St. Stephen's Stockbridge

A breezy day for the bike ride. Rain forecast so the mudguards stay on and I pack a jacket. There are a couple of cyclists shadowing me as I head out to Auchendinny, but I give them the slip as I head through Bush. They are in front of me as we head up out of Auchendinny and on to the Top Gear road. One cyclist pulls off to head for Gladhouse Reservoir, the other heads along the Fallatoll road, the route I am taking, to the A703.

At Eddleston, the Edinburgh Road Club are hosting the Hilly (Mountain) Time Trial. Thankfully I am heading in the opposite direction to the cyclists heading towards Lyne. Straight in to the wind. So I'm struggling, and the participants of the TT are storming. I also know a few of the riders. they are either smiling to see me, or grimacing.

At Lyne I head down to Stobo, site of last week's puncture. At the top of the road, the daffodils are now out on both sides of the road. No punctures this week. Its also nice to cycle along more or less out of the wind. After Dawyck, you come out of the trees, and climb up hill in to the wind to Drumelzier (the z is silent). Here the road turns left through some wood, to the A701.

Time to head north. The wind is behind me blowing me back home. My speed is quite fast even though I'm going up hill. It doesn't take long to get to Kirkurd, 7 miles away. The road dips downhill, a nice fast descent to Blyth Bridge, then some momentum to get up the hill to Mountain Cross. Just before the top, its nice to see the hills to the east of Lyne Water shining green in the weak sunshine. Between these two points, I pass more participants in the TT.

Just before Romannobridge, I turn left up to Bogsbank. The road has some daffodils, the ones in the trees are not in bloom yet. However, higher up, those in the sunshine are in full bloom. The wind is behind me as I head through West Linton across the moor road to Penicuik. I head back home through Bush and on to the Seafield Moor Road to Hillend.

Well it didn't rain, so I could have avoided the mudguards and jacket. But perhaps if I hadn't taken them, it might have poured down. Also, the 50km home takes less than 2/3 the time of doing the first 47km. Total distance 97.8km, 60.8miles.

You can see the route at Relive here.

The rain arrives while I'm having lunch. Lucky escape, but its not as heavy as forecast.

In the afternoon, my partner and I go down to Stockbridge. As we have missed the No 36, we stop in Morningside, get a jar of coffee, then get a bus in to town. There's quite a lot of time until the bus to Stockbridge, so we walk down to Stockbridge. from Frederick St, I get my blip of St Stephen's Stockbridge and a view across to Fife (the town on the right is Burntisland)

We have a quick visit to the charity shops that are open, as well as a quick trip around the monthly food market, but nothing catches my eye., or my partner's. We have coffee (and cake to replace those calories burnt).

We visit a couple more charity shops, then head for Morningside to get some groceries for tonight's tea. Just down from the bus stop in Morningside, I take the Extra of the Pentlands.

The evening disappears, didn't have time to blip. Work tomorrow.