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| Our "odd" accommodation in Peebles |
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| Disembarking Campbeltown |
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| Arriving at Campbeltown in the evening gloom |
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| A day for not much else |
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| On the correct train this time ! |
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| Looking over at the Isle of Aran en route |
Thursday, June 13, 2019
En route to Campbelltown - 3kms. !
“Life Threatening”!
When one of the leading news headlines features the potential for "life threatening" weather conditions you really sit up and take notice.
With some UK areas having already copped over 100mls of rain and the expectation that the weather pattern would move in to Scotland with similar consequences we decided it might be wiser to instead take the train to Ardrossan for our early evening ferry to Campbelltown on Argyll.
H was delighted with the amended plan after having struggled late afternoon yesterday and haven woken this morning with a case of the "wobbles" . He'd suffered this condition on occasion over the years the last time memorably when we were riding right beside a canal in Belgium!
After bravely digesting black pudding and haggis for breakfast at a nearby cafe and H having insulted the Cafe's owner (when he said have a look at that when a green hair coloured school girl entered the premises only to go straight up to her Mum - the owner !) we said goodbye to our friendly enough hotel host (who'd apparently adopted the business plan of shit canning local villagers on Facebook) and cycled 2kms to the Carstairs Junction Railway Station a deserted platform in a very deserted neighbourhood.
2 hours later after transiting Glasgow (having first worked out that we were sitting in the wrong train on the right platform!) we arrived at the dreary harbour town of Ardrossan where betting shops and barricaded buildings dominated the landscape!
With 5 hours to spare we ventured in to a local cafe where H got good value for his one and only coffee over a 2 hour period - admittedly he slept the rest of the time !
Out wearing our Cafe welcome we journeyed down to the ferry terminal to kill the remaining 3 hours before joining our ferry to Campbeltown nearly 3 hours away
After an uneventful ferry crossing we finally arrived to a gloomy evening at 9pm and set about finding our apartment eventually finding it well hidden behind a furniture shop and up 3 flights of stairs & yes we had to carry our bikes!
All in all an exhausting day with only 3kms of cycling but incredibly not a single drop of rain !
With some UK areas having already copped over 100mls of rain and the expectation that the weather pattern would move in to Scotland with similar consequences we decided it might be wiser to instead take the train to Ardrossan for our early evening ferry to Campbelltown on Argyll.
H was delighted with the amended plan after having struggled late afternoon yesterday and haven woken this morning with a case of the "wobbles" . He'd suffered this condition on occasion over the years the last time memorably when we were riding right beside a canal in Belgium!
After bravely digesting black pudding and haggis for breakfast at a nearby cafe and H having insulted the Cafe's owner (when he said have a look at that when a green hair coloured school girl entered the premises only to go straight up to her Mum - the owner !) we said goodbye to our friendly enough hotel host (who'd apparently adopted the business plan of shit canning local villagers on Facebook) and cycled 2kms to the Carstairs Junction Railway Station a deserted platform in a very deserted neighbourhood.
2 hours later after transiting Glasgow (having first worked out that we were sitting in the wrong train on the right platform!) we arrived at the dreary harbour town of Ardrossan where betting shops and barricaded buildings dominated the landscape!
With 5 hours to spare we ventured in to a local cafe where H got good value for his one and only coffee over a 2 hour period - admittedly he slept the rest of the time !
Out wearing our Cafe welcome we journeyed down to the ferry terminal to kill the remaining 3 hours before joining our ferry to Campbeltown nearly 3 hours away
After an uneventful ferry crossing we finally arrived to a gloomy evening at 9pm and set about finding our apartment eventually finding it well hidden behind a furniture shop and up 3 flights of stairs & yes we had to carry our bikes!
All in all an exhausting day with only 3kms of cycling but incredibly not a single drop of rain !
Wednesday, June 12, 2019
En route to Carstairs - 77kms & 500 metres climbing
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| Lovely open scenery |
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| Henley in his Artic attire |
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| Yep we're lost ! |
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| Back on track |
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| Henley has had enough ! |
Maps send us round the bend !
H was bordering on a meltdown only 8kms from the days finish, exhausted from punching into strong winds, competing with traffic on busy roads and having to deal with his Maps Me navigational device which tortuously took us on a 10km loop earlier in the day - Kev was giving serious thought to tapping out !
The day had started well enough on a chilly morning befitting Kev's arctic artire, when we escaped Innerleithen taking the Peebles rail trail right beside the river Tweed. Entering Peebles traffic picked up considerably as we soon realised that we were cycling near the major routes between Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Not far out of Peebles things started going horribly wrong as our navigation device took us on a 10km loop that included hills, forest trails, muddy paths and a river crossing before we finally realised that we were lost
With no confidence in navigational devices we took a day time celestial reading (useless) before finally "guessing" ourselves back on track ! We completed a wide pass of a number of busy A roads before taking soup and afternoon tea at Broughton. Here we made our 2nd mistake by listening to a local (& ignoring our navigational devices) who not only sent us way out of our way but put as on some dodgy high speed roads.
With Kev faltering we finally took a direct route to our destination of Carstairs competing with speedy peak hour traffic riding on a road with bugger all verge (scary).
Both of us were seriously relived to finally enter Carstairs well after 5pm having travelled nearly 20kms more than we'd planned.
While Carstairs doesn't have a lot going for it (the pub we were staying in shut at 7pm) - it does at least have a train station and with horrendous weathered predicted for the next 24 hours the odds of us taking a train to the ferry harbour of Ardrossan tomorrow are pretty damned high !
Sent from my iPad
The day had started well enough on a chilly morning befitting Kev's arctic artire, when we escaped Innerleithen taking the Peebles rail trail right beside the river Tweed. Entering Peebles traffic picked up considerably as we soon realised that we were cycling near the major routes between Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Not far out of Peebles things started going horribly wrong as our navigation device took us on a 10km loop that included hills, forest trails, muddy paths and a river crossing before we finally realised that we were lost
With no confidence in navigational devices we took a day time celestial reading (useless) before finally "guessing" ourselves back on track ! We completed a wide pass of a number of busy A roads before taking soup and afternoon tea at Broughton. Here we made our 2nd mistake by listening to a local (& ignoring our navigational devices) who not only sent us way out of our way but put as on some dodgy high speed roads.
With Kev faltering we finally took a direct route to our destination of Carstairs competing with speedy peak hour traffic riding on a road with bugger all verge (scary).
Both of us were seriously relived to finally enter Carstairs well after 5pm having travelled nearly 20kms more than we'd planned.
While Carstairs doesn't have a lot going for it (the pub we were staying in shut at 7pm) - it does at least have a train station and with horrendous weathered predicted for the next 24 hours the odds of us taking a train to the ferry harbour of Ardrossan tomorrow are pretty damned high !
Sent from my iPad
Tuesday, June 11, 2019
En route to Innerleithen - 62 kms / 650 metres of climbing
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| Sustrans route sign |
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| Henley "hamming" it at a golf club near Dalkeith |
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| We've finally escaped the confines of Edinburgh |
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| Interesting collection ! |
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| Peaceful Innerleithen |
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| Another bloody golf course ! |
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| The wilds descending into Innerleithen |
A Black Dog Day !
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 !
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 !
Monday, June 10, 2019
Edinburgh Warm Up !
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| Chrictons Castle on the Forth ! |
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| Yep we're cycling on a golf course ! |
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| Edinburgh Castle |
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| The rain threatens near Falkirk |
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| The pre expedition pose |
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| Central Edinburgh |
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| Simons off road route ! |
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| It's pissing down ! |
Poodling the Forth !
Admittedly it wasn't the greatest start to our warm up day in Edinburgh when we got lost (temporarily mislaid) walking following breakfast after I'd read the online map upside down!
Problem corrected and ATM found, we had a wee bit of time to take in the beautiful views of Old Edinburgh on a magical sunny morning before gearing up to meet our friendly guide for the day a local "Endinburian" Dr Simon who I'd shared the agony and ecstacy of Tajikistan with in 2018 !
Simon took us on an Enid Bayton like explorer "poodling" (yes there is such a word) along beautiful cycling paths and trails generally following the massive Forth River towards Falkirk over the course of the day !
What a super ride this was taking us over all sorts of terrain including a golf course, steep stairs and muddy single track and sandy paths while viewing fabulous historic architecture including Castles, Mansions and Toll houses !
Lunching at Queensferry provided for great views of Edinburgh's 3 massive bridges across the Forth with its railway bridge the oldest having been built over 140 years ago!
After lunch an ominous moving black cloud mass finally burst to unleash some solid precipitation eventually ending our day of superb "poodling" and forcing us to head to the nearest railway Station to take the train back to Edinburgh which amazingly was still sunny!
What a fab days warm up ride and what great company thx so much Simon !
Tomorrow the tour starts for real and with sunrise around 3.30a.m. we have a little leeway in successfully making the 60km cycle in one complete day to IInnerleithen !
Sent from my iPad
Problem corrected and ATM found, we had a wee bit of time to take in the beautiful views of Old Edinburgh on a magical sunny morning before gearing up to meet our friendly guide for the day a local "Endinburian" Dr Simon who I'd shared the agony and ecstacy of Tajikistan with in 2018 !
Simon took us on an Enid Bayton like explorer "poodling" (yes there is such a word) along beautiful cycling paths and trails generally following the massive Forth River towards Falkirk over the course of the day !
What a super ride this was taking us over all sorts of terrain including a golf course, steep stairs and muddy single track and sandy paths while viewing fabulous historic architecture including Castles, Mansions and Toll houses !
Lunching at Queensferry provided for great views of Edinburgh's 3 massive bridges across the Forth with its railway bridge the oldest having been built over 140 years ago!
After lunch an ominous moving black cloud mass finally burst to unleash some solid precipitation eventually ending our day of superb "poodling" and forcing us to head to the nearest railway Station to take the train back to Edinburgh which amazingly was still sunny!
What a fab days warm up ride and what great company thx so much Simon !
Tomorrow the tour starts for real and with sunrise around 3.30a.m. we have a little leeway in successfully making the 60km cycle in one complete day to IInnerleithen !
Sent from my iPad
Sunday, June 9, 2019
When it all comes crashing down !
In slow motion it might have been poetic as the 2 full cups of wine and orange juice pirouetted in the air inside the aircraft cabin after we'd hit a brick wall of air turbulence that caused all unsecured items to be launched into space ! Played at full speed though it was just simply alarming as our drinks (read Kev's) smashed down upon us (read mainly me) from great height !
Now while we both copped the misfortune of the drinks and the extra security and customs checks prior to boarding and the mistakes that saw us waiting at the wrong departure gate and Kev lose his boarding pass, we both struggled after being slammed by Qatar Airlines with a $400 (200 each) surcharge for being 1.9kgs and 2.0kgs over weight respectively. This was despite the fact that we were 1.5 kegs under in our carry on - our agents suggestion that we reopen all our bike boxes (no knife no tape) and redistribute the weight (in Kev's case no room) was not overly helpful - thanks for nothing Qatar airlines !
While I was peeved Kev was slightly more pissed ! After remembering Kev's reaction in China in 2007 when the hotel demanded $2 off him for for a replacement pillow slip ("no way it's a matter of principle"!) I quickly paid the surcharge !
We'd both calmed down somewhat by the time of boarding and endured our 22 hours (even though I smelled like a wino for most of it) of flying by way of Doha before arriving to an amazingly sunny and mild day in Edinburgh !
After having made our way by taxi to our downtown accommodation and reassembled our bikes in our confined room it was finally time to start relaxing and start thinking about the trip to come - over of course a much needed pint of Scottish beer !
Sent from my iPad
Now while we both copped the misfortune of the drinks and the extra security and customs checks prior to boarding and the mistakes that saw us waiting at the wrong departure gate and Kev lose his boarding pass, we both struggled after being slammed by Qatar Airlines with a $400 (200 each) surcharge for being 1.9kgs and 2.0kgs over weight respectively. This was despite the fact that we were 1.5 kegs under in our carry on - our agents suggestion that we reopen all our bike boxes (no knife no tape) and redistribute the weight (in Kev's case no room) was not overly helpful - thanks for nothing Qatar airlines !
While I was peeved Kev was slightly more pissed ! After remembering Kev's reaction in China in 2007 when the hotel demanded $2 off him for for a replacement pillow slip ("no way it's a matter of principle"!) I quickly paid the surcharge !
We'd both calmed down somewhat by the time of boarding and endured our 22 hours (even though I smelled like a wino for most of it) of flying by way of Doha before arriving to an amazingly sunny and mild day in Edinburgh !
After having made our way by taxi to our downtown accommodation and reassembled our bikes in our confined room it was finally time to start relaxing and start thinking about the trip to come - over of course a much needed pint of Scottish beer !
Sent from my iPad
Wednesday, June 5, 2019
"Well Routed" !
10 years of OS bike touring has made us "near" experts in planning and navigating effectively ! Our well learned strategies now include 1) Always re-examine the planned cycle path (after ending up on a horse path complete with rocks going to Makinholes in 2011 2) Always double check the accommodation booking (numerous close calls having to share a double bed and the disaster of St Austell 2011 when we didnt find any available accommodation till 9.30pn at night ! 3) Always have a plan B (Henley missing the ferry in Norway in 2015 & numerous occurrences of taking the wrong turn and finally 4) have a back up navigation device (2011 my map blew into a canal and in 2015 when I ran over and smashed my Android navigation device - don't ask how !)
This time we're well equipped with 4 navigational aids and yes believe it or not one K Henley is primarily in charge of one of then and getting us out of Edinburgh on day 1!
After 7 days on the bike we work our way out to Oban covering some familiar territory including passing Kilmartin with its 5,000 year old accessible tombs should Kev decide that he's had enough !
Heading over to the Outer Hebrides we join up with Pommie Kev and wife Julia who will take charge of the team. The discussion here will almost certainly centre around who are the biggest cricket cheats (Aussie (sandpaper kings or the POMS with their Boiled lollies!)
Leaving Kev and Julia after the Isle of Skye we head along the Lochs to Inverness before climbing (yes climbing) one of UK's iconic routes over the Applecross Pass (some say on par with Diamond Creek's Perversi Ave in terms of gradient !)
Assuming we survive we then work or way along the stunning Isolated Nth West Coast of Scotland before turning around (when the cheap accommodation starts to dry up) and start following the National 1 Cycle route back along the coast from Aberdeen to Edinburgh !
Throw in some regional cycling over the 3-4 weeks that follow and this promises to be one hell of a tour !
This time we're well equipped with 4 navigational aids and yes believe it or not one K Henley is primarily in charge of one of then and getting us out of Edinburgh on day 1!
After 7 days on the bike we work our way out to Oban covering some familiar territory including passing Kilmartin with its 5,000 year old accessible tombs should Kev decide that he's had enough !
Heading over to the Outer Hebrides we join up with Pommie Kev and wife Julia who will take charge of the team. The discussion here will almost certainly centre around who are the biggest cricket cheats (Aussie (sandpaper kings or the POMS with their Boiled lollies!)
Leaving Kev and Julia after the Isle of Skye we head along the Lochs to Inverness before climbing (yes climbing) one of UK's iconic routes over the Applecross Pass (some say on par with Diamond Creek's Perversi Ave in terms of gradient !)
Assuming we survive we then work or way along the stunning Isolated Nth West Coast of Scotland before turning around (when the cheap accommodation starts to dry up) and start following the National 1 Cycle route back along the coast from Aberdeen to Edinburgh !
Throw in some regional cycling over the 3-4 weeks that follow and this promises to be one hell of a tour !
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