Day 4 | jogle-2014

Day 4 - Dumbarton to Dumfries

Having sat the night before eating a healthy (not) Beefeater meal, we decided that navigating Paisley wasn't the best idea as the Tuesday morning traffic started to flow. So our strategy was to be on the road by 05:00, miss the traffic and get ahead of ourselves. Our early finish the day before helped so we all but skipped breakfast and got on the road. I immediatley felt a twinge in my knee, at the time i thought bollocks this isn't good but looking back it was just one of an array of twinges you just have to manage through a trip of this length. We made our way to the Erskine Bridge which has a cycle track attached to the bridge but there was so little traffic we just carried on across the road bridge. Quite quickly we wound off the main road and made our way to the permiter fence of Glasgow Airport. We stopped on a bridge over a tributary to the Clyde (Black Cart Water) and looked across a sun kissed airport with a tarmac full of planes who were all about to disappear to various parts of the world. A quick drink and an energy bar which was in fact our breakfast and we headed on to get ourselves through the streets of Paisley.

John had brought cut outs of maps he had taken from a road atlas and we would frequently stop from here on in to memorise the next 10 miles or so. This was day 4 and would be the first day that we really had to pay attention and plan our route as prior to this there wasn't many roads to choose from so you couldn't really go wrong. John's strategy worked well, he would have made a good navigator in the RAF (he wont thank me for that!) The picture below is a view of Glasgow Airport at 05:45.

Back

Route: Day4
Activity: Cycle
Started: 17 Jun 2014 05:05:41
Ride Time: 7:34:54
Stopped Time: 3:53:32
Distance: 102.19 miles
Average Speed: 13.48 mph
Fastest Speed: 34.06 mph
Ascent: 3724 feet
Descent: 3212 feet
Calories: 6133

Temperature - 17oC

Weather - Fair

Wind - 0mph

Humidity - 100%

Sunrise - 04:31

Sunset - 22:05

Whilst preparing the trip I had planned our routes on the "route planner app (IOS)" that only gave us the general direction, on the day it was better to study maps as the realisation of the 'actual' conditions meant that in reality it was very difficult to have an exact planned route without deviation. One of the best examples was a long country road in Wales where we were making good time along a valley floor road only to find after 15 miles the road was closed ..... that sinking feeling as the thought of having to detour up the steep hills. Thankfully one look at the foreman of the road work team and he read our minds letting us through on the bikes as long as we navigated the freshly laid tarmac.

Heading through Paisley it was near empty apart from the obligatory shabbily dressed unshaved man heading for the 06:00 opening of the working man's club. We pressed on and out the other side heading towards Barrhead. We stopped at lights and a commuter cyclist pulled up alongside us and asked us what we were doing then wished us luck before disappearing over the horizon, all of that kind of thing helps your state of mind. Shortly afterwards we took a sharp right up quite a long steep(ish) hill through a housing estate and after about 30 minutes we literaly popped out of suburbia in to the countryside, which was to be the state of play for the next 60 miles or so. The picture below right was our view back over Glasgow.

The view looking back toward Glasgow and the Trossachs area behind it was stunning, the heat of the sun was really starting to get through. I remember this point as I had a can of coke in my bag which after a long climb out of Glasgow up the braes tasted fantastic. From here on in it was pretty much country roads and small towns all the way to Dumfries. The weather made it easier although it was a long undulating slog which never seemed to end, especially as we got close to the end.

A memorable moment was cycling through Auchinleck, at about 55 miles in to the day, an old mining town which has seen better days. We stopped to ask for somewhere to have lunch and was pointed in the direction of a greasy spoon cafe, just what was required. This place was amazing, it looked like it was in someones house with a kitchen (like the one your gran used to have) and an area where you could sit. I remember saying to John that i'll order or they will hear his accent and lynch him after the 10th attempt at understanding anything he has to say. I dug deep and brought back my raw Scottish accent. I asked for Haggis and Chips and a can of full fat Irn Bru, I looked at John as he quietly asked me to translate Eggs Benedict or something equally as feminine ...... total cost was under £10! We got away with it and ate like Kings whilst reviewing the next half of the day, you've got to say though, lovely people. As we took off on the bikes again an old man with a walking stick reminisced about his cycling exploits in his youth. Just another reminder to fit in experiences like this whilst you are able.

A problem I had in training was coming back to haunt me, at the base of my neck slightly to the right I had a solid knot in my shoulder which was really quite painful. I had thoughts of how I was going to manage this for the next 6 days, little did I know that this wouldn't be the only ailment i'd have to manage on this trip. We pressed on down the B7083, the road was relatively flat now and tracked down the River Nith and the busy A76 which we had to join at about 62 miles in. We then followed the A76 for 30 miles, the road is quite busy and has quite alot of large trucks on it, in hindsight it might not have been ideal on a weekday but we put our heads down and got on with it. For the final 10 miles we came of the A76 and went round the north of Dumfries on the country roads. The Premier Inn (for the second night) was on the ring road so quite easy to find. The traffic as we came in to the ring road was quite heavy and we encountered the first brainless idiot who didn't want to give way to two cyclists ... horns, fingers and blue air everywhere. Nevertheless we found the hotel and settled in to the usual routine for the night.

Sitting that evening reflecting Dumbarton seemed a long way away, equally John o'Groats seemed like a distant memory. We were about 25 miles to the border, which would be a real milestone for us. The Dumbarton - Dumfries sector, despite the weather and relatively flat terrain compared to the previous 3 days was quite tough, it seemed a long day. Probably not helped by my sore back, tired legs after 380 miles or so and John's attempt at trying to speak with a Scottish accent adding further stress in to the situation. All good though, nearly one country down and only 2 to go.

Take me to Day 5