Last Gasp of Summer
"I can see clearly now the rain has gone. I can see all obstacles in my way. Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind. It’s gonna be a bright, bright sunshiney day" ~ Johnny Nash
It doesn’t seem that long ago that we went to West Lothian in glorious sunshine, looking forward to a summer of glorious weather. Here we are at the autumnal equinox with equally glorious weather, looking forward to autumn. The dark clouds blown away by summer’s kiss goodbye. 10 people turned up for a wonderful late summer ride down to the Borders. Not as long as I had anticipated, but it was a wonderful ride all the same.
Quick Border Excursion
Thank you very much to the people who turned up for the last summer Spokes Ride, you make all the hard work worthwhile.
The ride out was a bit windy and hilly. This is deliberate as it makes the ride back very pleasant indeed. You know how it is when you have a slow puncture, Have you just forgotten to pump up the tyres? Or do you really have a puncture? Unfortunately, Saqib had a slow puncture, and made the going rather slow.
Fixed Saqib’s puncture at Eddleston, we then headed out towards the Meldons. Not a big climb, and for the most part, sheltered from the wind, until you get near the top. We all made fantastic progress up this small hill, and had lunch on a green on a sheltered south facing picnic area. Glorious sunnny weather, as clouds melted away.
Sunny Days, Wonderful Views, Excellent Company
After lunch, we continued south to Lyne, then headed west to West Linton. The towering hills to the south protected us from the worst of the breeze, and views to the north were outstanding. Yellowing leaves on the trees blending with the misty yellow-green grass on the hills. Where heather had sprung purple a month before, the hills had brown scars, as though someone had dug up the heather for over winter storage.
We stopped for a while at the Gordon Arms Hotel, but not for too long as the beer garden was closed, and the bar was quite warm and crowded. We then head back across the moor road. Wind assisted it didn’t take too long to reach Penicuik, and the road afforded excellent views of the Pentlands and Moorfoot hills. Again, the yellowing greens predominated, turning back to darker greens as we descended down in to Penicuik.
On the way back through Bush, to emphsise that autumn had begun, a single leaf floated down. Summer was over for another year.
Free Stuff for your GPS
To put a map on you Garmin start from http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/OSM_Map_On_Garmin/Cycle_map, andgives link to a page to enable you to create your own maps from OSM data, and has a cycle map for download too. Although it doesn’t quite tell the truth (you need the unzip not zip package for a start). Quite a challenge, and I’ve written it all down somewhere, so when the websites back up to date, I’ll post details there. If you can’t be bothered doing that, then mapomatic, http://www.mapomatic.net/garmin-maps-download/, have maps you can download. The UK NCN can be found here, http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/Cycle_routes, and here along with some other cycle routes. If your GPS has a memory card. This can be done using Mapsource, but I sometimes use img2gps.
Other useful pieces of free software include GPSBabel, a file conversion tool, so you can convert files to othe formats, such as GPS XML format from Garmin Geographic database format. Plus GPX_Editor, to edit your route from an executable that can run from a USB Key, and has, if you have an internet connection, the ability to display the route on Google Maps.
Warm Regards,
Explore, Dream, Discover
Ride Statistics
Distance: 68.7 km (42.7miles)
Average Speed: 18.3 km/h (11.4 mph)
Total Climbing: 629m (2063ft)
Time: 4 hours 5 minutes
Max. Temp.: 21 deg C
Route Description
Start: Usher Hall
Out: Tollcross, Morningside, Fairmilehead, Bush, Auchendinny, Howgate, Leadburn, Eddleston, The Meldons.
Return: Lyne Station, Romanobridge, West Linton, Hare Moss, Penicuik, Milton Bridge, Bush
End: Fairmilehead
Interactive Route Map
The map belows shows the route that we took on the September 2008 Summer Spokes Ride.