Easy harvest cycling.

 Saturday morning was bright and breezy and time for a pedal before breakfast. I'm still trying to get out on shorter cycles and I now have some exercises from a physiotherapist to loosen off my sore achilles. It seems to be working, albeit slowly.

 I always take a camera with me when I'm on the bike and usually take a few pictures but I haven't got around to posting much as the views all seem so familiar to me. But that doesn't mean that they won't be of interest to someone else, so here is a bit of my morning with the first views over Belhaven Bay.
 

Then it was along the dump road past the pond and a gentle climb as I headed inland.

 The harvest is in full swing and there are little hints of Autumn in the hedgerows.

The brambles not quite ripe yet but if the weather stays warm for the next week I'll be out picking and trying some cunning jam making plans.

An easy going ten miles and I didn't feel sore at the time, and more importantly I wasn't limping the next morning although it was definitely a bit tender.

I'll just keep taking it easy and try to post a bit more.

Edinburgh to Dunbar Cycle

I've been on my summer holidays for the last two weeks, so apologies for the lack of posts, but it's maybe not a bad thing to leave the blog alone for a short while. I've still been out and about and there are plenty of stories to tell. 

I'll start with a simple old fashioned cycle from Tuesday the 15th July. The weather was looking good, so I booked a train ticket for me and the LHT to Edinburgh and set out for an easy tourist trail of 35 miles or so home.

The Edinburgh Festival doesn't start until around the second week of August but the city was still too busy for me. It was full of energy and faces and voices from all over the world and much as I love this sense of worldliness, and indeed take pride in a city I know so well being appreciated by others, I find myself overwhelmed and eventually sense prevailed and I pushed the bike up from the station rather than cycle out onto the chaos of Princes Street and it's unfathomable new tram network. I'm sure that bus and taxi drivers know whats going on. However, I am willing to accept that times have changed, and I'm now a country bumpkin. 

Edinburgh being the city it is, it was only minutes before I was back on the trucker and pedalling up to Calton Hill. The city nearly has as many hills as Rome, and at times has made it's claim to be the "Athens of the North", yes I know there is a ancient Greek/Rome issue here, but its a fine situation for the Scots when your capital city has acres of parkland.

The ancient Greek theme continues on Calton Hill where the National Monument of Scotland stands like a half built copy of the Parthenon in Athens. Unfortunately that's exactly what it is as it was started in the 1820s as a monument for the soldiers and sailors who gave their lives in the Napoleonic wars. Like most Scottish ideas, the inspiration was strong but the financial practicalities weren't so easy and it was never completed. I guess we'll be considering this question again in September.....

Politics aside, it was a beautiful morning and I was the lone cyclist who had peched up the hill amongst the tourist coaches to take in the views.

The tower in the above picture is the Nelson monument to commemorate the battle of Trafalgar. It did have, and may still have, a ball that was raised on the flag staff and the dropped at 1pm every day as a signal for shipping at Leith to set their chronometers. The one o'clock gun fired at the castle as an audible signal too. I know the ball was damaged in a storm a few years ago but I don't know if it was ever repaired. As obsolete as it is, I hope it is back in operation.

And if I'm talking about shipping, the furthest white towers gleaming in the sun are at the port at Leith.
" While the Chief, puts sunshine on Leith
I'll thank Him for His work
And your birth and my birth."
The Proclaimers 1988 ( dodgy Hibees, but never mind, its still a great song)

Below Calton Hill is St Andrews House, this is where the real centre of Scottish Governing happens. The building wouldn't look out of place in 1940s Berlin.

Back to the cycling and I was soon out of the city and along the coast to Fisherrow with forlorn looking yachts waited for the tide, and then down to Longniddry Bents for a break and plenty of fluid in the heat despite the gathering cloud.

After putting my feet up on that very comfortable bench I eventually got back on the trucker and headed inland. I crossed the railway line that I had travelled along a couple of hours previously.

I also marvelled at how wrong Scotrail can get their signs, unless someone can correct me? Bruce do you know about the sign at Longniddry station?

Then on through the still air and humidity of the old railway line towards Haddington. The day was getting really warm and even the birds were quiet, just the buzz of insects and the distant sound of farm machinery.

This is the closest I get to gravel grinding. The occasional "tink" of gravel on the bottom bracket and lovely smooth, car free cycling.

The last 6 miles and I stopped at the top of Pencraig hill where the crops are days away from harvest.

Down hill and then the flat road home. A really enjoyable day out, just over three hours of cycling but five hours in total. It is a mystery to me how long I can spend looking at things and talking to people I meet on the way. I'm not complaining.

Cycling, Castles and Coffee

I promised myself that I would get out on the Long Haul Trucker this weekend, so it was a bit of a disappointment to wake on Saturday morning to find a cold rain lashing the kitchen window. I waited until about 07:30 but it didn't look like the rain was going to ease, so on with the waterproofs and off I splashed .

As usual the thought of going out was far worse than the reality and I was soon enjoying the cycle down to Belhaven bay and along the burn. A Grey Heron lazily flapped away before I could take capture a picture of it.

From East Linton it's a short climb up onto the quiet winding road to Hailes. All around there was the scent of gorse and the hedges were full of song birds. I saw greenfinches, goldfinches, yellow hammers all flitting across the road searching for food.

At Hailes I pushed the trucker into the castle grounds. The little burn running down to the river was showing the benefit of all the rain with a tiny waterfall.

I found shelter from the rain in the old kitchens of the castle and unpacked the stove to heat up my latest cold press coffee.

Shelter from the rain, the smell of coffee heating, a view over the river, it doesn't get much better.

 

 

I've been reducing the time I leave the coffee to brew, this was only nine hours and I think that suits my taste buds better, not being quite as 'sweet' as when I leave it for eleven hours.

A relaxing breakfast in a 13th century castle, then back on the bike for an easy cycle back to Belhaven Bay where there were horses out exercising in the distance.

A pretty easy sixteen miles, but a good start to the weekend and inspiration to get out regularly again.

A thinly disguised shopping trip

I've still too many things to do and too little time for myself, but I grabbed the opportunity to get out for an hour on the LHT this afternoon.

There was a strong westerly wind gusting to around 30mph but I just settled into spinning along and enjoyed the view. Everything is still green but the harvest has started and there are hints of autumn in the air.

I cycled along the usual loop by John Muir Country Park and then back around Dunbar to say hello to the horses and then off uphill for a stretch of the legs and lungs.

The trucker needs a good old strip down and service. Other than a puff of air in the tyres and some lube on the chain, it's needed nothing all summer.

Down from the peace of the little country roads and on to the local supermarket for Saturday evening pizza. That explains the pannier.

Back through Hallhill woods, and for Coastkid's interest, here is a pic of the local pump track. The sign says it's for BMX and hardtail MTB use. I can imagine some fat bikes trying this out!

And regarding fat bikes, here is the latest; I visited Coastkid yesterday evening and once he had reassured me that the guard dogs were definitely away, I was granted access to his secret fatbike research facility where we fitted the new BB, cranks and headset. The seat post that I thought I had was the wrong size so another is on order. I've also fitted the brakes and gears but the bars are awfully narrow so I think they are going to be changed.

Neat chainline! The Fatty might be storming the beaches next weekend,

A Miller's Tale (and a bit of cycling)

The cold I had last weekend hit me hard through the week which made working in the hot hot weather even more unpleasant. Fortunately it cleared up by Friday, so off I went for a pedal this morning. I kind of said that I would keep my journeying to around 30 miles and therefore not be away all day again....Aye.

First it was along to East Linton before a sair pech up Pencraig. The sweat was dripping from my brow onto the bars but there's not really much else to do other than keep spinning upwards.

I cut down through Haddington and went along the local river Tyne.

Seventy psi in the tyres and setts (cobbles) makes for googly eyeballs on the way to the Nungate bridge.

Before the bridge was built, which is a long time ago, this was a ford in the river. It was also a popular place for the old Romany travelling people and their horses. A lot of their language still exists in Hadddington, although like many old ways, it is slowly dying out.
The church in the picture is St Mary's. It took an awful pounding from English forces in the 13th Century. It would have originally have had a crown spire like St Giles in Edinburgh. The east aisle, left side in this pic, didn't have a roof for hundreds of years. It was eventually rebuilt in the 1970s after herculean fund raising by the Lamp of Lothian Trust

One of the leading lights was Yehudi Menuhin who used to come along and perform violin concerts to raise funds. He was handy with the fiddle old Yehudi.

This little bridge crosses the mill lade which runs in a narrow channel parallel with the river but was used to power the grinding and spinning mills of the town.

The falls at the West Mill are nearly dry this year. I can remember them drying completely in the late 1970s, I'm getting old.

Above the falls the river is locally known as 'the tubby'. Generations of local children, myself included, learned to swim here. Just to the right of this picture used to be a tree stump with a diving platform crudely nailed on. The water was deep then and was known as 'the millers hole'.
Local legend told of a miller driving his cart along the track when the whinnying horse reared and bolted.  He fought frantically to hold the horse but all was lost as they plunged into the water and drowned. As kids we would sit on the river bank daring each other to dive deeper to see if the ghostly figure of the drowned miller was still there. Mouth open with sightless eyes reaching hopelessly for the light on the distant surface.
We never did see him, and kids don't swim there anymore, so I guess he's at peace now.

After Haddington I went along the old railway line to Longniddry. The blaze track is getting really sandy with all the hot dry weather. Last year the council had to dig the drain on the left side of the track to deal with all the rain we were having.

Along the coast and past the lagoons at Musselburgh where the swans were gathering for some unseen food.

Portobello promenade is in the distance on the right of this photo. It was absolutely packed and it was great to see so many people enjoying an old fashioned day at the beach. I didn't take any photo's because you just don't nowadays. The cycle computer was saying thirty two miles so I figured it was time for lunch and then to turn around and start for home.

The route back was pretty much the same as the route out but the sea breeze that had got up made the going a bit tougher. I just took my time and enjoyed the sun.

Back inland and the last climb was back over Pencraig with Traprain in the distance.

It was as good a place as any to lie back and enjoy the day before the last push home. Sixty three miles in total and next weekend will have to be a shorter cycle.