goblins | Bike Around Britain

11 May 2013

With Noah off to little ninjas club with Meredith, Hugh cooked up a fine cyclists breakfast of sausages, beans and fried potatoes, most excellent fare for a day on the road. I needed to get a few things done to the bike before leaving Edinburgh, and after a few false starts we found a bike shop that stocked what I needed. Hugh printed off a more detailed map with directions to the bike shop, and then on to the Union Canal which I intended to follow to Falkirk.

Bidding goodbye to my excellent hosts, with a snack pack, clean laundry and boosted Star Wars knowledge aded to my inventory, I set off cycling down Princes Street again, seeing the castle, and managed not to get lost or waylaid by Edinburgh drivers or buses, on my way to the shop. Bit of an overcast and dreary day, but no rain as yet.

Edinburgh Castle 1

Edinburgh Castle 2

I found Blackhall Cycles owned and run my Derek Laing, who turned out to be a real whizz on the bike front, as well as being very friendly and helpful. My brake blocks needing replacing before tackling the rest of Scotland, and my tyres had seen better days, so I got them all replaced – got some funky Aztec brake pads, and Schwalbe tyres which are much tougher so should cope with the sometimes rough cycle tracks better. Derek also straightened my wheels which had gone a little out of shape, and tweaked, cleaned and lubed various things, quite an education in bike maintenance. Glad to report everything is running a lot more smoothly again now, with far more responsive brakes which I think I’ll need. Hopefully won’t need to change anything else significant for the rest of the tour, touch wood. Would strongly recommend any tourers passing through Edinburgh stopping in at Blackhall Cycles (15 Marischal Place, Blackhall, Edinburgh)for a bike health check and chat, thanks Derek (and for the donation).

Post Blackhall Cycles, and again following Hugh’s map, I made my way through the city to the start of the Union Canal, stopping for a pizza lunch break on the way. The Union Canal runs all the way to the Falkirk Wheel, something I wanted to see, a distance of about 34 miles. I spent quite a few hours chugging along by the canal, passing various towns and villages, including Linlithgow and it’s palace. I passed over several aqueducts, and through some lovely countryside once out of Edinburgh. Unfortunately I still had the headwind from yesterday to contend with, and the track was pretty bumpy and muddy in places so was glad of he new tyres. At least it was flat being a canal track.

Union Canal 1

Union Canal 2

Union Canal 3

Avon Aqueduct

Also passed through a couple of old and mysterious tunnels, at least one of which was Goblin infested, but made it through unscathed.

Goblin tunnel 1

Goblin tunnel 2

Goblin tunnel 3 – leaking!

There were a lot of other cyclists going the other way, on a charity ride from Glasgow for Guide Dogs for the blind. I stopped and chatted to a few of them who were comprehensively mud splattered, apparently there was a bad stretch near Glasgow but I wasn’t going that far. I helped one mend a puncture as his pump was broken, my good deed for the day, couldn’t help another with a broken pedal though, hope he made it okay.

Nesting swam

I made it to the Falkirk Wheel about 5ish, and stopped for a look. It’s an amazing piece of engineering, which transports boats from the canal on high down to the next section of the route below, via a huge rotating device. Apparently it’s the only one like it in the world.

Falkirk Wheel 1

Falkirk Wheel 2

Falkirk Wheel 3

Falkirk Wheel 4

Falkirk Wheel 5

From Falkirk I rode north up the A9 to Stirling, passing Bannockburn but not stopping as it was getting late and would be closed. I stopped in Stirling for a bite to eat before heading off to find a place to camp. I’d been roughly tracking the Firth of the Forth all day, so was good to cross the River Forth.

River Forth

I rode up past the William Wallace monument, an impressive structure that looks great up on the hilltop, and can be seen for miles, dominating the landscape, I’m sure Mel Gibson William Wallace would approve.

Wallace Monument 1

Wallace Monument 2

Rather than wild camp I opted to stay at the Witches Craig campsite. A lovely site although the midges had started to appear so I quickly applied Avon Lady skin so soft which worked a treat, and probably helped my wind chapped face too! A group of fellow campers had just finished their BBQ and had leftovers which they kindly offered me, plus a glass of wine, very kind of them and was great to have a chat. Never going to turn down more food on this tour! They live on the coast so might meet up with them again at some point.

Got to bed late due to starting late, but a great day. As I was settling down, in sight of the Wallace Monument, there were some very loud bangs in the distance. No idea what caused them, a quarry maybe, but seems weird late at night. Suspect more goblin activity!

Going to be a cold night as clear sky, hopefully better weather tomorrow.

Witches Craig

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10 May 2013

Warning, this post might go a little odd, it was a long day and hard ride. 71 miles, across some serious hills to begin with, and into a nasty headwind all the way.

I awoke to a grey day but at least the rain had stopped, and I’d had a cosy night’s sleep under the Monkey Puzzle tree post lots of food the evening before. Packing up a wet tent is never good, but is something I’ll have to get used to I expect, gave it a good shake but impossible to get it dry without some sunshine.

I breakfasted and set off before 9am, wanting to make good time up into Scotland and to Edinburgh. Little didn’t know at this point what the day had in store for me. I cycled down into Berwick-upon-Tweed, and across the bridge into the town proper, before finding a McDonald’s on the outskirts for a quick second breakfast and to upload a couple of blog posts via their wifi.

Berwick-upon-Tweed

To get into Scotland I had to hit the A1, crossing the border after a few miles, with hills getting hillier, and a headwind building from the East. Sunnier though.

Across the border into bonny Scotland

I finally turned off the A1 at Burnmouth, which was somewhat of a relief given the traffic, and headed down to Eyemouth along the A1107, following route 76. The headwind was getting stronger making hill ascents trickier, but the countryside was lovely and the sun was out, so all good. I had a break in Coldingham post a long climb – quick rest and a banana from my fruit basket, on the St. Abbs road in a nice warm sheltered spot. I didn’t go all the way to St. Abbs as would have involved long hill back up into Coldingham, and I was already feeling a bit tired.

I followed the coast road back towards the A1, past a wind farm having a particularly productive day. Some pretty long hills up, followed by some lovely long descents despite the wind which meant I had to keep pedalling to prevent stopping, even downhill.

Yet more wind farms

Scottish Borders countryside

I had to cycle down the A1 again for a bit, whereupon I passed a sign which as well as advertising various tourist attractions, mentioned Goblins abounded in East Lothian, but that you might not see one; I’d had a feeling I was being watched for some time.

Goblins

I turned off the A1 to Dunbar where I lunch from a local bakery – nice chicken tikka masala slice and cake. Met up with a large group of cyclists on their way to Newcastle from Edinburgh, they were enjoying a nice tailwind, I had the opposite to contend with. They were riding for a children’s charity and taking three days, looked fun but think I prefer cycling on my own or in a smaller group.

In Dunbar I also passed a Peruvian busker, sending familiar notes drifting through the town from his pipes. I’m sure I’d seen him in Norwich at some point. Quite strange to hear in Scotland where I was more expecting bagpipes. He had a funny hat on, maybe he was a goblin.

From Dunbar I headed off once more into the fierce headwind, which was proving very draining. I had to turn off route 76 to keep following the coast, and headed up to North Berwick past Tyninghame and Whitekirk. I passed Tantallon Castle and the impressive Bass Rock island.

Tantallon Castle and Bass Rock Island

I turned into North Berwick where I had a break. I’d had a tiring day so far with my bike feeling heavy. I had suspicions someone or something had slipped stones into my panniers but couldn’t find any. North Berwick is a lovely spot and would be worth a return visit.

North Berwick 1

North Berwick 2

Possible Goblin Mound or Citadel

On the subject of the large hill/mound to the north of the town, it was a little bizarre coming out of nowhere, and very imposing. Don’t know if it was man made, I suspect not, probably volcanic origins, or more likely Goblin in nature.

The clouds started to draw in now and it was getting colder, so I tried to pick up the pace, heading down the coast through Dirleton which had an impressive castle, then past Aberlady Bay. As well as getting colder my lower back started to ache on the right hand side which I tried to ignore; suspect poison darts from the Goblins who’d realised I’d rumbled them.

I rode past Gosford Bay where there were several goblins kite-surfers out taking advantage of the wind that had been plaguing me. They were going really well but hard to capture in a photo.

Kite Surfer

I think I was starting to hallucinate at this point so I ate some sweets to try and get some energy and sanity back, before continuing along the coast past Cockenzie and Port Seton, then on to Musselburgh where the charity ride from earlier had started. It started raining at this point but I didn’t bother with a waterproof, it would have been too much effort to get out.

Rode on determinedly towards Edinburgh city centre, hoping to make last orders at the Virgin Money lounge above which our Edinburgh office is based. I road around quite a lot of Edinburgh looking for the office, due to going wrong then getting trapped by roadworks. Everything is a lot more difficult when you’re tired. Finally found St Andrews Square, which should have been easier seeing as I passed really close to it about 30 minutes previously, however unfortunately it was well after 17.30 by that point. Thanks for the donations though Edinburgh colleagues!

Worth mentioning that Edinburgh drivers are a little mad, and quite aggressive, plus there are lots of buses to contend with. I think Princes Street had the highest density of buses I’ve ever seen in one place, even more than London or Marseille, and they’re all driven by goblins as far as I can tell. You also have to watch out for the tram lines they’re installing at the moment, no trams until next year however the lines are easy to get your wheel stuck in; several cyclists have apparently fallen afoul!

Negotiating more of Edinburgh I made my way to Hugh and Meredith’s flat, friends who I’d been threatening to visit for years but never quite made it. Arrived in time for dinner, a very welcome Mexican cooked up by Meredith, followed by strawberry tart and ice-cream. Great to catch up and also learnt lots about Lego Star Wars from their son Noah. He could seriously go on Mastermind with specialist subject Star Wars, not sure 6 year old general knowledge would quite work out though I’m sure he’d give them a run for their money. Also got some laundry done so good for at least another couple of weeks now 😉

Full of food, and with thoughts of goblins receding I retreated to a comfy bed, although thinking about it Hugh does have a Goblin tendencies, especially when he gets his bottle of Everclear out – if you’re ever offered this drink run away!

Tough day, hardest yet with wind and hills, but good to end up with friends. Tomorrow equals finding a bike shop to get new brake blocks, tyres, and a once over (for the bike not me, although I could probably do with it), then going down the Union Canal to Falkirk, and on to Stirling. I might also try and find a chemist for sore nose remedy, and anti goblin hallucination drugs!

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Bike Around Britain

Blog on cycling around the coast of Britain

Tag Archives: goblins

Leg 11 – to Stirling via the Union Canal

Leg 10 – into Scotland and on to Edinburgh