Shakedown

I decided to test out the new steed on a wee ride from Glasgow to Edinburgh. Britain has this emerging and awesome bike network that has grown from a couple of hundred miles in 1995 to over 12,000 miles in 2010. Nice work Sustrans!

Glasgow and Edinburgh are linked by route 75, which runs along the Forth and Clyde and the Glasgow to Edinburgh Union Canals.

Funky boats...

Half way along is a giant structure called the Falkirk Wheel. This replaced a flight of 11 locks that once linked the Forth and Clyde to the higher level of the Union. This lock flight was dismantled in the grey days when canals seemed completely obsolete. The Falkirk wheel is the only rotary boat lift in the world and is pretty impressive! The video below has been slowed down a little for clarity...

Things had gone pretty smoothly up to the Falkirk wheel - smooth, well maintained towpaths, nice weather, tail wind. Immediately after the wheel are two tunnels, the second of which is about 700 m long. As we emerged, the weather had changed. In fact, it rained so hard that the towpath basically turned into one big puddle.

At the end of the day we'd covered 60 miles. My new bike was completely fine, the riders were a little more disheveled. Thanks to our hero flatmate Scherie, we had pre-ordered Thai food waiting for us when we finally rolled in to Ol' Reekie.