Dirlton, on a Cold Gran Fondo around East Lothian

A Gran Fondo, Italian for Big End, is a long bike ride. Sometimes these are sportive type events, othertimes, just challenges. Most possibly this was my last big bike ride of 2016, 101.6km around East Lothian. I headed from my house through Dalkeith. A cold raw day, grey clouds. no sun. I cycle past Fordel Mains and on to the Pencaitland road for a wee while, before heading up to Humbie. As I climbed, the temperature dropped to about -1.

From Humbie, I headed down to Gifford. Still cold there. A nice long drop in to Haddington, where the temperature was just below 0. From Haddington, I climb over the Garlton Hills. On the other side, the wind was a bit warmer. As I cycle through Athelstaneford, the temperature rises about 0. The clouds are not as grey here. As i travel north, the clouds actually disappear, especially as I cycle from Kingston to Dirlton.

On Station Road, just before I get to the A198, I stop to get my blip of Dirlton.

Instead of turning on to a busy A198, I head through the village itself, and then join the A road here. Most people turn off on to the B road here, south towards Drem. I presume because its slightly faster than driving along the coastal road to Edinburgh.

From here,I head along the coast to Musselburgh and Joppa, where I head towards home along Milton Rad and the Innocent Railway Path in to Edinburgh.To take my total distance over 100km, the GPS stops working in the Innocent Railway tunnel and because the battery in the speed sensor needs replacing, I head home via Craiglockhart and Oxgangs,

Despite the cold, only my toes were really affected, a nice ride. From now on, for the next few months, Sunday cycling is very much weather dependant.