Beyond Edinburgh!

Whee, I finally found an internetcafe :)

Im in Edinburgh now! Time to write a little update. The trip with the ferry went well, although the seas were a wee rough, it felt like sleeping in the famous 'halve maan' ship in the Efteling. I survived that without too much trouble though.

I saw the GPS uploads were 'friends only' apparently, I changed that now so here: http://ridewithgps.com/users/269763 you should now be able to see my tracks!

Te first day I went up the coast. I actually brought more weight than I thought so the biking didnt go that fast, but if you just keep turning your feet you keep on riding so thats the way I reached the first caminping site. Well, caravansite is a better name for it as I was the only person staying with a tent. Up early the next day for part 2 of the route, to Holy Island! This was on 55 km so I arrived pretty much on time (around 2) so I had some time to made a trip (without bagage!!) to Holy Island. Due to the tides of the sea flowing over the road the Island is only accessible a certain amount of hours per day. I was lucky it was open and Ive had a beautiful ride towards the island and to an old castle on the far end of the island build to protect the monastery and the village from those crazy Scottish barbarians (in earlier times of course, thats what I assume though..)

I planned to make a far trip the next day so up early and depart at 8! I wanted to try and reach Innerleiten, dependend on the weather (wind) and physical conditoun. According to my GPS it was about 90/100 kilometers inland. I -thankfully- still had beatiful weather and biked again the whole day without a jacket. Hail to the Sun! I reached the first option for a camping in Melrose 80 kilometers later but it was around 2 o' clock, so obviously I had to drive on to the next camping. Then; roadblocks, lots of roadblocks, everywhere. The only way I could go was into the shity uuh, city of Galashiel, where I didnt even have to go. I sort of got lost there but many way too full A-roads later I found myself on a track again that should lead me to the right place.only 20 to go, I will be there in one hour! I though. *psshh*, the God off Flat Tired thought otherwise. Scotland is not only beautiful but also has a nail on the road now and then and apparently I found one. Grrr! Luckily I have all the tools to fix my tires and 15 minutes and some swearing (Dont worry, it was in Dutch so they coulndt understand me anyway) later I was on my way again. Just make sure the pedals go round, one more round, one more round.. and finally after about 112 km I reached the camping in Innerleiten. With some space for me, Yay!

The next morning I would travel up towards Edinburgh, go past the city, camp a couple of miles outside of the city and would stay there an extra night so I had time to visit the city the next day (today, that is).
The first part of the trip through the Mootfoot Hills was very very beautiful, Scotland as it should be, I think. Complete silence, except for the sheeps (demonstrating their impressive ability to make noise as they are shocked by Fietsmonster passing by suddenly) and a few birds there was noone, just me and my bike. The first 10K went up up up, the next 10/15 K towards Edinburgh went down down down. Great part of the trip! Then came the unavoidable urban area's. Due to proper GPS planning I made it through qoute good and reached the planned camping at Beecraigs Park at 6. A nice man from the camping picked me up at the gate and placed me in a beautiful field full of daisies just for myself. he said I should go the next morning to the reception to pay this night and that it was no problem if I wanted to stay another night, as the field where I stood, was completely empty. Good night, and tomorrow Edinburgh!

I not only met a lot of nice people on the road, I also met Scottish bureaucracy. The next morning when I went to pay for the night I had spend and for the next night they said I coulndt stay anothet night because they were full. Full? I had a field enough for 50 tents just for me, where they expecting THAT many arrivals? Apparently I wasnt pitched on the 'right' place but on a part of the camping that was no longer in use. The nice lady was unrelenting, I couldnt stay. Damn. Something with that purple crocodile from the advertisement. A big field, perfect for a little tent but 'full'. Too bad for them, they miss another 10 pounds and a happy customer. Well, at least I could let my bags at the reception there to pick 'm up later today (before 5). I will ride up along my track and find a place to do the first wildcamping of this vacation. I rode back to Edinburgh (pff, 40 K again! This ought to be a resting day..) but due to the time I lost in packing up my tent etc I arrived only at one, and have to be back at 5. Thats not gonna happen, for 40K with headwinds. A real pity though I dont have the time to properly see Edinburgh.I will just call them to ask to place my bags outside of the receptionarea and that I will pick them up there..

So, tonight wildcamping, tomorrow up towards (and beyond!) Stirling. Ill try and reach Killin for a camping, that should be about 100k. I skip Glasgow with doing so. Riding with +/- 20 kilo's of gear trough heavy traffic, constantly braking and accelerating again is not among my many hobbies. Ive had that yesterday and the day before that, and I am longing for trips like yesterdaymorning; long roads, no traffic, and just me and nature. After Stirling I hope to reach that.

The more higher into Scotland I get, the more hard it is to understand them. 'doe y knoee the coeed of dsje toiile?' Im sorry? Oohh the code of the toilet, sure! Another thing that I learned only a few days ago is that Were in the Netherlands we would greet by giving a nod tilting the head forward, the Scottish greet by tilting their head sideways. In a way we would mean 'mjah, yeah, whatever'. I am adapting though and also applying the sideward-nod and it works out well. That is; if a smile here actually means 'hey there lad on the bike, thanks for greeting me and have a nice day!'

I am advancing more quickly than I initially planned, so that means I will have time to do the full Speyside whiskytour next week! I hope that will make up for the fact I couldnt visit Edinburgh today as I wanted.

I have no idea where the next internetcafe will be (probably Inverness?) but please all know: Im doing very well and I am enjoying every second of this trip so far (the excellent weather might have helped with that though ;) ).

For now, thanks for reading and,
See ya!

(pardon for any spellingmistakes or crooked English in here, I didnt take the time to read it all again ;) )