'The forecast for Aberdeenshire today is, well, put it this way, if you're going to an outdoor event, don't bother. Stay indoors!' Wise words from the scottish forecaster. We were already 40 miles into the hills with the grim prospect of another 60 plus to go so had no other option but to continue!
Prior to the rain on Saturday everything had gone rather too well. Jamie had put up with me at his place on Thursday night before we set off early doors to the Peterborough office to commence our journey up to the start line in Elgin.
Our journey up the east coast was fantastic and we sat chatting to a couple, Mike and Annabel, who kindly gave to the cause. The train even arrived early which made our 10 minute transfer time onto the Inverness train doable. I then realised that the well spoken 'English' Jamie had turned Scottish! His Scottish roots became apparent with his accent growing ever stronger as he chatted to his fellow country folk.
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| RH's Flying Scotsman at Edinburgh Station |
The Inverness train was full of 'Rock Ness' goers which made life interesting! The train then suffered a delay when the driver thought he had hit someone on the track meaning that our transfer onto the Elgin train was never likely to happen. This gave us the chance to get well needed supplies and a takeaway pizza to get the energy levels up.
We were met by Bob Bryce in Elgin who had kindly agreed to be our back up should things go wrong. He gave us the keys to Barbara Hellett's flat in Elgin (Barbara you're a star!) where Jamie prepared our 2nd dinner of the evening with a recipe from his latest book.
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| Anything Ainsley can do I can do better! (We saw Ainsley Harriet at York Station) |
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| Bags of energy |
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| 6am start at the project office |
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| It's oh so quiet! |
We ploughed on through Whisky country with Jamie pointing out various parts of the scheme RH has been working on. The smell from the distilleries along Speyside was dominating my every thought. Recent training trips for Kilimanjaro with Mark Kerstin, Peterborough, have meant that I have developed a liking for Whisky so it was quite a struggle pedalling onwards even at that time of the morning.
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| Hmmmmmm...Whiskey!!! |
Onward and upwards we continued with a brief stop for a bacon softie in Dufftown where Edith the lady behind the counter also donated to our cause. The terrain got steeper and we soon found oursleves in the midst of a classic car rally deep in the scottish countryside. MGs and Morgans flew past us as we clawed our way up the hills with each car giving us a cheering toot and a wave. Another stop for a meat pie and a tea was greeted by another donation from an inquisitve passer by. Well done marketing for the stickers!
Upon the restart it all started to go wrong. We took a wrong turn and then got lost. My leg was hurting (hadn't set my bike up correctly), our banter stopped and the clouds overhead closed in.
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| Onwards & upwards! |
At about 11 am the rain started. And it continued and continued and continued..... This combined with the cold air temperature meant that my feet turned to ice blocks. Jamie wears glasses so he was struggling to see and because I didn't have mudguards on he couldn't follow me without getting even more drenched! We decided to stay on the main roads to avoid any further navigational errors and hopefully speed up our progress.
Surging downhill we found our brakes were barely working in the wet and cold air. Scary stuff at 30mph on narrow road tyres. We soon realised we had to start making the most of the situation and take cover and rest whenever it presented itself. We stopped at a lovely quaint tea shop 40 miles in. It was here that I committed a crime.
I was cold, wet and covered in god only knows what off the roads and my bike. I did what I had to do. Whilst waiting in the tea shop for my hot chocolate and cake I spyed with my little eye something beginning with ...T. It was a whole pile of them too! A pile of clean, dry, fluffy towels. Only one thing for it! I used one to dry off and then refolded it and hid it at the bottom of the pile.....I'm a bad man but needs must.......
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| Guilty! |
The lovely lady in the shop (I feel even guiltier) told us of the weather forecast (see first line of blog) and how she had had a very successful day from people's misery in the rain (I felt at ease with myself).
And so we ploughed on. More rain and the only time we took photos was whilst taking cover under bus shelters or trees.
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| The picture says it all...... |
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| But this picture says even more! |
Jamie then 'bonked' in Banchory and we were struggling along. We managed to find a more upmarket shelter in the form of a random Monkey Puzzle tree to guzzle down some energy gels and bars to keep us going.
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| Bonking in Banchory |
We pressed on. The rain continued. It was now freezing cold. We stopped at a public toilets in Stonehaven to take advantage of the shelter with the attendant taking pity on us, waiving the 20p charge for use of the facilities. The hand dryer was a welcome miracle.
Progress continued along the scottish coast with signs for Montrose, our stop for the night, now appearing. Time went on and on and the rain continued. This time I was bonking. Another stop, another bus shelter. Awful!
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| Bonking in a bus shelter |
After 12 hours of cycling (7 in non-stop rain) we arrived at Montrose. Sorry to any Montrosians,but this was probably the only time Montrose will ever seem welcoming to me.
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| Jamie and I pondered if the good citizens of Luzarches were proud? |
We hastily rode through the desolate streets of Montrose to our B&B. We stored our bikes and tried to make ourselves remotely presentable. Clearly that was never going to happen but it seemed that my crime in the tea shop had after all paid dividends with the owner letting us in. We weren't long in concluding that we had already seen what Montrose had to offer and opted to stay indoors to thaw out, dry our clothes and treat our trenchfoot. I know I'm a soft southern jessie but I had to have a hot shower, two cups of tea, put the heating on, put my thermals on and get in bed in order to warm up. The chill blains in my feet as I showered were pretty nasty.
We ordered a chinese takeaway ( 2 meals for 2 D'oh - our brains were fried too!) and hit the sack grateful for some respite from the rain. What a day!
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| FOOD!! |
Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day........
Steve Truluck, Soft Southern Jessie
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