Day 8. Stat report.

112 miles (Langholm to menstrie nr Stirling)
14.4mph average
Granny gear rating 2.5/5

Having got on track yesterday we managed to sleep in this morning! Silly jim left the iPhone on silent. Have no fear, this was a minor hitch and 15 mins late for a 7:30 breakfast still translated into a 9ish kickoff.

On our way out of langholm we had our usual morning loosener. Before any conclusions are jumped to this means a climb out of the town. It seems we always have a "loosener" after breakfast and lunch. Probably because we stop in towns and they appear to be built in valleys.

50 miles through Dumfries and galloway followed by the borders on almost deserted roads (apart from the sheep ... And midges!!!) were stunning and revitalising. There were climbs, but they were long and steady rather than sharp and we had ample excuse (by way of the odd shower or two) to pull on the pock rocks (although we don't need much encouragement...wonder if we could set a trend back home on George street ;))

Peebles was lunch stop (50 miles) and jim just about sneaked the green jersey points for intermediate sprint. For those interested, contested stage victories currently lie 2-1 to Jim. I know we've had 8 stages but when you are limping home on impulse power it's sometimes ok to share the stage.

Peebles to Edinburgh saw the pace quicken. The road is flatter than we've had for most of the tour and we got the bit between the teeth.

We met up with Alastair and Alan near pc world in corstorphine and were looking forward to being pulled most of the way home. However, hogwash set off like jacky Durand and it took the pelaton to winchburgh to reel him in! Nice orange jersey though mr Hogg!

It was great to have the company and Alastair tapped out a great pace for the rest of the way out to Stirling before turning off to meet his family.

The final few miles were back the two of us as we wheeled into menstrie for a wonderful welcome, superb home cooking and to swap tales of cycle tours and bears! with the recently wed David and Tracey cashman. A veritable treasure trove of bike maintainance kit and advice was avaiable in the garage as well. Much appreciated folks!

Quotes of the day
Jim "
Sent from my iPhone