Day 4 - Balloch to Ecclefechan

Sunny Scotland


So, we continue to be blessed with good weather - particularly impressive given that we have been in Scotland for the last 3 days! Today was no exception and we all made the decision to ditch our gore-tex/wind-breaker tops before leaving Balloch (the benefits of having a support vehicle are becoming increasingly apparent!). Sun cream applied, our decision proved to be entirely vindicated as the day turned out to be a scorcher. As we neared Glasgow, the clouds cleared and it began to get very hot (even in just a T-shirt). We left the A82 for a quieter road just by the Erskine Bridge and straight away passed 3 Land's End to John O'Groaters - cue obligatory cycle chat. They were aiming to get to Fort William and, on a day like today, they would have seen Loch Lomond and Glencoe in all their glory. We pressed on, through the outskirts of Glasgow which seemed to go on for an eternity. The change in scenery seemed to be quite sudden as it slowly dawned on us that, on day 4, we were entering our first city. The sense of personal space that you got in the North of Scotland seemed to disappear more quickly than we were anticipating. We pressed through Glasgow on a road which was slightly too hair-raising for our liking. Tom-Tom came in very handy in the centre of Glasgow, particularly once we had crossed the River Clyde and it wasn't particularly clear which way we should be heading (even with the benefit of signposts!), although in hindsight it would have been preferable to buy the appliance to attach it to your handlebars as opposed to holding it in one hand whilst cycling (not great when cycling on dodgy roads full of pot-holes!).



The long and bumpy road


On the subject of roads, today was particularly painful. The trouble began once we left the A82 and picked up the A814 towards Glasgow. The road surface deteriorated rapidly - lots of pot-holes and broken glass - and on delicate bikes with wafer-thin, rock-hard tyres, that is not a good thing! Once through Glasgow, things did not get any better. The road to Hamilton and beyond was, as you can see from the photos, very hard going and the three of us were constantly bobbing up and down to protect our nether regions! When the surface was good, we were able to go like the clappers averaging around 20mph for 8 miles but once it started to deteriorate, we slowed down dramatically. We're hoping for good roads tomorrow so we can get to our next port of call in time for the England v Algeria game.

Fun and games in Hamilton

Having successfully navigated our way through Glasgow, we possibly got a bit ahead of ourselves as we entered our next large town, Hamilton. Hamilton is a very interesting place with impressive buildings and architecture but it also has a nightmare of a one way system. In following the one-way system rigidly it quickly dawned on us that things were starting to look familiar as we started our second lap of Hamilton. We quickly realised something wasn't right and Steve "Tom Tom" Mortimer, stopped to check the Tom-Tom. No sooner had he stopped, he got a nudge from behind - rear-ended by one of his own team (James Nickson). It isn't clear exactly what distracted James at that moment but it would seem that on such a beautiful day, he was simply too busy admiring the local architecture in all its glory. We pressed on knowing that lunch was, in theory, just round the corner! We stopped for a fantastic picnic lunch at a place called Chatelherault just outside Hamilton. Pippa and Robin again deserve special mention - they drove ahead and found a supermarket and picked up various goodies for us including a whole chicken. We had delicious chicken wraps with mayonnaise and prawns, along with fresh melon slices and strawberries, so thanks again to Pippa and Robin. They are making this challenge so much easier.

Midgie alert!

We had all heard the stories and been forewarned about the midgies in Scotland but today had our first experience and it felt like an ambush. Guy, who was at the front of the peloton, was the first to spot them and, selflessly turned to James and Steve to shout "midgies" and promptly got a mouthful of the little devils! We all emerged the other side (it felt like a sharp rain shower) bitten all over. We'll never take the little devils lightly again!

I can see for miles...

The scenery was much less spectacular then the Glencoe area but once we had left Glasgow and its surroundings, there were some impressive views of, erm, more of Scotland. In particular, a number of wind-farms hogged the horizon which were clearly visible miles away on such a clear day.

Onwards to England...

So, tomorrow we finally cross the border into England. We'll be covering just over 100 miles, hopefully on better quality roads and we will need to cycle like the wind so as to get to our next port of call (just outside Preston) in good time for the England game. Now there's an incentive...