Goodbye, Hello (July 22nd)

Last night’s wild camping endeavour in an old rugby pitch worked out very well. There were a few people walking their dogs in the area during the early evening but there weren’t any issues with my selected home for the night. I even got to play with a couple of puppies for a bit. I’d say they were very excitable puppies but that would be redundant. That said, they were very excitable puppies.

I woke to a beautiful sunrise. I also woke up early this morning. VERY early. As in 5:30 AM – a ridiculous hour I might add. I don’t know the cause of my early break from slumber but I guess I was rested enough and ready to get back on the bike.

Given the early hour, I wasn’t exactly racing to get my gear packed up. And when that job was done I didn’t exactly race back into town (a task which took all of five minutes) to procure a WiFi connection (a task which took even less time). I’ve recently discovered that most of the Bank of Scotland branches offer free WiFi and, fortunately, there was a Bank of Scotland in Duns.

As has happened before, I had no real destination in mind when the day began. My general goal is to work my way south toward Hadrian’s Wall but I won’t get there today. Instead I decided I’d head south and come up with a destination as the day went on. That’s worked in the past. Generally.

The first major town along the way was Coldstream – a location I had considered reaching last night, yet clearly didn’t. Coldstream was notable because it officially marked my final town in Scotland. After nearly a month, today I said hello to England and left Scotland behind – which was a bit sad as I really enjoyed my time in Scotland (despite many things not going as planned … or expected). That said, I’m looking forward to the England portion of my journey.

My grand discovery about the Bank of Scotland and WiFi was a bit short-lived. Despite there being a Bank of Scotland in Coldstream, it was lacking in free WiFi. After a somewhat exhaustive search of the area I also discovered that the town of Coldstream seems to be abundantly lacking in free WiFi. There was a plethora of password protected WiFi. But that didn’t do me much good. I wasn’t desperate to find a connection but since I still didn’t have a destination – or route – in mind for the day I was hoping I could peruse a map or two before continuing down the road.

With that in mind, I had another first today. Of the many password protected WiFi signals I found in Coldstream, one of them belonged to the Mercedes-Benz dealership. I decided to take a chance. For the first time in my life I walked into a Mercedes-Benz dealership – actually, a large door was open so I actually kind of wheeled into the dealership where I was met (rather promptly) by one of the salesmen who was happy to provide their WiFi password. I’m not going to lie, I anticipated a bit (or even some) resistance. So, thanks very much to Mercedes-Benz of Coldstream. Side note: Did you know there’s a Coldstream in Canada? The salesman did. I don’t know why, but I was impressed by that. Then again, it seems many towns in Scotland have incarnations in Canada (and specifically, Ontario).

Getting back to cycling portion of this update, today’s route was entirely on real roads. I resisted any and all temptations to take any cycle routes. Side note: I wasn’t really tempted. I mean, after some of the less than ideal “cycle” routes I’ve been on thus far I was very happy to be on a real road. One of my favourite things about being on a real goad is the easy level of navigation which means more time for riding and less time looking at maps.

Upon departing Coldstream it took only a few minutes until I was at the bridge to take me across the River Tweed. The midpoint of said bridge officially marked the end of the Scotland portion of my tour and began my first ride in England. Actually, not just my first ride in England but my first time in England. Of course I stopped to take a photo of the occasion.

With my arrival in England officially documented (by photo only, there was no actual border crossing of any sort), I focussed on the next stop of the day – the town of Wooler. The main reason it was a noteworthy town on this day is that it was supposed to be my destination last night. Factoring in the relatively easy ride to get here, I likely could’ve made it here last night. That said, I’m glad I didn’t. I mean, I’m sure part of the reason it was so easy to get here this morning was that I was well rested.

Wooler came and went and I eventually arrived in Rothbury. By “eventually” I mean it was shortly after 3:00. I still wasn’t sure where I was going to finish my day’s ride so I took a rest and found a WiFi connection. As would be expected, there was no Bank of Scotland to be found but there was a Barclay’s and, much like Bank of Scotland, Barclay’s offered free WiFi. I accepted their offer.

At that point I was only at 76 km for the day. Granted, my rides have been MUCH shorter on this year’s tour but I wasn’t sure I was ready to stop. Although, stopping here would’ve meant I could’ve called this update, “A Night at the Rothbury”. However, I decided to move on.

My internet search revealed a campsite somewhat near Hadrian’s Wall and only 37 km away from Rothbury. However, I was somewhat suspicious as to that 37 km figure. Google’s time estimate for said ride was two hours and 19 minutes. That seemed slow for 37 km. It could only mean one thing. A hilly ride was in my future. As it was approaching 4:00 I thought it best to get back on the road. If all went well, I would arrive in Bellingham by 7:00. That seemed acceptable. Spoiler alert: All went well.

As suspected, the ride to the campground included a lot of hills. Steep hills – the steepest being a 17% climb. There were also several other climbs in excess of 10%. It was certainly a workout.

On the upside the weather for most of the day was absolutely fantastic. Unfortunately, 45 of the final 60 minutes of riding was spent in wind swept showers. Not fun. At all. At least it was a crosswind and not a headwind. That said, the weather cleared during the final 15 minutes and the sun was actually shining as I set up my tent.

Despite being at a real campground (actually, it’s a farm), I don’t have WiFi access which means I’ll be falling even more behind on my updates again. The lack of WiFi at the campground was a bit of an issue as I was hoping to review some maps tonight plus I wanted to send out a Warm Showers request for tomorrow.

Out of curiosity I took a five minute wander back into town and discovered a very weak WiFi signal. I wasn’t sure exactly what it’s origin was but it was WiFi and it was working. Slowly. Sadly, the bugs tonight were not working slowly. They were being rather relentless, actually. The experience of standing on the street, making use of the internet while getting eaten alive wasn’t particularly enjoyable. So, I sent out a Warm Showers request and quickly headed back to the safe confines of my tent. And that’s where my day ended.

Today’s totals:
Distance travelled: 117.09 km
Ride time: 6:23:29
Average speed: 18.32 km/h
Maximum speed: 66.08 km/h