Early start, apprehensive of 75 miles of Scottish hills ahead of us before a 6pm train from Edinburgh for SM. Stoked up on cereral and toast and in search of energy drinks and snacks for the journey, only to be told by our dour host 'oh no, there's no there's nothing for 25 miles, apart from a cup of tea at the buddhist retreat.' Out of the hotel, and down the street, two shops open selling everything we need.
Out of Langholm and straight up a steep hill to get the blood flowing, the bright morning disappearing behind heavy rain clouds. JR taking his jumper off while cycling along, narrowly avoiding yet another disfiguring accident. Stopping to put his jumper in his slimline http://www.nashbar.com rack trunk of which he is so proud, as the rain starts to fall, JR inspects his back tyre. 'I think my tyre needs a bit of air'. NN: 'I'm a bit superstitious about fiddling with tyres, just in case. I'd leave it.' JR thinks "What nonsense this man talks" and begins to pump his tyre which immediately bursts, and the heavens open. The carefully dried kit is once again immediately drenched. Riding withe a new tube on a tyre now only slightly less firm than the previous, JR and all set off again through beautiful scenery along the B709? through forests and open country, covered in bombsite plant rosebay willow herb (thanks SM).
JR doing a considerably better job with navigation than the hapless Dutch pair, laden down with more kit than one would think possible on a bike, who'd set off heading for Edinburgh up and down a 1200ft ascent, only to find they'd gone 15 km in exactly the wrong direction. We left them to crawl back up the hill, with JR the king of the mountains, before descending into the lovely town of Innerleithin for lunch and a flat for JC, 45 miles for the morning and making decent progress through the hills, 13.5 mph, despite being raced (and beaten) by sheep along the way.
Skink and haggis for lunch; after some feeble attempts to chat up the barmaid, a slow climb out of Innerleithin, with rolling hills covered in heather, looking very Scottish and beautiful.
Final ascent of the day, up to 1300 ft altitude, and final king of the mountains crown to NN. Glorious view of our destination in the distance, and a 15 mile descent to Edinburgh. Surely nothing could go wrong now?
 Speeding down, the tightly packed peloton became a four mile string, with JR and JP streaking off ahead. PH picked up a puncture in his prehistoric tyre, which appeared to need a new tyre. A slow crawl back up hill up the A7 for NN and JR with the spare tyre, almost to the stranded SM and PH, before they fixed it themselves with inner tube number two.
PH to lead us triumphantly back into his home city, only to get lost a mile from his house. A fair bit of anxious jostling for position as we approach the end, SM keeping well positioned tucked in behind the leaders. "Paul, is there an Edinburgh city sign coming up?" "Oh no, there won't be, this is East Lothian, we're not in Edinburgh", SM immediately spots the sign ahead and takes off like a little rabbit to win the stage. Finally home to very welcome beer and buns, 81 miles for the day, and a total of 425 miles for the trip. Scott's photos of Day 5: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=143737&l=76b58&id=855585369 |