Day 1

Dear Diary...

Early rise this morning (06.30) and we managed to leave the hotel at 9.00..that's going have to improve.

We found very heavy traffic in the city centre and the trusty GPS (Florrie) was not helping much. It took us nearly an hour to reach Learmonth Terrace where the bikes were stored, an expected 10min journey. Our host insisted that we have a quick tour of the building which was well worth it..very impressive.

The early morning rush-hour traffic had cleared and we had an easy drive down to Queensferry. Offloaded the bikes from the trailer which had worked really well. The sun is shining but we are all very apprehensive about this trip...surprising really, but we all confessed to concerns about being able to keep the pace and distance.

After photos and goodbyes to Brian who has done a great job driving us here we eventually wave the bridges farewell and promptly took a wrong turn after 100yds! ....Great start! We turned back around after half a mile and journeyed up the steep hill we were hoping to avoid.

Following the A1 was a pleasant off-road cycle track all the way around the south of Edinburgh City to Leith. We stopped to let Trev buy a vacuum flask from Halfords (he'd forgotten to pack one of his many).

It's a bit smelly past the port of Leith but then followed some very picturesque sea front promenades along the Firth of Forth to Prestonpans. Lunch was OK at The Preston Grange Gothenburg, a microbrewery with good beer and some decent sandwiches. I don't think that Prestonpans sees many cyclists in Lycra!

Continued mainly on roads to North Berwick where we lose the Forth and join the North Sea. An afternoon ice cream at the Sea-life Centre is welcome. Trev's suffering a lot and it looks like dehydration. A no-optional rehydration powder does seem to sort him out, along with some motivational encouragement from me.....along the lines of 'pull yerself together yer silly b*gger'! One of them worked!

On to Dunbar and to our overnight stop. It's been renamed since Trev booked( Belhaven Hotel) and we do well to find it. We stagger in just in time to see Australia robbed of their place in the World Cup by a dodgy Italian penalty. A welcome couple of pints and we make our way to the room with a warning from our irish landlady that it's a bit on the small side. An understatement, truly, but Trev and I laugh our way through including the wayward 'en-suite' door (you have to be good friends..or deaf!) and managed to make it back to the bar, showered and refreshed.

An 'interesting' meal (Thai pasta) and a minor incident where a drunk toppled over some chairs and tables. We are all very tired and 10.00 sees us off to bed. The locals serenading us at 2am and then a reprise at 4am didn't really help our rest and recovery. I'm not sure we will be rushing back to Dunbar.

Loading up outside the hotel, note the very pleasant park outlook in the centre of the city.	Ellesmere House Hotel
	Looking worried!!!
The fine old building which is the RAF establishment on Learmonth Terrace. Built by William Sanderson, founder of the Vat69 whiskey.	Retrieving the bikes
Flight Sgt Ritchie	Were here! - we are all surprisingly aprehensive
Hornsea here we come Farewell to Brian and we are on our own.	Trev adds to his stainless steel vacuum flask collection
along the coast towards North Berwick	Ray rode the six days with this between the cheeks of his bum. He only dropped it once! ...well if it keeps him happy...
D Dear Diary... Early rise this morning (06.30) and we managed to leave the hotel at 9.00..that's going have to improve. We found very heavy traffic in the city centre and the trusty GPS (Florrie) was not helping much. It took us nearly an hour to reach Learmonth Terrace where the bikes were stored, an expected 10min journey. Our host insisted that we have a quick tour of the building which was well worth it..very impressive. The early morning rush-hour traffic had cleared and we had an easy drive down to Queensferry. Offloaded the bikes from the trailer which had worked really well. The sun is shining but we are all very apprehensive about this trip...surprising really, but we all confessed to concerns about being able to keep the pace and distance. After photos and goodbyes to Brian who has done a great job driving us here we eventually wave the bridges farewell and promptly took a wrong turn after 100yds! ....Great start! We turned back around after half a mile and journeyed up the steep hill we were hoping to avoid. Following the A1 was a pleasant off-road cycle track all the way around the south of Edinburgh City to Leith. We stopped to let Trev buy a vacuum flask from Halfords (he'd forgotten to pack one of his many). It's a bit smelly past the port of Leith but then followed some very picturesque sea front promenades along the Firth of Forth to Prestonpans. Lunch was OK at The Preston Grange Gothenburg, a microbrewery with good beer and some decent sandwiches. I don't think that Prestonpans sees many cyclists in Lycra! Continued mainly on roads to North Berwick where we lose the Forth and join the North Sea. An afternoon ice cream at the Sea-life Centre is welcome. Trev's suffering a lot and it looks like dehydration. A no-optional rehydration powder does seem to sort him out, along with some motivational encouragement from me.....along the lines of 'pull yerself together yer silly b*gger'! One of them worked! On to Dunbar and to our overnight stop. It's been renamed since Trev booked( Belhaven Hotel) and we do well to find it. We stagger in just in time to see Australia robbed of their place in the World Cup by a dodgy Italian penalty. A welcome couple of pints and we make our way to the room with a warning from our irish landlady that it's a bit on the small side. An understatement, truly, but Trev and I laugh our way through including the wayward 'en-suite' door (you have to be good friends..or deaf!) and managed to make it back to the bar, showered and refreshed. An 'interesting' meal (Thai pasta) and a minor incident where a drunk toppled over some chairs and tables. We are all very tired and 10.00 sees us off to bed. The locals serenading us at 2am and then a reprise at 4am didn't really help our rest and recovery. I'm not sure we will be rushing back to Dunbar.