Bike Touring, Radreise Schottland 2020 mit Ebike und Hund (#15): Südküste Schottland

Bike Touring, Radreise Schottland 2020 mit Ebike und Hund (#15): Südküste Schottland

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We are on the road again. Now comes the last part. The last three days. Out of Scotland and along the coast of England. We took off really late today.

It's now 1 or 1:30. I really didn't want to stress myself. We also had a really good breakfast, drank coffee, had lunch together. She has to work, that's why she doesn't have so much time. But it was really nice with her. Last night we went to the park and had pizza.

I was finally able to spend some of my 40 €, which the bus driver gave me to buy dinner. What I find really exciting is that all the people who took me in, really have a very, very environmental focus. I was not so aware of it. I don't know if I somehow attract them more than other people or if it's even more widespread by now. But she also works for an environmental consultancy and e.g. Claudia where I was the day before

she tests pesticides, if they are actually okay, when you spray them. Before that she also did marine biology and stuff like that or, for example, Gil in Skye, which is cleaning up the beaches. We are cycling through Edinburgh now. Oh no! We missed the turnoff. It's always dumb when you start talking in the city already. We have to go back now and you can see it's super sunny again.

And it's very, very unusual for Edinburgh. Normally it's really grey all the time. That means I was really lucky with the weather.

Somehow, after the early days, the good weather followed. That was totally funny just now. I had to go back to Hanna, because I forgot my chain oil, which I had just bought and now a woman stopped next to me and said: "Wow, that is so amazing!" "I can't believe I am seeing you." "I am following you on Instagram."

I.e. she follows me and has now seen me. Super funny. The cyclist in front of me just said that he saw me in Ullapool too. funny.

Look where we are! Arthur's Seat We are on an old railway line right now, so Zuri can run here easily It runs through Edinburgh. Very pleasant. One thing I have to say, by the way, I don't know if I had recorded it on video before, but I was in Ullapool and somehow I had the feeling "Ok it feels like it is enough" "our cycle touring is now over" Mainly because it was also the end of Eddie's tour and also of Will & Charlotte's. And I thought like this "Oh, now it's just going to rain" And somehow... It was so crazy what happened the last days, the last week. Every night I slept at someone else's place and I really feel so refreshed and energised, that I really enjoy cycling again.

And the area is beautiful, so it's good to get through these lows and then certainly also to be reminded by the people why one rides a bicycle because that is what makes the difference from normal travelling. That you can really immerse yourself in the culture of other people To perceive the countries not as a tourist but really as a local. That is worth its weight in gold.

It's amazing what gets dumped in the canal. Did you see that? A scooter! The sea. Let's go there. Do you see the interesting bicycle lanes? Why are they always only 3 metres long? and then they stop again.

Very strange. It's really beautiful here here near Edinburgh. But it's quite windy today and there are always gusts of wind where I have difficulties to hold the bike. It was not so easy, especially on a main road just now because there was a gust to the left and then to the right and I almost either hit the overtaking truck or the parked car. This is a very difficult situation. This is the only part where you can get up to the pavement, because here everything is much too high and then you have to go around.

Up the hill a bit there are really nice cycle paths here They go through nice areas, quiet roads or just a bit bigger roads, but it's good surface. So I like it very, very much Wow! It looks really nice here. Ohhh and there is also water for Zuri. Let's make a quick stop here Zuri drink, drink, drink. Oh yes, that's nice. This is so great.

Look how far away she is already. She follows the pavement. Look what Hanna gave me for a snack. Pizza! Zuri, we both love that.

I'm at some cement factory now. I have somehow lost the cycle path and there is no sign at all. I hope that it will appear soon again. otherwise we have to go back There it is! That's the first sign. Looks beautiful! Oh, I like this cycle route. That looked bad. They seem to live here.

They just dumped the rubbish in the grass. There was already a huge pile of rubbish. It is now 19:30 and slowly it is getting dark Now we are unfortunately at a big road. But in any case it is time to find a place to sleep. I hope that we can get close to the sea again.

That would be a bit more practical How much rubbish is lying around here Disposable masks! You will find them them everywhere soon. I hope that we can get away from this other big road here I think we will get away in 3-4 km. That's how long I'm going to ride today. Look, that's also a beautiful sunset today.

Wow, look how deep this goes down. There was just a sign. It said "Welcome to Scottish Borders". Sounds to me like I'm almost out of Scotland. We'd better have a look to find a place to sleep tonight. Look how beautiful.

After 74 km the battery ran out. I think that we still have 2-3 km to go. But now we have to change the battery. Quite a view. Wow, what a huge caravan park. It's amazing I have to go over here.

I think I'd better walk over there. Not that I slip What happened here? Oh, crazy. I have never seen that before. This is quite steep here. Wow, insane.

I am actually already too tired for such a steep mountain Straight ahead the field, there is the bike I have just seen that when we leave this road here, we come back onto a bigger road. And that makes no sense. So from that point of view, I think it's best if we sleep here in the field. until tomorrow morning.

We could hide behind the hay bales The view is not too bad either. Good morning. Zuri, how are you? Yes, it didn't rain. And... look, what a beautiful sunrise We are ready now. There are so many cars coming along this morning already.

Tractors and trucks... I would not have thought that it would be so busy. Nevertheless we had a a nice place to sleep. I am already looking forward to get into the sun, because it is a a bit fresh in the shade.

Okay, let's go now. Look how many cars are coming through here. This is crazy! And this is actually a dead end. I don't know where they are all going? This is the hardest thing to do this morning at 7:30 without anything going up a huge hill.

It's not the easiest in the morning I always have the feeling that my strength only comes around noon. Definitely after coffee and breakfast. That's why it's not so easy to get up this mountain.

Nice. Komoot has now directed me to the A1. This is a two-lane federal road. Well, I don't think that's good. Okay, we're almost at the border to England. Hey, we are back in England.

Aaccording to speedometer 8992 kilometres. Let's hope that I don't have to stay here so long on this road Good, now there is at least a cycle path. Now I feel a bit safer. Because a lorry has just passed me in my lane. and there was such a wind. It was really difficult to keep the bike straight.

We are now in Berwick. Let's see if we can find a cafe somewhere. to charge the battery and drink coffee. There should be something here.

Have a look at my delicious breakfast and... You can tell straight away that you're in England. It says "Dogs are welcome in Cafe". By the way, today is the last day of our cycling tour. Tomorrow we are picked up by Katie, where I stayed in Leeds and she said that she would pick me up, because I was also invited to spend a week in Wales.

Exactly, that's why we will go to Wales for the last week. And actually also: In England the Corona cases have risen again. and so... today is Thursday and from Monday all restaurants will be closed again. What was that? And that is why, of course it just fits that the journey is now over at the same time.

These are still good barriers where you have to go through. But still there are barriers all the time and it still stops you. Another golf course.

There are so many here. It's really incredible. Come on Look at this super big beach. How many kilometres.. By the way, there are two things that I wanted to tell you. the first thing and that is that I have two pairs of gloves from Gore with me and you actually think that's a good brand. But look at that.

After two weeks they already break down. I bought these in Glasgow. So maybe three weeks ago... And the second one is: I don't know how it is in Germany right now, but in England you are not allowed to get your Coffe to go cup filled - I mean these bamboo cups for example - which was actually and common practice before. And that's why I'm always positively surprised, like the café today, when I ask them if they can fill up my water bottles with tap water that they do it anyway.

Today the owner said to the waitress "Yes, but put on gloves", because they are not allowed to do that And I mean, the reusable to-go cups for coffee is no different from my water bottle. From that point of view, I think it's really quite, great that all the cafes there seem to make an exception, at least for me. and still supply me with water. Such a thick step and not even a ramp, they are funny.

All right, we have to go up there now. This is going to be interesting. Oh God! Can we get the trailer up now? Of course not So a ramp, it would fit there easily How do I do that now? If I lift it now, it actually wouldn'T do annything. Let's see what the other side looks like Down should be easier. Oh, this is the first dog trailer I've seen in Britain. Awesome.

We are now cycling to a dam, which is only one kilometre away, so we make a little detour or we just have to cycle back. Because you can only cross it when the tide is out. I don't know yet whether I want to cross it.

There is a very small island where you can go We can definitely have a look at that one, and check out what the water level is like. I don't feel the need to go over there but you can definitely see that it is low tide and there is a lot of traffic. You can only cross the causeway at low tide. Quite interesting. That means that it must be quite soggy, the asphalt I mean, when normally the salt water washes over it, It's really busy.

Bicycles, cars, motorbikes... Once again nobody thought about the trailer Sorry, Zuri oh, wow. What a gigantic fortress this is. Bamburgh Castle is over 1400 years old and it is one of the largest inhabited castles in the country. The castle has also served as a film set of well-known films like Robin Hood, Macbeth or even The Transformers.

It is actually also said that the British writer Thomas Mallory, who wrote the Arthur saga, that here this castle was the model for the castle of Lancelot. Once again there is a small change of plan, because I now have to be back faster than originally planned. That's why I'm trying now, to reach Almouth and then take a train to Leeds. Could also be interesting to get to know the English train system. And then I will be brought back from Leeds tomorrow. Pavement Wait. And go

Pavement. Now we have another one of those so popular battery situations where, according to the battery I have 12 km left and I still have 7 km to go. But it is quite hilly. That means I sometimes need the other battery modes. Let's hope we make it, I don't know why Zuri is complaining all the time. She ran so much today.

But she is kind of up for it. She still wants to go on. It is getting really dark We have made it. Almouth With 3 kilometres left to go. How that always works out. Unbelievable. It's now 20:30. Now we have to wait 1.5 hours for the train.

The last direct train to Leeds. Let's get a ticket. Okay, that's it Let's buy a ticket. German...

The train will be here in half an hour. I have already detached the trailer from the bike. It's the last train today. The bike is free, dog is free and the ticket itself for three hours train journey costs £17, which is really cheap. The only problem is that officially e-bikes are banned on trains That means I hope that they will still take me an make an exception. There is nobody here either.

That means I hope they'll give me enough time, to somehow get the bike and the trailer into the train. There is not really signposting where you might find the best carriage for your bike. I hope that all works out because they are very, very fast in the evening.

So it's a bit exciting to see if it will all work out. Apart from that, I'm actually surprised that the journey went so well. At the beginning I was a bit frustrated because of the weather and so in the end, I would say, I really had 4 nasty rainy days, one of which was only a half one the Fairy Pools day, when Gil saved me, so 3, where I really just got flodded and all the other days, it was really amazingly dry.

So short rain showers every now and then, but that was perfectly all right. So I am surprised and also positive that you can see Scotland by bicycle. Many said, in any case better go in April, May, because that's when the midges are not here yet and the weather is much more stable. So next time I will should I come here again. Yes and apart from that..on the one hand it was of course difficult with all the cafes that many were closed, where I often had to calculate with the battery, whether I could still get in somewhere, or also that many were fully booked so I had to be outside a lot, I also found that exhausting.

And also that many cafés did not let dogs in in comparison to England, where dogs are popular everywhere. And apart from that my biggest fear was that people would not accept me or that the people were a bit afraid of me because I've perhaps travelled too much in Covid times. But I didn't come across any of that at all. The people were super friendly, very, very hospitable and they treated me somehow differently than the rest it feels.

So for example the two Polish people from Abderdeen They also said that they don't go to restaurants because they are afraid, that they would be put into quarantine if there is a positive case there. But they didn't referred this to me. So from that point of view, I also found that astonishing and it puts me in a positive mood. Especially because I also met other cyclists who said that Warmshower, Couchsurfing is very, very difficult right now but apparently somehow, if you are in a personal contact, then it still works. I was really happy about that. And I find it incredible how many kilometres we have cycled.

I didn't believe that Scotland is so big, That's over 2000 kilometres in total. That's pretty cool. It was really beautiful. I don't know, 6 weeks we were on the road? 5? 5 maybe or 5,5 weeks Well, I hope you enjoyed the videos.

I am already curious where the next journey will go to. Bye. Here comes the train. Let's hope everything works out. Zuri. Did you manage? It is a lot of stuff Is your dog on? I close this door in case he jumps Thank You Come here.

Here. Hereby I would like to say thank you once again, as you accompanied mine and Zuris Scotland journey so eagerly over the last months. Thanks also for all your comments, they always motivate and please me very much.

In May we will start our next adventure trip to Spain. Of course I would like to continuously improve my videos and therefore I have a few questions for you. What did you like about the videos? Do you have any suggestions for improvement? What do you want to see more of? What do you want to see less of? Do you miss anything? What would make the videos more exciting for you? Just write your ideas in the comments and I will see what I can apply.

I'll say thank you for that. And after Scotland, we continue seamlessly with Wales, where we were last year. And I tell you, a lot of things happened. There was a horse accident, there was a car that fell into the river and I had no net and had to get help.

Incredibly beautiful landscapes. I slept in pubs, so it's been a really, really great trip. These videos will follow soon. So don't forget to subscribe to the channel so you don't miss any videos. Ciao.

2022-04-08 19:45

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