We'd considered many what if's prior to our planned Edinburgh escape but not what to do if confronted by hordes of unleashed dogs on cycling paths in and around the city !
It brought back memory of a forgotten incident from yesterday's ride with Simon when upon entering an unlit former railway tunnel Simon nearly came to grief as a result of an unleashed Black dog, almost invisible in the limited light. What made the incident memorable was that Simon and us were collectively abused by the dogs owner in foul mouthed Scottish twang and then abused even more when we cycled away !
We didn't get away on our first touring day until well after 11, partly because we wanted to pig out at the Premiere Inn all you can eat breakfast, partly because we wanted to steal our lunch of crumpets and cakes when no one was watching and partly because we had no bloody system for packing all of our gear !
Finally ready on a cool & overcast day we took our first pedal stroke and instantly recoiled at how heavy and unresponsive our touring bikes were !. Recovered from the shock we set about working our way out of Old Edinburgh and then on rail trails before heading inland near Dalkeith and climbing ! After 40long kms we finally reached the top of the hills surrounding Edinburgh.
En route Henley entertained the Golf establishment of Newton Battle when he walked in complete in his full Lycra, bike helmet, cycling shoes and a Go Pro camera and asked the members present which way it was to the first tee. When the members finally realised that H wasn't serious H turned around saying "I'm really just after a pot of tea"!
With a high wind chill on the peak we didn't hang around long before rocketing down a valley that I passed through way back in 2011 with wife Monika on our end to end ride - the valley still looked just as foreboding!
After another small climb we hit he sweet spot with a beautiful 10km descent into the quaint Scottish village of Innerleithen where we were greeted by a super friendly B&B owner (Well Kev said he was friendly but then he reckoned he could only understand every fifth word !
All that remains is for us to work out what's on for dinner and what the hell we're going to do on Thursday with Noah like rain predicted in the UK !
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Great photos but I’m really hanging out for photos of you both cycling in your dusted off kilts and sporrans! What with $400 excess luggage you should have left your thermal undies at home.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you are off to a good start, at least you made it out of Edinburgh on the planned day. Enjoy the journey guys wishing you sunshine and more downhills than up (is that even possible) and the wind in your back of course. Safe cycling cheers.