Day 37, 23 6 2011, Perth to Edinburgh

Tomorrow may well be our last day in Scotland.  Our intention is to have a quick look at Edinburgh, before heading south, which may take us into England.

We did a bit of tourist stuff this morning, went out to Scone Palace.  The gardens are great and the palace is quite nice.

The ride today was pretty straightforward.  We rode up a big hill out of the Tay Valley, and then down secondary roads, occasionally intercepting the cycle network route 1, and easily rode into downtown Edinburgh without having to go on major roads.

We checked into maybe the worst B&B of our trip so far, although Roz believes there are two other candidates for this honour.  It is a basement room and we can’t open the window.  We usually don’t bother to check rooms when we book in as they are almost always much as we would expect.  Not surprisingly for a hotel of this standard, they do not have free WiFi, like other mediocre hotels from the Travelodge and Ibis chains.

So I am writing this in a pub, where we had dinner.  I stuck with the fish and chips, which was very good, and good value.  You can tell good Scottish fish and chips, as, when you press your fork into the batter, little wells of oil appear.  Of course you can’t live on food like this, but it is great on a short trip.

Scotland has been very easy to travel through.  We have been comparing the food with Italy, and the pubs here are incomparably better.  You get a good solid feed, not haute cuisine, but fair variety at a good price, often in an atmospheric old bar.  Our experience in Italy was that you get very limited choice, pasta or pizza, at ridiculous prices with very poor service.  To be fair, you get better delicatessen food in Italy than you can find in Tescos in Scotland.

Accommodation has been easy to find, and at least with the current exchange rates, pretty good value.

So that is the logistics covered.  The riding has not been easy, but quite achievable.  There has only been one day where we have not had to do some significant climbing, but the rewards have been there in terms of the scenery and the riding experience in general.

We are down now to checking ferry timetables to get back to Amsterdam.

It may be necessary to scroll the map to see the route.

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