Pedalling Time: 5hrs 33mins
Weather: Dull, cold and windy
TOTAL DISTANCE: 530 miles!!
The beginning of our last day of cycling did not start particularly well. Although our breakfast was one of the best we had had over the whole trip this was the only good thing. The weather was dull very cold and a strong wind was blowing, not ideal cycling conditions. We were packed and ready to go, only needing to pay for our stay. To our surprise and slight anger we found the guesthouse did not accept credit or debit cards, only cash or cheques. Was this place back in the Stone Age or what. As we did not have enough money on us to pay, Luke valiantly cycled down and back up the hill to Eyemouth to get some cash, again not ideal when we had a long cycling day ahead of us.
However, our day gradually improved, the weather didn’t get any worse, the hills became less steep and we had the thought of the finishing post of Edinburgh in our minds to spur us on and give us that extra bit of energy that the ‘Boost’ bars couldn’t give us.
The ride to Edinburgh was quite uneventful l, passing through some ugly places including a power station and a cement factory. We made excellent progress despite feeling tired and reached the half way point very early in the day. Plenty of rests were taken to rest our sore legs during the day including one just outside of Preston Pans where we got our first glimpse of Edinburgh in the distance. This sight filled us with joy at being able to see our final destination but also sadness as we knew it would all soon be over. Physically we were looking forward to the end but mentally I think we didn’t really want this fantastic experience to end.
The final cycling in Edinburgh was adrenaline fuelled and quite intense, having to dodge a lot of traffic to get to Prince’s Street Gardens where our reception party waited with baited breath for our arrival.
The end of our cycling came at exactly 5.00pm as we crossed the finishing line and met Alex’s mum and dad and Emily under the Scott Memorial. Food and drink was thrown upon us and photos were taken as we found the nearest bench to sit on and rest. Everything passed in a bit of a blur as our tiredness started to creep up on us, though everyone there was very glad to see us both.
After a very short time in Edinburgh we got the train to a local park and ride, loaded our bikes onto the car and set off to Durham where Luke and Emily would stay at Alex’s house for a night before going back the next day. In the car we passed many of the places we had gone through the days before but for the first time in 9 days we weren’t cycling.
A fantastic personal experience for both of us, an amazing amount of money raised for Leukaemia Research and St Nicholas Hospice, many interesting characters met and places travelled through and lots and lots of laughs. We were happy..... if not a little tired.
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