Coast and Castles – Day 6
Departed: Innerleithen
Destination: Edinburgh
Distance: 60km
Weather: Overcast/Mild
Mood: Ecstatic (initially as per feature image)
Highlight: Conquering the hills
We weren’t jumping out of our skins this morning to mount our trusty steeds and head for the hills! In fact it was quite the opposite!
Our ride consisted of a long climb for 20km up the valley and into the hills before descending gradually into Edinburgh where we were to meet the bike hire company and return the bikes by 4pm. Sounds easy, but carrying your luggage on tired legs and sore butts from riding bareback (no chamois here) with our average speed diminishing day by day, it wasn’t going to be easy!
We started off with the weather doubtful, a light mist which appeared to be clearing after an early rain. The climb thankfully was gradual and it was simply down to business by turning over the pedals in a low gear with a few photo opportunities thrown in (read rest stops), but whilst the grind was continual which took time we had no need to walk the donkeys and we reached the summit with wonderful views down to Edinburgh as by this stage the weather had cleared.
We had a number of moments where we had some downhill spurts, these helped bring our average up a little and kept us on target for a 4pm drop off. In fact I may have even heard Jenny mutter, it’s “nearly” worth the climb, just for the downhill thrill! She claims that I misheard her!
After passing through a number of towns as we neared Edinburgh we ended up on cycle paths for the last 10km and before we knew it we were at the drop off location with an hour to spare.
We have both really enjoyed our cycling experience and have been spoilt by the beauty of both coast and country. I do take my hat off to Jenny, who has just ridden 300km across every possible terrain, in rain, wind and cold carrying full panniers with no nicks, just bareback (cycling nicks that is) and little to no training preparation! It truly is a gutsy achievement!
We have made it to Edinburgh and now have about a day and a half to discover its charm! We had booked a shared apartment via AirBnB and have not been disappointed (You will see photos of the views out our bedroom window).
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Jenny and Stephen's Travel Adventure 
5 Responses to “Coast and Castles – Day 6”
Congrats. to both of you on a great ride Well done grinding through the tough bits towards the end. Loved it all at this end! Hope your ends are ok too!
Good job yet again! Another amazing journey – like to say inspirational, but don’t think I’ll be taking up this challenge & certainly won’t be doing the walk! Thanks for sharing it with us, & look forward to hearing about it on your return. Xx
Congratulations Steve for bringing all your careful planning to fruition, and also to Jenny for her gutsy effort in the saddle for over 300 kms !
Well done Matheisteins. Expect to see Jenny joining the OGIL’s now she has been ‘blooded’. Based on the riding performance – you might like to join them too Stephano!!!
Would love to join the OGIL’s I’m sure they are much better company!