The Long Ride

 
Bit of a cheat for today's Blip but my camera didn't come out today, despite it being a highly eventful one and I thought my new friend Roxy deserved a showing!
 
Somehow, despite the best laid plans we set off on our journey to Peebles about an hour late. I was grumbling because the rear shock on my MTB was objecting as it was being compressed by my saddle bag with Rosemary's 4kg lock in it and my rucksack with a weekend's worth of kit.
 
We stopped off at Waverley for Rosemary to buy an advance train ticket. She failed……bloody ticket system wasn't coming up with the correct ticket. We then headed on to the Innocent Cycle Path and followed it to Musselburgh. We then headed for Monktonhall and I became exited as we were about to go onto my boyhood walk, The Grove, which follows the River Esk to Wallyford. Although some things were very familiar, it wasn't the same as they had laid a tarmac path…..it was sanitised.
 
The next few hours were a complete slog. The wind was attritional and it was nearly all uphill to our destination which was 50km away. I was needing jelly sweeties far earlier than planned and was knackered before we even got to the half-way point. We hadn't even seen the worst of it and lunch was a distant goal! Climbing out of Penicuik wasn't too bad, but then we turned onto the moor road towards West Linton and were hit by a wall of wind!
 
I like to do my turn but my legs buckled every time I tried to go in front of Rosemary to give her shelter. She even mentioned how tough it was, which is most unlike her. It was a relief when we got onto an off-road trail and a sheltered forest, but by this stage I was ravenous. The final rise to the café nearly broke me.
 
The organic café at Whitmuir is just what we both needed, with delicious grub and cake. I had double cake if you count my tattie ones with wild garlic! I stole half Rosemary's chips too, which were outstanding. We had to crack on though if we wanted to get to Peebles before dark and headed up the steep rise and towards the Meldons. I really enjoyed this section, and was pleased to get onto the drovers road which signified our penultimate section.
 
It was then onto the old railway at Lyne Station and THE SPOOKIEEEE TUNNEL! Feck……it was a pitch dark one which had retained the original uneven stony railway bed! I was terrified but sort of enjoyed it. We arrived at the B&B at 7pm and were welcomed by old Mrs Muir. TripAdvisor reviews had suggested that we had some cause for concern but it couldn't have been further from the truth.
 
Mrs Muir was a small women with a crooked back but a huge smile. Admittedly, when she showed us to the secure cellar to lock up our bikes, I imagined that she was an old crone who was about to lock us in an underground dungeon. We unlocked the door and it opened with a creaky squeak! Spookieee again! The cellar was amazing though, with Rosemary commenting that it was the best bike storage at a B&B that she had seen.
 
Mrs Muir, we subsequently discovered, was Austrian. She was slightly confused when she asked for my surname as it wasn't on the register, but that was soon rectified when we gave her Rosemary's name instead. She also confirmed several times that we were THE vegetarians in her strong Germanic accent. I was delighted to see that she was painting hens eggs in the old fashioned manner for her Grandchildren. She laughed when I suggested that I would have pinched a specific painting that I liked on her wall, if I wasn't on my bike. The house was a beautiful Victorian one, with loads of rooms and an oak staircase. Our room was perfect, if somewhat old fashioned.
 

After a quick shower, we headed out for dinner. I wanted pizza but changed my mind as I didn't like the look of the place. Rather, we had a very serviceable Indian meal,  although it came far too slowly for a pair of ravenous cyclists.