Day 3 - Melrose to Edinburgh

After a decent rest, we were up and at 'em for the final day.

Andy's knee wasn't playing well and it was touch and go whether he was just going to go to Melrose Station and get the train.

We went down stairs and to our pleasure we were asked how we wanted our eggs. The breakfast came out and it was delicious.

The owner also gave us some info on the trip ahead...in particular about how the route had changed somewhat. He gave us details on how to avoid a particular section that involved getting off the bikes and steps.

After breakfast, the owner let us use his power washer to clean the bikes. Davey had a brain wave to clean his shoes with it (which were absolutely stinking from the bog we had walked through the previous day)...and so he ended up with wet shoes for the rest of the day!

Andy decided he was going to carry on and see how his knee was.

I had a flat tyre - back (it's ALWAYS the back). Luckily I had a spare inner tube so the change was fairly quick.

So we carried on riding alongside the A72

We stopped pretty regularly to take some energy bars on board and we managed to get him some ibuprofen at Innerleithen about 2 hours later

Next was the climb. It was quite high across the Moorfoot Hills south of Edinburgh but also long, so it wouldn't be very steep. We were still wondering if Andy's knee was going to be ok, so we stopped quite regularly. That wasn't a problem though because we had plenty of time that day.

It was stunning.

The next section was as long and downhill...as long as the climb
As we came off the Moorfoot Hills, I became aware that my tyre was losing pressure...back AGAIN! So I got off and pumped it up. We didn't have long to go, so it didn't seem worth fixing at the moment.

It did go down further again later as we were cycling in Edinburgh - but again, we were a few miles away from the hotel, so I just pumped it up again - well, Davey did 'cos I couldn't get the pump connected for some dumb reason!

We got to Edinburgh at 15:10

Distance : 50.92 miles

Avg Speed : 11mph

Max Speed : 35.1mph

 

And that was it.

We booked into the Premier Inn at Haymarket (with some problems which Davey ironed out). We showered, changed and headed to the bar.

We had a curry at the Mumbai Mansion in Haymarket which was superb (alot of food!) and then we decided to go into Edinburgh and see a show as it was the last day of the Edinburgh Festival so we jumped in a queue to watch a comedian.

A few beers later, we were back at the Premier Inn and hitting the sack.

After a group breakfast in the morning Davey and Andy left getting a nice early train to Glasgow. I had to wait until 12 for mine.

It was a superb trip. Andy hung on (I hope your knee's ok buddy) and Davey was a great help as "team leader" because he was much better at controlling the speed than I was and that helped Andy considerably - especially on the long second day and the long climb on the third.

Thanks again to Davey and Andy for making a great trip even better. You were both great company.