Pedalling for Parkinson's

 Day 21 - Culloden to Lairg Another wet day in the Scottish Highlands! The heavens poured down upon me as I cycled from Culloden to Inverness, this was beyond double waterproof weather, I wished I had a third!!! It was also interesting route planning from Komoot and  Google maps who placed me on the dual carriageway A9 northbound! Forunately I found a scrubby pathway alongside and just hoped that there would not be any glass or debris to render me with a puncture! Finally the Kessock Bridge and a traverse across the Moray Firth; it almost looked like Hong Kong or West Coast Canada with wisps of cloud clinging to the tree clad banks of the hills as they fell down to the estuary edge, quite beauitful! One of my favourite sections to cycle in the UK is the northern edge of the Moray Firth, from Kessock Bridge towards Muir of Ord, I have cycled it many times before, always in May,and it is beautiful; soft hills with old oaks, crumbling stone walls, gorse and bluebells, accompanied by a ple

 Day 20 - Tomintoul to Culloden Moor Tomintoul is very much in the Cairngorm National Park and so the ride was still very hilly as I wended my way Northwards towards the Moray Firth. And a delightfully sunny day to enjoy such a ride. I thought of my partner, Michael, as I passed the sign introducing the Malt Whisky trail route, and cycled past the distilleries of Glenlivet and Cardhu. The Glenlivet estate looked particularly pretty and had an art installation above the road, comprising a mirrored cube, reminding me of a friend's garden design at Hampton Court Flower show a few years ago. http://www.alexrainford.com/show-gardens Onwards the cycle up my super steep climb for the day, and up to the most stupendous view of the Cairngorm, where I sat and enjoyed my lunch! The route then took down towards Grantown on Spey, across much more arid and open terrain, with a few rogue escapee sheep to keep you on your toes! It was then a pine forest lined route for a while, before crossing moo

 Day 19 - Ballater to Tomintoul      Ballater is a terribly swish village, and I shall explain for why; It is the train station to which the Queen arrives to visit Balmoral. Cycling up from the River Dee out of Ballater I started a climb through pastureland and ancient silver birch forest; I have never seen such old silver birch trees and it made me think of my time in Sweden fondly. In Swedish weddings, people make an arch of silver birch as you enter the church. These birch were covered in super thick sleeves of lichen, of varying types, they looked very cosy! I then came across a superbly steep stone bridge, I am sure the ascent was almost vertical! And then the climbing began, winding through stunning moorland, where I heard Grouse for the first time. What a comical sounding bird!! And I also saw them too, black grouse, darting about the moor, safe for the moment. The descent was super steep too; I am realising with my parkinson's that grip strength can be challenging, particul

 Day 18 - Blairgowrie to Ballater Wow! What a B&B we stayed in last night! Wonderful!! https://www.glenshielinghouse.co.uk/ Greeting the drowned cyclist on their doorstep with reassurance there was plenty of hot water, towelling robe, slippers and tea & cake waiting for me was just wonderful!! The team running the B&B had moved here from Brighton six months ago and completely renovated it during lockdown, with such opulent decor and interior design! What a find! Such a treat to be sitting on a sofa rather than a saddle, reading a magazine!!! IS this what normal people do with their weekends?! I discovered a fabulous magazine, https://www.scottishfield.co.uk/, I'm tempted to start a subsccription to maintain my Scottish connection from the South! In muchthe same way Ive started a subscription to French country living to sate my love for France! Fully rested and restored I was ready to tackle the cycle; a truly hilly route, taking in the first of my ski station stops en r

Having enjoyed a relaxing walk above the gorge at Rumbling Bridge after the days cycling, I returned home to find I had received a text message from one of the other participants from my Public Health course that I had enjoyed earlier in the week. John had messaged to ask whether I may welcome a local cycling with me from Rumbling Bridge; the rare opportunity to meet with a fellow course participant was very attractive as all is being conducted online remotely for COVID security. I was delighted to accept his offer. To take advantage of a narrow weather window I started early setting off up a long slow ascent above Rumbling Bridge; it was stunningly beautiful following a narrow valley, before it opened up to a higher pasture that reminded me of the Col du Joux Plan in France, cycling amongst pasture with cattle, pines and little wooden barns dotted about. I then enjoyed a speedy descent to Dunning, where John was waiting for me beside the church. He kindly brought along Scottish provis

I have taken the last two days off from cycling in order to attend a virtual work programme for Public Health Consultants; it was really stimulating, particularly meeting consultants from across the UK, all sharing their different backgrounnds and experiences.  Interestinly I found the online teaching almost more exhausting than cycling! So I was glad to be back on my bicycle today! It was a beautiful start to the day, as I climbed up just below the Pentland Hills, and looking out Eastwards the hills were sporting bright white caps of snow! I was incredibly grateful for my Garmin today, without which the navigation of Edinburgh and Dunfermline would have been really challenging, and hugely more time consuming! I took a route circumnavigating the city centre, including  a stunning church at Corstorphine surrounded by cherry trees blossoming! I finally wended my way towards the Firth of Forth above Crammond and caught my first glimpse of the three bridges traversing the river. The Queens

Having dried out from my watery cycling baptism yesterday I was feeling brave to tackle the hill climbs en route to Edinburgh. All started well, there was even fleetiing sunshine to warm my back as I climbed up my first range of hills for the day; a rare occasion found my support crew, AKA My mum, was taking the same route and so a rare occasion was that I had a photographer, fleetingly! It was just as I approached the summit of the first range, that I turned a corner and was hit by such a powerful gust of wind that I almost fell off my bike! The valley floor was north-south aligned, and so I now faced a steady northerly headwind, so strong I had to pedal hard in an easy gear to make progress down a steep hill!  Rain joined the wind and so the fun began! Having learnt from yesterday I was better prepared - with waterproof socks inside my merrell waterproof leather knee high boots, topped with waterproof overshoes and waterproof trousers, oh and ski warming packs inside my boots! Ever t

I am an optiimist; and so despite a weather forecast for Heavy rain and moderate breeze I proceeded with my intended route. Sitting safely and warmly ensconced in the Tushielaw Inn as I write this, as the snow settles on the hillside outside my window, I realise I may need to temper my optimism!! The ride out of Langholm was a gentle climb, and I am frotunate that a love of nature distracts me from most negative thoughts; and so despite the rain I was happy taking in the wild flowers, primroses, wood anenomes, bluebells, cowslips galore and geums, along with looking at tiny lambs. Climbing through Bentpath and up to 260m I entered a valley and cycled onwards towards Eskdalemuir. A note for cycling in Scotland. Scotland is very sparsely inhabited compared to England. A relatively large place name on a road atlas often is a hamlet, so travel well prepared with food and drinks.  You also know it;s particularly wet when you seek out any shelter under which to enjoy aforementioned snacks -

And so the crossing of my final country border of the trip; before reaching this site at Penton Bridge however was 55 miles of traversing the Southern edge of the Northern Pennines, weaving along the Eden valley which was welcoming undulating rather than super steep. The weather was a little less clement and so waterproofs o clock it was; I am so glad I brought my winter cycling  kit, complete with thermal tights, merino, full waterproofs, sealskin gloves and waterproof leather boots! It was a very rural cycle with no provisions opportunities en route, and so I was delighted when I arrived at Castle Carrock and discovered a pub serving food, complete with large marquee. I befriended a couple of other cyclists who regaled me with tales of various cycle tours, Eurovelo 6 from England to the Black Sea! Wow!! I felt rather inadequate doing LEJOG! The other wonderful thing about cAstle Carrock was their village sign; thus far I had seen - X village welcomes you; drive carefull through X; Ke

 It appears I have created a route taking in as many National Parks as possible!! So today I enjoyed a fabulous and very hilly cycle through the Yorkshire Dales and Westmorland Dales. We started the day in civilsed fashion enjoying an espresso at a cafe in Kirby; the one aspect of European cycling I miss in the ease of obtaining a strong coffee in the smallest of hamlets!  And so I started cycling up Northwards, running parallel to the M6 but fortuately sufficeintly far away as not to hear it; instead I heard Curlews, and also the first cuckoo of the year, appropriate for 1st May! https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/curlew/ By Beck Foot I happened upon the most impressive rail viaduct straddling a terribly deep valley, which I had just ventured down with brakes full on, and then enjoyed cycling back up! Today's second highest summit was at the top of this c. 330m and commanding views across the Dales and also towards the Lake District peaks; PLaces t

The Forest of Bowland is beautiful; if you are passing by that way do stop a while. There are far fewer poeple about that in the Lakes and has wonderful walking & cycling territory. I started off with a gentle climb from pastureland beside the Ribble, and headed up to Moorland, where hardier lambs were gambling about. It was beautiful and along lovely coutnry lanes, thank you Komoot for the route! Just for the record, I am n ot a twitcher but I have recently become a bit more interested in birds, maybe is is because I am over 40! As I was cycling along I heard a funny electronic bird sound. I had heard similarly whilst cycling in the Test valley in Hampshire, and googled it because I was convinced it was an electronic crow deterrent; in fact it is the song of the Lapwing, I promise you it sounds like it is from a synthesizer!  It also flies in a very erratic fashion and sports a spectacular head feather! https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/lapwing/ T