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lost my kite the night 🙁
Well I had a crazy ride out in the hills tonight. I kept saying to myself - just ride a little further and see what it's like. And so I kept going. The wind always seems to be worse riding up and around Arthurs Seat and I managed that, though it was fierce. There were plenty of rocks that had been blown down onto the road which made me cautious.
There was also plenty of tree damage everywhere through town and up the WOL path. In fact wherever I was there was tree debris beside or across the path. I didn't witness any falls but the way the trees were being bent by the gale, particularly while climbing up Poet's glen kept me on my guard.
Getting that far should have been enough but I wanted to know what a 70mph tailwind was like so I headed up Maiden's with the wind behind me. Didn't push me that much until I was on Harbour hill which is where it became fun. Human kite.
I got a good soaking on the way out but didn't feel too cold until I got up on the tops. I was rather cold and wet by the time I got back.
That's the fifth day in a row I haven't seen any other bikers in the Pentlands. What's the matter with everyone? 😛
In fact the whole time I was out, even riding through town I only saw one other person on a bike - sessioning the road around Arthurs Seat.
Pretty impressive storm for early summer - had a lovely wee tour round central Scotland tonight due to Forth Road Bridge closure (and subsequent Kincardine jams). Lots of trees, debris down and one car on it's roof in a ditch...
Trail fairies are going to need their sharpest bowsaws for the next wee while.
Have been skiing at Cairngorm in 60mph winds (gusting ?) this year and that was ****ing fierce. Funicular was running, but not much else.
Pretty calm here. A lot blowier yesterday and Saturday out on Anglesey. Got blown all the way up the Menai Straits yesterday (apart from the bit where we were going against the wind and the current in the Swellies!)
Nae power for about 18 hrs
Haulin trees off the track to house - large mature trees uprooted
I was lucky to get home earlier from Edinburgh as they had suspended all of the trains
My Mrs and 7 week old weren't so lucky - halfway through their journey from Huddersfield to Inverness the train got cancelled in Edinburgh, and there's no replacement buses 'cos of the mess on the roads, so the hunt for somewhere to stay, nappies, a cot, some bedding for the little one etc began!
(Thank goodness for large extended families)!
Hopefully she'll get the rest of the way today.
I thought it was very naughty of God/Allah/the Tooth Fairy to arrange some very high winds for my first ride on a road bike for about twenty years. Its fair to say they;re a little bit more susceptible to side-winds than my burly, rufty-tufty mountain bikes
I was feeling nervous enough at the twitchiness of the whole thing anyway. I absolutely bricked it when I came over the top of a steep climb, past the imaginatively named 'The Summit' pub and got blown half way across the road by an enormous gust. I drove in this morning 🙁