Northern England & Scotland

Aviemore to Blair Atholl
76km

 Apart from the stiff headwind, I had a great ride today. I didn't have to venture onto the busy A9 today and in fact, 80% of my ride was on disused roads and dedicated cycle paths - once again these are all part of National Cycle Route 7. Besides having whole roadways and paths to myself (I didn't actually see any other cyclists on the route either), the scenery was probably the best I've had of the trip so far - really spectacular mountain and valley views that I could stop and admire as I wished.

 It was a hard slog into the headwind to reach the summit of Drumochter Pass at 450 metres, but a nice ride down mostly cyclepath that undulated, twisted and turned a little and was full of small bridges across streams etc. I stopped for second breaky in Kingussie, as I didn't want to get skunked as I did yesterday with my quick exit from Inverness, but there were other tea rooms and cafes along the route anyway - I stopped at most of them regardless!

 The sun kept hiding behind clouds for the most of the morning and I wasn't unhappy about that as I had some steady climbing and was grateful for cooler temperatures. Once I arrived in Blair Atholl, the sun came out in full force and it was quite hot compared to the slightly higher altitudes that I had been in the last two days.

 Blair Atholl is a small village, but popular with the tourists for the "most visited castle in Scotland." The village was obviously once part of the castle estate where the commoners lived and worked for the Laird. Some interesting stuff around as well; a working watermill, where everyone had to have their grain milled - it is still in operation avec the Tea Room that sells delicious cakes and scones from the on site milled flour. The local pub is full of character and also serves micro-brewed ales - lovely! I'm certainly getting a good sampling of pubs and ales on this trip - Oh, and pub-grub too!

 There are two caravan and camping parks here and one was so full that they couldn't even squeeze my little tent in. The other one is a huge park next to the castle and almost full too - probably 500 sites here! A little pricey, but I've paid more in Ontario, Canada Provincial Parks for less amenities. Lots of travellers from all over here, so no problem with interesting conversations. The pub's very close too, so that's a bonus for an after dinner venue.

More tomorrow...

 

Adam K. & (don't suppose I'll get to go to the pub!) Basil.

 

Blair Atholl to Kinross
103km

 A tough day in the saddle today - I think that I had everything thrown at me today. I wanted to avoid riding on the A9 again and was somewhat fortunate to find another marked bike route to Perth - Cycle Route #77 this time. I say "somewhat fortunate," because the trade-off was a very hilly and round-about route. Sometimes the route strayed onto unpaved paths that were in poor condition and at other times I found myself on very narrow and undulating roads - these routes would be great for bikes with minimal load, but with a full touring load it was difficult and tiring riding.

 The weather couldn't have been much worse either, it rained heavily last night, but it was sunny this morning - not for long though! I put my somewhat wet tent away and after the usual porridge and banana took off. Not long after, the sun disappeared to be replaced by grey/black clouds and periodic heavy rain squalls all the way to Kinross. To add to this pleasure, I also had the same very stiff headwind as yesterday. So it was on and off with raingear all day long. I really wanted to have a quick look around Perth as it seems a very nice city, with a paved central core etc. But it was raining when I got there and all I could manage to do was find a nice warm tea room for quick lunch and then I was off again. I almost ended up on the motorway leaving there too - there's quite a conglomeration of roads leaving Perth.

 Anyway, I arrived in Kinross - no hostel here. By then, the weather wasn't looking too bad again, so I found a camping park at a farm. I just pitched my tent, had a shower and rode back into the town for a couple of cans of beer. Almost as soon as I got back the heavens opened up again - this time with extremely high winds. My tent almost folded up on itself and I was getting pretty worried - beer was getting warm too! But it was over in about ten minutes with light rain following. So I'm sat in my vestibule with my siltarp hooked onto a picnic table for an awning/shelter. Yes, a picnic table! First one and at the cheapest campsite yet at £4! I must mention, that my old tent performed better in high winds than this one, I'm not too impressed with it right now - and I'll be even less so in the morning if something lets go during the night. Constant rain while I'm typing this - time to cook as well - I should have opted for a B&B tonight! Well, I'll be in Edinburgh tomorrow, so things will look better from a soft bed!

 All in all a long hard ride today with crappy weather. I did see a deer today though, first one I've seen here - of course, they're common in Canada, but here there are definitely more elusive. Also spied two white tailed red squirrels today, but with the weather, today was not good photo-op day - little buggers were too fast anyway.

 By the way, I have passed numerous whisky distilleries, but often they are not open for tours when I go by. The one in Oban - quite a famous one, was open, but the queue of people waiting outside to visit was horrendous. I'm big a fan of Scotch whisky, especially single malt, but the queuing didn't appeal to me and realistically, the stuff you buy off the shelf is exactly what they are showing you here.

More tomorrow...

 

Adam K. & (this is more than Scottish Mist - this is bloody wet!) Basil.

 

Kinross to Edinburgh
50km

 What a wet night, it poured all night, but thankfully fizzled out this morning long enough for me to pack up the wet tent.

 I skipped the usual breakfast and headed out for Kelty, which was a few miles away, where I found a dry cafe for a cooked breakfast. Just as well that I had that breakfast as the route into Edinburgh city is not too long, but quite the conglomeration of roads and paths. The highlight of the day was riding over the Forth road bridge - pretty cool even if it was shaking pretty good in the strong crosswinds! Unfortunately, the east path over the bridge was closed for maintenance, so I had to find my way to the other side and once over I had to cross again - sounds easy, but it wasn't.

 Once over I helped out a couple of other touring cyclists with their intended route north over the bridge. There is a cycle route into the city from the bridge, but it is 15km of back streets (through questionable neighbourhoods), sidewalks, golf course paths and ginnals - Needless to say that it was a challenging but short ride. Once into the downtown, I had a hard time finding the tourist info place, and once I did, it was packed, so I picked up a street map and realised that luckily I was very close to the hostel.

 I've seen more cycle tourers today than previously on this trip - Edinburgh seems to be a draw for many of them - but it is also where at least two National bike routes pass through. It was handy at the tourist info as a Dutch lady cyclist offered to watch my bike while I fought the throng of other information seekers clammering at the very busy desks of the tourism staff.
 So I rode to the hostel, got checked in and stowed the bike and gear in the hostel's secure bike garage until my room would be ready later in the afternoon. Then I wandered off into downtown Edinburgh - I've been here before, but seemed to have forgotten the mass of humanity that was/is around. Nevertheless, I'll have a good rest day tomorrow - no lack of sightseeing opportunities here. While I was waiting, I wandered off for a late pub lunch - I realised that I was very close to the Greyfriars Bobby's Pub, so that's where I ended up for my pub lunch - quite busy it was too.

 The weather actually improved today as I rode towards the city - sunny but windy, so about halfway I stopped for a rest and managed to get my tent dried out to save me a job later today. Forecast is for rain tomorrow, but clearing for Thursday - that's good for me, I'd rather sight-see in the rain than ride in it!

More in a couple of days...

Adam K. & (Where did all these people come from?) Basil.

 

Rest Day - Edinburgh

 

Views from around Edinburgh

Edinburgh to Melrose
103km

 Yesterday's rest day was a total washout weather-wise - heavy rain just about all day. So it was a good day not to be riding and a good day spent ducking in and out of the attractions, pubs and eating establishments! Believe me, Edinburgh has no shortage of pubs - I merely scratched the surface!

 Today it was much easier leaving the big city than it was entering. I picked up the bike route about half a mile south of my hostel. I was going to ride to the coast, but changed my mind and decided to follow Cycle Route #1 for a while anyway. I'm glad that I did, as I had a very pleasant ride over the Moorfoot hills from Dalkeith to Innerleithen - and although the route was hilly with climbs to about 400 metres, the scenery was fabulous and the weather was perfect too - lots of sun, but not too hot.

 I had smaller rivers for company going south which flowed into the River Tweed that I followed east. The route kept me off major roads and had me riding on relatively car-free backroads, with sheep a plenty. I had to stop at one point and let a herd of them pass me - they were covering the whole road - I realised that there was actually someone tending them after a little while - the Shepard and dog were not visible over the crest of a hill. Good job I saw them - it looked like an angry mob looking for lamb curry eaters at first!

 Melrose is a very nice clean little village with a hostel and super clean campground - I elected to camp tonight as the weather was fairly good - although I've had to put my fleece jacket on as a strong wind has whipped up and cooled things off somewhat - according to reports there should be no rain until Sunday - I hope that it's further away than that too! Melrose has an good sized Abbey/ruin, so it is quite an attraction for the tourist buses to stop here - makes for reasonable amenities in the small village too. One of the local pubs had Tetley's beer on tap - of course I couldn't resist! The better pubs seem to advertise "Real Ale," still have hand pull pumps and bring in "guest beers," - I see myself as the "guest beer" drinker!

 Anyway, I'll be following Cycle Route 1 for a while tomorrow, then I'll head for the coast down to the Newcastle area. I met quite a few cycle tourers today, and one Dutch couple told me that there is a cycle tunnel and ferry across the river Tyne, so that is a help with my plans, as I was trying to avoid the big city of Newcastle as much as possible.

More tomorrow...

Adam K. & (how about a "guest beaver?") Basil.

 

Melrose to Berwick-upon-Tweed
70km

 A shorter day today and it was nice to arrive in Berwick-upon-Tweed at a reasonable hour and do some sightseeing of the old walled town. Of course, today was my last day in Scotland as Berwick is in England - although it did change hands many times through the centuries - interesting and busy little town.

 I found a campsite just south of the Berwick bridge - another one of the caravan club sites that the Melrose campground was affiliated with too. Very clean with modern facilities, and today with a view overlooking the harbour and pier in Berwick.

 The weather for the ride today was ok - a little cloudy, but comfortable for cycling. After putting up my tent and showering, I rode back into town to get some supplies. Along the way, I saw some other cycle tourers who seemed to be looking for something - campground perhaps? Dutch people again - for once, the Germans have been outnumbered for my encounters with cyclists. I've met Dutch people very frequently - I suppose that it is easy for them to visit now with the ferry from Holland to the Newcastle area and with EU restrictions being minimal for visitors from other EU countries.

 So a relatively easy ride today except for the bugs - very small flies, not midges, that would cover me constantly. It was very annoying as they would find their way into every nook and cranny - my glasses kept getting covered and they would stick to my bare arms and legs - this went on for miles and miles, pretty well half the ride today. I was glad to get here and have a shower to wash the little buggers off.

 I know that I keep complaining how expensive it is here, but it only makes me realise that we have it quite good in Canada regarding our living expenses. The only things that I found moderately cheaper here are beer and wine - yes, two of life's essentials, but food costs soon offset the small benefit of cheap booze. As I mentioned, petrol is expensive, but so is my fuel - food - so even though I don't have to fill up at the gas station, I still take a hit at the food store. But I guess that if I was driving, I'd have to do both wouldn't I?

 Anyway, that was just a couple of things that I pondered today. I don't plan on riding far for the next few days as I will be following the cycle route along the east coast, which is hilly, but scenic with side trips to various attractions and scenic venues.

More tomorrow...

 

Adam K. & (I'm glad that I wasn't facing forward chewing those bugs all day) Basil.