Day 6 – Go Forth old man
I found the Victoria Hotel in Kirkcaldy on Booking.com and reserved mainly on cost but it also had good reviews. I ended up with a single room with a window that didn’t open but there was a fan in the room which served the dual purpose of drying the washed clothes and keeping the air moving around the room so that I could sleep in the comfortable but single bed. As it was Sunday they served roast lamb and all the trimmings and it was very good. The soup I had for starters sounded a bit strange, leek and rice but was quite tasty. Service from the three young waitresses was excellent and I enjoyed my meal. I’d missed out on wine shopping so apart from the two pints of Guiness I had with the meal there was no alcohol for the blog.
Breakfast was included in the £75 room price and I helped myself to cereals and yoghurt and then had a FSB without beans but including haggis and black pudding. The building had been designed and built by an architect and the panelling and ceiling decorations were high quality
I was packed and away by 0920. Lucy had spent the night in a garage at the rear of the hotel and seemed none the worse for it. I took the battery up to the room for charging. I like the ability to either charge on or off the bike: that wasn’t possible with the Boardman. I found my way down to the Promenade which was already quite busy with dog walkers and joggers and all was fine for about three miles with tarmac surfaced wide paths. I was then directed onto a cinder path which didn’t look too bad but soon deteriorated and I had steps and steep slopes to negotiate until I reached Burntisland when I was able to get back on the blacktop: however it had taken me more than a hour to travel 5 miles and I took to the main road but then returned to cycle paths past golf courses and then through a housing estate at Dalgety Bay before finding a nice smooth path, with views of the three bridges,
which took me off road to the Forth Bridge crossing.
The old suspension bridge now only caters for pedestrians, cyclists and public transport. The cycle way is wide and is only closed if windspeeds reach 50mph. Today it was quite calm, so I sped across with no holdups. It is about 1.5 miles from end to end, and this is the second time I’ve used it.
How well the cyclist is treated in Scotland. From leaving the bridge to arriving in Leith about 10 miles later, having negotiated the whole of the Edinburgh conurbation I had no need to go on any public roads. Either cycle ways alongside roads or, mainly, dedicated cycle paths, smooth surfaced and wide enough for two-way traffic. It was hard to believe I had been through the middle of a major city.
More cycleways from Leith along the prom at Portobello, the main seaside resort for the city and on through Musselburgh before the tarmac ran out and I was pushed onto cinders through a nature reserve.
Finally at Prestonpans, 40 miles into the journey, I was back onto roads with traffic
Having written about Culloden I can’t let Prestonpans pass without comment. Whilst Culloden April 1746 was the last battle of the 1745 uprising by the supporters of James Stuart, Prestonpans was the first. On 20th September 1745 an ill-prepared Government army under Sir John Cope panicked and was routed by a Jacobite force, giving much hope to the Stuart cause. Edinburgh castle held out, but the rest of the city was occupied by Jacobites. Seven months later Bonnie Prince Charlie was on the run and the Government forces had prevailed.
Just short of Aberlady my back tyre went down with a thud. I pulled over and removed the wheel to find a thorn in the tyre. It chose that moment to start spitting with rain, so I put on my jacket and set to, removing the thorn and putting in a replacement tube. The went according to plan but when it came to putting the panniers back on the rack it was apparent that the rack was broken and one of the struts was waving close to the rear disc brake. There was nothing I could do but hope it would last until I can repair, or more likely replace the whole rack
This coast is dotted with golf courses, perhaps the greatest being Muirfield, one of many around Gullane.
I carried on to North Berwick with its prominent hill, North Berwick Law which I had been able to see since leaving Edinburgh,
and along the coast road with views of the Bass Rock and an improbable Sauna on a cliff top.
Although I was travelling along the A198 I was able to cycle on shared pavements for much of the way and it was only the last 10 miles to Dunbar that I was on open roads.
