It was a nice morning today but I had things to do that couldn't wait so didn't get out until 10.45am, with rain forecast around 2pm I had to decide whether to make it a shorter ride or just go with a long one and get wet! I chose the latter and got wet...

Thankfully it was only light rain though so at least it wasn't a soaking and with light winds the temp was just perfect! I made my way down the back roads to Allanton and headed NE on the A71, a very nice road with not much traffic at this time of the day thankfully!
I passed through Breich, West Calder and Polbeth with no problems until I reached Livingston and things started to get busy, but I was soon on a quieter part again just before Kirknewton which was my turning point! I had a distant view of the Forth bridges from Kirknewton!
I would soon be riding alongside the Pentland Hills when I turned SW at Kirknewton, the wind was forecast to be from the NE but as I passed the airfield the windsock was showing a SW wind and it was picking up now!
I was now on the awesome A70 but heading SW directly into the wind with a lot of climbing ahead, I stopped many times for photos along the way!
The final part of the climb at Harperrig Reservoir!
Looking back down the hill with the Forth Estuary way in the distance!
I stopped again at the western side of the reservoir for a snack and a break and took another few photos!
I continued SW on the A70 and as I reached the junction for Harburn I decided to take the back road through the village to get out of the wind, if I had stayed on the A70 it would have been a lot more climbing directly into a strengthening wind and a good possibility of rain! The decision to take the Harburn road really paid off with little to no traffic and a cracking road for cycling as I turned SW to take the road to Addiewell, I freewheeled down the big descent at 44.3mph! As I arrived in Addiewell at the 43 mile mark I felt the first drops of rain, it never stopped until I was close to home!
I made my way west to Fauldhouse and used the back road to Shotts and on to Hartwood where I turned north up the big climb towards Kirk of Shotts, turning west part way up to take the amazing back road to Hareshaw! The rain was still light so it wasn't really a problem and it wasn't cold so I was really enjoying this excellent back road! From Hareshaw I was going to head directly home but I decided to extend my ride to make it a 70 miler, a mile or so from home the roads were all dry so that was a nice bonus to finish my ride!

My mileage is now 5678 for the year believe it or not...

What a great day once again, despite the inclement weather!