Ride day 12: to Glasgow and the end

Today’s ride was pretty straight forward. I rode the better part of the first WHW day in reverse. It was easier to walk! Must have said good morning 100 times to all the people just getting started on their walk.

From there it was some suburban riding and then into Glasgow on great urban cycling trails along the Clyde and Kelvin rivers.

And next thing I knew, I was in front of a Holiday Inn. The best thing I can say about it is that it has windows that open. The bed will be nice I’m sure.

I had 3 hours until I could check in so I went for lunch. It was one of the, what, 5 days of summer (24 degrees and sunny) Glasgow gets per year today so as you can imagine the city was hopping. I waited for 30 minutes to sit on a patio for the most traditional Scottish meal available.

Then I went to the shop that had immediately replied to my email about a box to pack my bike in and had a great chat with the guy there. So helpful and so happy to hear about my experience in his country. I also didn’t mind at all that he oohed and ahhed over my beautiful bike. I asked if there was anything I could support with a donation as a thank you for the help and it turns out this shop supported the Malawi cycling team when they were in town for a competition ♥️. I can’t find a way to donate to that group, so I’m going to donate to another African cycling initiative. I’m also going to donate to the MBA which manages over 100 bothies because it is a public good.

Next I disassembled and tried to clean my bike with a rag and half a liter of water. I think I actually need a pressure washer (kidding, cleaning a bike with high pressure water is bad). Needless to say, I’m bringing some Scottish bog home.

For my final evening in Scotland I went to Auntie Ann’s with two fish suppers. She’s having a hard time because her friend Janette (pictured on the first Glasgow post) is back in hospital and not doing very well :(. But we had a nice visit and took Cassie for a walk. I’ve been in Scotland so long I could understand 95% of what she said.

And now I’m not in a tent 🥺

Conclusion

Well that was a ride. Without question the most visually stunning bike trip I’ve ever done. What a gorgeous place! So stark and dramatic and made for trips like this.

The Scottish Right of Way/Access is a tradition and now law by which people have access to many (so so many) specific ways between two places even if the land between them is private. It’s what makes all the walking and biking trails here possible. This system plus the bothies and legal wild camping (I should have done more of that but power is an issue) makes Scotland an incredible place to be outdoors. The spectacular scenery doesn’t hurt either, nor the friendly, generous and funny people.

Some stats:

• Distance: 1066 km / 662 mile
• Elevation: 14,911 m / 48,921 ft. (15,000 ft more than Colombia, but I also rode a greater distance here)
• Per day: 89 km / 1243 m

Not too shabby.

I got outrageously lucky with the weather, and every Scot I met told me as much. I was rained on in a mildly meaningful way only twice, and even then it wasn’t a drenching, I had sun perhaps 1/3 of the time, and the temperature was pretty cozy with highs between about 7 and 12 and it never went below 0. Comfortable cycling weather. I feel like I deserved this after crazy rain in Europe and Vermont, and crazy heat in Colombia and eastern Canada.

I had no significant issues, like bike failures, wrecks or losing half my gear :). I ripped a good and 💰 hoodie on a tree branch, lost my foon and spork (why not just carry a fork and spoon, you wonder? What fun would that be!) and of course snapped the belt drive. None of these things were a big deal though. The belt could have been, but wasn’t.

I did more off road riding than any previous trip, but less than I had planned on. That’s ok, but I still want get into the dirt more. The riding is harder, sometimes MUCH harder, but the rewards are much bigger and sharing space with cars sucks. I realize I’d need to make some sacrifices in order to make that happen (goodbye real coffee, pillow, chair, jeans) pleasantly at least. Rough riding carrying a lot of weight is very, very difficult.

And my bike. Oh my bike. It is so incredibly comfortable. To be able to ride a bike for up to 10 hours a day and not have any pain or soreness, especially at over 50 years old, is pretty amazing. Also so capable. Even on the rough rocky wet bumpy mayhem it just keeps going.

All I can do is try to live up to it and follow its lead. Which I intend to do.

Thanks for joining me! Until next time.