Its difficult to be 100% accurate, especially a few weeks after getting home writing this blog, but I was aware of an early morning plane flying over the hotel as I started to wake up in the Livingston Lodge hotel. It had been a really warm night so the window to the room was open to allow cool air, and aeroplane noises, into the room.
However I had not been kept awake during the night and was soon showered, dressed and heading over to the nearby Coop to try and pick up some breakfast. I've not been approached by Coop (or any other supermarket chain) to sponsor the blogs, but sadly this particular Coop was smaller than other stores I had visited and breakfast options were, er, minimal.
A few minutes later I was enjoying a couple of pre-buttered slices of banana Soreen malt loaf and some fresh fruit juice, and packed my meal deal ready for later in the day. Whilst the Livingston Lodge hotel was very comfortable I missed the option of breakfast due to their kitchen being closed for refurbishment.
It wasn't long however before I had loaded the bike with my gear, set up satnav for the day and was once again enjoying the back streets of Livingston as I continued my journey south ish towards Lockerbie. These paths for the first couple of miles were beautiful, tarmac routes in lots of shade and before too long I was out of the town / city and onto more minor roads in the sunshine.
My love / hate relationship with satnav had hardly been tested over the course of the previous six days other than the phone over heating and I'm not sure that was satnavs fault! However as I continued roughly southwards I was guided onto a gravel track which felt like a classic satnav shortest route decision without any consideration for either my bottom (the risk of brusing from bumps) or my tyres (sharp pieces of gravel!).
Cycling at a very slow speed on this loose surface I was slightly conflicted - the route was almost certainly going to be quite short, flat and direct, but the road material felt very risky for the bike......going slowly allowed minimal impact for both my bottom on the saddle and my tyres......but the plus side of this route came in the form of a stretch of the footpath being lined with the most fragrant deciduous azaleas in flower!
Like my earlier discovery of a large group of sunbathing seals at Loch Fleet I took the decision to give Jan a quick facetime call to share the visuals of these flowers, although only I was able to enjoy the beautiful perfume of the azaleas. Not sure how this came across to Jan, I benefitted from chatting with her and the flowers were beautiful......but after a few minutes I continued on my way to find a more suitable tarmac surface to continue the journey.
In an effort to regain my trust sat nav made a simple, clear and positive instruction once I met a junction on this road - "follow the A70 for 9 miles" . For my benefit a need to not worry for a long time to turn left or right, and the A70 at this relatively early time of day appeared to be traffic free.
The view to my right, looking north or maybe north west was a far less mountainous view than only 24 hours earlier, maybe a slight respite before encountering mountains in the Lake District or earlier as I continued towards Lockerbie.
I decided to stop for a quick food and Irn Bru break in a layby, and to my shock and disappointment there appeared to be a lot of fly tipping at this particular location. Refreshed I got back on Red and continued my ride on the A70. Spoilt by earlier days of enjoying the National Cycle Network routes I was likely to experience plenty more main roads over the next couple of days, but once I had completed my 9 miles I took a left turn followed by a right turn and once again found myself on a more minor road to enjoy virtually traffic free riding!
My earlier Banana bread Soreen, even supplemented by a snack stop made very little difference to my energy levels so I took an opportunity to stop in the village of Quothquan for an early lunch about 22 miles into the day. Late morning was clearly rush hour as my sarnie in the shade of a few trees was disturbed by the local population passing me in a large convoy of cars, vans and even a lorry (the most cars I had experienced for days), but as I enjoyed lunch at 10.55am I was also able to take in the stunning views towards more mountains in the distance.
Within a couple more miles I arrived at Thankerton (this region of Scotland had the most amazing village names....) and a lovely bridge spanning the river. Whilst the river wasn't that wide and was host to the most graceful of herons which flew parallel to me riding along for a good minute or two, this river was in fact the River Clyde.
My route took me alongside the Clyde for another 12 miles or so bringing me closer to yet more traffic in the form of the M74. My earlier experience of Wick and the north east of Scotland had been a traffic free paradise, and whilst I was still deep in the middle of stunning Scottish countryside there was far more vehicle noise impacting the peaceful relaxing cycle ride.
In a very similar way to the Cairngorm riding of a couple of days earlier this valley was host to my route (a minor road), a motorway (the A74) , the river Clyde (which in fairness was simply quietly flowing along) and another railway line....and for me cycling at around 12 or 13 miles per hour an opportunity to take in the various elements around me; birds flying and bird song, several trains rolling along the tracks and glimpses of the motorway traffic as well.
The earlier lack of a decent cooked veggie breakfast continued to impact my energy levels and for the first time on the road (and first time ever on my bike) I took an opportunity to head into a motorway service station. In hindsight I assume this is legal (I guess motorway rules don't apply ?!?) and in the heat of the midday sun, it was once again really, really hot . I locked up Red the bike (which was a challenge in a motorway service station where very little planning had taken place for bikes popping in!) and headed in to supplement my earlier sarnie with a veggie plant based Burger King meal deal.
Nutritionally I appreciate a plant based burger, fries and coke based drink might not be the best choice for cycling a possible 70 miles in the heat of the Scottish summer, but at that particular moment this cyclist couldn't have made a better choice......mostly because there were very few veggie options which didn't consist of WHSmith overpriced sandwiches.
I should have mentioned this earlier but the looks I got from people around the motorway services was priceless - it was almost as if people hadn't seen a middle aged cyclist before, but I wasn't going to let these quizzical looks stop me enjoying my second lunch, and once back on the bike and heading out onto the A702 back alongside the River Clyde I soon found myself riding with very little traffic and even fewer quizzical looks (as far as I could tell....)
My route changed from an A road into a B road with a longer number and even less traffic as I continued. The heat of the day meant I was needing lots of water to keep hydrated along the way, and as if to emphasise how hot things were an increase in water consumed made no difference to the infrequent need to stop for a wee . (sorry, that's possibly too much detail.....but sharing is caring)
Sat nav continued to have a very easy day - from A road to B road was no instruction at all from sat nav.....in fact the only instruction I had was "stay on this road for a lot more miles" or something similar. No left or right turns might be easy for sat nav, but it turns out is incredibly boring even with miles and miles of beautiful countryside to take in.
The background noise from the M74 continued, my route literally running alongside the motorway for mile after mile, all relatively flat but all relatively similar. For this blog it does mean that the second half of the days ride is hard to describe because it was one road with very few notable moments of interest. By late afternoon I found my hotel for the night, checked in and showered.
Long, at times boring, but another successful day on the bike. Dinner at the hotel was delicious, I could suggest I was still in deficit after the Soreen banana bread breakfast (maybe I'm just a greedy / hungry cyclist?) , but I had planned to visit Lockerbie from the very early days of thinking about the Scottish cycling adventure.
For anyone old enough to remember (and its worth googling if you aren't aware) Lockerbie was the site for an unspeakable tragedy that happened on the 21st December 1988. 270 people died when a Pan Am 747 jumbo jet blew up mid flight enroute to America, the debris of the plane landed on a number of houses within the village of Lockerbie. The incident was a result of an explosion, a bomb detonated mid flight.... a terrorist attack which in every way shook the world.
The images of the decimation of both the plane and Lockerbie itself are still incredibly clear in my mind from the news at the time, especially as the tragedy happened on my 13th birthday, and I made it my intention as soon as I realised Lockerbie was close to my potential route between John O'Groats and Liverpool to visit the garden of remembrance to the victims.
After dinner I set out to walk to the Lockerbie cemetery in which the garden of remembrance is located and in a very similar style to the afternoon on the bike I walked all the way without seeing anyone. I was therefore able to spend a very quiet time alone paying my respects to the victims before heading back to the hotel for the night; chatting to Jan on my way back, updating social media about the days ride and ensuring I was able to get ready for the last two days of the journey.
Hard to believe that this would be my last night sleeping in Scotland for this trip......how far had I managed to ride since landing in Inverness seven days earlier ? About 527 miles give or take a metre (yard maybe?) or two.....but even with the miles on the bikes, hours in the saddle, heat that I had encountered I felt anything but tired as I settled down to sleep.......and fell asleep quickly, and didn't wake up until the next morning !!!