Author: John Clark

Apologies for the lapse in postings here, but we’ve had a bit of a roller 0f events in the last 36 hours. The second day’s ride started out splendidly, with a cool breeze and overcast skies as we left our lodgings in Dunbar, but that quickly gave way to broken clouds and sun as we left the coast and started south towards Kelso, our destination.

The terrain quickly changed as well, becoming more hilly, along with much more diverse vegetation. We started to see much thicker woods, with everything from beeches to pines, along with a variety of smaller trees & shrubs like Mountin Ash and something that looked very similar to our chokecherry. Along about Abbey Saint Bathans, we started to see a lot of wild rhododendron, which was in full bloom, and gorgeous!

Just a little further up the road, I captured this splendid example of Scotland’s narrow little roads snaking through idyllic verdant-green valleys:

We stopped to eat our picnic lunch in the main square of a little town called Duns, where the locals were quite colorful (ask me about it later.) Continuing with my flower obsession, I found this amazing wall of clematis:

Mallory & I are continually amazed at the diversity of vegetation in the hedgerows as well. Here’s a colorful example:

Unfortunately, about 12 miles from Kelso yesterday, we ran into some bad luck. While fording a little stream lined with cobblestones, Sue took a spill and broke her elbow. She and Doug spend was too many hours last night at a nearby hospital getting it x-rayed and then put in a cast. They were both really stoic about the whole thing, and have some funny stories to tell about being in a small-town hospital in rural Scotland, and the kinds of characters you meet. It sounds like the medical staff was great though.

So now we’re wrestling with the details of how to get Sue through the rest of the trip, while the remaining three of us continue to ride. The general plan is for her to take taxis/busses to each next stop, where she can relax (and possibly get a little remote work done for her job as well), until we arrive on our bikes. She’s obviously being a really good sport about it, but doesn’t want to cut the trip short either.

So while they were at the hospital, we guiltily headed into town to get some dinner. Our B&B host had told us about some music happening at one of the local restaurants, and it turned out to be a really jolly bit of acoustic folk music, which we both enjoyed tremendously (and lamented that Sue & Doug couldn’t be there to enjoy it as well). Here’s a clip that I videoed:

Obviously a lot the above details weren’t fully shared until the four of us were reunited at breakfast this morning. We discussed options and decided to find a way for the Mal, Doug & me to keep riding, while Sue joined us for breakfast, dinner and evening fun. They also insisted that Mal & I enjoy our loop ride today (we’re in Kelso for two nights, which is especially convenient under the circumstances.)

So here are a few photos from today’s 26+ mile ride (and Doug got out for a 20 miler on his own later this afternoon).

Lastly, here’s a shot of two very happy cyclists, doing what they love to do!

Stay tuned for another update tomorrow, from Melrose.

I couldn’t have imagined a more beautiful day for starting out on a six-day bike tour in Scotland, especially after reading about how the weather can be here. Today was just about perfect!

Here’s the fearsome foursome, ready to hit the trail:

And what a trail it was! Of the two routes offered, we chose the one that had us on bike/walking paths almost the entire way out of the city. The sun was shining, we were bombarded with bird calls, and we were treated to sights like this:

Of course, there were glorious flowers everywhere too:

(Do any of you know what that last one is?)

We also kept seeing beautiful fields of yellow flowers (mustard maybe?), and I had to grab this shot of one of them:

Lastly, here’s a shot Bass Rock, just off the coast a short way from the end of our 42 mile ride. You can’t see it in this shot, but the rock has a little lighthouse on it as well.

Our destination today was the little seacoast town of Dunbar, which we discovered was the birthplace of John Muir! We’re staying at a gorgeous little inn called The Rocks. I’ll try and get a photo for you in the morning, before we head off for Kelso! 

After a very late night last night, due our flight into Edinburgh being late, a certain couple of country bumpkins being last through customs, and then missing the stop for our hotel on the bus into town, we needed to sleep in a bit this morning. After a nice breakfast at the hotel, we headed out into a lovely day for our first taste of Edinburgh. We spent most of it exploring Edinburgh castle and the gardens surrounding it. We did the audio tour, but had to give up about ⅔ of the way through, as we were overwhelmed with both the mind-boggling twists and turns of Scottish/British history, and the sheer number of tourists that were doing the same thing we were! How many of you knew that several Scottish Kings had titles like James the 6th of Scotland and 1st of England?? Anyway here are some random photos from the tour:

Above is the view from near the top of the castle, looking NE out over Edinburgh. In the distance are several landmarks we hope to explore when we’re back next week.

You know I can’t resist stained glass…

…nor flowers! Especially giant rhododendron shrubs.

More stained glass (love that purple).

After grabbing a little ice cream to boost our strength, we headed back to the hotel to meet our old friends Doug & Sue, from Berthoud, CO, who are joining us on the bike tour. I’ve known Doug since kindergarten, and as couples, the four of us have been pals for almost 40 years! It’s so wonderful that they said they wanted to join us when I told them about this bike tour. It’s been way too long in the making.

Anyway, they arrived very shortly after we got back to the hotel, and we went together to pick up the bikes. After doing that, what else could we do but enjoy a lovely sunset warmup ride on one of Edinburgh’s many bike paths:

That’s Sue, Doug & Mallory, respectively. It is so great to be doing this ride together.

Tomorrow, it’s day one; Edinburgh to Dunbar. Stay tuned!