Well what an exciting weekend it's been, what with Harry and Meghan's wedding, the summery sunshine, and most importantly my arrival at the Forth Road Bridge, Queensferry, on the edge of Edinburgh. This is particularly exciting because it's where my parents live so I've been able to catch up with them for a quick virtual cuppa while I've been here. Perfect.
Now then, I realise that not all of my readers are from the UK and may not know that the Forth Road Bridge is not so called because it is the forth bridge carrying road traffic over the river. There are actually only three bridges at this point between Edinburgh and Fife, and the Forth Road Bridge was, I think, the second bridge over the river at the Firth of Forth. The 'firth' bit of this name is actually Scots for 'estuary', and the 'forth' is the name of the river. The first bridge was the Forth Bridge, which is a rail bridge, and the third bridge was the most recently opened (in 2017) Queensferry Crossing. It's all terribly confusing. Here are the three of them...
...working from left to right they are, the Forth Bridge, the Forth Road Bridge, and the Queensferry Crossing. I have come to the Forth Road Bridge, and am at the Edinburgh side of it, which is on the upper left of the picture. Queensferry is the area/suburb you can see in that upper left part of the photo, and here's what it looks like at street level...
...and at water level...
I arrived on Friday afternoon at around 3.30pm after cycling for two hours and forty-three minutes from Leadhills and Wanlockhead Railway, covering 84km. There was a lot of uphill so I did 40km at gear 10 and 5km at gear 11, so four and five gears of increased resistance from my usual. It was tough, but there was lots of good support from the folk in Pop-Up Gym, and of course lining the streets as I cycled...
Here's the proof that I covered the distance, just in case you don't believe that's me in the photo above, though why you wouldn't is beyond me.
During the planning of my ride I rightly thought that it would be pretty difficult to find somewhere suitable to pitch my tent so I booked in to the Hawes Inn...
It's a beautiful and very old pub in which Robert Louis Stevenson stayed and actually wrote some of his famous novel, 'Kidnapped,' and the book also has a passage in which the Hawes Inn features. As a writer, how could I not stay in a place with such literary associations?
The problem with my plan was that my ride took me to the top of the Forth Road Bridge, not underneath the Forth Bridge. I really didn't want to have to cycle all the way down there on Friday and all the way up again on Monday, so I secured my bike to the bridge railings and abseiled...
It's a long way down!
I'd intended on landing on the 'Forth Belle', a tourist boat, that was going to take me to the Queensferry harbour and I'd walk the short distance from there to the Inn.
It was a tricky manoeuvre for an unaccomplished abseiler like myself, but doable, so I thought, and the captain had agreed that I could attempt it. Unfortunately I got my timings completely wrong and missed the boat entirely. I splooshed spectacularly into the Firth of Forth and somehow simultaneously became detached from the abseiling ropes. This may have been because I didn't really have any idea what I was doing when I was attaching myself to them, and I'm really quite amazed (and relieved!) that they remained tied to the bridge. Anyway, yes, once again I ended up doing some impromptu swimming in some very, very cold water, and this time it turned out that I wasn't alone!
That's a Giant Lion's Mane Jellyfish! They have incredibly long tentacles that sting badly, and this chap wasn't alone. No, he was obviously out on the lash with all his mates for a weekend
I thought that perhaps one of the tourists on the boat might have spotted me, after all, they'd been told to expect someone dropping by, but no. Either nobody saw me plunge into the water or they thought I was out for a bit of wild swimming because nobody threw me a life ring from the boat or from the riverside. They are there, ready for use if anyone happens to fall in, but they're only any use if someone actually deploys them.
It seemed to take forever for me to bubble up to the surface, and it took a lot of careful manoeuvring to avoid getting tangled up in all the stingy tentacles that were trying to caress me with their wickedness through the water. Just as I came up and was able to take a huge gulp of air my breath was taken away by an amazing sight...
...A humpback whale was leaping out of the water and splooshing back quite spectacularly. I was, it has to be said, both amazed and terrified. It was an enormous animal, literally throwing its weight around, only meters from my head. Plus, I was still trying to avoid being stung by those Giant Lion's Mane Jellyfish, though they'd also been slightly distracted by the wake being created by the whale. I was in a quandary - did I hang around to watch the whale as I was sure I wouldn't see a humpback whale at such close quarters again, or did I make a tentative getaway through the faltering tentacles while I could? I didn't have a chance to make that decision before I was paralysed by fear once again. The whale flopped once more into the water...
... and swam towards me!
The jellyfish meant nothing to this huge animal, and almost as if it were the police of the sea, the jellyfish scarpered like discovered delinquents. No matter that this was a young mother with a calf to protect...
And then the officer was almost on top of me. I thought that was it - I was to experience extreme aquatic police brutality. I closed my eyes and braced myself, but what came was a low-pitched hum and the gentlest touch. The enormous animal was no brute; she was a mother and a nurturer. She scooped me up on one of her enormous fins, her young calf at her side, and swam me to safety...
It was quite a ride! Look at the wake...
She took me a little further up the river, just beyond the Queensferry Crossing, where the water was deep enough at the riverside for her to avoid being grounded. Once I'd disembarked and climbed safely onto the rocks at the river's edge, she gave a parting leap into the air while I yelled and waved my thanks...
A magnificent animal.
I was now safe from the Giant Lion's Mane Jellyfish, and safe from the freezing water, but I was still stranded on a rocky riverbank a fair walk from the Hawes Inn, and I was dripping wet.
I climbed the rocks and scaled the steep bank. I climbed over a fence and dropped face first into a pile of very fresh horse dung, which caused some unnecessary (in my opinion) amusement amongst the locals...
You might have to take my word for this if you've never experienced it, but it's hard to ignore a horse laughing at you with such gusto. I did the mature thing - I stuck my tongue out and blew the biggest raspberry I could. It didn't have any effect whatsoever, but it made me feel better. I got up, dusted my sodden, stinky self down, and staggered on up the hill to the dry stone wall, which I deftly toppled over, head-over-heels. The only witness was this chap by the neighbouring fence...
He was quizzical, but kept suitably quiet and let me continue on my way, which looked as though it was going to be much easier from now on. The only problem might be that it looked as though it was going to be easier as I appeared to have ended up in someone's rather spectacular garden. I quickly discovered that I was indeed right, and that I had fallen into the grounds of the Hope's family home. That is, Lord and Lady Hope and their 17th Century stately home of Hopetoun House
I didn't want anyone to think I'd deliberately broken into their amazing grounds so I tentatively knocked on the front door, thinking that they probably never have anyone knock on their front door. After all, it's not really the kind of house that I expect gets many cold callers or travelling salesmen. Not surprisingly there was no answer, but my gentle knock revealed that the door was only pulled ajar. I stepped inside to see if anyone was immediately available...
I was instantly absorbed by the subtle combination of grandeur and family home. The antiques that screamed 'antique!' sitting comfortably beside crafty creations that softened the austerity, and I couldn't help but have a little peek around, all the while looking out for anyone to apologise to for my intrusion...
I was just considering whether I might be allowed a few minutes rest in this chair...
...when a woman appeared and looked slightly aghast. At first I thought it was because she could see that I was contemplating sitting in this fine, exquisitely embroidered chair, then I thought that she was shocked at having found an intruder in the house. I was partly right about that, but what I hadn't realised until that moment was that, not only was I still sopping wet and smelling of horse dung, but I also had a few bits of seaweed in my hair and on my clothes...
I apologised profusely for my appearance in her house, and my appearance in dripping seaweed. I explained what had happened, though inexplicably she seemed quite incredulous. However, she was 'kind' enough to offer me a spare dress she 'no longer wore,' though upon seeing it I had to wonder on what occasion she had ever worn it...
I may not look my best as a walking ball pool, but I guess it beats the seaweed monster look. Just.
Once I'd changed I bundled up my sodden clothes, minus the seaweed, and stood at the door I'd embarrassingly left wide open, thanked the Lady of the house (with my fingers crossed when it came to the dress), and braced myself for the long walk through Hopetoun House grounds, through the streets of Queensferry, and all the way to Hawes Inn under the Forth Bridge...
Lady Hope must have misread my steeling myself for the trek as hesitation with a request for a lift because before I knew it she was offering to drive me to Hawes Inn. She said her husband was out with the family car, and 'most of the other cars' were in use too, but she did have the little runaround that she could take me in, seeing as it was such a long way. I really hadn't been angling for a lift, but as she was offering, and as I was wearing the most ridiculous dress ever made, I accepted. It really wasn't what I was expecting...
Very cute, but barely any room for one, let alone two and half a ball pool. It would be fair to say that I have no idea how we made it in one piece because there can hardly have been a centimetre of windscreen that wasn't blocked by plastic balls from my dress. I was, though, extremely grateful to her for the lift, and as way of thanks for her kindness I offered to buy her dinner at the Hawes Inn. She said that she hardly ever ate at such places, and it would be refreshing to eat at the local pub just once in her life, so yes, she would join me. We each had a wonderful pub dinner and shared a delicious pudding...
...in a delightful, homely inn...
We had a great time together, chatting away, stuffing our faces with delicious food, getting to know one another, quaffing the wine, and drinking more than either of us should ever have had. Needless to say, the little car stayed parked outside and Lady Hope and I staggered upstairs to two available bedrooms. Still feeling somewhat indebted to Lady H (or Laytch, as I'd slurred her name into being), I let her take the first of the two rooms...
...but I did rather well out of this because the second room was both bigger and had a bigger bed...
Laytch knocked on my door sometime around noon the next day, looking rather the worse for wear, only to say that she'd had a wonderful time, that I could keep the dress if I wanted to, and that she'd better make her way home because hubby would be worried. I insisted that I didn't need the dress any longer and it'd only be cumbersome on the rest of my epic ride, so thankfully she took it with her, but I was sure she knew I was grateful and had had a whale of a time - pun totally intended. I spent the rest of the day curled up in bed, watching the royal wedding, and pretending to the rest of the world that I was merely tired from all the cycling. I have emerged today, but only to sit in the sun in the beer garden, without any beer.
It's been softies all the way for me today, that's for sure. Softies and yummy home-cooked food in the sun. I have to be fit for the continuation of my ride tomorrow. I only have 60kms to do tomorrow, but that's still a fair way, especially if you're not feeling great. With that in mind I'd better head to bed now, but I'll see you at my next port of call. In the meantime, please do sponsor me if you haven't already. It's easy to do at my Just Giving Page, and it's all in aid of the wonderful charity Pop-Up Gym, without which none of this ride would be possible. As ever, please remember that every penny is very gratefully received and will be put to excellent use.
