With rain forecast pretty much all next week and today looking very nice I just had to make the most of it, I noticed St Andrews was looking really inviting so it was time for my first foray to the NE this year! I travelled 50 miles in the car and parked in a layby between Crook of Devon and Balado, with a temp of 2C it was a bit chilly but there was very little wind thankfullly! I started with a nice big descent, making my way east to Kinross where I turned north for Milnathort! Then it was NE to Gateside on the A91, a very busy road during the week but not too bad on a Sunday morning!
At Gateside I left the A91 and headed north on the A912 towards Abernethy, the first big climb of the day! After the climb I had a cracking descent down into Aberargie and Abernethy and on to Newburgh where I stopped for a couple of photos of the River Tay!
From Newburgh I headed east for Cupar passing through many small and picturesque villages, its such a nice road to ride!
Then it was time for this big climb which is followed by a really fast descent, strangely my Wahoo didn't pick up the climb until near the top!
This is from the top of the climb looking west back down the hill!
The descent down into Cupar was just incredible but I was now facing some big climbs from Cupar to Pitscottie and on to St Andrews, the final descent into St Andrews was amazing though! I headed to the harbour cafe for lunch and grabbed a couple of photos!
I then had a big climb out of St Andrews and stopped near the top for this photo of the town!
I was now hugging the coast road, heading SE towards Crail and the wind had really picked up with the sea breeze blowing hard at times! Its a great road though and in mostly good condition! Just before Crail I swapped out my battery at the 50 mile mark, not bad going for a battery that's almost 8 years old now!
The tiny harbour at Crail!
From Crail I continued on the coast road passing through Anstruther, Pittenweem and St Monans before arriving in Elie where I stopped at the harbour for a couple of photos!
The coast road ends at Elie so it was time to turn inland and I was now heading for Upper Largo, where I stopped for this photo of Largo Bay!
I then passed through Lower Largo and Lundin Links before arriving in Leven, I stopped for this photo of the beach!
I continued hugging the coast passing through many small villages before arriving in the busy seaside town of Kirkcaldy, the descent down into the town is pretty epic! People were making the most of the nice weather and the esplanade was very busy! I took some photos as I made my way along the sea wall on the esplanade!
From Kirkcaldy I made my way south to Kinghorn, some big climbs but what a road!
I joined the cycle path from Kinghorn to Pettycur Bay and stopped for this photo of the amazing beach, the bridges over the Forth can be seen in the distance!
I was now heading for Burntisland where I would turn inland and face the biggest climb of the day from Burntilsland up to Mossmorran! I stopped for a couple of photos at the top of the first climb, its some descent if you are going the other way and usually well over 40mph!
From Mossmorran I headed west to Crossgates and then due north through Hill of Beath and had a blast flying down this descent at over 42mph on my way to Kelty!
I was hoping to turn west towards Knockhill at Kelty but time was against me so I decided to continue north towards Kinross, if I had turned west it would have added another 15 miles or so and over 1000ft of climbing so I made the right decision despite having enough battery juice! I would have had enough daylight but it would have been marginal so best to play it safe, there will be more chances to do bigger rides with the clock change coming later this month!
The road to Kinross was pretty amazing with some big descents and twists and turns, I turned west for Cleish a couple of miles before Kinross as its a much quieter road and I know it well! Its a very quiet road but a bit rough here and there but nothing really bad, I was making my way along a straight part of the road when I heard a noise on my left as I passed a forest and a young deer sprinted across the road right in front of me! Thankfully I was going slow and managed to avoid it with some sharp braking, my heart did skip a beat!
Just after I passed through Cleish the 100 miles appeared on my gps, I then turned north for Balado and had this view of the hills for my final photo before turning west and arriving at the car just before 5pm!
What a fantastic day, it was just amazing from start to finish!