Spring has arrived....

You can tell this, not by the lovely looking green grass, but by the bike. This bike only gets out on the finest of dry days. It was an effort to drag my carcass out of the front door today. I felt lethargic and the thought of cycling out to Stirling and back didn't really appeal. Once I was on the go though, it was different and I was soon over the Forth Road Bridge to join the excellent West Fife cycleway which took me on an entirely traffic free route from Dunfermline to Alloa along the bed of an old railway line. Clackmannan next and then Drip Bridge in Stirling was soon reached and turning for home, I had the wind at my back which eased things slightly.

The photograph today is taken from near the Antonine Wall which goes back to Roman days and the huge plant in the background is Grangemeouth Refinery. This enormous plant was built in 1924 and is capable of processing 210,000 barrels of crude oil each day.

The route became very up and down and I was glad to drop down to the coast at Blackness. It was warm and sunny now and pleasant as I cycled through Queensferry, 10kms from home.

The final route was 131.75 kms or 82.35 miles.