The wonderful Anne made me a fantastic breakfast and even packed me up a lovely selection of things to take for lunch. Was so lovely to chat to Anne over breakfast that it made it very hard to pack up and leave, but miles and miles to cover today so needed to get a wiggle on.
Headed out of Ratho and found my road suprisingly easy. Not allowed on the A720 ring road around Edinburgh (and quite frankly I don't think I would want to try cycling there even if it was allowed) so got onto the B701 which is the inner ring road. Bowling along quite nicely but had to keep stopping periodically as the road isn't always clearly marked and you don't want to wander off in completely the wrong direction if possible. Took me ages to get around Edinburgh and eventually when I got to the Sherrifhall Roundabout I did take a wrong turn. The A6016 was the road I wanted, but I managed to take it in the wrong direction so added on about another 6 miles to my ride. Ooops. It's quite disheartening to have to lumber back along the road that you just struggled out on. Eventually got on the right road and it was a slog on to the A68. I knew once I got on this road I was following it for miles and miles so could put the maps away.
Now there was quite a bit of hillage out of Edinburgh on this road, most of it uphill. Should have twigged by the way I went through a village called Pathhead. Uphill past the windfarm (another indication that it is going to be breezy!!). Stopped for a sticky toffee pudding break in Lauder then onwards. Now Jedburgh is a place I would like to go back to as from the brief look I got as I went through it looked to be a nice place. No time for stopping today though - I had lost quite a bit of time by having to stop and start so much in Edinburgh. There was a long uphill climb towards the border - was feeling quite tired before I got there but had to keep willing myself to keep going, just keep going, just keep going. Just as I was thinking I couldn't go on any more I could see the signs for the border and wheeled in to the border point. Lightning posed gallantly infront of the stone that marked the border between England and Scotland, and she insisted on having the Scottish and Northumberland flags in the shot. It was pretty breezy up there and was starting to rain so I didn't hang about for long. At least another 50 miles to go. Wonderful coast down from the border point - willing myself not to touch the brakes on the way down as needed to save as much energy as possible for the long ride in to Prudhoe.
Now a word about the roads in Northumberland. They reminded me of that very first day back in Northern Ireland with the road of broken dreams. I got to the point where I thought I would scream if I saw another 'blind summit' sign. If it was just a long continuous pull uphill I could deal with that but the sharp uphill climb followed by a sharp downhill followed immediately by an uphill climb etc etc etc. It was energy sapping stuff and it had been a long day with ful panniers. Eventually the road split to head towards Corbridge. Really tough going - don't think I have ever felt so physically exhausted. Was determined to complete today's ride but my goodness did it take some doing. Towards the end of the day I started to imagine I was in a spinning class at the gym and was imagining the instructor shouting at the class to keep going, keep going.
After what felt like an age I felt the road start to ease off and then I was heading downhill into Corbridge. The speed restriction was 30mph at this point and I did have to use the brakes to avoid exceeding that. Stopped on the outskirts of Corbridge to put the lights on the bike as it was getting on towards 9ish. Through Corbridge and then the final push on towards Prudhoe. Have never felt so tired or indeed so sore as at this point. Was too tired to even cheer the Prudhoe sign when I got there. After a bit of getting lost in Prudhoe I eventually met up with Mrs Wooldridge and never has the sight of someone walking towards you waving been quite so welcome. Well needed shower followed by a brilliant dinner (oh yummy starter, lasagne and chocolate ice cream - just what I needed). Watched the replay of how Mark Cavendish zoomed past on the outside to win the Champs Elysee stage of the tour de France and then sleep time.
No comments:
Post a Comment