- Location
- Glasgow
Another awesome CC Ecosse cycling adventure has begun: get ready to read about bleary early morning starts, battles against the winds, epic drenching, laughter, sweat, tears, and, of course, the taking of many pictures.
As I am reporting from my tablet with no camera, the (many) pictures in my phone will be uploaded on an album on here when I get home.
The plan is we all meet in Carlisle to cycle on to the Lake District, where we have accommodation for the group booked from Friday to Monday.
@flyingfifi and I are cycling from the outskirts of Glasgow, along NCN 74 south.
Day one: Hamilton to Moffat - 50 miles.
I'm up at 4.15am ... argh! The plan is for me to cycle the 9 miles to Hamilton, then meet Fiona for an early getaway from the busy main roads before rush hour.
We meet at 6, cycle across Chatelherault country park, from where route 74 takes you all the way to Carlisle... or so we hope ...as per usual, we are entering the unknown by following a Sustrains route.
Will we be lead to a swampy bog or to the M8? What we need is a GoogleBike, that has access to paths where no bike has been before, would certainly avoid nasty cycling surprises!
After a dubious start - a steep slide downhill with a right turn onto a blind bend, and a steep gravel strewn uphill section, we make good progress out of Hamilton, then Larkhall. We want to reach Leismahagel well before rush hour. The main road, Carlisle road, we are following is quiet now, but a nightmare at peak times. We shall see how we will fare here on our return, planned for Wednesday mid afternoon.
The route, that follows the old road before the motorway was build, is actually quite pleasant to cycle on. One must always be alert though of the scarce traffic that passes these minor roads, they tend to be used as rat runs.
Roundabouts are dealt with crossings, not ideal but much better than having to ride them.
From Leismahagel, onto Abington then Moffat we rode steadily, it was plain sailing with no major hills.
Shame that in 20 years time that route will probably be impassable on a road bike, signs of neglect are showing already.
As (not) forecast for the day, the weather turned from rain to a heavy drizzle, to heavy rain. We got Moffat absolutely drenched.
The consumption of a big hot meal and the purchase of much cake and chocolate "for laters" made us forgive and forget the weather, eagerly planning next day's ride in high spirits.
I wonder how the heavily laden cyclist we met, heading to land's end, was coping with his Brooks saddle? It was giving him grief not even 400 miles into his journey!
To be continued.
As I am reporting from my tablet with no camera, the (many) pictures in my phone will be uploaded on an album on here when I get home.
The plan is we all meet in Carlisle to cycle on to the Lake District, where we have accommodation for the group booked from Friday to Monday.
@flyingfifi and I are cycling from the outskirts of Glasgow, along NCN 74 south.
Day one: Hamilton to Moffat - 50 miles.
I'm up at 4.15am ... argh! The plan is for me to cycle the 9 miles to Hamilton, then meet Fiona for an early getaway from the busy main roads before rush hour.
We meet at 6, cycle across Chatelherault country park, from where route 74 takes you all the way to Carlisle... or so we hope ...as per usual, we are entering the unknown by following a Sustrains route.
Will we be lead to a swampy bog or to the M8? What we need is a GoogleBike, that has access to paths where no bike has been before, would certainly avoid nasty cycling surprises!
After a dubious start - a steep slide downhill with a right turn onto a blind bend, and a steep gravel strewn uphill section, we make good progress out of Hamilton, then Larkhall. We want to reach Leismahagel well before rush hour. The main road, Carlisle road, we are following is quiet now, but a nightmare at peak times. We shall see how we will fare here on our return, planned for Wednesday mid afternoon.
The route, that follows the old road before the motorway was build, is actually quite pleasant to cycle on. One must always be alert though of the scarce traffic that passes these minor roads, they tend to be used as rat runs.
Roundabouts are dealt with crossings, not ideal but much better than having to ride them.
From Leismahagel, onto Abington then Moffat we rode steadily, it was plain sailing with no major hills.
Shame that in 20 years time that route will probably be impassable on a road bike, signs of neglect are showing already.
As (not) forecast for the day, the weather turned from rain to a heavy drizzle, to heavy rain. We got Moffat absolutely drenched.
The consumption of a big hot meal and the purchase of much cake and chocolate "for laters" made us forgive and forget the weather, eagerly planning next day's ride in high spirits.
I wonder how the heavily laden cyclist we met, heading to land's end, was coping with his Brooks saddle? It was giving him grief not even 400 miles into his journey!
To be continued.
... but you knew that anyway ... 
Good morning campers, shame about the
hopefully the 
will shine on you all later
where I stood behind Pat while she explained to everyone that I had had to go back and would catch them up in a little while if they could just wait a moment 
)
