Day 6 - Edinburgh to Moffat

Distance: 63.7 miles
Elevation: 2635 ft
Average speed: 13.3mph
https://www.strava.com/activities/2441799480



Ride report (a shorter entry today, as I've not taken many pictures!):

Another later start today with a good cooked breakfast to see us on our way. After the stress of yesterday evening's ride into Edinburgh, I was slightly apprehensive about getting out again, however, after a short, pleasant spell on the canal tow path, we managed to navigate our way through Edinburgh suburbia without any incident. Once out of the city, we had stopped for a quick flapjack break, when Dad's phone rang. Mum had left Edinburgh shortly after us, and had headed towards the planned coffee stop in Broughton, only to discover that the A701 (our planned route) had significant roadworks and was shut. After gleaning important info from the friendly local postie, Mum gave us a call. With the phones out, we re-planned the entire day's route and headed north towards the A702 instead.

After some "interesting" road surface heading out of Penicuik, we joined the A702 - a busier, faster road than I'd ideally like, but with a smooth surface and the wind at our backs, we made good speed, and the local traffic generally gave us a really wide berth, sometimes with a wave as they passed! This meant for very different riding to the last few days, and has certainly helped to stretch some different muscles.

We arrived in Biggar for lunch, where once again the flags were out for us! Mum had arrived before us and scouted out the local eateries (doing a stellar job of guiding us today!), so we had sandwiches and coffee at the Aroma coffee house, another good lunch stop.

Biggar Bunting

We left Biggar for more of the same sort of riding. We've very much been riding to type today - I pull away whilst time-trialling on the flat or descending then Dad overtakes once we start going uphill. As we neared the A74M, the traffic started to get heavier, so it was quite a relief once we got to the motorway and most traffic left our road to join it.


Hills and sheep - pretty much the view all day!

The road surface was pretty variable, but as we were now alongside the motorway, the traffic had died right down. With the scenery unchanging, we pushed on towards Moffat, stopping only to check the route (I found it quite strange not having the Garmin telling me where to go!).

Dropping down the hill (I'd stopped for yet another route check!)

The day finished with a nice long descent towards Moffat - we forewent the "greenhillstairs" route, as that sounded too much like climbing - and turned back up the A701 to the town.

It's been a busy evening in Moffat, with lots of laundry getting done, good homecooked food and bike cleaning. Tomorrow, we head into England!

The church in Moffat (as photographed by Mum)



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