Today was to be a shorter ride as we had covered a longer distance the previous day to reach our accommodation.
As we had more time, we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at St Ronan’s Hotel. At breakfast we chatted with two gents in their mid-70’s who were walking from the West to the East Coast.
One of them had ridden LEJOG twice before. We discussed that we had hoped to discover our legs of steel after a few days, but that we still had jelly legs. It was decided that perhaps the legs of steel principle applied to younger people who were able to recover more quickly each day and build fitness!
We told them that we had nicknamed ourselves #thegranolas (the grandmother’s rolling around the countryside). We are not yet trending on social media though!
Heading off our navigation was guiding us to fork off to the left, but we couldn’t see the turning, only a crash barrier at the side of the road. We rode up and down the road a couple of times and eventually realized that we needed to go down some steps and a narrow footpath to reach what turned out to be a very pleasant and protected cycle path beside the river.
Continuing our way, we appreciated that there was less climbing today. We rode through some remote areas of the Scottish Borders and saw some interesting sheep which are apparently a Hebridean breed that has been genetically modified. They had dark bodies and light faces and looked very lovely. I tried to take a photo but when I stopped, they walked away. I think you can just see one in the video.
A little further on we encountered the almost inevitable Road Closed sign.
It was very confusing as there were diversion signs in all directions at the junction. We decided to give it a go. We flagged down a driver who said that there were cones right across the road. We decides to keep going as we thought we would be able to walk past in the forest at the side.
We reached the cones after about 5km and were debating as to whether to continue when a man spoke to us from his bungalow at the roadside. He said that the road was completely blocked due to the road collapsing. I asked if we could get round by taking a footpath to the left. He said yes, we could go down the path and it would bring us out on the other side of the road works.
We walked off down the path for some way. Did he know that we are bikers, not hikers? Was he having a laugh? We continued on through quite difficult terrain. I thought I should video this and was then horrified to realise that the GoPro camera was missing from my top tube bag! Horror! What would Adrian say!
I decided to back track to try and find it leaving my bike in the forest. Meanwhile Carol and Soo continued to find a crossing to get us to the other side of the stream. As I was walking back, it occurred to me that it must have fallen out when I laid my bike on it’s side while I took a comfort break in the forest. I also realised that if I opened the GoPro App on my phone, that it would try to pair with GoPro by Bluetooth, and that it would beep if it came within range.
I frog marched back up the path praying that I would find it. I was so happy and grateful to hear a beep! I then kept turning the GoPro on and off from my phone as I homed in on where it was lying in the grass at the side!
Eventually we reached our stop in Bonnyrigg where we enjoyed what can be best described as a full Scottish breakfast. The proprietor then treated us to a short performance on an interesting Kurdish traditional instrument.
Carrying on it was not long before we reached Edinburgh. A further road block and diversion eventually led us into the city. It was quite a feat to navigate to our accommodation in Leith Way, especially as was trying to capture the city off Edinburgh to share with my cousin’s daughter, Martina, who has just graduated from Edinburgh University.
Claire’s Video:
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