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So we landed and Glasgow and got a hostle and hitailed it out of there pretty quick. The hospitality of the Scotish was immediately apparent when a fellow invited us to his house for dinner with his wife and daughter in the town of east Calder. We stayed in a campsite just outside of town there. We saw some decent countryside that day and covered about 70kms. The next day we headed to Edinburgh. It was amazing. Some nice riding into the city and the Castle was something to behold though we didn't go in. The old town is pretty awesome and probably the most immpressive thing we have seen yet. the next day was 90kms to Berwick upon tweed, England where we had to stay in an overpriced Caravan (RV) park. It was a long day and we saw some amazing countryside including the alpine-esq. Lammermuirs which reminded valley of the shire as described in the Lord of the Rings.
Berwick is a particularily well preserved town with 3 bridges. one is very old (500 yrs?) The town is surrowned by a fortified wall and there is reminants of the old fort and almost nothing from the castle. Being england's northernmost town it has had a tumultuous past changing hand between the English and the Scot's something like 13 times. My rim cracked in town in the morning after our first night there which resulted in us staying an extra night. The rim failure was probably a result of running to high of tire pressure and the rim being somewhat dished with wear. I ended up taking the train to newcastle that day and bought a mavic 719 touring rim and DT double butted spoked and relaced it to my old hub on the train back to Berwick. The fellow in the one local shop was kind enough to let me use his shop and I tensioned my wheel and installed a new granny chainring I bought from him so I coulud give valley my 24 tooth as she needed it badly.
So we set off south for newcastle (day 6) and road about 50kms to seahouses where we waited in a huge line up for fish and chips at what seemed to be "the place" to get your deep fried dinner. We also arrived late and left early at the decidedly casual campground so we didn't have to pay. We also Bamburgh Caslte that day which is one of the most majestic in England positioned on the sea and still in pristine conditions.
In stark contrast we saw a destroyed castle the next day and a couple others our way to ashinton where we again came in late and left early for free camping. This area was ugly and smelly and we did not like it much. Valley was getting anxious to leave for Europe and the next day we rolled into Tynemouth (near newcastle) and caught the ferry to Amsterdam overnight). The was a cool castle in tynemouth aswell and we have some photos but didn't get to see inside any as we never planned on the England thing in the first place and wanted to get to Europe ASAP.
A few notes about the UK. If you plan on cycltouring here there is a national cyclenetwork including the coast and castles route which we took from Berwick to Newcastle. However, there are many offroad parts that would be better suited to a proper trekking bike or mountain bike. Our old vintage steeds made the trip, but I felt it was rough going. The routes are well marked and pretty nice however and take you close to all the attractions and camp sites.
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