I got a 400 in!

I've still not been able to get physio and there's still niggling problems to get dealt with, though this is now largely due to lethargy rather than service availability, getting stuck in a cycle of working, sleeping and training results in me constantly not getting round to speaking to doctor and physiotherapist. It's really not clever.

However I took the risk of riding a 400 a couple of weekends ago, my longest ride since January had till then been a 130km ride on my touring bike as a replacement for a western isles tour with Robbie that had to be cancelled due to the extended lockdown of Aberdeen.  I finished that feeling like I'd done too much but only after adding a silly bit of off-roading in Allean forest and a ride home.

I designed the route with plenty of bail out options by making it based around both the house and the caravan on Loch Tummel.  As is normally the case an early start meant poor sleep so I hauled myself out of bed at 4am and shovelled a large bowl of cereal into me, after my erm mishap with the lactose free milk on Alston and Back last year I've come to the conclusion that I have a problem with Dairy in general, so after trying various milk substitute juice have settled on Oat milk, it has a decent amount of calcium in it compared to the others which is one of the risks of removing dairy from your diet, and most importantly it generally seems to help.

Out the door just after half 4 and I was out onto the main road, the A92 deserted of all but farmers out in their pickups for the few days of the hairst before remaining crop would be destroyed by the first frosts, they've really struggled to get staff this year and many locals who thought they'd like to have a bash lasted only a few days, this was noticeable due to the late arrival of Bulgarian shoppers in the village store.

A92 by night

A cold mist hung along the hillside, this road always feels like it's in a valley but it's really a series of hill passes climbing to gaps at Rathillet and Parbroath before finally flattening onto the Howe of Fife the big hollow that runs from Cupar to Falkland, the other meaning of Howe is Low, but this Howe sits at the same height as the pass at Rathillet; in anycase for now I was turning off at Parbroath for Newburgh.

Lindores passed in the mist, and through Newburgh I was followed by the exuberant commentary of someone who really should have finished drinking by half 5 in the morning, escaping town for the Earnside flat lands and my usual route to Auchterarder.  My sense of smell was making a rare appearance in fully working mode and I could smell the freshly baked crossaints and pain au chocolat as I approached the co-op drooling over the thought of Breakfast 2.  I was disappointed, while I stared at the empty bakery shelves and sniffed the bakeryless air I thought I was too early.

A basic Co-Op breakfast was scoffed by the bike shed before I set off and as soon as I was on the main drag heading back to the junction I could smell the fresh baked goods again, I looked more carefully and spotted a fully stocked bakery next door to the co-op.  Note to self...

Highlandman Loan

I had decided to bag Heelanman loan, so rather than head up by Fowlis into Glen Almond at Buchanty I carried on the road to Creiff and took a right onto the old drove road, this is the "proper" route into the highlands from here, in the footsteps of thousands of cattle munching their way south to the Tryst at Larbert and the return lone steps of the drovers and dogs.

It was barely past 9 when I reached the A85 and it's not far down to Gilmerton where the climb up the braes of Monȝie, with the Highlands to my left and the lowlands to my right I puffed upwards and thought to myself how long it had been since I was last here (I've only climbed this way once before), the golf course told me it was open while a sign told me it would be 6km to the Sma' Glen.  6km to the Highlands.

The Highlands keeking out of the trees

The Glen Almond junction passed, the trees closed in hiding the River, the last act of lowland roads is a short ramp down through these trees, ahead at the end of the trees a keek at a wall of heather growing larger as the end approaches, and then as the trees pass the highlands open out, the steep heather and rock sided valley of the Sma Glen towers around, in the clear morning light it looked fantastic.

At Amulree I confirmed the lack of the tea room (closed it seems due to some form of business irregularity) and that the hotel is still half rebuilt, Glen Cochil was however ignored in favour of the long descent of Strath Braan to the Pass of Birnham where it's the Tay's turn to cross the boundary. I decided it was time for Lunch 1 and got a Pain Au Chocolat and Croissant with Coca...

In the Sma Glen

The route from Dunkeld to Logierate has been much improved since I first rode it, back then P&K Council thought making you ride on sand was a good idea! It is now a fast rolling tar path shared with walkers and fishermen driving to the beat. But it's emergence to cross the Tay at the bridge remains ugly, I only hope the plans for the A9 can improve this as a complete remodelling is required to get a 2nd bridge and carriageway in place.

I was still failing to make head and tail of Inchmagrannachan's name when the Logierait bridge appeared to my right, this former railway bridge is now open to the public for use, for motor vehicles it provides a modest shortening but for a cyclist the 10km cut off and saving the need to ride a tourist season busy road is worthwhile.  The Dunfalandy road and Pitlochry I guess needs no introduction but the Tummel road may, just out of Pitlochry the Garry is crossed on a modern bridge over a deep gorge, not far north of here Bonnie Dundee's troops gave the Hannovarians a hiding though at the cost of Dundee's life, a Hannovarian trooper it is claimed ran for his life and escaped by launching himself to the other side of the gorge. 

The Tummel road starts by following the hillside before entering Glen Fincastle which it promptly exists and crosses another hillside to enter high above the Loch in Strath Tummel, despite the loch level having been risen as part of the "Tummel Valley" Hydro Scheme that dominates the area (just kidding Schiehallion dominates the area, the hydro scheme defines the roads!) it was clearly never at risk of flooding as it's so high up even the current loch level that Queen Alexandrias view of Schiehallion is roadside and 80m above the loch based on the OS survey.  The climb to Queens view is a real sting in the tail and there's no passing place either, thankfully the parents caravan isn't far and I rolled onto the decking for lunch with a view after 140km and 6hrs 55m.

Lunch with a view

Lunch 2 was a quick ready meal pasta that I didn't double check the ingredients on before wolfing down under Schiehallions gaze, back on the road and the next leg was to be a lap of Loch Rannoch, clockwise because I thought that would make sense.  TBH it probably did as I didn't need to overtake any of the pootlers I passed going the normal way (Etape Caledonia has settled that the "Normal Way" here is anti-clockwise) though round the loch is almost totally flat, the hill past Dunalistair however isn't and I struggled up it on the outbound leg.

By the time I was back round at Rannoch it was Lunch 3 time, and I went into the café for cake and coke, thankfully they also had their toilets open as once I'd stopped long enough something that was disagreeing with me won the argument.  
Heading east the Dunalistair lump is even harder, though not as hard as the Schiehallion road and I was struggling away.  More riders passed as I climbed but it was soon time for the roll to Tummel Bridge with no shop stop due to the 6km gently uphill back to the caravan for Tea #1.

Rannoch Topiary

220km done and still daylight after 11hrs 30m, it was a simple retracing of steps to Dunkeld where I planned a shop raid, but the queue was out the door and round the corner towards the fountain, as is usual local knowledge helped and I found a queue at the shop in Birnham of 0 people, perfect.
I planned the route to get me home on 320km so to do this I used the back road to Bankfoot and then the muirs to Almondbank, this section is largely dull as is the ride into Perth, however the route into Perth was also entirely new to me due to significant flood defences having been built since I last rode in this way, the aim was that it was pretty flat, and it is but it's such a drag along this last stretch of Glen Almond and round the Inches I wished I'd just taken the blat through town approach.

My previous curiosity about Inchmagrannachan, is partly fuelled by knowing that in Scots an Inch is a flood plain, island or slight rise from a flood plain, this makes sense with Perth's North and South inch as they form vast tracts of empty land for flooding, but I don't see the link up there.

Perth

On being dumped into Perth I came a cross a load of teenagers inhaling NOX, snashing glass bottles and surprisingly getting out my way as I approached, pity they hadn't moved the glass.

I held my breath as I continued under Smeatons bridge but no evidence of deflation was present so I could sigh in relief as I crossed the Tay on the Queen's Bridge.
Ordinarily I would have crossed Smeatons bridge and settled in for the climb of Kinnoul and the views of the carse of Gowrie and Friarton Bridge from high up on the hill, but this would have been 140m higher than I wanted, so I took the less pleasant route.  The cycle path into Walnut Grove when heading East shines your light into the oncoming drivers eyes, the A90 cycle path does more of the same, it's always a relief to get off it at St Madoes.

RRS Discovery Dundee

I contemplated chips in Errol but as it turned out I don't know where the Errol chipper is, and the only hint of my location after that was the glow of Dundee getting closer as I cut through the night.

I was earlier than I had planned for so I found myself on the sub-standard pavement based cycle track along Riverside Avenue (known to most Dundonians as the Riverside Tip) before being released onto a deserted esplanade.  Once on the bridge it wasn't far until my next rest and I was surprised to find a couple of joggers and another rider, the later as I later discovered puffing his way Northwards mid-600.

I got home on 17hrs 55m with 320km on the clock, the plan now was to eat.
I had chicken gougons that would take 15 minutes to cook, some veg and a corn on the cob; so while they cooked I got on with "other stuff", probably that pasta still haunting me as it would for a few days more.  Finding a flat 80km in Fife was unsurprisingly tricky and I resorted to using Strathkinness High Road as the main climb of the last leg to cross from the flat of the Eden to the Flat of the Howe.

Just before half 11 I slipped back into the darkness, so far my bike having not missed a beat, the wheel round to St Michaels via Tayport dispatched as normal, before picking along the main road to Guardbridge where due to the amount of traffic coming in from Cupar I opted to stick with the cycle track despite it being pretty rubbish until Kincaple.  In spite of the midnight traffic town was dead, the students locked up to contain the Virus within their Halls, the pubs long shut up at 10. I didn't plan to hang around, out up the bleak Strath of Kinness, the mist returned, Strathkinness village and Blebo Craigs blinking out of the darkness to my north, a thick wet mass hanging in all directions. Somewhere I felt a clunk as I hit a pot hole, the descent to Pitscottie requiring pedalling, there was no sound of brake rub nor evidence of electrics short, was it an illusion of the dark?

Ladybank Station

I didn't feel extra resistance on the climb to Craigrothie, nor on the descent to Springfield.  At Ladybank originally called Lady Bog but considered not suitable by the stuff Victorians of the North British Railway, I decided I had time for a short rest and investigation, but all looked good at the bus shelter.

There was now only 3 roads till home; with the route planned around the night the A92 was again my "fast" leg, out of the Bog and into the "Melville Ming" the name given to the stench emitted from the Old Ladybank Landfill.  In the dark this road can be defined by the street lights, nothing from Letham to Parbroad, and I'd decided I wanted another rest, not that I needed one I just wanted it because I had time, it's a well built brick job but fortunately the bench isn't conductive to sleep and my bed wasn't far.

Parbroath

I didn't notice the climb of the West Face of Rathillet, but it knocked 10kmh off my speed, something I wouldn't see again until I was overly cautious at the Sandford turn.  

The village finally appeared and the cruise through the village to finish off the ride was a perfect ending.

Distance: 403km
Elapsed Time: 22hrs 42m
Riding Time: 19hrs 28m
Elevation Gained: 3300m

I was pretty happy with how my body had coped being thrown straight into that distance, I now need to design a suitable 600km course and get it ridden before any "circuit breakers" get flicked.