Day 1 Freuchie to Innerleithen

Saturday June 10th

Due to technical difficulties this blog will be shorter than I would like

My fancy new tablet/lap top doesn't fancy allowing itself to be charged. I am writing this a week later on my trusty Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone which is certainly smarter than me.

leaving home

I left the house full of energy and anticipation of a great trip, but steady rain, a fair headwind and an inability to go up any kind of gradient had eroded a fair amount of both by the time I reached Edinburgh, at lunch time. At Cramond Brig I couldn't climb a gentle slope. My legs were gone. Help! 

Perhaps I had bitten off  more than I could chew? 

Maybe I wouldn't or couldn't make it to North Shields in time? 

I stopped for a sandwich and coffee at Millers sandwich bar just off the Meadows. The owner was very welcoming and as I left he offered me a complimentary millionaire's shortbread "for energy"

On the Forth Bridge

Little did he know. The afternoon was a series of ever steeper long climbs. 

I had made the mistake of following the National Cycle route 1. What a joke. 

By 6 o'clock I was nowhere near Innerleithen - in the middle of nowhere with no mobile signal and NO energy left. 

If I had had a signal I may well have given in there and then. It was hellish. Worse than the A68! (on the last day of my previous trip)

George 4th Bridge

The wind was so strong that I had to pedal down steep hills having pushed the bike up the other side.

 I was done in and ready to quit - well almost ready to quit.

When the going gets tough  - the tough sit at the side of the road feeling sorry for themselves!

Eventually I summoned up the will and the energy to make the final 8 miles to Innerleithen arriving at about 20.00 having left at 08.30. 

10/6/17    Saturday            Tweedside Caravan Park               Innerleithen            £9                          3

 restaurant(closed at 8) bar, noisy, good toilet facilities (own key) in a housing estate 10 mins walk to centre