Monday 30 May 2016
Because we pushed on further than expected or planned yesterday I cannot share today’s route with you because it is a journey into the unknown!
We have a discussion over our breakfast of tea and granola and consider the possibility of cycling the route we had planned to take over three days but do it in two days instead…..I know and we hadn’t even been drinking!
A quick bit of mental arithmetic throws up a figure of around 105 miles for the day if we want it to work . It’s bold, if not borderline insane but as a team we agree to give it a go and so at 7am we leave Hawick and head off into the wind and mist
It’s a long, hard not to mention cold, wet and windy, slog up and over from Hawick along the A7. I am certain the scenery is spectacular but we see very little of it save the odd glimpses…
Dan (obviously) finds something new to break today in the form of the cleat in his shoe….
Although a quick bit of fettling later and we are on our way.
There is a quick bit of second breakfast in Lauder…..
And then we push on further into Borders country.
The A7 turns into the A68 and as we approach Edinburgh there is a very large, very clear traffic sign saying that bikes MUST turn off and take the cycle route into Edinburgh. Marc and I dutifully turn off but Dan steams on for a other mile or so. Marc heads off in pursuit shouting and yelling and eventually Dan slows up and turns around.
The cycle path through Edinburgh is well signed and largely uneventful save for a short stop to pick up sandwiches for lunch and so we press on to and over the Forth Bridge
We are still smiling at this stage but we still had over 40 miles to go and it doesn't last!
There is a navigation issue immediately after the bridge in that the sat nav wants us to cruise up the A90 which in fact no longer exists. It’s now the M90 and we are not allowed on it. This is the beginning of what quickly becomes a full on sense of humour failure for all three of us. After many hills, wrong turns heated exchanges and asking of locals we eventually find a route (via Dunfermline and cycle route one) that gets us back on track.
The last 15 miles or so are a blur of pain, tiredness and a few tears but after what seems an eternity we eventually roll into Scone camping site. It is an eye watering 110 miles, 6500 feet of climbing and 11 and half hours since we left Hawick and we have turned ourselves inside out to make it to the scheduled day eleven stop a day early.
But we have made it….tomorrow that will probably sink in as a major achievement. Today all we can think about is sleep.