RabH
Well-Known Member
Sometimes you just get lucky and today was the case in point, I suppose I was due it after my hard drive failed on my pc last week! It was pouring down in the morning and it cleared up just a little so I chanced a walk at a local park and made it round without getting a soaking! The wind wasn't too bad for a nice change, it was from the SW once again and around 20mph! On the way home from the park the sky didn't look very promising at all, when I got home I had a look at the forecast for various areas but it was mostly 40-60% chance of rain! Looking at tomorrow it was just dire so I decided to brave it fully expecting to get wet!
The sky to the north and the south was pretty dark so I opted to head east as it looked the most promising, my choice was beginning to look good until a dark cloud seemed to appear from nowhere and the rain started to fall at Limerigg which is only 8 miles from home! It wasn't heavy rain but it was that stuff that just seems to soak you, thankfully it soon cleared and I reached Avonbridge 4 miles later and the roads were dry! I took the back road up to Standburn which involves some big climbs but its such a great road for a bike!
I then had a brilliant descent to look forward to down to Whitecross then more climbing out to Linlithgow, where I stopped for lunch and the sun made a welcome appearance! I continued the climbing to the far side of Linlithgow and stopped for some photos looking north with the Ochils shrouded in dark clouds in the distance!
I also got my first glimpse of the bridges over the Forth from here, which was going to be my destination!
I then continued east passing through Kingscavil and Threemiltown, enjoying some lovely descents with the wind at my back! At Winchburgh I turned north towards Newton, near the town I had a nice view of the Pentland hills to the south!
Those dark clouds were also shrouding the Pentlands but luckily I was in the middle with dry weather! I arrived in Newton and got a nice close view of the bridges!
I then crossed the Forth road bridge, where I looked to the west and all I could see was a wall of darkness in the direction I would be heading very soon! It was still dry though so I was having fun and had the bridge mostly to myself!
After crossing I was heading north for the Rosyth and got some more photos looking north at the Queensferry Crossing!
I arrived in Rosyth where it was time to turn west for home, now into the headwind but it was still dry so no complaints from me! A couple of miles later I turned on to the coast road down into Limekilns, stopping for this photo looking south at the Pentlands!
I passed through Limekilns and arrived In Charlestown where I had this cobbled climb to tackle, only an 8% gradient though so no problem for my e bike!
The road then heads north and joins the main A985 which runs from Rosyth all the way to Kincardine, of course I wasn't taking the main road! I joined the cycle path that leads to Crombie and didn't like the scene ahead of me! The photo doesn't really show it but that was a huge squall ahead, luckily it was moving to the north though and I was turning west on to the coast road!
I passed through all the villages along the coast and reached Kincardine bridge with no sign of any rain, what a result! After crossing the bridge I grabbed these photos looking north at the Clackmannanshire bridge and the Ochils which were still covered in those dark clouds!
The construction work on the Kincardine bridge (which was sinking at the western end) is due to finish next March and I will be glad when its all done! I then headed south towards Grangemouth and then on to Falkirk and up the big climb near Shieldhill, its more fun going down it!
From here I took the awesome back road to Slamannan and had the road all to myself, its mostly farmland!
I had this climb next directly into the wind but its quickly followed by a great descent down into Slamannan!
Looking back down the road!
I had about 10 miles to go now and took the usual roads to home and all I could see was darkness out to the southwest, I was certain I was going to get drenched but as I said at the start of this post I got lucky! I got home totally dry, the rain completely missed my area! In essence I picked a route that cut right through the centre of the squalls, what a fantastic day that was!
Thankfully the photos seem to be uploading again and very quickly too, I hope it remains that way as my last post took forever...
, how do you film for that long?
