The Longest Night (Snow Roads) - 21 Dec 2019

"Tay FM Snow Report: Powrie Brae is at a crawl and roads in Dundee are treacherous, the Cairnwell and Cairn O' Mounth are closed due to snow, all schools in Perth and Dundee are shut meanwhile in Fife Madras and Bell Baxter are open to local pupils and those whose buses turn up".

Why did my school bus always turn up?
Why did the Dundee kids get off at the slightest hint of snow when they could walk the mile to School when we had a 14 mile bus journey to look forwards to?
And why was this always on the wireless at 0805 when my bus was nominally at 0800 and we relied on Keith in the shop to holler the good news to us often as the bus was coming round the corner?

Such Snow reports from the radio give the "Snow Roads" their name and has loaned it to this Audax of legends, comprising two of the historic "Mounth Roads" crossing the barrier between the Lowlands and the Highlands and 3 passes that link Highland glens it's not an easy ride and as the organiser pleads "please, not in winter".
 

Stock Photograph: Typical winter scene in Glen Callater

The Braco way - 30th Nov an 1st Dec

Ah've bin awa seein neebs in Holand since the Audax Uk Reunion Deener Dairt which ah havnae hid mich tae be screiving aboot, 'twas ain o' mah wirst routes ever efter we hid ridden thro' that Tyne Tunnel an the rest wiz in the dairk afore that sae thir wisnae muckle tae see.

Mah holiday route taked me fae Northallerton tae Hull whar ah taked the steamer tae Europport, from whaar ah rade up the coast on thon LF1 route via Hook o' Holland and Zandvoort tae a toon near aboots Alkmaar whar mah neebs bide.
On the wai back ah rode inland atween the coastal and inland toons throu by the Haarlemersmeer an Maasland afore braving the heidwind in Zeeland 'til ah ran oot o' Netherlands and entirt Belgium whar ah bided in Brugge afore mah ferry.

A cauld mornin stairt

Robbie an ah hid plans fir the Braco Wai, bit he hid the date o' Thainksgien wrang an so wiz in the states wi femily.
Ah set aff efter dairk oan the Seterday nicht, 'twas bitterly cauld, ah believe mah thermometer ower reads bi fehv degrees and it was tellin' me it wis zero. Mah tackety winter tyres gaed seelent as thay skimmit aiver icy burns in the road; ee Glenfarg ah saw minus shree oan mah thermometer, wis that really minus aicht???
At Milnathort ah stoaped tae tap up oan juice an food fir brakfast in the morn afore rading an tae ma hotel in Kinross.

Benarti Hull

A thoucht a hid mah times sortit fir getting tae the stairt in decent time, an ah set oot intae the minus seiven cauld at aicht in the mornin fir the ten in the forenuin stairt.  Ah thoucht this wid mak me stairt on 14.3kmh as ah rollit thru the cauld forenoon air the burns in the cunyies an mah bottles war geilt by Kelty. Ah kent by noo that ah wiz wrang aboot mah times an ah rollit in tae the stairt in Dumfaurlin at twinty efter 9.

Ah thoucht ah micht be the ainly rader but ah wiz wrang again, mair brave or mibbie glakit idjits hid arrived but no aw wir stairtin.  By the aff mah average wis doon tae twal kmh an ah wid be in haste aw day tae stai aiver that fowerteen point shree minimum aince ah had makit back.

A fine parcel O' Idjits

The route taks in some o' mah fauvrit roads, aince we were oot o' toon and past Saulin it wis on tae the Yetts 'o Muckhart and up Glendevon, mah hivy tyres and legs making it a sair fecht o a clim fir thon view in tae Strathearn fae the tap o' the pass.  A rapid descent follit afore ah turnt ontae a road ah'd no raden afore tae Auchterarder station.  Ah had fifteen kmh oan the clock as ah rade intae toon, anely eneuch fir a fest bunce, but ithers war in they tee shaps and cafés wi plenty time fir thir deener.

Up the brae o' Glen Devon

In the copie thir wiz a faut wi the automatic tills an a hid tae bide a wee whiley in the queue afore ah got serrit.  A hid ma deener o salat, sweeies an juice aside the bike an then set aff up the brae, an oot on tae the road tae Braco. Tho there wiz nae ice tae see, the road wisnae tae guid but mah tapity tyres did thir joab.
Ah wis glad tae get this section duin as ah kent fae Dunblane it wid be maistly flet.  Ah hid planned tae ride by the Glen Road instead o the Kier Circle bit wi nae mich time tae play wi ah went the fest wai.

Crossin fae Glen Devon intae Glen Eaglais

The Brig O' Allan wis stowed oot an ah lost time waiting fir fowks tae park their motors afore finishing the descent tae Causewayheid what ah thoucht thir wis a copey ah coud stot aff ae.
But whan ah got thar the copey had movit tae ah dinnae ken whaur so ah went tae the cafe fir a cake and reciept.  Thae Angus lads waur thar an aw an ah wid hae bided an ridden wi them if a hid the time but ah didnae sae ah appologised and crackit oan taewards Tullie and Sauchie afore skirting Allowae tae Clackmannan and thae cycle paith richt intae Dumfaurlin.

Thon paith didnae feel sae brent laist time ah rade it but the day wi the bauchelt legs and slaw tyres ah felt it.  Wi jist o'er fifteen point shree oan the clock ah got tae the feenish o' the Braco wai but mah day wisnae o'er yet. A hunner an twinty fower kilometers oot o' twa hunner an twa ah wis gonnae be riding intae the gloaming and on tae the nicht.  Efter a quick bite tae eat and thanks tae the organiser ah was oan ma way, a fletish fir Fife ride aince ah wis oot o' Dumfaurlin  as ah climbed up tae Cowdenbeath and then oan roond Loch Leven an up tae Glenfarg, by Newburgh ah wis up tae fifteen an a hauf but wis hungert.  A copey raid was jist the ticket an a set on the last leg up tae Hazelton the better o that.

Allowae an Dumfaurlin Cycle paith

Ah ken this road weel but a haed makkit a mistak in mah routing tae get the route up tae distance a hid tae find shree kilometers, ah cud hae food thaim at Balgeddie Toll an Duncrievie but naw ah pit them in oan Norries Law an the Stirton lum.  As ah turnt on tae thon first hard climb ah felt the ice aneath mah wheels, thae tackets grippit an a' got in a rhythm bit soon the ice turnt tae frozen slush an ah groond tae a halt as the tyres howkit in.
Ah hid tae walk the bike up the brae fae thar 'till ah found a clean bit o tar tae stairt on.  Nae mair ice oan the south side o' Norries la' and Luthrie Bank wis gid an aw.  At Hazelton a turnt doon Mountquhannie aince mair the road wis clean an a hid nae fear but the laist fricht was nae faur.
The lum stairtit guid, but in the trees thon sun hadnae got tae the ice an the water rinning doon the brae wis frozen, mah tackets wir nae use aince a hid stopped and a shuflit on tae the verge fir a final walk up the brae.

Sundoun as ah ride intae the Gloamin

Wi Dundee o'er the water, Gauldry ahead and Wirmit doon the brae ah wis nearly hame et the back o' nine, aw wis guid and ah flew doon the Gutchers brae an in tae the village, shirteen hoors an twal meenits efter setting aff fae Kinross ah wis hame, whit a day.

Double Header 01 and 02 November 2019

I'd had the idea to ride the Border Hills permanent last year however due to one of my many incidents of doing something stupid on AukWeb I thought I hadn't entered in time for the organizer to get a card out to me and rode a DIY instead.  I suggested to Robbie that we could double header the first weekend of November when we would be down in Galashiels for the Long Dark Teatime of an Audax soul and told him I had a card for the Border Hills so we agreed on that.

As the weekend approached Robbie got a rather unwelcome and poorly timed call to travel out into the North Sea for work but Steve, Alan and Russell had confirmed they would be riding so I wasn't going to be slogging through the hills on my own in the dark.

The Long Dark Teatime of an Audax Soul

Last year this ride was a wash out, the forecast of heavy rain all day saw only a handful of cards lifted from the table at the start.  This year however despite a forecast for early drizzle was set to be a good bright autumn day.

Early rain on the climb out of Selkirk

I set out with Craig following Aidan and Dick on the tandem trike towards the A7 a few of the other riders vocalizing their confusion at our route were reminded that we were dodging an early hill allowing much faster progress to Selkirk, it started to drizzle and not long after everyone else had stopped to put their rain jackets on, no sooner had the thought that I was "first on the road" than the fast lads who had taken the hill road passed me, Richard offering a cheery "good morning" as he went by. I was slightly surprized that Craig was still riding with me at this point as he's usually much faster but he told me he was slow to warm up; I'm just slow all day particularly today as I needed to keep something in reserve for Sunday's harder route.

Soon I was going backwards through the field as stronger riders who'd taken the hill road or took time to get going passed, Craig was off in the distance after I reminded him of a routing error in the rain the previous year and Ross caught me somewhere on the climb by the Tima.

Never leave home without gorilla tape on your trusty Audax pen

I decided I could hold his pace and spent most of the climb talking to him, as we entered the woods not too far from the summit we spied the tandem trike with Dick holding the offside wheel in the air as Aidan swore at it; this was their second puncture so far, the first to the nearside rear was due to rim tape problems and this was no different, if only someone had some sort of tape.
I fertled in my saddle bag thinking I might have left a roll in there but no, then I realized there was electrical and gorilla tape on my trusty Audax pen hopefully enough to do the job.


With the rim taped hopefully well enough to carry on Ross, Joseph (who had arrived shortly after we stopped) and I cracked on, as taller riders we all have an inevitable weight penalty on climbs but one place a tall rider can really take advantage is when gravity is on their side.  Ross declared that he isn't that good a descender just as we crested the summit and Joseph and I were soon flying down the hill towards Eskdalemuir with Ross dropping back as we relished the high speed pot hole dodging.  I was missing the French concept of a deformed road.

At Eskdalemuir Hub the rugby was on the telly as we tucked into items from the Audax specials menu.  England were losing to South Africa, as I finished off my Link Sausage Roll the Springboks scored a try in the dying seconds to seal their victory.
I could blame having both English and South African relatives as a reason for not being sure who I wanted to win the least, but in reality it was indifference.
I've just realized Lorne isn't on the menu, what's that about?

Aidan and Dick didn't appear while we were there, I wondered if they'd turned back defeated by the rim tape problems.  Joseph set off from the café first, Ross and I following not too long after and a slight hiccough in Joseph's gear shifting on a hill had us regrouped with Sarah K joining us as the surface deteriorated, I made a bad joke about D&G being the home of the Pneumatic tyre and Sarah disappeared off up the road. The four of us swapped places due to various stops on the road through Langholm and onto the A7 towards Longtown.

One for the pot

I rode with Joseph and talked about PBP and then we started to spot Road Kill; I only have a vauge idea of how to identify what's suitable for the pot and with a limited sense of smell not overly keen on risking it; Joseph however I well versed in identifying next week's lunches while on the road, he was even carrying Pheasant sandwiches.

Eventually Joseph spotted a Pheasant that he wasn't going to just put to the side and collect later, it was hardly damaged from it's fatal interaction with road traffic, had no evidence of other birds or animals investigating it and overall looked pretty fresh.


It now hung from his Carradice adding to the classic look of his bike and bag set up. We crested the hill and knew it was mostly marginally downhill all the way to Longtown, Joseph picked up the pace, stayed on and he took the first turn of an all out 2-up blast. The Pheasants head was swinging from the bag in front of me as I was sucked along at a speed I've not done since I last rode in a group of 6 or more. Time to Swap and it's my turn to hammer myself, Joseph's to rest, Swap back and repeat.  As we swooped past Ross I suggested he try to tag on, 3 would make for a longer rest between turns but he couldn't quite make it and for the next 7km we carried on hammering along until the traffic lights at Longtown stopped the fun for a bit but we picked it up again on the straight and gentle climb to the garden centre my ability to hang on failing just as we reached the car park, and a twinge in the back of my right knee to worry about.

Luxury Bus Shelter with a collection
of bikes that scream Audax

We wheeled the bikes round the back of the Garden Centre where they were visible from the Café, a rag tag collection of bikes that screamed Audax was already lent against the "luxury bus shelters" in the shed department and a long queue stood waiting service.  I quickly realized it would be time for cake and juice and no more.  Joseph bought some cake and retreated to one of the sheds to eat it and his sandwiches.
Aidan and Dick arrived, they'd had puncture number three and gone to find help in the form of the Over Dalgleish Caretaker who was able to get the spoke holes taped over.

We set off again and the slight descent to Longtown as usual felt shorter than the slight climb to the Garden centre, it's over 2km out of town but looking down the road to town you can see the buildings getting bigger.
I had to stop in Longtown at the garage for some water as I'd forgotten to top up at the café and I was on my own.

The back of my knee was hurting, I'm not sure if my saddle is still marginally too high or if it's some other problem. I started to struggle up the hills, they seemed harder than I thought they should.  I dread the hill between Bentpath and Eskdalemuir, it's by far the hardest part of this route hitting 7% in places, the rest is a good steady ~3%er but critically on these days you know Tea is just over that hill. A regrouping with Steve, Alan, Joseph, Ross and I in the Café together and with Beef Stew and Apple Pie for High Tea, it's not dark yet but the sun is setting.  We all left when we were ready and I set off on the climb alone as darkness was coming.

Mists of the Tima Water

I think I summited in the last of the light, or is that a memory from the previous year it's all run together? Anyway that was the hard work done it's mostly downhill from there; I set off down the hill, the mists were hanging over the Tima Water I couldn't not stop for the photo.

The road levelled out past the Angecroft caravan park, and I remembered riding through the river the previous year, no such problem now.

I rode over the bridge at Ettrick, there's a slight rise, I droped a gear or two and CLUNK.

It's pitch dark and my chain's jammed, I hopped off the bike to investigate, as I pushed the bike to the road side a pinging noise came from the back wheel. I assumed the worst, a spoke had finally gone on my so far faultless Spa wheel.  I pointed my head torch at the spokes and scanned around. All good. hm.  I checked the chain, it looked fine oddly. I checked the rear derailleur and it looked fine too... Then I spotted the end of the cable was in the spokes; I checked the derailleur again, and I was convinced it looked fine.  I bent the cable out the way and checked he shifting, I was missing the 4 easiest gears but other than that it seemed to be fine. Ross caught up as I checked the bike over and rode with him from there.

A car rolled up beside us, "erm do you know where the Angecroft Park is, all we have is 'Ettrick Valley, Selkirk' and no phone signal", I told them, "turn round, follow this road over the bridge and it's on the right somewhere up there, if you reach the top of the hill you've gone to far, turn round and you'll see it on the left." It really is out in the middle of nowhere!

We carried on again and Ross remarked about the contrast between that interaction and what he's used to being hollered from the back of cars. I was being very careful with my gear shifts, Joseph had stopped with a small group of riders who were still on their way back on the 100km ride, clearly not "Back in time for Tea" as it's title suggested.

CRUNCH. PING PING PING
My chain jammed on another shift just before Ettrickbridge with 22km to go. I turned the bike back upside down, I checked the mech, it looked ok, I checked the shifting... no shifting, but the cable was taut, hrm. I decided it was too dark to see properly, it's in the 50-13 so I decide it'll ride.

I hopped back on and ground the bike back up to speed, through the village and onto the Bowhill road, I discovered it's not as flat as it feels almost falling over as I ran out of strength to turn the wheels on a slight rise. Thankfully it's downhill into Selkirk and along the cycle path beside the A7, Joseph disappeared into the distance after Selkirk and Ross left me to ride the final hill into Gala alone.  I got to the Focus centre and wheeled the bike inside, it was in 50-11.

I handed Lucy my card and told Russell, Steve and Alan about the Derailleur issue and that I didn't know if I'd be able to ride the Border Hills.
With the bike upside down in the light I took one look at the cable I'd previously felt was taut, and gave a pull on it while spinning the pedals, everything worked correctly.  Then I hauled on the end of the cable and found it slid through the clamp bolt, I fixed it and went back and told them we were on for the Border Hills, collected my validated card, poster, medal, sales money from the cycle jumble and sat down with a nice bowl of soup for Supper.

Border Hills

The rain battered past the window of my B&B's breakfast room as I sat eating a "light" breakfast of Sausage and Eggs, the forecast was again for a wet morning drying out as the day went on so I was slightly optimistic things were going to improve.
It was still raining lightly as I drove up to Innerleithen to meet Steve, Alan, Russell and possibly Davie for a group ride of the Border Hills Permanent, a pretty loop of the major undulations of the central Borders and the rain stopped in time for me to dig the bike out of the car.

Steve and I were using paper proof of passage so rode up to the Co-Op where Davie said he'd be waiting if he was going to ride.  We got proof of passage from the ATM while Russell checked to see if Davie was riding (he wasn't) and started their GPS devices for the less onerous proof method.

We relied on Russell being local for navigation rather than bother with the GPS route, taking the old railway through Cardrona to Peebles and then on through to Biggar via Broughton on a road I knew from "Broughton and back". The rain was falling again but I was convinced it would stop, light sky seemed to be ahead so I kept the rain jacket off, I'll dry out later I proclaimed!

I had to ask Russell about the pronunciation of Broughton, it could be Bro'ton, Browton, Bruchtun or even Brufton.  Just like Broughty Ferry in Dundee the stop has won though oddly in Dundee the Dighty Burn is still like Dichty and I'm sure I've heard Browton for the road in Edinburgh.
We were maintaining a good pace for a second day, I was flagging on the steeper hills though I had still managed 20kmh to Biggar where it was breakfast time for Steve and Alan, as a night in the van had them well up for a full veggie breakfast.

I put my rain jacket back on and we left Biggar with our average down near the minimum and we looped back through the hills behind Biggar to the Devil's Beeftub climb; Russell told me about his "More Passes than Mastermind" event of old and how riders cottoned on to a long cut that dodged one of the harder hills.  Steve spotted the wall of Talla and pointed it out while jokingly suggested we detour, I suggested we didn't!
By the Crook Inn I was off the back a bit, I remembered the cycle-rave from the Ride to the Sun a free ride from Carlisle to Crammond on the weekend nearest the longest day.

By the top I was well back and Russell had been doing laps of the summit plateau waiting for me so he could get a picture while the others had stopped at the top of the descent, we regrouped there and rode down into Moffat for lunch at the Rumblin Tum.

The next section I reckoned would be the hardest, essentially the middle tough part of Moffat Toffee in reverse through Fingland, over to Boreland and then onto Langholm, each summit we regrouped and descended together until the last one where the lure of the shop must have been too much for them, or perhaps it was just the rain was back on.

We were now riding the road of the previous day's return in Eskdale, the climb by Bentpath and then the viciously sharp lump that gives a descent into Eskdalemuir seemed easier than the previous day but I had the others to pace myself from and judge my progress, it appears I was faster too.
I mentioned to Russell that it was going to feel weird not stopping at the Hub in Eskdalemuir having always stopped there; and he told me about how before the hub opened the Samye Ling Buddhist centre was the control here but this could often mean arriving with many visitors or course attendees which wasn't an ideal mix.

Darkness arrived as we climbed and I made a mess of the top cattle grid, normally I pick up speed before the grid, go light and aim for the plates but today I didn't have the energy for that and had to keep pedalling, the bike squirmed significantly with each pedal stroke and I vocalized my fright.  Safely over and it's a long descent down to the Tushielaw for the second last climb of the day on the Berrybush. I was dropped significantly but again the summit was a place of rest for the others, unlike last time I was up here McNasty had heard a bird trilling like a telephone in the woods which was much to Dicks amusement when asked if he'd heard it when we congregated at the next café in Lilliesleaf. 

The Gordon Arms was busy as we crossed the junction, I suggested to Russell we should have started there and had breakfast and finished with tea, but he didn't think climbing Mountbenger loaded up with a full Scottish was necessarily a good idea!  We stayed together on this initially short sharp climb before it eased off to a steady 3%, at the top a car driver crossing the pass blinded me with their headlights by failing to dip them. I had to stop and put a foot down to avoid wobbling into their path and I had to do it again on the Paddy Slacks descent which was otherwise an delightful finish to the ride, swooping down the hillside and onto the back road in to Innerleithen.
Russell and Alan pulled into the car park while Steve and I headed on for a receipt as final proof of riding the route.
A tough second day in the rain but rather enjoyable too.

Etal U Can - 12th October 2019

I woke and was immediately relieved to discover I was still in my B&B bed in Galashiels and not as I had been dreaming sitting in the Focus center lamenting another DNF.

I woke again from the same dream, the soft mattress of my B&B bed troubling my dodgy back as much as the dreams now, I rolled over on my "wrong" side and found it more comfortable.

Finally I woke to Kraftwerk's Etape 3 blaring from my phone heralding the early wakeup needed for an 8am start.

Tour of Rheged - 5th October 2019

I hadn't realized I'd injured myself until I felt a dull ache under my rib cage.
I hadn't realized how bad it was until I was walking my bike up the Kirkstone pass as darkness fell unable to maintain a sustained effort with an aching back, a dig under the right ribs and legs of lead.

Bloody Toyotas.

Some photos from an otherwise excellent but tough ride through England's Tame and Domestic Scenery.

Border Nights 400 - 21st September

I woke up from a fairly rubbish sleep and not exactly raring to go; it took me ages to get out of bed and sort myself out, I had planned to get the 0722 train with the 0750 as back up even thought the 0840 would get me to Edinburgh on time. I set off for the station at 8, I felt good and was riding well so put the morning fug down to being an anxious Owl and the needless early alarm.

This is a local shop for...

The trains down to Carlisle went well and when I got there the train to Brampton that I was timetabled to miss by 5 minutes was sitting waiting along with the one before it.  A signalling issue had made a mess of things and to make things worse for Network Rail the line was being used to get round a closure on the east coast line between Morpeth and Dunbar.

Hallbank Gate "local" shop, worth the stop even if not scheduled; Café open until 2

I hopped on and we set of 35mins late, the announcements weren't working on the train until after Weatherall where it told me the next stop was Haltwhistle rather than Brampton... Slightly concerning but the National Rail app still had us booked to stop at Brampton so put it down to user error.

Riders ready

It was a warm day and I was kitted out for night riding so was a bit too warm as I rode up the hill to Hallbankgate from Brampton Station which is in the woods about a mile from town.  I rolled into the shop with over 2 hours to wait for the start.  I first became aware of this shop on the Borderlands Explorer 600 in 2018 when I saw the "Local Shop" sign, though I didn't stop.  I finally stopped here on the Alston and Back 300 in 2019 and was pleasantly surprised at what was on offer in the small community Co-Op so knew I'd be able to get a reasonable lunch, which I did in the form of the day's special a Chicken Wrap.

Andy arrived and the woman on the counter told him I'd been there for hours (I had!), he got set up then handed me my card, other riders soon arrived some caught up in the train issues others had arrived by a more reliable form of transport. Andy said he had 25 entries but was down to 17 riders at this point and expected a few others to DNS.  As we gathered to start he gave us a warning about the level crossing at Milton which I know well and about the road down to Dumfries from Monaive which I don't.

Down from Brampton

When 3 O'Clock came I shot off along the gravel path to the road and then set off down the hill rather hot, the tail wind and gravity combining to push me along, a rider passed me on the way into the level crossing having obviously not understood the warning and nearly crashed into the side of a car when the off camber left hander the crossing drops you onto came on him. As I descended my eyes and nose started to stream, I put it down to accidentally taking too much nosal spray for my Rhinitis, it's not hayfever season after all is it?

Down from Brampton

Some of the riders behind caught us at the Brampton bypass but I was back up to speed on the descent through town and held my place up the hill out; as the road to Longtown levelled off my speed dropped majorly and everyone else sailed by.  As he passed Dave suggested I grab his wheel so I tried to hang on.  Another rider passed us in town telling us his chain had snapped, I suggested if he needed it there was a shop just over the bridge, though a chain a couple of links short should be fine.

Lockerbie

Dave dropped me on the road to Gretna and I started to feel a struggle on the short sharp bank into Springfield; though I kept a good pace up the hill to Lockerbie where Dave and another two riders were stopped in the petrol station eating.  I decided to bounce the control grabbing some basic food as I reckoned I'd eaten enough to get to Gala.

Out of Lockerbie I was on a new road to Boreland and on to Eskdalemuir; I started to feel the struggle more and found myself out of the saddle a lot more than I should be; but it's a good rolling road and my average was still showing ok.
The other two riders passed me and then Dave did too, by now I knew something wasn't right and started to wonder if I'd made the wrong decision in the morning.
Down to Eskdalemuir and I was feeling ok again, it felt strange riding right past the community bistro where all of the Gala rides stop.

Samye Ling

The hill up was ok and I was over and onto the descent comfortably, but then on the descent as darkness fell I was feeling wrong again and getting sleepy and worse coughing too, I was pedalling down hill into a breeze but was on and off the saddle to do so, and my legs ached, not the usual exercise leg ache but a "you've got a cold or flu" ache.

Down at Bowhill I knew I was back on the flat and I felt better again and forced myself to stay in the saddle as much as I could to Gala, when I got to McDonalds Robbie was just leaving and Dave and the other two were sitting eating.  I ordered and decided I'd make a decision once I'd eaten, but as I stood waiting for my tea my legs started turning jelly like.

I checked the train times and found out that the last train that would let me get home that night was in 20 minutes.  I asked the server for a bag and told the other guys that I was going home and set off for the late night party trains to Fife.

On the party train to Edinburgh

Kilrymanjaro - 1st Sept 2019

Nae cheering neeburs staund aside the road, nae juice, nae crepes, nae caffee, nae tea.
Jist polite afferins o' the forenoon fae the odd body oot washing thair motor in the gairden ir aside the road.

Dalhousie Airch - Aigle

Nae ca's o' bon courage, nae bon rowt fae passin motors, abuis hurled oot insteid "Mah granny can ride faister", Aye but can yer granny ride twal hunner k?
The cooncil dinnae say sairy fir the roch and pot holed road, whit wid the depairtment say tae this?
Thon hills ir a sair fetch fir weary legs, knaps ake 'n grain as wi gae upwith.

Royal Airch - Fettery

Wi rode fae Farfar thru Aigle and Fettery tae Auchenblae whar Torc wis staumping cairds at the café by thon play pairk, fae thar it wiz back tae Fettery an Aigle and alang tae Kirrie fir the dig tae Brigend and anither café whar Robbie catcht me maugre his late stairt by o'er an oor.

Kirk - Drumotchty

Mair upwart riding throu Glen Isla tae the tap o' Kilry brae, and then doon roond Ailyth an in tae Straithmor fir a fine run back in tae Farfar.

OAn oor wai back tae Kirrie

We gaed ben the shoap fir a tattie and a cake, then back oot into the wilds tae get oor distance up tae twa hunner fir twa mair audax points.

Aboon Farfar

Hame roads whit ithers iz like thaim?