What a great day! We got up earlier than usual and were on the road by nine. Even though we only briefly touched Edinburgh and its suburbs, it was nice getting out of the urban area again to be in the vast, uncrowded country side.

We decided to deviate from Reece and Anne’s route to follow National Cycle Route 1, which, comparing Google Street Views of the two route options, would also be much nicer traffic-wise.

We climbed very gradually to a bit above 400m near Torfichen Hill (no clue how you would pronounce that), and then rolled down south, past lots of sheep and road kill, to Innerleithen, where we bought a sandwich and a pie and some fruit for a simple lunch. We feel that it is better to break shorter but more often on long rides to avoid having a hard time getting going again.

Right after lunch we also had our first technical issue: Liz’ crank came right off in a climb. Before we left St. Andrews, I checked all screws for being tight, but now I am pretty sure that I missed the crank screws. Thankfully, it was an easy (but greasy) fix and Liz did not fall.

Nearing Galashiels after leaving the (higher) hills, we were ready for the next break at a coffee shop. Due to the urgency of this break, we only had a quick glimpse from across the water at Abbotsford, the estate of Sir Walter Scott. In 1948, Reece and Anne also cycled past Abbotsford, but “decided not to pay a shilling apiece to see a small part of the inside.” Today admission is 11£ for the house and gardens – a shilling was 1/20£.

We quickly found a nice, small coffee shop at Tweedbank station that is run by Born in the Borders, a local brewery. On the way to the coffee shop, we ran into a sign for Tempest Brewing Co nearby. But when we asked the nice lady in the coffee shop about it, she just gave directions to Born in the Borders and let us know that they also have a great restaurant. Good employee, I guess, not recommending the competition!

Curiosity got us though, and we had made good time so far, so we decided to check out Tempest. What an amazing find! We shared bottles of their Marmalade on Rye Double IPA and the very amazing collab Gose Are Friends Electric?, while having a nice chat with the crew about beer, cycling, and the relative benefits of Canada vs Scotland. Thank you guys!

Quick FAQ: Philipp is wearing the funny white sleeves and legs as a way to avoid sunscreening legs and arms every day. We’ll see how this goes in the hot Italian summer.

With the 9% ABV of the DIPA in our legs (or heads), we more or less flew up the last big climb that immediately followed and then cycled through beautiful, sheep-laden rolling terrain to Hawick, where Reece and Anne stayed the night (we are just 10 house numbers up the road from where they stayed! The Crown Hotel where they stayed does not exist anymore).

Today was 95km and about 1100m elevation, the furthest and climbiest so far. And Reece and Anne did all this on bikes with just three gears, and, judging from their records, with more headwind and some rain. I don’t think I should feel tired!

Day Three Route and Stats

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Another beautiful day in Scotland! From Burntisland to Edinburgh we followed great cycle paths found on the national cycle network site. Especially the segment along the Firth of Forth to the Forth Road Bridge was beautiful. On mix of narrow gravel, dirt, and paved roads, we were not as quick as on regular roads, but that was ok, since it would be a shorter day with only about 54km distance.

Back when Reece and Anne did this segment in 1948, they could not cycle over the Firth, but had to take the ferry from Queensferry: The road bridge that we took was only built in the Sixties.

On the bridge, we ran into Greg, a fellow bike traveler that started his tour two weeks ago in Ireland. He will also head south to end up in Slovenia, so we might run into him again I think!

In Edinburgh, we went straight to the Brewdog pub for great beer and pizza for lunch. You know, food for sports. Liz had the excellent Jet Black Heart (on nitro) and I had a very fresh Punk IPA. Mmmmh. Liz stayed in the pub reading her New Yorkers while I went back into town to find replacement slippers since mine were falling apart (the beach walk did them in).

Finally, we cycled through the rush hour traffic south to Loanhead where we’ll stay the night in a nice AirBnB. Tomorrow will be a longer day again, distance-wise.

Day Two Route and Stats

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After a quick stop in town, we finally started cycling toward the Black Sea! Well, first for the Firth of Forth. Baby steps. We averaged about 18km/h through the relatively flat landscape and reached the hotel Kingswood outside Burntisland in about 5.5h (4h moving time), traveling 70km and climbing about 400m.

The roads were narrow, but the Scottish drivers were very courteous and gave us plenty of space when passing, or waited for us to climb the top until they could see if passing was safe. Much appreciated.

In Elie, we left the main coastal road (A917) to follow a dirt road to Lower Largo. We had to get off the bikes several times due to sand (near beach) or closed and locked gates.

Foods during the ride were a muffin from breakfast, a tiny steak pie in the Railway Inn in Lower Largo and two chocolate chip cookies and a great apple/cherry crumble from a roadside stand near Elie.

The hotel Kingswood is where Liz’ grandparents stayed seventy years ago! But it must have undergone a lot of work, because their review of the hotel (moldy, cold, bad food) would certainly not apply anymore today.

Today’s Route and Stats

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A thing that we will be missing this summer is our little garden in the backyard. Liz has been very busy preparing, sowing, and planting for the coming season, and for the takeover by our friend Karen who is staying at our place while we are gone.

The onions and garlic that we put in last November have already grown a lot, and are hopefully nice to their new neighbor the horseradish. The rhubarb is going strong into its second year, and the radishes and beets are sprouting and surviving the slug attacks well so far.

We will very much miss the delicious cherries and strawberries that we enjoyed so much last year. But “en Guete” Karen! We will be back in time for the apples and for throwing an apple juice party this fall (Liz is planning to rent/buy a proper apple press this time).

I am writing this sitting on our couch, which I will not sit on again for three and a half months; a thought that has not fully sunk in yet.

This is all we are bringing for the three and a half months on the road! There are headlamps, helmets, swimsuits and a towel, bike jerseys and pants (Philipp is going for a single set, Liz has backup, and thank you Meredith for the awesome Raygun Jersey!), warm/sun protection sleeves and legs, raingear, all the 2018 electronics (GPS Watch/Bike Computer, Kindles, Bluetooth speaker, earphones, a laptop, and all the charging cables), simple summer evening wear, warm tops, flip flops, bike shoes that are comfy for walking, water bottles and backup water bottles, sunglasses, spare chain and lube, spare shifters, spare brake pads, spare SPD cleats, spare brake discs, spare tubes and a pump, spare shift and brake cables, pannier spare parts, spare screw set, tools, emergency repair kit (duck tape, zip-ties, superglue), passports, credit cards and cash, toiletries and a beard trimmer, tons of sunscreen, a big bag of snacks, and an elastic rubber clothes line (thank you Clare and James!).

The total weight of the panniers, including the clothes and shoes that we will be wearing, came in at 11kg (24lbs) per person (all water bottles empty). Quite reasonable!

Departure.

Anne and Reece depart for Europe from Roanoke, VA, heading to New York City to board the M.V. Britannic on July 1st.