get out of the way. The fact that she had never before had her feet in a pair of skis did not seem to matter as she took joyfully to the slopes. The Chief ’s grandmother was at least seventy
when she went wobbling up the Panjshir Valley in Afghanistan on the back of a smelly old donkey. Ghylla got a taste for it and went on to investigate the hot and sticky joys of the Peruvian Inca Trail. She was some granny and she probably wore purple, too. Perhaps it’s a woman thing. Do men get less adventurous as they get
older? It makes sense: females spend their younger lives caring for babies and children. After that, they can really let go. Males, on the other hand, may expend all their energies early on, and are perhaps more likely to be found in later years by the fire with a good book and glass of whisky. If you are an active man, you will no doubt
disagree with the above statement. If so, please do write to the editor to complain. He likes to get feedback. The Chief, meanwhile, is still very much
an adventurer. The MacGregor runs several miles each day, generally with one or other of the spaniels in tow. But then he notched up marathons in his youth, and such vigorous habits, I am told, are hard to break. For myself, I have never been a fan of
pounding the pavements or, in the MacGregor’s case, the heath and the heather. I can swim and walk forever, but make me run and, I promise you, I will have a sense of humour failure and collapse before we reach the first lamp post. It probably has something to do with lung capacity. Still, hearty outdoor exercise beats an inside
gym hands down, and, sore bottom apart, I am very tempted to get myself a mountain bike – and the obligatory helmet to go with it. And the padded lycra shorts. But if I do venture out in such attire, you can be certain there will be no camera crew following behind.
FIELDONLINE 198
WWW.SCOTTISHFIELD.CO.UK
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER OR CHECK OUT OUR PAGE ON FACEBOOK
WWW.SCOTTISHFIELD.CO.UK
Unshackled from babies and children, a lot of women become more adventurous as they grow older – while men retreat to the safety and comfort of a well-padded armchair
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180 |
Page 181 |
Page 182 |
Page 183 |
Page 184 |
Page 185 |
Page 186 |
Page 187 |
Page 188 |
Page 189 |
Page 190 |
Page 191 |
Page 192 |
Page 193 |
Page 194 |
Page 195 |
Page 196 |
Page 197 |
Page 198 |
Page 199 |
Page 200 |
Page 201 |
Page 202 |
Page 203 |
Page 204 |
Page 205 |
Page 206 |
Page 207 |
Page 208 |
Page 209 |
Page 210 |
Page 211 |
Page 212 |
Page 213 |
Page 214 |
Page 215 |
Page 216 |
Page 217 |
Page 218 |
Page 219 |
Page 220 |
Page 221 |
Page 222 |
Page 223 |
Page 224