Scottish Spring Thing

[Ray Young]

Blair, all the buildings are accessible but a lot of broken glass, even sweeping may leave small bits that could puncture mats.
The pub has recently been taken over and the food is now supposed to be very good. Not sure how busy they will be on a Saturday night though.

[Blair512]

Blair, all the buildings are accessible but a lot of broken glass, even sweeping may leave small bits that could puncture mats.
The pub has recently been taken over and the food is now supposed to be very good. Not sure how busy they will be on a Saturday night though.

I'll be fine under a tarp ray, it doesn't look like it's going to be that cold.

A pub tea could be just the ticket before we head across but I'll bring a pot noodle just incase!

[pushbikemike]

I'm out. Combination of injury and childcare difficulties.
Have a good one.

[Ray Young]

I'm out. Combination of injury and childcare difficulties.
Have a good one.

Sorry to hear that Mike, another time.

[Blair512]

I'm out. Combination of injury and childcare difficulties.
Have a good one.

That's a pity Mike, like Ray says another time.

[Gari]

That's a shame Mike, was looking forward to meeting you. I follow you on instagram, assuming your pushbikemike on there also?. Next time hopefully. G

[pushbikemike]

Cheers lads. Pretty gutted I can't get out. Yes Gari I am the same pushbike mike from instagram.

Take some photos of the bivi. I'm pretty curious about this venue.

Cheers
Mike

[Alan63]

Have a good trip whoever makes it along. Looking forward to reading all about it.

[Blair512]

Have a good trip whoever makes it along. Looking forward to reading all about it.

Thanks Alan, I'm currently knee deep in pre-bivvy faffage!

[Blair512]

20 mins early for the train because I couldn't wait to get out, we've cracked it with the weather, it's like summer out here!

[Ray Young]

20 mins early for the train because I couldn't wait to get out, we've cracked it with the weather, it's like summer out here!

, looks good for everyone out today.

[Gari]

Same here, at Dunkeld station at the moment. So excited in fact I managed to leave my debit card in my other jacket!!!
Thankfully I have some cash in my ticket wallet

[Blair512]

Thanks to Ray and Gari for a cracking weekend, I'll try to do a write up and share the few pics I managed to take at some point this week. Hopefully Gari can share his pics as they were far better than mine!

[Ray Young]

I enjoyed it too, look forward to your write up Blair.

[Gari]

I arrived at the station to a welcome committee, both Ray and Blair having arrived first. Has to be said, as a redneck it was quite the culture shock to see all those folk about! Having sorted myself with coffee, we set off up Princes street and weaved our way around the city to the outskirts, heading to the Pentlands. I'll be honest, I had pretty much no idea where we were from about 700mtrs into the ride, for the rest of the 2 days This presented a problem, in that it meant I had to stay with Ray/Blair throughout the ride, as they were my breadcrumb trail essentially!! Now, few of you here will have ridden with me, but if you had, you would realise that I am not particularly fast. Steady yes, but to too fast.
I was fine for the first leg, ducking along canal towpaths, cutting through hedgerows onto a stretch of singletrack followed by a duck down a stretch of double track along some farmers fields etc, all the while keeping one eye on the trail, the other on where my breadcrumbs were. For the most part I was ok. But the further "off road" we got, the more I struggled. Lack of speed being one(main) issue, the other being that I was riding 700/40s, and as the track got muddier and steeper/more technical I really started to struggle. Again, I can't say where but there were a few occasions that I had to take detours as the route was going to be unridable on my bike. At one point I said to Blair that I had basically turned up to a gunfight with a knife, Cliche I know, but accurate non the less Anyhow, we managed and what single track/gravel/doubletrack there was, was great. In fairness so was the mountain biking, the Jones would have been great and a few years ago it would have been exactly the sort of riding I was looking for. Unfortunately these days I can't really cope with it, and HAB takes it's toll, the cost of which was that my legs were shot for the rest of the day. The slow train unfortunately just got slower. I imagine it was quite frustrating for Ray and Blair to have to wait for me endlessly, so I shall apologise for that, in public, and am currently writing this up while sat on the naughty step

We finally made it to the Cramond Inn, which overlooks the island. It was heaving, very popular with the cycling crowd with bikes everywhere, roadies, folks out for a we dander on a sunny day on BSOs and even a guy with a courier bag and rolled up jeans!!
A few beers/coffee and some potato based products were consumed, and then at last-isn light we set off for the island over that causeway. Blair had a light on, Ray and myself were a little more cavalier and rode of sans torch.
The causeway starts pretty narrow, but there was just enough light to get past that stretch, but the light was fading fast as we reached the wide section. Basically I rode using a combination of the force, Blairs light and Ray's silhouette for scale It was pretty dark by the time we got to the other side, and as it was quite rough toward the end I was pretty pleased to still be rubber side up when we hit the beach.
We found a good spot, covered in Bracken as a campsite pretty quickly, and once set up Ray led us in search of a fire pit he new was in the woods close by. Fire going, we sat and chatted, listened to music(well done ray on the speaker) and made food/drinks etc. By about midnight I was done and shuffled off to bed.


Ray, topping up his tan. As you can see, the weather was pretty good.


Ray in the woods, Blair exiting picture right. As usual I was too slow to catch them both


Sunrise at the campsite. The frost has started to thaw, it was a pretty cold night with a good ground frost.
Blair at the back, Ray in the front with me off to the right.

Morning dawned cold and clear, alarms set for 0700. As mine went off, Blairs chipped in almost immediately, no sleeping in for us then! I got up and had a quick wander around the buildings just along the path, then headed back to the fire pit for coffee etc.

Morning faffage, sun is already shining and the day ahead looks promising indeed. Breakfast calls.

A quick tour of the island, returning to the causeway along the shoreline overlooking Fife we headed next to Queensferry for breakfast.


A quick tour of some of the old MOD buildings before leaving the island. shame that theres so much broken glass and cans around. Pretty cool graffiti though.

Legs still a little tired from yesterday, though they felt much better after a good nights sleep. Great riding through some country estates, single track through the woods and a run along what looked like a private golf course in someones(giant) front garden!!

Forth bridge, all three! The new one is quite a looker, IMO at least.

Once in Queensferry we found a nice panini type bar for breakfast, seemed to be a shortage of greasy spoons, and I proceeded to order some scrambled egg and salmon, which was unanimously pronounced as "hipster brand" breakfast by my companions!! The croissant and jam was nice too Suitably fuelled, we headed off back toward the city centre, the long way around. Again, I have no idea where we went, and was playing cat and mouse most of the morning. Both Ray and Blair were far more "positive" when riding around the numerous dog walkers, walkers, families and runners (what's with Edinburgh and the runners, hundreds of 'em!!?) Consequently I was struggling to keep up again, brought up a little more delicately I imagine
We made it back to the station for about midday, Ray heading home after our goodbyes, Blair catching a train back to Falkirk, leaving me with about 4 hours wait for the train. As I had to book the bike on, the ticket was for the booked train only, no transfers. I picked a later train to ensure that we didn't need to get back on my behalf( and I am OCD about being late for anything!) I had a wander around Princes Gardens with the bike, and spent some time people watching at the station.
I even managed to take a few pictures, all in all a relaxing afternoon at a civilised pace, spent watching folk bustle around in this busy life we seem to have created for ourselves.
I had a great time, despite my poor choice of bike, and would like to thank Ray for planning a great weekend, and both Ray and Blair for the company. Much laughing and sorting of the (bike) world was done... cheers guys.
Sorry I can't help with questions about the route, I still don't know where we went to be honest

[Ray Young]

Nice write up Gari, was good to see you again and have you along. Just waiting for Blair's version and pictures now.

[ScotRoutes]

Nice. I'll be very interested to see the photos and route as I ofetn used to make the trip down from the Pentlands to South Queensferry. There's a good loop that's about 95% off-road, which is amazing for such an urban setting.

[Blair512]

Good read Gari, do you mind if I steal some of those pics for my blog?

[Blair512]

Nice. I'll be very interested to see the photos and route as I ofetn used to make the trip down from the Pentlands to South Queensferry. There's a good loop that's about 95% off-road, which is amazing for such an urban setting.

I'll stick a link up to my blog post Colin (if I ever get round to writing it!), I usually embed my Strava into it so you can see the route we took

[Gari]

Thanks Blair, help yourself.

[pushbikemike]

Looks like the weather was very kind. Good write up Gari. Cracking photos too.
What I've learned about biking with Ray- his route choice involves hills and usually goes the long way round This looks like one to add to the list to try out.

Mike

[Alan63]

Looks like a great trip. Thanks for posting the report.

Blair, if you keep a blog, can you post a link?

[Blair512]

Thanks Blair, help yourself.

Cheers Gari, appreciate it

Looks like a great trip. Thanks for posting the report.

Blair, if you keep a blog, can you post a link?

My write up can be found here http://www.blaircaldwell.co.uk/single-p ... ring-Thing

There's not much to read at the minute but I'm hoping to keep it updated as the year goes on, it's all to easy to forget these trips and it's good to go back and read about them again I find. I originally built the site so my OH could see where I was off to with a Spotwalla embed and it has kind of spawned from there. Go easy on my poor penmanship!

[Gari]

Nice write up that Blair. Look forward to the next one, summer maybe?

[Blair512]

Nice write up that Blair. Look forward to the next one, summer maybe?

Thanks Gari, yeah that would be good. Scottish Summer Thing in the 'gorms anyone?