PowerCycle

05/20 Another cold (44 F), wet and windy day leaving Edinburgh. Pretty low key ride–not too much to see because of the constant rain. It was hilly but I don’t think it was 3075 feet of climbing like my bike computer says. I would guess 1500 based on how my legs felt but its been a while since I climbed paved hills so I guess it’s possible.

There were a couple highlights for the day. The first was seeing the famous Forth Railway Bridge. At the time of its opening in 1890 it had the longest single cantilever bridge span in the world (#2 now after one in Canada). It is 1.6 miles long (2.5 km), it was the first bridge built using only steel in Britain and it was the site of the first German air attack on Britain during WWII.

The other big highlight was finally meeting a friendly shopkeeper in the UK. I didn’t get her name but she is the owner of The Muirs Inn in the town of Kinross, Scotland. Had some delicious fish and chips, mashed peas and a whole lot of hot tea. Stayed the night at Noahs Ark Campground in Perth. 10 pounds including internet and hot showers. The 2 women running the place were also very nice.

The next day was a little better as far as the weather but not by much. I didn’t ride very far–maybe 35 miles or so. Just wasn’t in the mood I guess. Not too much going on with the scenery. Mostly just the same as everything further south but with more hills. Camped at an RV park called Milton of Fonab near the town of Pitlochry. Standard place–10 pounds, bad shower, free internet, kind of a friendly manager lady once I laid on the charm.

I made up a little the next day for my slacking off the previous day. All credit goes to the boost I get from seeing snow-covered mountains. They’re are not the highest mountains in the world but I just love any big chunk of rock, especially if it’s covered in snow (the highest mountain is 4409 feet). In fact I heard from another biker today that they reopened some of the higher elevation ski slopes because there’s been so much of the fluffy stuff. I also crossed into the Scottish Highlands, an area with one of the lowest population densities in all of Europe. Got to love that. Rode 64 miles with 2686 feet of climbing. 90% was paved. No rain today!!! It even broke 50 F at one point. It’s a regular heat wave! Camped at High Alpine park in Aviemore. 10 pounds again. Awesome shower but no internet. They keep the only drinking water tap locked up in a shed that you need a swipe card to open.

One thing I find ironic about Scotland is how many places I see commemorating John Muir, the Scottish-born American naturalist. His mission was “to save the soul of America from total surrender to materialism” and he did this by co-founding the Sierra Club and fighting to save the western forests in the United States. He saw livestock, especially domestic sheep, which he called “hoofed locusts”, as the greatest threat to these areas. The ironic part is that there’s not a single patch of land in Scotland, from what I’ve seen so far, that hasn’t been overrun with sheep.

The final 40 mile stretch into Inverness (1710 feet climbing) went by quick. Beautiful views of the mountains, sunshine most of the day, lot’s of forest and only a little riding next to the busy A9. I was going to camp at a place in the city but on a whim I stopped at Ardgarry B&B and checked out how much a room was. It was only 30 pounds so I took it. The room is heated and let me tell you how nice it is to be sitting in an 80 F room. The only time I’ve been warm since basically Florida, even inside, is when I’m in a shower or in my sleeping bag. I’m only staying here one night because I’m about 4 days behind schedule. Actually I’m pretty impressed that I’m only 4 days behind on a schedule I did 60 days ago. No reason for the schedule really–it keeps me focused on being in Russia before fall but lately all I really care about is July.

GPX track

Went for a walk around Edinburgh this afternoon. It fits quite nicely into my top 10 favorite cites I think. The main touristy area is the walk from the castle down to Holyrood Palace, the official residence of the British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. It’s called the Royal Mile (although it is 107 yards longer than 1 mile). Lot’s of people walking around but it wasn’t swarming with tourists like London was. Quite a few Scottish fellows with big red beards. I did see the token bagpipe playing guy in a kilt but I couldn’t bring myself to take a picture. The girls here, and in Western Europe too, like wearing short shorts with black stockings. Some probably shouldn’t but mostly it’s OK. Not too many facial piercings here like there was down in England.

Thanks to Karin the Genius, my VDO bike computer keeps track of the altitude again. That makes me very happy but I sure wish my crappy, expensive Garmin 62stc GPS kept track of the elevation. I also found my bike gloves that I thought I lost a while ago. They were tucked into the pocket in the back of my rain jacket. Oops.

Tomorrow I’m back on the road. Where I go is a big if. If I feel like putting up with the weather I’m going to Loch Ness which is about 4 days riding north of here. Then I cut across and down to Campbeltown and take the ferry to Northern Ireland. If the weather is driving me insane I’m just going straight across to Campbeltown. I’ll decide tomorrow morning while I’m riding. I did hear that the weather is supposed to stabilize and get better… in mid June.

05/14 The rain was back on Friday and since the hotel was cheap I took a day off. The guy warned me that Friday it gets loud downstairs in the pub until 1am but it wasn’t bad at all. The next day started out with a minor problem. I couldn’t get to where they had my bike stored outside because the door was locked and no one was around to open it. It’s not a normal hotel– the reception desk person is the bartender and once the bar closes I don’t think anyone is there until, well, I don’t know. I did manage to track down an emergency exit on the next floor and used the fire escape to get to where my bike was.

There was a quick 7 minute ferry ride to cross the river in South Shields (to North Shields) and then it was mostly dirt trails to where I ended up camping that night. The place was called Proctor’s Stead. It was $12.95 US to camp. The hot shower was free and the old guy running the place was very friendly. He said in 55 years he never remembers it raining this much in the spring. I couldn’t tell you what the weather was like a year ago wherever I was so he has an amazing memory.

My right pedal started making a clicking noise a couple days ago and today it started getting progressively worse rather fast. Knowing it could seize up at any moment I started asking people if they knew where a bike shop was. As luck would have it there was one in the town of Bedlington not too far from where I was. The guy running the shop was extremely helpful and happened to have a new set of Shimano reversible clipless pedals (SM PD-22). They weren’t quite the same as I had before but they look durable enough. They were $42 US (or $28 in the States). I’m surprised the old set of pedals didn’t last that long. The first ones I left Florida with held out for 17,120 miles. These last ones only lasted 9,996 miles although there was a lot more hill climbing (more rotations) after Ecuador heading south.

Beautiful riding along the North Sea. It was the weekend so lot’s of bird watchers, dog walkers (booo) and families out taking advantage of the rare sunshine. I stuck my head inside the wall and took a picture of the ruins of Warkworth Castle but was too cheap to pay the entrance fee. It dates back to the 12th century. I did love the look of the old ruins sitting up over the village. Very cool looking.

The rain held off until about 1pm and then a few showers came through. After that it was nice again. Knocked out 52 miles. The bike route I’m on, Route 1, has been signposted pretty well but there’ve been a few spots that need some work. At one point I ended up pushing through a muddy field because the trail kind of just dissolved into a parking lot with a bunch of different ways to keep going, none of them marked and straight not being an option.

The next day was a mess. Winds of 30 mph gusting to probably 50. No rain until the afternoon but the wind more than made up for that. Managed to get in 62 miles of riding. Took me four tries to find campsite that allowed tent camping and by that point I was so tired I just paid the $27 US. That makes Crosslaw Caravan Park in Coldingham, Scotland the new record holder for the highest I’ve paid for camping in 3 years. At least wild camping is legal in Scotland provided you camp 100 meters away from the road and you are not in an enclosed space. We’ll see how this works out. I managed to scare a deer at one point. Poor thing kept running down the road trying to get away but couldn’t get into the trees because of the fence.

Today was a bit better with the wind but not much. Had a couple rain showers come through but the sun peaked through every once in a while to cheer me up. Made it into Edinburgh after 55 miles. One fun part was going through the Innocent Railway tunnel under Holyrood Park. It was the first railway tunnel in the UK and has since been converted into a ped/bike path. At 1050 feet it was the longest tunnel I’d ever been through. Staying here for 3 nights with a host from warmshowers.org (Ewan).

GPX track

05/10 I had a much, much better day leaving York. The sun was shining (until 3pm and then it rained), traffic was noticeably better and I didn’t see very many people–only a few stares. The route I took went through some crazy places. First there was a paved bicycle trail leaving the city, then there was a dirt road, then there was very muddy and hilly single track section, after that a mile ride along a muddy path through some fields followed up by a muddy stream crossing. Had it been raining much more it would have been a nightmare but it was quite manageable and I kind of loved it. Felt like I was back doing the O’Higgins crossing in Argentina/Chile.

I’m not having much luck finding actual campgrounds. I downloaded this list of CG’s from a web site called Archies Campings but a lot of the sites, as I’m finding out when I arrive, are for members only. They are also geared toward RVs so unless they have a space dedicated to tents only (maybe half do) the sites cost a fortune. This one cost me $20.48 US (White Water Park in the city of Stockton-On-Tees). Again, just a hunk of grass and a hot shower.

I found a place that shows tent sites but they don’t have anything you can download for offline use. That means I need internet to check and I have to plan for each day where I want to ride. I hate having to do that but if I get stuck on the road I have to pay for a hotel which is what I had to do the next night. Or I need to buy a cell phone so I can call first.

Similar problems with camping today. The first place allowed tent camping but the office was closed from 12pm to 4pm. I got there at 3:30pm. Of course it had been cold and raining all day and I didn’t feel like hanging around so I left for the next place a couple miles down the road. I got there only to find out that this one hasn’t allowed tent camping in 6 years. Well maybe get a new sign on the highway (right where the first place was) so people know?

In the town of South Shields I finally spotted a hotel/pub called Douglas Vaults Hotel. The room is an amazingly low $40 US. The shower is shared but everything is very clean. Free wifi even.

Lot’s more muddy off road riding today. I probably spent 90% of the day on dirt. No real bad spots and the rain kept my chain from getting too mucked up. It was pretty nice riding along the North Sea. I suppose I was in the Netherlands for a bit but this was way more how I thought it would be–cold, windy, rainy and with a lighthouse.

Not 3 minutes after leaving the campground this morning a guy says, “Looks like you got a lot of baggage there.” I’m starting to think this isn’t a hot spot for long distance bicycle touring. He was the only person that said anything to me all day. People stopped saying hi for some reason. I think the change happened around York.

Oh, and rabbits are not as harmless as people may think. One of the little monsters must have ducked under my tent fly last night and made off with the Ortlieb bag I keep my oatmeal in. It was laying about 20 feet from my tent this morning. Fortunately it wasn’t gnawed through.

GPX track