Honey For Nothing (July 16th)

This morning began as most mornings do – with breakfast. However, unlike most mornings, today’s breakfast included toast with honey. Now that might not sound particularly notable but that’s only because you didn’t taste the honey. The honey was courtesy of Andy’s personal bees and, well … his bees make some seriously good honey. Now, I’m not going to say something ridiculous like, “It was the best honey I’ve ever tas …” … uh … actually, yes I am. It was the best honey I’ve ever tasted. Clearly he has very happy bees. I should’ve taken a picture of the happy fellows. Or the honey. Instead I just savoured the goodness.

My non-honey related options for today were to either head directly to Edinburgh or take a bit of a detour and go to Stirling first. I opted for the later partially because I wanted to visit Doune Castle … the castle featured in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I mean, how could I NOT stop there? It was so close. Specifically, Stirling is less than 70 km from Perth so, if all went well, I figured to be in for a somewhat easy day.

Today’s ride began with an escort from Andy which was great as it meant I didn’t have to consult a map every two minutes to make sure I was heading in the right direction. Granted, the start of the ride was pretty straightforward but it was great chatting with Andy as we rode along. He ended up riding with me for about 5 km before our routes went in separate directions. We said our goodbyes and carried on with our respective rides. My visit with Andy and Sheila was definitely yet another great Warm Showers experience.

To say there was a bit of a headwind today would be a bit of an understatement. But if misery loves company, well … there were a lot of other cyclists dealing with the same headwind. As I pedalled along, it was clear that there was some sort of cycling race today and the race seemed to be following much of the same route I was travelling. It was also clearly some sort of looping route because several of the cyclists that passed me going into the wind would later wave to me as our paths later crossed in the opposite direction (with them very much enjoying the tailwind). At least someone was taking advantage of the wind.

As mentioned previously, today’s ride was a pretty modest distance. Often on such “easy” days I find myself either procrastinating or being a big sluggish on the bike. Today certainly had elements of both.

My first stop of the day was in Auchterarder, which was only about 20 km into my ride. Auchterarder isn’t a big town but it has a Co-op so I figured I could stock up on groceries again. And it would allow me to get out of the wind for a bit. “A bit” ended up being close to an hour. Procrastination strikes again.

Of course I eventually got back on the bike again and continued my trek to Stirling and Doune Castle – not necessarily in that order.

The ride went well and was quite scenic and included the Gleneagles golf course. I considered stopping in to play a quick round but then I remembered that I didn’t bring my golf clubs with me. Actually, I don’t own a set of golf clubs. Oh, and I don’t golf. At all. I’ll stick to cycling.

As I said, the ride went very well until Google Maps once again took a few liberties as to what the definition of a cycling route should entail. Personally, as someone who has done a fair bit of cycling the past couple of years, I think that a cycle route should be entirely lacking of stairs. Google Maps does not share this view. And, once again, by the time I reached said obstacle I was too far into the route to go back. Instead I found myself in the middle of a portage – bicycle style. It took three trips before I eventually had my bike loaded up again – this time on the other side of the stairs. Sadly, the unpleasantness of the route didn’t end there as the off-road track continued down a very still hill and included a sudden drop of about 1′. Fortunately, the off-road section only lasted for about 300 metres.

From there it was an easy ride to Doune Castle. Adding to the ease was the fact that the remainder of the route was on an actual road (cue the angel’s choir sound effect). Side note: For all of the goodness that can come with a cycle path, I still kind of like being on the road.

I arrived at Doune Castle shortly before 4:00 and I couldn’t help but chuckle a bit when I saw it. I’m certainly not a rabid Monty Python fan but as soon as I saw the castle I couldn’t help but think of The Holy Grail. After a few pictures of the exterior, I moved inside for the tour (I didn’t have to storm the castle to get inside … nor build a giant wooden rabbit). The tour was one of those “audio tours” in which they give you an audio device which allows you to work your way through the castle at your own pace (and order) while listening to the audio guide. In this case, the audio guide was voiced by Monty Python’s Terry Jones so it was a bit more entertaining than other such audio guides I’ve heard.

It was close to 5:00 when I finished off the tour and left the castle. At this point I was still about 12 km from Stirling and still had no real plan for where I would be spending the night. I had sent out a Warm Showers request before I left the hostel this morning but since then haven’t had any internet access to check if there had been a reply. With no WiFi at the castle, I decided to bike to Stirling and make up a plan as I went along.

Surprisingly, I managed to find a WiFi signal outside a restaurant along the way. The good news was I had received a reply to my Warm Showers request. The bad news was they were already hosting someone and were therefore unavailable. It was time for Plan B.

Plan B generally consists of looking for a wild camping spot. In this case, it also included a follow up to the unavailable Warm Showers host (Eileen) to see if she was aware of any wild camping options in the area. Of course, I couldn’t wait around for a reply so I continued into Stirling. In searching the map, I noticed there was a campground not too far from my current location. While wild camping was an option (and probably the preferred option), I was certainly willing to considering a real campground provided they had WiFi.

Fast-forward about 20 minutes and I had arrived at the Witches Craig Caravan Park. Despite it being primarily a caravan park, they also have spots for tents. And they have WiFi. I decided that was good enough for me.

There were a surprisingly large number of tents set up along the base of the mountain that sits directly behind the campground. Many of said tents were clearly part of a group as there were about 15 identical tents aligned side by side. I opted to keep my distance from the crowd and set up next to a nearby picnic table.

Side note: In addition to the mountain backdrop, the neighbouring field was unsurprisingly home to a somewhat sizeable flock of sheep. Rather vocal sheep, I might add. I still find the sound of sheep to be amusing. I don’t know why.

Anyway, with the skies somewhat clear (i.e. it wasn’t raining), I set up my tent and proceeded to cook up my usual (yet not-entirely-gourmet) pasta. Oh, and there may have been a peanut butter and banana sandwich for dessert. Sure, chocolate or ice cream would’ve been a preferred dessert but since I had neither I had to compromise.

Shortly after dessert I received another response from Eileen – the unavailable Warm Showers host. Even though she already had a guest for the night she offered to let me camp in her yard if I was still out looking for a spot to camp. The generosity of Warm Showers hosts strikes again. I thanked her for the offer and let her know I was already settled for the night. All was well.

As I type this, it is well into the evening and two things are abundantly clear. One, the temperature consistently seems to drop several degrees around 9:00 PM; and two, the number of hours of daylight are noticeably declining. Yes, it’s still dusk at 9:30, but the days of 11:00 PM dusk are sadly a thing of the past. A wonderfully bright past I might add.

My decision to stay at a campground ended up being a good one. Not only did I have the comforts of a table while preparing dinner, but I also have a great WiFi signal in my tent – which is a bit surprising considering the tent area of the campground is about as far from the office as possible. In fact, this is probably the strongest campground WiFi I’ve had in quite some time. And it’s surprisingly fast too.

Speaking of surprising, an unexpected freelance project came along late tonight so I’ve decided to stay in Stirling longer than expected. But not at the campground. Nice though it is, it’s not really conducive for extended editing sessions. Anyway, a quick internet search revealed that there’s a hostel in Stirling that has beds available for tomorrow so that’s where I’ll be heading in the morning. If all goes well I should be able to start (and finish) the project tomorrow.

Today’s totals:
Distance travelled: 69.61 km
Ride time: 4:05:04
Average speed: 17.04 km/h
Maximum speed: 56.11 km/h