John Muir Way Day 3 - Edinburgh - Dunbar

 That Scotland coast to coast? The John Muir Way? Completed it mate…☺️ I mean what a day, what a day!!! Who had sunburn down on the Glencorse bike ride calamity bingo card? Not me! Once again when I pulled open the very flimsy cheap blind to be greeted by bright sunshine! To be fair, the Ibis budget hotel is really excellent value for money in what is a very expensive city, £35 isn’t to be sniffed at, and it was clean, shower was good and most importantly, they’d let me take the Ribble up to my room…😁 it is about 5 miles out of the city centre, but on the tram route so it’s 20 mins and £3.80 return fare away which is what I’d done for last nights food, an excellent little Mexican just up from the Grassmarket.

The plan was to pop into central Edinburgh as I needed to go and pick up Andrea’s mother day present from her favourite jewellers, Palenque, get some breakfast, and generally act the tourist on a bike! As I’ve done lots of work in and around Edinburgh and always bring the Brompton, I pretty much know it like the back of my hand, and in recent years it has become pretty good to cycle round. Taking the bike route from South Gyle, through Saugtonhall, Murrayfield ( another photo for Jase!) and onto Roseburn Road which used to be terrifyingly, but the new protected lane they were installing last time I was here in October is now all done and it was easy up to Haymarket. Where it all falls down as it just stops and drops you in with the buses and trams for the mile and a bit to Princess Street. So near yet so far…a quick pop into Palenque and then the climb up and away into the Old town with of course time for pretending I’m (a fat, old, grey, slow) Wout van Aert as I sprint (!) up the cobbled climb of the royal mile to the castle. And I mean it was beautiful! The sun was fully out providing a spectacular back drop to the views of the city on one side and Arthur’s mount on the other. back down the royal mile, and a left to Greyfriers Bobby to touch his nose for good luck and down into the Grassmarket for some breakfast. Fried egg and haggis scotch roll (there was some debate in a chat on if this was the most Scottish breakfast ever, until Tom pointed out that there was no irn bru or whisky in the coffee…😁) orange juice and a coffee later and it was already after 10 and I’d only done 7 miles…

Back up the cobbled climb to Greyfriers Bobby and then down across the Meadows, through Marchmont and into Holyrood Park with Arthur’s Seat towering over me, I joined the bike path towards Musselburgh. Gently meandering down hill, I knew I was taking it easy as a student on a Raleigh Shopper came smashing past me all creaking and groaning (the bike not her!) Just checking I wasn’t on the walking route as I reached a stepped railway bridge ( I wasn’t!) I lifted the bike up one side, but the steps were pretty shallow so decided to Junior Kick Start my way down the other side. I just needed an old VW Beetle at the bottom to try and get over, fall off and smash my knackers on the top tube to bring back some good old memories! In a nostalgic mood, the next section brought more child hood memories, the dirt single track of Brunstone  Burn Path reminded me of the trails round Hoppers Wood near Newton Hall in Durham where I grew up and I could have been 10 years old, bombing about on my Grifter…☺️

Through Musselburgh and we were back to the coast with the Firth of Forth and Fife over my left shoulder now for what would be most of the rest of the trip or at least to North Berwick. And it was hot man! And beautiful…one of the things I’d wanted to see in the route was the industrial heritage centre at Prestongrange. Those that know me know I’m a massive Industrial Revolution nerd, so although the museum and visitors centre doesn’t reopen till April, you can still look round the site and there was some helpful information boards dotted about. I had the whole place to myself and proper enjoyed a good 45 minutes stroll round, the highlight being the Cornish Beam engine ( the only one still in its original housing in the UK) and the vast brick Kilns. Lovely! 

Time was cracking on though and there was still 30 ish miles to do and nearly mid day. The next part running along the coast through Prestonpans, Port Seton and Longniddy was stunning. Taking literally the sea wall, it was slow going, but magic! The smell of the kelp and the ocean was invigorating and the slippy sea wall was keeping me concentrating on keeping wheels down! Again, I had it pretty much to myself until the sea wall transitioned to sand. There were a few people about so I thought I’ll just keep riding, showing off my impressive bike handling skills. I got about 5 yards, lost the front and went over the handlebars! I was doing about 2mph so no harm done but the young couple who came to check on me must have thought “what is this old frail man doing trying to ride along a beach?!” Dusting myself off, and pretending the red face was from exertion not embarrassment, I pushed the bike along the beach until I came to terra firma..

Finally the beach section over the route dumped me onto the first real busy road of the entire trip after Longniddy, the A198. I was a bit behind time wise, and thought it was time to wind up the pace a bit, and after averaging about 8mph today, it was pull the pin and off! Spanking the 5 miles or so to Aberlady at 20mph I felt at last, that I deserved some lunch and with no Greggs about was forced to use the Aberlady village shop, which had a lovely bench outside where I ate my spicy salami baguette in the now quite strong sun. I may have dropped off for a minute or two…anyway just the last 15 or so miles to go, but I really wanted to see Tantallon Castle which would add an extra 5 miles on and final entrance time was 3pm. It would be a stretch but I thought I could just about make it! Back on the A198 again it was flat out ( or at least as close to flat out as I get these days, must have been at least 100 Watts…!) and a detour round one of the many golf courses in the area and I was in, down, up and out of North Berwick past the John Muir Way turnoff and heading for Tantallon Castle looking majestic in the afternoon sunlight, the equally spectacular volcanic plug of Bass Rock just to its left. Screaming into the car park at 2.55 it was completely empty. Bugger! Was it closed? Venturing I’d come this far the extra half a mile to the castle itself was no great hardship I went to get closer. It was open! There was a little booth and shop hidden around the corner! Paying my £7.50 I was told someone would be over at 3.45 to turf me out, but the whole place was mine! And it was worth the extra 5 miles! The views were phenomenal! Lots of info boards basically saying it was ruined by Cromwell and you could get pretty much everywhere from the dungeons to the ramparts! Leaving before I got turfed out, another fridge magnet added to the collection, it was only 10 miles or so and we’d be done!

Back to the turn off I’d rode past an hour ago, and I thought this will be nice end to the trip as I was definitely on the cycle route back to Dunbar. I should know by now shouldn’t I? Turning off the quiet road down between farmers fields, it became more and more muddy. I’d gone to far to go back though so ploughed on until eventually I came to pretty much marsh land. Noooo! With no option but to carry on I slipped and slided until the inevitable happened and I lost momentum. Managing to unclip, my foot went down up to my ankle in mud. It had also clogged up the tyres with the mud collecting on the frame stays. With no option but to clear them manually I was now covered! Oh well, it looked like it would finish how it started!  Slowly the surface got better and a steep downhill back on tarmac started clearing the mud from the tyres although covering me and the luggage in the process! Just time for me to bottle out going through a deep Ford across the road (stupid death, stupid death…) and we were completing the final drag into Dunbar alongside a busy A road.

And it was done! A total of 154 (55 today) miles over 2 and a half days with 8,000 ft of vertical ascent, mostly off road and I was pulling up outside the John Muir museum in Dunbar high street, the sun finally behind a cloud for the first time today, a quick photo and a selfie and to the Dolphin Inn hostel to check in. There was a vague plan to meet up with Shelia, one of Andrea’s old friends from Uni (and my friend, although we differ on attitudes to cyclists…!) depending on when I got here, but she was teaching tonight so she’ll meet me for breakfast in the morning which will be lovely! The Dolphin Inn was brilliant (£22 for a double room!!!) and the Pizza from Hectors Artisan Pizzera washed down by a local Dunbar larger,  righteous! 

Thoughts on the trip then? My incompetence, slapdashness, over optimism and general dickheadidness aside? It’s been magnificent, and right up there with The Hebridean Way 18 months ago. I’ll not lie, the weather has helped! I think it’s in some way a pay back from the Gods after what they did to me in the Isle of Man last year…🤣 I genuinely have got some colour on my face from the sun today! Markus Stitz book “Bikepacking Scotland” was the inspiration and if you ever want to do some gravel riding in Scotland it’s a must. (His you tube videos are awesome a well!) and the John Muir Way website was also excellent. Top tip, when planning your route take notice of the map key, crucially taking in the difference between walking routes and cycling ones…! it’s been challenging at times, but like I always say, if it was too easy you wouldn’t get the satisfaction out of completing the journey and being so close to the coast for much of the route is just food for the soul. As are all my little bike adventures. I’m so lucky in many respects, that I’m fit and healthy enough (just! Thank you inflixamab and the NHS!) to be able to do it, that I have an amazing long suffering wife and kids that are willing for me to abandon them to jolly about around the country/continent ( as long as I bring back presents and if I’m in Scotland, tablet!) and I can afford to do it. I try and keep it cheap, but my day job reinforces to me how lucky I am when others can’t even afford to feed their kids. It also helps me make sense of the world we live in, clear all the shit out, the politics and focus on what really matters, friends and family. 

I’ve been especially thinking about one of my best friends from Uni, Rachel, born 2 days before me, who’s really unwell at the moment and kicked off the whole daring, slightly deranged and chaotic adventure road trip thing when she bullied me into hitch hiking to Paris 34 years ago next week. I’d never even been out of the country before then. I blame it all on her…Love you Rach x