Settling My Debts

After breakfast I took a run to Bike Seven at Longtown to settle payment on the ebike. It's due a service in six weeks time so the obvious thing to do would be to cycle to Longtown but as I find the A7 too stressful to cycle on I thought I'd drive down by Penton and see what the distance was and the condition of the road. The road surface between Claygate and Harelaw was atrocious in parts, so I'll need to avoid that if I choose to go that way. There's a steep pull from Penton Linns but after that it's quite flat and offers some nice cycling into Longtown. The distance was 16 miles when I arrived at Bike Seven. 

As the weather was quite settled and there was no sign of rain when I got home I got changed and headed of for a short pedal. I made my way up the Wauchope road towards the Bloch Farm into quite a brisk breeze and a very light mizzle but when I got to the cattle grid above the Bloch I was unhindered for the next part of the pedal.

  I stopped to look back at cloud shrouded hills behind me. The smell at this point was rather obnoxious suggesting a rotting carcass was nearby but I certainly wasn't going to investigate so I quickly moved on.

It was looking brighter down in Cumbria.

This clump of heather by the roadside was a pleasant sight as I pedaled past. 

Heading for Barngliesh Head before turn towards Tomshielburn.

This tar of the road offers lovely views towards the Solway Firth but the phone camera doesn't quite capture what the eye sees

  

I came upon this collection of various fungi.....

.......which was quite intriguing. I did wonder if it had something to do with them growing underneath the beech trees on the roadside.

I continued past Tomshielburn then turned back towards the Bloch Farm for a nice easy ride home.

The ebike has copped with all the hills I've come across so far without causing me undue stress, this makes cycling much more pleasurable for me and it's good to get back in the saddle again. In the next few weeks I'll tackle the climb from the Whitshiels to the White Yett and possibly further.