Day 5 - Gartness to Jedburgh

For the first time this trip the weather was almost perfect for cycling. A nice 15 degrees with a slight tail wind and blue skies overhead. Was a cold start though.

Woke up at 0630 and my cycling computer was reading 2 degrees inside the tent. I guess outside it was more like 1 degree. That alone made it very difficult to get motivated as holding a warm cup of coffee was much more tempting that stripping down into cycling gear and pushing on through the 2 degree air.

The knee was definitely still sore although no worse that at the same time the day before so after a rather late departure, including waving goodbye to Ross, I headed off hoping that the knee would hold up for another day.

The route today broadly dropped me South to the outer suburbs of Glasgow before travelling East through them and the South again once I met the eastern suburbs (Airdrie, Motherwell etc) it was surprisingly hilly. I really hadn't appreciated that before, but that's ok. The thing that did make a difference was the state of the roads. I can categorically say that the first 40km of today were the roughest riding I've ever done. Progress was really hampered, and by about 11am I'd only covered about 45km of the day's 168km. Not good at all.

Fortunately after turning east from Motherwell and leaving Glasgow behind things improved and with the tailwind helping progress really stepped up a notch. The pain in my right knee had all but disappeared by the end however I was starting to feel some tightness in my left knee instead. I'll be taking all necessary precautions to avoid a repeat of the last couple of days.

Some stunning scenery along the Tweed valley and in the Scottish border region generally. Will definitely have to come back here again.

Feeling good that I finished but pretty exhausted if I'm honest. Five days back to back are starting to take their toll but I'm hopeful that a good nights sleep will work wonders. I've also decided to pick up some multi vitamins tomorrow to see if that helps. The last thing I want is to pick up a cold or flu.

Tomorrow is the day I've been dreading from the start of the route planning preparations. It's a long ride but with the most climbing of any leg I think. It's supposed to rain all day as well but at least there shouldn't be a headwind. I'll also be heading back into England, which I'm really happy about. I don't mean that as a negative remark on Scotland, it's a fantastic place, but mentally it's a fairly major landmark in the journey and it means that it's not far until the home straight.

More tomorrow I hope but for now I need to get some sleep.

See you all soon.

Rich

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Location:Jedbank Dr,Jedburgh,United Kingdom