John Muir Way - Day 1 Helensburgh to Strathblane
Well here we are again! I’m hoping there will be less police and less people calling me the C word on Twitter than last March’s escapades on the Isle of Man! With the usual few days holiday left to take in March, the excellent book “Bikepacking Scotland” by Markus Stitz provided the inspiration for this shortish trip, following the John Muir way coast to coast along the central belt of Scotland from Helensburgh in the West to Dunbar in the East. Mainly on gravel tracks, single tracks and quiet roads with apparently no real technical stuff (we’ll come to that!!!) and with the weather looking cold but dry, the route was planned, hostels and cheap hotels were booked, Jean had a service and all too soon I was scraping the thick ice of Jean’s windows, loading her up and settling in for the 270 miles up to Helensburgh. Obviously I was meant to be away for 6am, but some epic cocking about which entailed waking the whole house up as I dropped things, slammed doors then revved the nuts of ...