Dungeness to Durness

[mcshroom]

Take 2 - Day 1

Today started very much as the last day of the first attempt. A train up to Carlisle and then north, over the border into Gretna. My Achilles decided not to give up this time though, so I set off into the wind up the B7076 towards Lockerbie.

If anyone has ridden LEJOG, you've probably slogged up this road. It's the old A74 which has been superseded by the motorway built next to it. It's long, rough and pretty boring, but you can make good progress.

I passed through the amusingly named Ecclefechan and on to Lockerbie, where I took a detour. In 1988 a Pan am airliner was blown up by a bomb over the border town in December 1988, killing all the people on the plane, and 11 people on the ground. About a mile outside the town is a remembrance garden to all those victims. On the memorial there was a freshly laid university scarf for the American students on the plane, and a laminated poster with pictures of the flight crew. It was obvious to see that even 1000s of miles away, the friends and relatives are still visiting and paying respects, 30 years on.

Leaving the garden, the wind turned and I rode on to Johnstonebridge where I had lunch, and saw another touring cycilst pass me on an upright trike. Then on towards Moffat and the pass to St Mary's Loch. I've ridden that road before while audaxing, but Today, with a strong tailwind, the pass was actually easier than I remembered it.

On the way up I got overflow by what looked like a Spitfire!

On round the loch, past a decorative AA box and then I got another flyover. This time a Typhoon jet that must have only been a few hundred feet up as it roared overhead.

Turning away from tyhe lochside I climbed one more pass, through hillsides that were a patchwork of logging, fully grown trees and newly planted areas, before dropping down the other side and rolling into Innerleithen earlier than expected.

I hope I get the tailwind over to Kinross tomorrow, though if it gets much stronger I might have problems with the Forth Road Bridge!

 

[mmmmartin]

Am v pleased to see you go back - very audacious. Was pleased to be at the start of all this and would like to be at the end, but circumstances.

 

[mcshroom]

Day 2

There was a little drizzle in the air as I set off from the hotel. That's not too surprising; I've climbed the hill out of Innerleithen towards Edinburgh 3 times, and been rained on each time.

Before leaving the village, I picked up 3 Glenfinnan Viaducts and a Forth bridge from an ATM. Then set out up the hill towards the low clouds.

The first climb is gentle but unrelenting. It passes through a golf course (where I almost gained an inattentive passenger) and then snaking up a twisting valley, following the stream that in prehistoric times must have carved this valley out of the hill. Occasionally a farm house appears, and as tributaries fan off to their own indentations in the hills, the valley sides come closer and closer to the edge of the road until you reach a cutting at 360m up.

After that the road drops away into the next, hanging valley, losing a good 100m or so before setting up for the next windy crawl, passing through cuttings and over large emankments built to tame the steepsided cuttings at great effort.

At a little over 400m the road finally tops out, and there's a Sustrans marker. There's also a ditch in front of it that I managed to fall into trying to set up my photo

Then it's a quick decent towards Edinburgh, interspersed with short stabby climbs as it picks it's way through tree lined valleys towards Bonnyrigg. After that I headed into the city, past the University and through a city park full of joggers before picking up NCN1 again towards the Firth of Forth.

It was the first time I'd crossed the FRB since the new third bridge had been opened. The difference it made to the crossing was amazing. Gone is the constant noise of cars and trucks thundering past on the dual carriageway. Instead it was pleasantly quiet. The sun even came out, giving a great view of the road bridge's more famous sibling. It was still windy though, which in the middle of the bridge on a very deck was a little unnerving.

In Inverkeithing I stopped at a bakery for a custard slice and a sandwich, before the final assault on the Hill of Beath, and then north along another B road usurped by the motorway it now shadows, past the views over towards Loch Leven and on to Kinross for today's hotel.

It felt like hard work for some reason today, but that's a third of the ride down. Tomorrow I head over the highest road in Britain as I hit the Cairngorms and head for Braemar.

https://www.relive.cc/view/1867025520

 

[mcshroom]

Day 3

There's something unmistakable about an old Scottish town. The main street lined with low, stone built houses and shops, often with dormer windows instead of a full second floor seems to start in the borders and carry on throughout the country. Kinross was no exception.

I headed out past the solid sandstone buildings and on into the countryside towards Perth. Perth & Kinross council have made a lot of back roads 'walking and cycling friendly'. This seems to mean that the speed limit is dropped to 40 outside of villages, and that they put signs up informing you of this friendliness, usually at the bottom of another steep bank. I followed a number of these over a range of hills, before diving steeply down to Bridge of Earn and then one more climb allowed me to drop onto Perth.

Unlike the low-built towns, the city of Perth obviously wanted to squeeze in more stuff between the river and it's green parks, so a lot of contrasting and ornate architecture, still fashioned from the yellow local sandstone, is squeezed into the grid-like streets. I was here for the bridge and road out, however, so passed over exploring and instead struck out up and along the A94 towards Cupar Angus.

This road passed Scone (of stone fame) and then Perth airport, where I kept up my daily flyover, this time from a small light aircraft.

After that I turned further east, into lanes lined with fields of cauliflower, potatoes and rolled hay that was lined up in long catterpillars. There were no sheep or cows here. The land between Perth and the mountains to the North is quite definitely veg country.

A weatherfront from the North found me around midday, and for the first time on tour I needed my waterproof. It passed over quickly, however and the coat was soon removed, long before I stopped for lunch at Alynth.

Soup and coffee consumed it was then time to start climbing. Up into Glenisla, through steep sided hills and following an upwards trending but undulating path through fields, now filled with sheep, big Brown cows and a surprising number of pheasants. The hills got more and more rugged, and the scenery spectacular. Then with one final dive over a stream the road deposited me onto the A93 and lined me up for today's big test, the Cairnwell past Glenshee ski centre. The road stunned up and down for what felt like ages, giving and taking 20-30 metres at a time, before finally making a concerted assault on the mountainside. I switched into my bottom gear and slowly ground my way from 350 to over 670m, before gratefully topping out at the sign at the top. Unfortunately the highest A road in Britain doesn't get a proper Col sign, just a big Aberdeenshire One, and an advert for the ski village cafe.

Now I thought this was just a simple matter of rolling the 8 miles down to Grammar, so I put on my padded jacket and full finger gloves then set off down the initial plunge. This was the time the wind got up and rain came over the mountains into my valley. I quickly stopped to put on my waterproof, but it wasn't really made to fit over the other jacket, so I ended up riding down the hill (which had more uphill than my mind decided it should, and a headwind) feeling like the Michelin man. Eventually I rolled into Braemar and the youth hostel, where I warmed up in the drying room before I felt able to make up my bed for tonight.

Tomorrow I head through another ski centre, before heading out of the Cairngorms and down to the Estuary city of Inverness. I'm half way there

Today's route - https://www.relive.cc/view/1869352103
PS: My watch is really stingy with the altitude. The Cairnwell pass is 670m according to Wikipedia, not 512m as the video shows

 

[mmmmartin]

Great stuff. Scotland is really quite big isn't it?

 

[mcshroom]

Big, high, remote - and often beautiful

 

[mcshroom]

And cold today. First two big hills down and I'm warming up in a cafe in Strathdon before taking on the Lecht. I think today's going to have a late finish

I've just noticed that today I've climbed the 6th and 8th highest roads in Scotland, and I have the 2nd and 26th highest to come.

 

[mcshroom]

I can see the sea!

Cold and wet, but I've reached Tongue on the North coast. After lunch I've about 40 miles left to get to Thurso

 

[mcshroom]

It is accomplished

After being battered, soaked and frozen by a north westerly wind all day; and an unexpected diversion to Tongue because of a road closure. I'm now at the end of my ride in Thurso. Just the 11 hour train ride home to worry about now

 

[shirokazan]

...Just the 11 hour train ride home to worry about now

Epic journey, @mcshroom ! Did you buy your tickets from Thurso back to Cumbria in advance?

 

[mcshroom]

Epic journey, @mcshroom ! Did you buy your tickets from Thurso back to Cumbria in advance?

Hi @shirokazan, and thanks.

I did. Actually I had split tickets. One to Inverness and one south from there as it was cheaper. The trains at Thurso now have 4 spaces rather than two, but do need a bike reservation.

 

[shirokazan]

Hi @shirokazan, and thanks.

I did. Actually I had split tickets. One to Inverness and one south from there as it was cheaper. The trains at Thurso now have 4 spaces rather than two, but do need a bike reservation.

Excellent. Last time I was up there was about 7 years ago, bike spaces at a premium. I had no difficulty though - phoned Scotrail, they confirmed bike space on the train from Lairg to Thurso and all was well a couple of hours later when the train turned up with guard expecting me (or my bike to be more precise!)

So where's your next big trek going to take you to (and from)?