Day 9 - Through Glasgie, with love

From: Lanark
To: Inverarnan
Miles today: 80
Miles – running total: 696

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Last night’s accommodation was fairly sparse but adequate for our needs. What it lacked in luxury, it compensated for by the friendliness of all the staff we met. It seems the friendliness thing extends beyond the border.

Disappointingly, there was no porridge. And brown bread seems to be a product that is exclusively sold in the south east. We’ve almost given up asking for it. I tried again this morning but in vain. In one establishment along the route where we asked if they had any brown bread for our toast, the waitress said,
“Well, it’ll be brown when it comes out the toaster.”

And clearly some of our party’s sophisticated London tastes are occasionally frowned upon in the regions, to wit:
Waitress: Would you like tea or coffee this morning with your breakfast?
Alastair: Can I have a skinny latte, easy on the foam?
Waitress: Would you like tea or coffee this morning with your breakfast?

I awoke to positive and negative thoughts. We have only four more days and are two thirds through. On the downside we still have to cover a distance equivalent to cycling to Leeds from London and most of the way back.

This particular morning started cloudy, windy and cold. Cold enough that we all needed to wear our rain jackets all morning. We were 25 miles outside Glasgow, our first port of call. The ride in through various satellite towns and suburbs was largely uneventful, flatish and lacking greatly in aesthetic appeal. It did nothing to lift our spirits.

A local health food restaurant:

Once in Glasgow itself we took our mid-morning break in the less than salubrious surroundings of a Morrisons car park. We purchased the goods needed for a makeshift lunch on the move (picnic would be to overstate the matter) and then went ‘off piste’ following a cycle path beside the Clyde all the way into the City and out the other side. Nick’s research had established that this had been renovated relatively recently and the prospect of a gentle cruise beside the Clyde was an appealing one. The reality did not quite live up to expectations as the path was intermittently covered in broken glass, as one of our party described it “confirming all our worst prejudices”. Further confirmation was found, if needed, by the occasional group of men standing around, merrily passing the time of day having had one or more Bacardi Breezers too many. For the most part they waved us through in good humour, although discerning what they were saying was beyond us. One took a more aggressive position, which we thought might be down to our appearance being not dissimilar to Policemen on bikes i.e. luminous green jackets with blue helmets.

The centre of Glasgow, or the bits that we saw adjacent to the river, were modern and bright. It is certainly a modern city with plenty of interesting modern architecture, but the broken bottles and scattered shopping trolleys on the cycle path suggested there are still underlying problems as indeed there are in so many other cities.

We lunched late directly under the Erskine Bridge, overlooking a canal, in what was now bright, warm sunshine. Still 40 miles to go. A further blast along the cycle path beside the canal, then on to the roads before an afternoon break. 27 to go. We now picked up Loch Lomond on our right and followed it from bottom to top, soaking up the miles on some excellent road surfaces, punctuated by stretches of appalling quality surfaces. It’s feast or famine up here.

The sun while now sinking in the sky as we sped on to the infamous Drovers’ Inn, a hostelry marking the gateway to the Highlands and renowned for its outdoorsy clientele. We pulled into the car park at 5.30 on the dot, a long but not too demanding day with almost no hill work to speak of.

By Loch Lomond

Something for the morning

By contrast we start tomorrow morning with the longest climb on the whole trip. I am assured that it is not too steep, but that it will test our strength and stamina with an estimated duration of an hour and a half. It’s all fun, fun, fun.