Scotland : Perthshire CC Ecosse - October 18th - Around the Tay in 90k

[Edwardoka]

Oh, hello there. I didn't hear you come in.

Take a seat, I'll be with you in a moment.
*finishes scribbling on a map*

Okay, now then, I take it you are here to inquire about the expedition? Bally good show! Such spirit!
Let me quickly run through the itinerary and plans with you and then if you're still interested I'll take your details!

The date on offer is Saturday the 18th of October in the year 2014.
I propose, gentlemen and ladies, that we head east to find the infamous "Bridge of Tay", long-rumoured to exist in the far-flung eastern reaches. Upon reaching this mysterious construction, we will cross it, and, if all goes well, we will return and prove ourselves worthy of the titles that Queen Victoria will doubtless bestow upon such excellent explorers!

• The Ride - Clockwise around the Tay from Perth via Dundee and Newburgh
• Meeting place - By the statue on Charlotte Street, Perth https://goo.gl/maps/Q6VZU
• Route - http://ridewithgps.com/routes/5959227 (90 km / 56 miles (with options to extend))
• Terrain - 2800 feet of climbing, mostly flat, some lumps, a couple of big hills
• Ride time - 4-5 hours
• Stops - Options for food at Dundee (mile 23), Newport-on-Tay (mile 25) and Newburgh (mile 40)
• Start Time - 10am

The 3 key rules of CC Ecosse Forum Rides, as always, will apply:

• NO ONE gets left behind
• ANY BIKE will do
• There WILL BE CAKE (or brioche, if you're a Marie Antoinette fan!)

IMPORTANT:
Unfortunately, the cycle path provision between Newburgh and Perth is negligible at best and the direct route involves some miles on a fast, busy A-road. There is a shonky path alongside for some of it but I'd be remiss in my duties if I didn't tell you that. I rode along said fast A-road a couple of months ago and it was unfun.

I have managed to route around some of it but there is an element of wandering to avoid the worst of it. (Any further routing would involve adding a ~15 mile diversion via some decidedly hilly, beautiful but definitely off-road routes, so for the sake of sanity I'll assume we'd go for the more direct option, skirting the main road wherever possible).

A kindly old gent by the name of @Fubar raised some concerns about my "diversion" as it adds quite a bit of "texture" to the route - it may be that on the day we cast caution to the wind and take the short dash back to Perth!

So, my dear friends, *leans forward, conspiratorially* are you in... or are you out?

The current crew list, having been thoroughly checked and de-politicised (My manservant McSmiggins got a terrible case of the nether-scuttles while compiling this and all he could talk about was people named after fish), looks like:
In

@Edwardoka
@Fubar
@ShooglyDougie
@ska1903
@Somebuddy
@dhd.evans
@GBC (barring pestilence)

Out

@Mo1959 (GWS!)
@Mr_Grieve
@scook94 (Have fun in the far east - and give my regards to the ambassador's wife!)
@Telemark
@edindave and his dandy horse
@Col5632
@arranandy
@MikeW-71
@AlanT82
@tug benson (wuss!)
@Louch (wuss!)

If McSmiggins has left anyone off the list or has put you in the wrong place, please let me know and I will ensure that it is updated in a more timely manner.

 

[Fubar]

My Dearest Edmund

It was with great interest I heard of plans for your forthcoming expedition, as always your attention to detail and keen eye for an opportunity pricked my curiousity. I have most enjoyed our previous excursions.

I have partaken of your "poll" and placed my feet (or should I say wheels) firmly in the 11th or 18th camp, however should it be the will of group to commence the trip on the 4th I will, obviously, reconsider.

Having examined your map I would be inclined to question some elements of your route planning, however that is a minor detail upon which deliberation will no doubt take place over the forthcoming weeks - I'm sure you are despatching scouts as we speak to ensure every detail of the route is correct.

I may also reserve the right to add some covert mileage of my own...

Moreover, may I highly recommend an eatery in Newburgh operating out of a motor vehicle stabling area at the edge of town - a most pleasant respite for the weary traveller.

Please therefore add my moniker to your list and I shall expectantly await further instruction. I suspect, knowing you as I do that in encouraging participants to add their names to your "Yes" list you are invoking some form of subliminal politicking - well you don't catch me out so easily Young Edmund!

Yours In Cycling, Bertie

 

[Edwardoka]

Splendid, my good man! You will be an asset to the team!

I have added your name to the list and have dispatched my butler Errol to notify my supporters, whose patronage is certain to guarantee success!
(If we should happen to encounter that jumped up garbage scow the RRS Discovery we will be able to thumb our noses at it as we fly past!)

I would be delighted to hear of your suggestions for alternate routes, it would be remiss of me to ignore a proven expedition leader of your calibre!

I have also considered that the route, instead of descending to the Carse of Gowrie immediately from Kinnoul Hill, continues to thread through the Carse Hills before dropping down to Invergowrie further east, but appreciate that not all potential adventurers are as fond of sloughing up hills as you are.

Best wishes and bon voyage!
p.p. Edmund Pugglesworth IV Esq.

 

[Fubar]

Sir, there appears to be a rather unnecessary diversion after Bridge of Earn which, if my quadrant is to be believed adds some unsavoury climbing to the end of this expedition - the men may not take well to such indulgence. I however intend to detour South prior to that point so care not a jot for your distractions.

Of the Carse of Gowrie I know naught, you could inform me that a herd of wild buffalo run a tea shop there and I would have no other option but to believe you. Navigating the route West of Newburgh I do have some experience of, careful traversing should see us safe passage.

Lastly I will gratefully join you in any scoffing towards that publicity-seeking scoundrel Scott and his Motley Crew, however lets keep that plan just between us for now - you know Mother frowns upon such talk around the dinner table.

 

[Edwardoka]

Sir, there appears to be a rather unnecessary diversion after Bridge of Earn which, if my quadrant is to be believed adds some unsavoury climbing to the end of this expedition - the men may not take well to such indulgence. I however intend to detour South prior to that point so care not a jot for your distractions.

Of the Carse of Gowrie I know naught, you could inform me that a herd of wild buffalo run a tea shop there and I would have no other option but to believe you. Navigating the route West of Newburgh I do have some experience of, careful traversing should see us safe passage.

Lastly I will gratefully join you in any scoffing towards that publicity-seeking scoundrel Scott and his Motley Crew, however lets keep that plan just between us for now - you know Mother frowns upon such talk around the dinner table.

I think we scared everyone away, at this rate it will just be us hitching our breeches and riding our velocipedes
May I ask, good sir, how it is that you came to know so much about writing in this particular idiom?

Regarding the diversion, the carriageway that my plan routes around is not appealing, I'd sooner risk losing fingers and being attacked by penguins alongside Amundsen and Shackleton than trying to lead a mixed-ability troupe of velocipedes along it! "Rule 5 take the lane wuss" should not be in the vocabulary of 19th century gentlemen such as you or I!

Presumably by your intention to ride south, this means that you would be climbing up to Auchtermuchty and thenceforward travelling directly across the so-called "Kingdom of Fife", what a silly place! They haven't even got a King!

 

[tug benson]

count me in, any date is fine

 

[Mr_Grieve]

4th and 11th should be fine so I'm a yes for these dates. I'm working the 18th and whilst I'm looking to swap, the kids are at a loose end and I doubt I'll be allowed out to play.If going I'll be able to offer a lift to any fellow Fifers (or possibly meet up in West Fife for a longer ride depending what the rest of the family is up to).

 

[Fubar]

4th and 11th should be fine so I'm a yes for these dates. I'm working the 18th and whilst I'm looking to swap, the kids are at a loose end and I doubt I'll be allowed out to play.If going I'll be able to offer a lift to any fellow Fifers (or possibly meet up in West Fife for a longer ride depending what the rest of the family is up to).

I'll be riding up from Dunfermline via Kinross, Milnathort, Glenfarg and Bridge of Earn so can meet you at any of these points if you fancy the longer ride, date dependent.

 

[Fubar]

I think we scared everyone away, at this rate it will just be us hitching our breeches and riding our velocipedes
May I ask, good sir, how it is that you came to know so much about writing in this particular idiom?

Regarding the diversion, the carriageway that my plan routes around is not appealing, I'd sooner risk losing fingers and being attacked by penguins alongside Amundsen and Shackleton than trying to lead a mixed-ability troupe of velocipedes along it! "Rule 5 take the lane wuss" should not be in the vocabulary of 19th century gentlemen such as you or I!

Presumably by your intention to ride south, this means that you would be climbing up to Auchtermuchty and thenceforward travelling directly across the so-called "Kingdom of Fife", what a silly place! They haven't even got a King!

Alas no, the road to Auchtermuchty is challenging beyond even my steed and I - my preference will be to make for the safety of the Bein Inn and, God-willing the good villages of Glenfarg, Milnathort and Kinross before running the gauntlet of Cowdenbeath (where neither fine men nor fair maiden reside) as quickly as possible to reach the safety of my fireside.

The Pictish kings of ye olde Fife have long since departed these lands so the title whilst traditional, sadly no longer can be claimed to be accurate.

 

[Edwardoka]

Alas no, the road to Auchtermuchty is challenging beyond even my steed and I - my preference will be to make for the safety of the Bein Inn and, God-willing the good villages of Glenfarg, Milnathort and Kinross before running the gauntlet of Cowdenbeath (where neither fine men nor fair maiden reside) as quickly as possible to reach the safety of my fireside.

Possibly a diversion could be made; these places sound like wonderful locations (apart from Kinross. Let us speak no more of that midge-bound wasteland hell and its rain-magnet loch) and mayhap we could divert the route to some of these places, see you on your way before looping back towards Perth, avoiding the more dangerous route!
Furthermore, my stable boy Smiggins speaks of a new-fangled railroad across Fife that goes up that way, but sadly the cur knows not where it stops to allow esteemed gents and ladies to alight. Would that be a possibility, in your mind?

 

[ShooglyDougie]

Aye, should make any of the dates, looks good to me.

 

[Fubar]

Possibly a diversion could be made; these places sound like wonderful locations (apart from Kinross. Let us speak no more of that midge-bound wasteland hell and its rain-magnet loch) and mayhap we could divert the route to some of these places, see you on your way before looping back towards Perth, avoiding the more dangerous route!
Furthermore, my stable boy Smiggins speaks of a new-fangled railroad across Fife that goes up that way, but sadly the cur knows not where it stops to allow esteemed gents and ladies to alight. Would that be a possibility, in your mind?

Sir, take that rogue Smiggins out and horse-whip him until begs for his dung eating mother! I shall not contemplate any form of steam other than that which I myself give off - I blame these acursed locomotives not only for the current obesity epidemic we are witness to (have you seen the size of Mrs Miggins lately??) but also worrying my sheep to the point that the poor beasts tremble when I approach them! 'Tis naught but a fad.

Nay, I shall see the group to Aberargie and no further - though I have heard mention in hushed whispers at The Club of a "Wicks of Baiglie" road which, if rumour is to be believed is enough to stiffen the breeches of even the hardiest of men.

But such talk of derring-do is for the future! I shall take my leave, good day to you Sir.

 

[MikeW-71]

This looks nice, but as usual, I don't know my rotas yet, I'll keep an eye out

 

[tug benson]

Why am I reading mark and ed's replies to each other as if it's a sex novel

 

[Mo1959]

Well, my collar bone won't be strong enough in time for this ride but I have certainly enjoyed reading the thread!