Had a fun in-room takeaway last night and we were asleep for 7:00. Guess that hill took more out of us than we thought! Feeling pretty good this morning and tomorrow is a day off!
Heading into Glasgow today, taking a ride down the Clyde River Valley and into the city. The Clyde originates from Beattock Summit and we followed it into Abington yesterday. Today is supposed to be one of the most scenic on the trip. Weather is supposed to be better, 60 / 16 with some rain this morning with wind from the south - will we get the fabled tailwind?!
Starting to turn our eyes to the Highlands and a couple of big passes that are coming up. When reading about this route, people say Cornwall is the hardest, but don’t disregard the Highlands. Brian said early on that we’d be really strong after all those hills, and we are stronger. Will be interesting to see what tomorrow and the next 2 sections are like.
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| Today’s farm |
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| Wind turbines off, too windy? |
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| Up close, these things are huge! |
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| So beautiful when the sun comes out |
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| Plenty of undulating hills today |
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| Used to see this in the train into Glasgow, time to pack up my stuff |
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| Miles of roadside bike paths today |
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| Daily dose of cobblestones |
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| River Clyde |
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| We rode along this for miles |
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| Prettiest bridge we saw |
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| Yellow glasses day - really cheers things up on a grey day |
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| Another pretty bridge |
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| So much water in this river |
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| Route 74 almost all the way today |
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| The Hamilton Mausoleum |
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| Finding ornate ironwork all over |
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| It’s a tandem, and a drying rack |
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| Windy, rainy, gale this morning |
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| Wasn’t a downhill coast to Glasgow |
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| Spanish in Glasgow, Merchant City |
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| Tapas |
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| The statue with the traffic cone on his head, appears overnight, gets removed, appears again - has been going on for years! |
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| Such great architecture in this city |
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| Never seen anything anything like this |
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| Steve’s having none of that |
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| Session IPA, 3.9 |
Today was a total mix. As we were eating breakfast (at the motorway services), it was a howling gale outside - trees whipping around, rain, grey skies. After waiting for things to settle down, we finally left, pedalling out of the parking lot inn the wind and rain. The rain pretty much stopped by the first roundabout, the wind did not. We climbed up out of Abington onto the hills with the wind blowing so hard they shut off the wind turbines (i don’t know if that’s really true, but it was windy and they were off). We were riding along the B7078 on a bike path for about 6 miles. That area is one of the least populated areas of Scotland and we were headed to one of the most, Glasgow.
We dropped down (actually more like up and down) out of the hills and followed the B7078 and route 74. As we got into the suburbs of Glasgow, the route became more fiddly with bits of cycle path, then road, then back to cycle path, repeat. We finally got to the cycle path along the River Clyde and pedalled along that into the centre of Glasgow. It wasn’t an easy day, longer than we expected and plenty of hills. Found our hotel, the Brunswick, which is right in the Merchant City district and where I lived when I worked in Glasgow.
Meeting a friend from Scotland, Jon McGrane, for a drink tonight. Steve and I had two stints working in Glasgow, I worked up there for a year, there was a gap and then Steve worked there for 2years. Same job same company - funny how things work out. We both worked with Jon so will be interesting to have a catch up.
Had a lovely tapas dinner and a visit with Jon and now off to bed!
Fortunately this morning Katherine had set my expectations for the day, or rather had reset them. I thought we would tumble out of bed, get some breakfast and then freewheel down the hill into Glasgow. Wrong!! There were “undulations”!! A howling gale, a bit of rain and some very tricky navigation. Mission Controller had a grip of it from the back of the tandem and here we are in Glasgow with just about 800 of the 1200 miles completed.
ReplyDeleteWe have spent a significant part of the day riding through the “central belt” of Scotland which is where the majority of the population live probably 80% plus of Scot’s live in Glasgow and Edinburgh and their suburbs. It was slow and fiddly as Katherine has mentioned.
For me Glasgow is one of the best cities in the UK. I had a good year or two here on a job for BAA, Chris I think had a good time here too. Glasgow is typical of many northern cities in the UK, it has know some highs and lows in terms of economic prosperity. Glasgow came into its own when England and Scotland come together as part of creating the UK. It’s was an important port pre Industrial Revolution. Plentiful supplies of coal and iron ore helped establish it as a centre for heavy engineering and it became the shipbuilding centre of the world in the late 19th century. The early 20th century saw its gradual decline which reaches a climax in the 1970’s and 1980’s with the demise of these traditional industries. This period also marked the beginning of its renaissance and whilst it’s not a London or a Paris it’s a fantastic city once again. The thing I like most about the place is the people. Looking forward to a rest day and then onward into the highlands. I think the weather is the biggest challenge for the next week or so as we press on further north, the days are getting shorter too. Just keep turning the pedals!!
My hat's off to you both for braving the wind, rain annnnnd the cobblestones! All 3 are nasty on a bike. Keep on plugging away...you're doing great!
ReplyDeleteSlow (sometimes snail slow) progress, but still progress
ReplyDelete