Today’s guest picture comes from our neighbour Gavin and shows his granddaughter Hannah, from Newcastle-on-Tyne, testing out the new bench with Mrs Tootlepedal. It seems to be perfect for all ages.
I have a simple plan for the next few years and that is to have a cycle outing at least once each year in which the number of miles is equal to or greater than my age in years (currently 76). Today seemed to be a really good day to put the plan into action as it was very calm, pleasantly warm but not sunny and with no chance of rain according to the forecast.
I am not sleeping very comfortably at the moment so even with the twin lures of the new bike and perfect conditions, it took me an hour after breakfast to actually get going. I took any excuse to put off the start…
…and wandered round the garden to check on new arrivals.
I couldn’t put it off for ever though and set out with a view to going to Caerlaverock Castle which is about 35 miles away and has a cafe.
I stopped every ten miles to have a drink and some small snack and take a photo or two if the opportunity arose. My first stop on the Gair road provided me with many wild flower opportunities (which I took) and here are just a few of them.
My second stop was at Hollee where I concentrated on grasses.
I had a lot to choose from.
My third stop was at a bridge on the road to Clarencefield. There were no interesting wild flowers nearby so I was looking at lichen when I spotted one of many ants crawling along the parapet.
Luckily the ants had not been on the part of the parapet where I sat and had my snack. Nothing is less conducive to happy pedalling than having ants in your pants.
I made a non decimal stop at Bankend just to take a picture of the Isle Tower on the banks of the Lochar Water….
…which looks in need of some TLC.
On my way to Caerlaverock Castle from Bankend, it was hard not to notice the abundant broom in bloom beside the road.
It is interesting that gorse looks really bright until the broom comes out but once the broom is in full blossom, the gorse looks very dowdy in comparison.
When I got to the castle, my legs were in such good order that I merely peered at the castle over the hedge….
…and headed down to the banks of the Nith Estuary.
It was a curious sort of day with quite a bit of blue sky if you looked straight up but a lot of mist if you looked straight ahead. When I got to the Nith, I could hardly see, Criffel, only a few miles away on the opposite bank.
In search of a cup of coffee, I headed up stream until I came to Glencaple, a very small village with a huge cafe where I purchased a mandarin sorbet (surprisingly good) and a latte (just what you might expect) and ate and drank them while talking to a fisherman and his wife from Eastriggs. They had kindly kept an eye on my bike while I was in the cafe.
The fisherman was trying to catch flounders, a bottom feeding fish. He pulled his line in as a boat came steaming down river past us….
…but like a bad rower, he found that he had caught a crab…
…which he returned to the river.
I had taken almost exactly three hours of cycling time to do the 40 miles out and I was hoping to get what help was available from the very light wind to help me do the 40 miles back at the same speed.
I stopped every ten miles or so on the way back and noticed how many fine grasses there were in the hedge at the Brow Well (a good place to stop as it has a handy bench for aged cyclists).
I had a final stop about eight miles from Langholm and noticed a prominent patch of silverweed, a plant that seems to like to grow right on the edge of bust main roads.
Perhaps it likes the salt from the winter gritting.
Nearby, there was an unusually coloured rhododendron in a driveway.
It had the air of an enormous allium.
I got home in good order with the second 40 miles covered in more or less bang on 3 hours so I was happy about that. If I had got going a bit earlier, it would have been a good day for 100 miles but that will have to wait for another good day to come along.
It had been a pretty warm day for the time of year as can be seen from the top quality helmet hair that resulted…
…but I had been well supplied with water bottles and hadn’t lost weight on the ride, always a good sign of sensible hydration and nutrition. (Two of Johnny’s filled rolls, two bananas and the sorbet from Glencaple. Scientific sports nutrition at its best.)
Although I did the cycling in just over six hours, the whole 82 miles actually took me seven and a half hours so the ten mile stops added up. I tried to make them about 5 minutes each to give me a chance to relax and stretch a bit but the stop at Glencaple must have been quite a bit longer.
Mrs Tootlepedal was away visiting Matilda in Edinburgh while I was out so I was very pleased that everything went smoothly and that there was no call for the MTRS which wouldn’t have been available. I am waiting for her to return as I write this post.
I did catch a flying bird of the day when I got home. It is an angry siskin.
Those interested can find further details of the ride by clicking on the map below. It was very flat as you can see.
Tootlepedal's Blog 
I enjoyed seeing the sights from along the road as you pedaled, I’m glad that you did all the work as I’d be lucky to complete mileage equal to one tenth my age.
I’m not sure that you were fair to yourself, since you weren’t cycling very far on the slow bike, and you haven’t had time to get back in cycling shape on the new bike.
Sounds like a very nice ride with a lot to see along the way.
And pretty flat, that was the main thing as I am not as fit as I would like to be.
What a good day, and such good photos–thank you. That rhododendron is the only shade we can find azaleas in these days–it has become quite the trend over in the US, and all I want is the older fuschia shade. Oh well.
We have the smallest sweetest little mourning dove baby on our back patio today, toddling around with baby and adults squirrels and chipmunks. They are all lovely and getting along. Their acrobatics are amazing. I need to get a new camera someday–
A good camera never goes amiss. A family of mourning doves sounds charming.
The youngest is just darling. The small squirrels and chipmunks and the mourning dove baby all flutter at each other and learn how to be brave and how to be quick–
I never learned that myself. 🙂
I’m working on it.
That’s an impressively long way to cycle! When I just drove from Lockerbie to Caerlaverock, it seemed a pretty fair distance!
It’s a winding road for a motorist but a major highway for a cyclist.
You are so fortunate to have castles! We don’t have castles. We do, however, have the Alamo.
The fact that so many of our castles are in ruins goes to show that they got a lot less important once cannons came into the picture.
The lupines certainly are beautiful but I’m not sure about the rhododendron. I’ve never seen one with that color flowers.
I don’t think I could do 10 miles on a bike unless it was a dead level road.
The foliage on your silver weed is different than on what we call silver weed. I think yours is more visually pleasing,
As far as cycling goes, you would be surprised how far you can go on a comfortable and well fitted bike with good gears.
Well done you! The couple from Eastriggs must have had a very worthy air about them if you entrusted them with the care and observation of Goldman Sachs!
He was a fisherman. He wasn’t going anywhere in a hurry. 🙂
Magnificently long ride – well done – plus managing interesting pictures along the way.
What a well managed ride, congratulations indeed. Loved all the wild flowers you took en route
Holy bicycle, Tootlepedal. Just when I thought my jaw couldn’t drop any further when i read about your biking exploits, along comes this post.
It’s amazing how painless cycling is if you take things slow and steady. It’s no more tiring than walking and you are sitting down!
And better on the knees, too. Still, we have to work our way up. We have before, and we plan to again.
I hope that progress goes well.
I am very optimistic.
I think your cycling idea to be a great one…for you! Trouble is you’ve achieved it magnificently and it’s only June! I’m sure you’ll come up with another idea that involves a cycle, huge variety of lovely photos and another interesting route.
The next target will be 100 miles but I am still behind on my annual schedule so I need just to get out more often.
Nice shots and congrats on a fine amount of miles cycled!
Thank you.
Well done, Tom. Eighty miles and lots of beautiful photos!
The older you get, the more miles you will ride. I like that plan. And you keep practicing for the 100 miles you will ride in your 100th year. That one will make the newspapers!
The local one at least.
Impressive distance – I once rode fifty miles in a day. And with that one sentence I have summed up my entire cycling career.
That more than most.
It was the saddle that caused the problem. Looking back, I should have changed saddles and persisted.
Fifty miles on a strange saddle would do for anyone. Bum/saddle relations are the key to happy cycling, you are right.