The tour of East Lothian is also known as "Audax Ecosse's re-enactment of Napoleons retreat from Moscow", this is largely due to the tendency for the routes summit at the Red Stane Rigg to be snowy, very snowy.
However this year was very different, it was wet, very wet.
I hadn't been planning to ride the ToEL this year and instead do a 200 from home to get my 2nd of the month, however Joseph had planted a seed to ECE it and when Robbie asked the organizer if there were any spare cards and suggested I did too, well how could I resist!
The weather forecast was looking pleasant mid-week, unseasonably mild and dry, things were looking good, then it went down hill as each check revealed a heavy band of rain kicking in from 9am bang on East Lothian.
We thought about starting at Ferrytoll Park and Ride which would conveniently be 50km each way, but then, what's the fun in getting up at 5am to drive to ride a bike when you can get up at 4am to ride your bike and get a train home!
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| The Wee Hours in Kinrosshire |
Robbie and I sat bleary eyed and barely awake in my living room eating Weetabix while waiting for Joseph. I saw the neighbours security light flick on and knew it was time, the night was still dark and the roads damp but the air was dry. We slipped out into the early morning heading West for Falkland and Strathmiglo to pick up the main road to Milnathort, I struggled to keep up to begin with on the gentle climb, whether they slowed or I woke up I don't know and don't plan to ask but by Arlary I was back on and we were taking turns as we rode through the cobbled centre of Kinross. Early morning shops slowly waking up on this Sabbath.
The long gentle climb to Kelty, or as the locals call it F**king Kelty went briskly, very few had yet stirred and we mostly had the road to ourselves, at Crossgates I spotted the shop had moved and there was a new outdoor ATM, a major boon for riders of the classic Permanents that visit here, the descent to Dalgety bay and onto the bridge followed, Robbie noted that this would likely be the last time he rode the Forth Bridge before LEL as he's off to 'Nam for work at some point in the near future.
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| Forth Road Bridge |
I'd made the mistake of following the NCN1 route on the map and rode up a ramp into the Forth Bridge Control car park and up to a gate in front of a housing development, I quickly figured out how to get onto the normal route and we skimmed through Dalmeny and along to Crammond Brig where rather than continue into Edinburgh we took to Crammond Village and then along the sea front into Newhaven as the dull light of an overcast day reached it's peak.
Firth is Scots for Fjord and applies to Sea Lochs forming the interface of river to sea, you can also find Sounds in Scotland which is a cognate of Sund also used for Fjords in Norse but generally applying to through channels between land masses, in Gaelic they're called Caols Scoticised to Kyles.
A bit of urban traffic light pain got us through to Portobello and onto the sea front esplanade there for the last wee bit into Joppa and then Musselburgh, in previous years I've seen riders eating in cafés near the start but they had all repurposed themselves so we retraced to Greggs to attach their breakfast menu, sadly I made a mistake of assuming normal Sausage order applied and that it would be Sausage or Link, not Sausage or Lorne. One of the helpers arrived for his breakfast and spoke to us as we stuffed food into our already empty bellies.
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| Breakfast #2 |
Gluttony completed we rode up to the start and collected out brevet cards, the rain started as we set off to the South. We split up naturally as we picked up other riders and the route started it's ramp up, Robbie latching onto one of the more natural climbers, Joseph and I held back by Gravity could only watch him disappear up the hill. Some sections of the route had escaped my memory and I started worrying that when I'd put the ECE together I'd routed wrong, but this turned out to not be the case as groups of faster riders passed.
The Rigg proper starts at Gifford, we had initially hoped to hold on for breakfast 2 until here but I'd identified the need to have some level of buffer would mean Musselburgh made sense, other riders however had already packed into the Lantern Rouge café, I suppose when you only need to maintain 12kmh rather than 14.3kmh it's not so difficult, it's also not so difficult if you can climb and are decently fast on the flat too.
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| A view from the Rigg |
The climb starts with a bit of tough undulation before slowly ramping you up to the peak gradient, I've never made it up having failed at the same sport every time, I've never noticed the grit bin, I wish Robbie had hung back to distract me.
At the top the views were typical of a dreich Scottish day, so I stopped and waited for Joseph, a few more riders summited before him and as we sped off down the hill I thought he was directly behind me as I called gravel on the turn up the Whiteadder, I always think it's downhill through here but after a bit of climbing it becomes a rollercoaster ride of small peaks and big troughs to batter up and race down with a few tight turns, another peak, a right hand turn and a massive hole in the road on a descent to a cattle grid. At Garvald I decided to wait for Joseph when I saw a 5* Audax Hotel, and we set off again, however he never managed to hang on, the road from Garvald is still technical in places with some sketchy twisty descending trying out my already knackered brake pads and frayed nerves.
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| Garvald |
I rode into Dunbar soaking wet, cold and questioning my life choices, I decided I should bounce it and just as I was trying to remember how to take off my gloves Robbie shouted from the door of Umbertos, "It's warm in here". I suppose I'd been trying to avoid the comfort of warm but I changed my mind and went in, the steak baguette seemed suitably dairy free and the chocolate cake, although not dairy free I rejected ice cream or cream and asked for to be served first.
Eating the sweet first is something I've developed through cycling, getting that sugar hit in early before the slower burning bread and protein course gives a good kick and I find reduces the post eating lull.
Robbie spotted Joe arrive at the Co-Op but didn't get a chance to call him in before he charged in and reappeared with a typical Audax meal.
I started to worry a bit about time but Robbie pointed out it wasn't event 2pm and I had till 7pm to get to Waverly to finish the ECE in time. I spent 40mins drying out a bit.
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| A day for bouncing between questioning your life choices and channelling your inner Jens Voigh |
Another feature of the ToEL is there is always a raging Westerly along the coast, well today there was a raging Easterly and that meant an atypically gentle spin back to Musselburgh but not before climbing back up to Haddington on roads that were very flooded and needed some MTBing techniques to maintain speed through the standing water (that being arse off the back of the saddle ready to lift the front wheel if I felt it drop into a pot hole), on the coast the anticipated shove arrived and we barely had time to read the info control as we shot past the Cockenȝie petrol station.
We had thought we might have caught up with Jospeh but it wasn't to be, he had put the power in to get to Waverly well ahead of us, so we sat in Musselburgh Costa still wondering WTF we were doing while also slowly taking in that Type 2 fun had actually happened (and maybe even some Type 1!!!)
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| The Innocent Railway |
The leg into Edinburgh was fairly easy, except I missed a hop onto a cycle track and had us briefly on the A1 for a sprint between traffic lights and a roundabout. Thankfully it was easy to pick up the cycle track on the Innocent railway and as we left the tunnel our routes diverged, I said good bye to Robbie and doubled back for a loop of Arthurs Seat that I needed to get my distance up. I misread a road closure and found myself out of the park and trying to pick my way round the edge passing through medical centre and boolin club car parks before finding a gate in the wall that took me onto the road I wanted to complete my lap and back onto the roads where I'd left them. Into the old town and a short section of the Royal Mile before descending onto Waverly Bridge and into the station with and hour to spare.
Unfortunately this was also the same hour where there are no trains stopping at my station so I grabbed an overpriced pasty from a stall and stood around until I worked out where my train was for the trip home.
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| Quick rest to sort bits at Crammond Brig |
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| Along the Silverburn Seafront |
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| Along the Silverburn Seafront |
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| Greggs |
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| Up the Rigg |
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| Up the Rigg |
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| Up the Rigg |
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| Off the Rigg |
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| A summary of the days weather |
