The day started off wet and after having said my goodbyes at the hostel I was flying through the lanes. The surprise that I'd covered 15 miles in the first hour made me feel good. Bend after bend with long slow climbs a made my way up, a sign greeting me as I crossed into Scotland at Coldstream. I had lunch overlooking a wind farm and enjoyed laying in the grass against my bike watching them rotate as I ate. I was soon off again and made it to Edinburgh at about 3pm, having grown a dislike for Jaguar drivers who seemed to make me a target for the afternoon.
Having spent an hour riding round seeing all the points of the city yes I was lost I found my way out onto the A90, but about half way down it said no cycles not i saw no way foo so I just kept going Hoping that the Forth Road Bridge allowed bikes across otherwise i was in for a 40 mile round trip. Luckily it did and I had reached Dunfermline by 5.30pm having narrowly avoided being struck by a couple of cars.
Tonight I stay with an old Uni friend Rach, her partner James a good lad and their lovely daughter Sarah. And if your reading this Rach, I loved the chilli Spaghetti Bolongnase.
Saturday 11 September 2010
Day 6 Newcastle to Wooler 60 miles
Left Newcastle at about 10am and got half a mile to the pedestrian tunnel under the tyne where i was told the lifts were out of order and I needed to be shuttled over to the other side in an mpv with a trailer. Had a chat with the Raleigh racer rider who'd just got of work about the renovations to the tunnel and then was off again through the back lanes of northern Newcastle. I got lost and spent quite a while looking for the A192 but finally found it on a slip road and was away again.
This led me to Morpeth where i had lunch in the shadow of the war memorial. having set off again i discovered a beautiful flower garden just around the corner where i could have sat instead. still. A fellow cyclist complimented me, I think, on my outfit. telling me the colour suited me down to the ground followed by a horse laugh.
I headed for the A697 and was on the A1 for all of 30 seconds before filtering off onto the picturesque lanes of the Northumberland countryside. Several points of interest broke the monotony apart from the scenery. they included a cattery called Complete Catisfaction (you can see what they did there)an overgrown old style garage and a telephone box with its door ripped off and left at a 45 degree angle inside the box. The rain was intermittent and it had been raining on me for 30 sec before i noticed it but i managed to out ride the rain clouds and didn't get too wet. I took a quick detour to see an old Tor which saw me sneaking through a farmers field for pictures before returning to my route and heading up to the YHA hostel that had kindly been donated by Mic the owner. Though i did call him Chris when i arrived, doh.Fairly standard YHA room and had a chat with some walkers Mick, Bob, and Ruth before heading to bed.
This led me to Morpeth where i had lunch in the shadow of the war memorial. having set off again i discovered a beautiful flower garden just around the corner where i could have sat instead. still. A fellow cyclist complimented me, I think, on my outfit. telling me the colour suited me down to the ground followed by a horse laugh.
I headed for the A697 and was on the A1 for all of 30 seconds before filtering off onto the picturesque lanes of the Northumberland countryside. Several points of interest broke the monotony apart from the scenery. they included a cattery called Complete Catisfaction (you can see what they did there)an overgrown old style garage and a telephone box with its door ripped off and left at a 45 degree angle inside the box. The rain was intermittent and it had been raining on me for 30 sec before i noticed it but i managed to out ride the rain clouds and didn't get too wet. I took a quick detour to see an old Tor which saw me sneaking through a farmers field for pictures before returning to my route and heading up to the YHA hostel that had kindly been donated by Mic the owner. Though i did call him Chris when i arrived, doh.Fairly standard YHA room and had a chat with some walkers Mick, Bob, and Ruth before heading to bed.
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