Day 10 – to Calander (59 miles)

Today was supposed to be our day off... but we have already spent a long weekend in Edinburgh and we were keen to get back to the countryside. By sneaking in an additional 59 miles, we are cutting ten miles a day off our remaining journey.

It was drizzling as we left Edinburgh before breakfast. The YHA was quite pricey and breakfast was not included – for a double room, a B&B might have been better value. From the centre of Edinburgh, we headed towards Leith and then west along the coast line. The roads were not particularly well sign posted and we had the inevitable arguments about directions. When we found ourselves in an ASDA car park, we decided it was time for breakfast at the ASDA café. It was warm and breakfast was very inexpensive – Simon has finally decided that he likes black pudding.

Heading towards Queensferry by the busy main roads, we eventually spotted the sign for Route 1 of the National Cycling Network which we followed across the Forth Bridge. Even with the clouds and the rain, the views across the water were amazing and we watched a couple of trains pass over the old railway bridge before pushing on east towards Stirling.

At one point as we were cycling down a hill under trees the rain came down so hard that Simon could not see where we were going. The rain kept starting and stopping -but thankfully never as hard as that again. As we headed towards Stirling we eventually joined the 'Tower route'. We stopped in Aloa and Brittany went into the tower (while Simon watched the bike) – it dates from the 1300's and was originally used as a well fortified house with the walls around 10 feet thick. The tower was very run down before the local community decided to restore it. The sun came out briefly as Brittany looked from the top across the countryside -Stirling castle & the Wallace Memorial could be seen in the distance.

We had a light lunch (and cheap - £1.49 for a ¼ pounder) and were on our way. After Stirling we took some tiny little roads through fields for a few miles. As we pedalled along we saw lots of rabbits running this way and that. We also saw quite few pheasants. At Doune we decided to take the more direct “A” route for 8 miles to Callender. The road was not pleasant, with lorries and buses zipping along through the rain in both directions. We arrived safely and stopped for tea at a local café.

Simon has been craving Indian food for ages so we are going to give that a go tonight. (As we were heading out Simon, spoke to the B&B proprietors who said that the Indian was quite bad, so we went for a Chinese meal instead. It was good.)