A cold cycle back from Edinburgh

I've been away the last couple of weekends visiting family so haven't had anything to post. But on Saturday I had to go to Edinburgh to collect my first pair of reading glasses, age is catching up with me! So I took the chance to make an outing of the appointment by taking the Long Haul Trucker on the train and cycling back.

 

I was waiting on an empty platform at 09:50, although by the time the train arrived there were loads of folk heading to the city for Christmas shopping.

Twenty minutes of standing on the train and I was in the centre of Edinburgh where the build up to seasonal excess is in full swing.

The merry-go-round was suitably festive but the 'Star Flyer' looked frankly terrifying to me. I was also freezing so I didn't hang around too long and was soon cycling over to St Leonards.

At the back of the police station I took the little cycle path that snakes through a housing development, past some lock-ups and then disappears below ground through the innocent railway tunnel.

This is a well surfaced track and I quickly made my way out of the city, relaxing as the sun shone through the bare trees and birds flitted across the path.

This little dog also jumped out in front of me and tested the trucker's brakes. He looks suitably guilty.

 

From the peace of the old railway line I crossed through the edge of Magdalene Glen and up to Asda to collect my glasses from Specsavers.

  

The bicycle parking at the front of the store is pathetic with small row of old fashioned 'wheel benders'. I had to move abandoned shopping trolleys to create a space for the trucker.

With my glasses collected I quickly picked up the trail again and headed along muddy lanes and cycle paths to the shore at Fisherrow.

 

The wind was biting at the coast and I didn't spend long looking around. It was a quick pedal along to the river Esk where I decided to cut back inland and and start the climb up to Tranent.

The view back to the coast with Fife in the distance. The demolition of Cockenzie Power station continues and it was only when I had climbed up to this point that I relised that I should have stuck to the coast and taken the chance to have a look at the chimneys as apparently, now that the metal work has been removed, you can see inside them.

At Haddington I found a suitably sheltered bench and stopped for coffee and a roll. It didn't take long before I started to feel cold and although it was the middle of the day, the sun was low in the sky and not providing much warmth.

 

A quick climb up over Pencraig and the the last six miles to home where El was excitedly waiting to make fun of me wearing my specs. 

 

Ice Road Trucker*

*I know it's a predictable header, but I couldn't help myself.

I spent a long time thinking about going out for a cycle today. As I sat with a coffee looking out the window the snow was falling and a cold easterly wind was whipping flurries across the roof tops. Cranking up the heating and staying in watching nonsense on television seemed an appealing option. It took until mid-afternoon before I got my act together and wobbled out on the 'trucker and headed to the hills.

The skies were heavy with snow so the pictures are a bit dark. It was also a bit nippy as I climbed up past Bowerhouse.

I may look like a reject from the cycle battalion of the Mujahideen, but I was warm.

These ladies were scratching around without much luck. They were also quite silent. None of the usual clucking and muttering that happy hens make. 

Onward and upward. Pitcox was a lovely winter scene. The trees provided some much appreciated shelter from the wind. All around was silence, just the vvrruuup-whish of my tyres cutting through the snow. You might just be able to make out some other tyre tracks. There is a set that looks suspiciously like a 'fat bike'. They had a square tread so they might be 'Nates'. Not many of them around.

I went back on to roads that had been ploughed and started back towards home.

As I set off back downhill the snow started again. Anything over twenty mph was like needles hitting exposed skin.

I was fast running out of daylight and my feet were getting cold, so time to get the head down and get back indoors. The temperature hovered around freezing while the sun was up. Food is short and I saw quite a lot of wildlife, grey squirrels, swans, snow buntings and long tail tits. Only an hour and a half (11miles), but a great cycle. If only I had gone out earlier.