Edinburgh to Newcastle - Dave Tarrant

My ride to Newcastle started at the very reasonable time of 7:45.

The first 40miles through east Lothian and the borders was into a stiff headwind. This combined with the climbs over the Lammermuir hills meant that by the time I got to my first stop at Duns I was already pretty tired and still had over 80miles to go.

After Duns the wind was more behind me and Coldstream and Englandshire were reached by 10:30.

Then it was down the A679 for a lunch stop near Cowburn .

The photo shows me looking suitably tired and grumpy.  A note of thanks should be included here to the amazing support I had in the shape of my fiancé Polly.  Ate lots of pasta for lunch then onwards to Newcastle. With only about 40miles left to go and the wind in a suitable direction I was fairly confident that I would have this thing done by 15:30…..

Then things started going a bit wrong. Navigation errors crept in, roads were closed off, policemen sent me down roads that no longer existed. I ended up blindly cycling around Newcastle until I saw somewhere I recognised, mainly the river. From here I could make my way to the office and finished at about 5ish.

Odometer said 124.7 Miles but it was not working at various points throughout the ride so it could have been a bit more. 

 The max speed was 42.5 mph which was achieved coming off the Lammermuirs.

Thank you so much to everyone who sponsored me. The pot is currently sitting at £230 which is great.

Dave Tarrant, Edinburgh Office