A ring road, relentless rain and a soon to be ruined chain

A new take on the 3 R's today as we discovered much about ourselves, Scotland and mechanical problems with bikes. After having refueled on a large breakfast and listened to rain for most of the night we were ready to set out. The conversation Ed and I had regarding a base layer under our shirts and deciding against it would come back to haunt us!

The moment we stepped out and onto our recently lubricated bikes the rain was relentless. We'd decided, based on the contours on an OS map to take the A roads into Dunfermline and through to Edinburgh. This was a great decision if we were riding through yesterday's weather, however the skies were against us and not only were we soaked through within 5 minutes we were freezing cold and a long way from our destination of Lauder some 70 miles away. I told you Ed that a base layer would be a good idea! The first time trains and taxis had tempted us, but we stayed strong. The cold was starting to become bearable with sharp bursts of speed to warm ourselves and a blistering pace of 20mph+ kept us going until the first technical glitch set in. Dave's chain decided to kink itself over 4 times which left Ed and I bemused as to his whereabouts. Some missed calls and a search party later and Dave appeared. We then ploughed on through the rain towards Dunfermline. By now my malnutritioned body with 0% fat and even less muscle was really starting to suffer and I was close to tears but the thought of tea and a cake somehow managed to keep me pedalling.

Once reached Dunfermline we had a brief stint on the M90 which left us all in need of some new pants, I think it was a combination of near misses by 10 tonne trucks and the constant horns from irritated motorists trying to pass us. We thought we wouldn't have that issue again, how wrong we were 2 hours later in Edinburgh we repeated this once again!

Dunfermline came and once again I'd re come d this lovely Scottish town to absolutely no one! A small cup of tea and aboost got us Luke warm for all of 2 minutes and then my shaking started again.

We got ourselves up and headed for the bridge towards Edinburgh. The maze which we found ourselves to cross a small pond was bewildering and if it wasn't for our guardian angels Colin and Pam who are also on the same journey as us to guide us onto the bridge we would have still been looking. Once on the bridge Dave rightly pointed out it was as if we were at the gates of he'll. Not only were we entering yet another Scottish town, but we were getting hit in the face by torrents of rain and Dave still hadn't reached for his jacket. A real man.

Once in Edinburgh we took the cycle path which we thought would miss out the majority of the ring road and spit us out the other side. We had to go round huge piles of chopped branches and even through a farmers field to make our way around a fallen tree, which had probably dropped moments before in the storm we were in. Then came our next 2 mechanical issues. Ed's chain decided to slow us and then Dave got a puncture, nothing like stopping when you feel cold. We quickly resolved our problems and after another impromptu meeting with Colin and Pam we continued on our way and thought we were in the centre of the city so stopped for a quick bite. We popped in Scopey Cafe and were met with some odd looks, however other than the regulars the waitresses were excellent to us and dried our jackets In their oven and gave us towels and a hot chocolate on the house. Note to self, always walk into an establishment looking miserable and cold!

We then checked our location and discovered we were north of the city and had to ride half way around the ring road which makes the M25 look straight forward. After another stint on the motorway we reached the A 68 which would take us into Lauder and to the dry. We rode hard for 21 miles up and down hills on a busy road, with another slipped chain for Dave to eventually reach our rest for the night where we found bath robes, tea and cake waiting for us. A quick bath and riot watch later and were all set to head out for some well earned food before another 9 O'clock curfew no doubt.