discovery tour, day 2

[kirkcudbright]

May 2 - Edinburgh to Berwick-upon-Tweed

Based on yesterday's performance (condition of the riders, condition of the roads, etc), it seemed unlikely that we would actually ride 80 miles. To cut the mileage to something we could do, and to avoid the city-center traffic, we sagged out to Dalkeith in the countryside. However, this inadvertantly put us at the bottom of a tremendous climb.

Brad is a real trooper and a determined climber, despite having only one working leg. He's an above-the-knee amputee, and has a $50,000 computer-controlled hydraulic knee. This is great for walking, but when he's biking, he puts into "second mode," which bypasses the hydraulics, and basically turns it into a passive hinge. So all his biking power comes from his right leg and left butt. Dan and Mitch are below-the-knee amputees, so they still have some lower-leg muscles. Not as strong as on their good legs, but it helps.

While climbing, we met some local cyclists. When they heard what we were doing, they offered a donation, despite the fact that we're not raising money, we're just trying to raise awareness. They were persuaded, but not dissuaded, so now we have £15 for beer the cause.

We spent half the day separated from each other. At one point, in Innerleithen I believe, Dan stayed behind to make sure that Neil and Emily didn't miss a turn, since it wasn't very visibly sign-posted. We didn't see him again for about 4 hours. Then Mitch missed a turn, and I had to chase him about 2 miles up a hill (towards Selkirk, no less). We lost Mitch again a few miles later, but it only took half an hour and several cell phone calls to reunite.

At Kelso, we decided to leave the bike route in favor of the much more direct A689. This also led us right past the welcome-to-England sign. Being good Scots, and it being still a ways to the end, it seemed like a good time for a pee break.

The hotel in Berwick is nice and old, but mostly old. Charles Dickens stayed in this hotel twice. It's the sort of hotel with a classical art print in the men's room, only there's no glass in the frame, the light fixture is falling off the wall, and is missing its bulb beside.

		"This stone marks the site of the Eildon Tree where legend says Thomas the Rhymer met the Queen of the Fairies and where he was inspired to utter the first notes of the Scottish Muse"
Triumphant	Entering Berwick (pronounced "Berrick")