Great Scott!

    What I know about Scotland could fit into a dram glass of Glenkinchie– with room for the Glenkinchie – but I’m working on it. 

As I mentioned before, I watched all the episodes of Outlander which taught me something about the Jacobite Rising, Clan culture, standing stones, love of country, and loyalty. And through some cursory history-reading, I’ve been reminded about Robert the Bruce & William Wallace, Mary Queen of Scots, and many others on either side of the long power struggle between England and an independent Scotland.

I’ve also kept up with the investigations led by Perez, Tosh, and Calder on the TV series Shetland, named for the remote islands situated north of mainland Scotland where, despite the sparse population, someone is always turning up murdered and everyone else is suspected of it.  I’ve noticed that the characters are bundled up in winter-wear and boots regardless of season, which I should have thought twice about when it comes to planning a cycling vacation – more on that later.

Like other Americans, I’ve appreciated the Tartan Army world cup fans’ enthusiasm, what with the kilts and traffic cones and beer drinking. Finally, I learned that “Great Scott” (Great Scot?)  might or might not have much to do with Scotland but, of course, has a lot to do with time travel (hey, like Outlander!)

With that, my dram glass is full.  I’m looking forward to emptying and refilling it many times over as we explore Scotland’s beauty.

 

Pedaler Report

We’ve again booked two separate bike tours on the theory that if we’re flying that far for a vacation, we want to make the most of it.

The first is a guided Backroads tour that will take us north of Edinburgh. I’ve always had great experiences with Backroads – their guides are top notch, as are the accommodations and food. And, on a guided tour like this, there is nothing for us guests to worry about except showing up on time. 

After that tour concludes, we’ll take a train south to Newcastle, England where we will spend a few days before taking a self-guided bike tour back up the coast to Edinburgh. 

This is one of those tours where a company arranges it all (bikes, routes, accommodations, luggage transfer), but you ride each day on your own, when you like. That means you need to find your way and take care of any mishaps en route. We’ve done several of these types of tours with different companies; this time it is with Eurobike, a company new to us. They’ve been very good with all the preparatory logistics so I’m optimistic that all will be well.

In the meantime, I’ve been mostly keeping to my daily ‘training’ rides. I’m feeling confident we won’t have any trouble with our trip’s moderate routes.