La vuelta!
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Commuting
The "I had a lovely ride today, thankyou" thread
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Posted 2 years ago #
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@Hankchief
That was a crazy bridgetastic ride! Two breakfasts too.
However, the tarmac stopped a 100m off the road and we had 4miles of gravelly path (some of which was overgrown to only shoulder width) on 25mm road bikes.
Mrs LB made that point about the NCN1 in the lovely car restricted Tentsmuir Forest* in Fife. You're led onto what seems like a good path only for it to degrade when you're too far along to go back.
- The charge to park at Tentsmuir is £2 for the day.
Payment options: Coin onlyTentsmuir operates a pay barrier system that is coin-operated only. Please come prepared with cash as there are no local facilties for paying by card.
Posted 2 years ago # -
You're led onto what seems like a good path only for it to degrade when you're too far along to go back.
Totally. It should be banned.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I will probably think of this in time as 'lovely' but a day later I am still feeling too tired to start reminiscing!
Did a round trip this week from Midlothian to Thorntonloch via Ormiston and East Linton, then south to Ford and Etal, via Coldingham, Eyemouth and Berwick(ish), then west to Tweedbank station via Kelso, St Boswells and Melrose. I cancelled my option to camp there because weather. It was supposed to be raining from Wednesday afternoon so I didn't pack any sun cream. I therefore got burnt two days running, but availed myself of factor 50 for Thursday.
My legs were entirely unprepared for the effort. I have no idea what my bike weighed, but it was so heavy I could barely lift the back wheel. How I managed in Snowdonia six years ago I have no idea. I understand why people who go camping often use top-box equipped Range Rovers and Ford Transit M Sport motorhomes with the pop-up roofs. Some of the hills I should normally have romped up, but with my full camping load instead I seemed to spend hours grinding upwards in my bottom gear. The Sustrans directions even had me go via Pease Bay caravan site, which is an utterly stupid route but also largely unavoidable thanks to the A1 being a de facto motorway nowadays. I ignored some of Sustrans' suggestions later on and made up my own route involving more A-roads.
Thorntonloch is a nice campsite, and has a lovely beach. There are no shops within walking distance though. Ford Bridge campsite is nicely remote, but only a couple of miles from the shops at Etal, where there is also a castle and a little railway.
The Union Bridge over the Tweed near Berwick is still very much not available for use.
Suspension bridge temporarily suspendedThe old Kelso branch railway has some super infrastructure that's crying out to be turned into a cycle track.
My mood was improved a few miles before Kelso when I bumped into a guy riding a Radius Peer Gynt long wheelbase recumbent. His first question was, incredibly, "Do you still have your velomobile?" I think I'd maybe met BHPCer Sandy at Bike Right years before, and missed each other at one POP or another, and we chatted for ages. My mood was further improved by the enormous filled roll I bought in a bakery on Kelso high street and ate at Floors Castle, lessened when it failed to add any energy to my legs, but improved somewhat again with a bottle of chocolate milk from a shop in St Boswells. Once on the train at Tweedbank how amazingly quickly we arrived at Shawfair.
130 miles is enough for this week!
Posted 2 years ago # -
@arellcat, excellent ride report.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Cycled out to meet my parents at "The Drift" café just the other side of North Berwick. A brisk ride out along the coast in some haar/cloud.
I'd thoroughly recommend "The Drift", excellent scones and cakes.
I came back through some back lanes and picked up some more veloviewer tiles. It warmed up nicely although the sun never really come out.Posted 2 years ago # -
@arelicat - thanks for posting great report .Bet you were glad to be on the P38 -ideally suited to hilly borders country.
Went down to Cove on my near horizontal M5 carbon high racer at an indecently fast speed for a septuagenarian , but met my nemesis trying a route back to East Linton via Oldhamstocks and Spott . Cruel pain inducing hills with no pleasure on the descents as there was always a steep bend to negotiate to the next climb
Came a cropper a couple of times as ran out of puff and not enough time to get feet down from the high bottom bracket - but only witnessed by soaring buzzards.Would have been much happier on the P-38 in that terrain!Posted 2 years ago # -
@jss - M5 CHR is one of these bikes that work really well till they don't! Still my bike of choice for leisure use despite its faults. P-38 is more multi-purpose.
I need to re-search that back route - but maybe on less extreme bike first.
Just realised that I had missed @arellcat's tour report with chance recliner encounter.
Posted 2 years ago # -
That hill out of Dunbar through Spott is a killer even on a standard road bike. One of my very first club rides I did it on a 1x CX bike and I was just about in tears as I ran out of selectable gears on this climb on a cold wet morning. I say selectable as there was probably another 2 or 3 sprockets to go but SRAM is SRAM
Posted 2 years ago # -
On a more positive note I’ve been visiting the in-laws up in Aberdeenshire and the roads are fantastic for cycling. Surfaces variable, but quiet and perfect weather conditions (not too hot, very light breezes compared to the East Lothian coastal winds). Cairn O’Moubt tomorrow, wish me luck
Posted 2 years ago # -
Went up the red road tonight after dinner. At the gate some walkers were holding the gate open for me so I went onto the dirt path, cycled up to the shoulder of West Kip and looked south to the Borders. Met a dad and his young daughter Lola descending. Sun a bright orangey pink orb on descent a little blinding at times. Was a fabulous post prandial excursion.
Cairn O Mount should be a blast tomorrow.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Nice ride yesterday evening but why are so many people on bikes miserable and anti-waving these days? Lost count of the number of times I was blanked
Posted 2 years ago # -
@cocoshepherd, wear a daft hat or jersey. Works for me.
My eldest insists she overheard two guys in Sheep Heid talking about me. guy 1 I saw Marmite Man again. guy2 not seen him for a while
Now I had worn the Marmite Hate Jams jersey for the first time in years recently but only for one commute out Harperrig and back to home office so doubt it was me. I am not the only person with that jersey in Edinburgh. The Tunnocks Teacake one though you don’t see so much.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Why should cyclists wave at you? You don't wave at everyone you meet around town. More cyclists means you are less unusual.
Posted 2 years ago # -
@fimm bah humbug
@gembo I wear a face that's twice as daft as any item of clothing you own guaranteed
Posted 2 years ago # -
@fimm, I wave at everyone and say hello. Top of the morning to you.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Made it up Cairn O’Mount. Just about perfect weather conditions for it. For a relatively short ride (25 miles/ 1.5 hrs) it’s absolutely destroyed me
Posted 2 years ago # -
North South is easier than the other way round but has nine false summits so getting up is always a victory
I helped a big pal up after 137 miles on a kirriemuir audax. He said I need to get off to be sick. But he was not sick
Posted 2 years ago # -
@fimm, I don't wave at people I walk past in town. But I do say hi to people when I pass them while walking in quieter places. Similarly on the bike I usually say hi to people when I'm riding somewhere quiet away from traffic. Sometimes audibly sometimes a wave and sometimes just a nod of the head.
There's always some people who don't acknowledge you. I'm just glad they are on a bike not driving.
@mcairney, Well done. It's quite a hill.
Posted 2 years ago # -
@mcairney Heather must have been splendid
Posted 2 years ago # -
Heather was fantastic from west Kip looking east last night
Posted 2 years ago # -
Heather was indeed splendid! The black flies less so..
Posted 2 years ago # -
Heather is also very nice here in Wales (on hols)
Posted 2 years ago # -
I am goin* back up to see West Kip Heather shortly
Posted 2 years ago # -
Was half hour earlier and a bit busier but still glorious,
Posted 2 years ago # -
+1 for the Pentland heather looking nice, at least when you can see it. I trusted the forecast and rode over to Carlops and then back via Mount Maw on Monday.
Leaving Balerno visibility was about 50m so if it didn't improve then I knew I would be abandoning and coming home via Balerno. Thankfully as I approached the Borestone the sky to the south looked considerably lighter than to the north and looking south from the top it was clear. The clouds then started lifting further and by the time I was heading up Mount Maw sunburn became a real risk.
The ring of hills around Baddingsgil were splendidly purple (at least where the heather hadn't been burnt*). By the time I came down from the high peaks I was getting short on time so couldn't afford a long stop. Not that I wanted to because the approach to Cauldstane Slap was notable for ants both on the path and flying I'm sure it wasn't constant but it certainly seemed that way.
Having enjoyed a fairly dry ascent by the time I crested the pass I was expecting progress to improve but it became clear that the north slopes were a lot damper with a series of mud pits. One of these got the better of me trying to throw me over the handlebars. I'm not sure it counts as good handling but thankfully I managed to dismount sideways onto my shoulder rather than forwards onto my helmet.
I eventually crossed the bog but my final hurdle was the appearance of a gentle north easterly. Not the opposite of the quickening but certainly enough to require constant effort all the way home, with mere minutes to spare before picking up the kids from school. I'm sure one day I will need to ride straight to the gate in my lycra but this wasn't the week.
*burnt as alluded to by a sign on the way to the Bore Stone. They talk about planting trees, keeping sheep, looking after wading birds and then eventually just before they bottom they confess that the primary aim of their land management is the rearing of Black Grouse. Including predator management and Heather burning. Grr.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Monday was misty in the morning and then getting a little misty at night. Friday on way back in from sunny East Lothian there was haar all over the bottom of Arthurs Seat
Has been a glorious few days again.
Ants are indeed very active
Midges less so/?
Posted 2 years ago # -
Not sure we would enjoy such wonderful heather if it hadn’t been burnt in previous years albeit for questionable ends. Left to itself it would become very woody in a few years with few if any flowers.
Even the RSPB burn the heather on their sites to regenerate the heather as a habitat.
I understand there is some discussion that cutting with big machines might be a more benign method but would raise other issues of land damage.Posted 2 years ago # -
We've been having a great time exploring the back roads of Ardudwy in Wales. Much hillier than the coastal road but no August holiday traffic. Brilliant views of the coast plus Atlantic rainforest and mountain lakes.
Today we cycled on the high road above the Mawddach and below Cadair Idris. Totally magnificent with a stunning view of the Barmouth railway bridge. At the road end we saw some choughing coughs, soaring above Arthog. Dolgellau is a good place to hang out, more real than Barmouth / Abermaw. Tomorrow we may do the south part of the Ardudwy trail on foot.
Posted 2 years ago # -
It's a lovely part of the world both on & off the bike.
The Mawddach Trail is especially picturesque.
Enjoy.
Posted 2 years ago #
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