Consett to Edinburgh

A big day ahead (little did I know) I set off at 7.30 without any breakfast (bad mistake) to cycle the 88 miles to Lauder.
The pattern was set straight away. A huge hill that went on and on and was so steep that I had to engage my 28th gear for the first time (but not the last) To say that the A68 is undulating does it no justice - it is seriously hilly.
By 10 o clock I was on the point of collapse. I really needed food but there were no towns or villages. I stopped a man getting out of his range rover who told me that the nearest shop was 5 miles back down the huge hill that I had just climbed in about 10 sections including several bursts of gear 28 or 14 miles further on.
I could have cried. I was getting close to knocking on a door to beg for food when I came to the sign for Sally's roadside cafe. 

 Sally was lovely. She could see that I was exhausted and passed me over her bar stool while she rustled up bacon and eggs and coffee and a large slice of "millionaire's shortbread" She asked me about my trip and said that she thought it was amazing. She refused to accept payment and sent me on my way with a warm glow.

After the next series of huge hills I was beginning to seriously wonder if I could reach the border let alone Lauder.

But at West Woodburn (huge hill down bigger hill up) I was able to stock up with bananas and an isotonic drink and the terrain finally began to flatten out a little. 

As I was resting at the top of one of the less flat sections a Chinese student from Nottingham appeared pedalling furiously in an insanely low gear. He was doing Lands end to John o' Groats the hard way - zig zagging his way up the country by way of the major cities ( he had come from Newcastle and was heading for Selkirk) We rode together to the border which lifted my spirits somewhat because he was finding it as hard as I was. 

The two mile climb up Carter Bar to the border saw the end of the serious hills. We took pictures at the top then he set off on the Hawick road and I freewheeled most of the way to Jedburgh (slight exaggeration but it was mostly downhill or flat) 

Suddenly Lauder didn't seem impossible any more. I stocked up on more bananas in Jedburgh and began to make such good time along a by now surprisingly flat A68 that I began to contemplate making Edinburgh which was signed at 49 miles. Home tonight? Was it possible? 

I made Lauder by 6 and decided to go for it - only another 30 miles. It didn't take long for my mistake to become evident. The sky got darker and darker and then the heavens opened. It wasn't the rain that concerned me particularly but my lack of visibility and vulnerability to the traffic. 
But I was making good time until I came to a set of snow gates. My heart sank. That could only mean one thing. 
A serious hill.
 It was!
 It was longer than Carter bar and just as steep.  Then the rain really began - it was sheeting down and beginning to make the road slippery. Help! I was still bowling along but I could scarcely see a thing. Maybe I missed a sign. Maybe there wasn't one but when I got to the end of the A 68 in torrential rain it joined straight on to the city by pass with no other outlet ( and bikes aren't allowed on the by - pass. the planners had helpfully made a cycle crossing so that cyclists could cross and retrace their steps. 
Five miles or so and I was back to Dalkeith. To say it was dispiriting is an understatement but nothing was going to stop me now. Through a slippy Dalkeith into Gilmerton, Liberton, Newington and finally Waverley Station.

I caught the 9.07 train to Ladybank and by 10.30 I was out of my dripping wet things and showered and safe and warm sipping a glass of red wine feeling  quietly satisfied that I had completed an epic journey with an epic last day.
To borrow the words of Steve Redgrave when he won his fifth gold rowing medal "If I ever again suggest riding on the A68 take me out and shoot me!"