Up and down and up some more, along the coast we roam

“You can find your way across this country using pubs the way a navigator would use the stars.” -R.M. Morrison (2017)

Good day ladies and gents! Welcome to Rachel and Steve’s bicycle journey, Inverness to Edinburgh edition.

While Steve brought you through the first bit of our trip he forgot to talk about something very important. Pies.  I don’t mean fruit / dessert pies either.  I mean a hearty steak and ale pie or a chicken pot pie.  I like pies.  I’m in search of the best pie this summer.   So far, winner of the best pie in North America goes Carmen’s Cafe in Julian, California.  That was one tasty chicken pot pie… though it was so good that it vanished into my belly before photographic evidence could be taken.  On this side of the pond there has been a plethora of tastyness.

So far the winner is from the Beer Cafe in Glasgow (pictured on the left), but I will continue to sample others along the way so we can be certain of our findings.

Another thing to know about Scotland is that we Morrison’s are kind of a big deal here. The Morrison clan originates from the northwest side of Scotland on the Isle of Lewis and lay claim to the clan castle Dùn Èistean.  We also lay claim to a bunch of other things, including this grocery store, which we will defend to the death!!

The current clan chief is Dr. Iain Morrison and I considered challenging him for land claim over the castle but due to its current state it would be quite the ‘fixer upper’, so he can keep it.

Now, back to the cycling.  What a fantastic route! While hilly, this route has been wonderful.  Most of the route has been single lane country roads.

It was along one of these backcountry roads that we ran into Moe’s scottish cousin, the fabled Highland Cow!

Some of the route is also dedicated bike paths through towns and along old rail lines.  These tend to be very flat and are a welcoming break from the hilly countryside.

Since Inverness our route has moved closer to the shore and along the North Sea.  I never thought of Scotland as a beach destination but they look lovely.

We also stopped in the small town of Elgin for coffee. Elgin is now famous for 2 things:

#1. This ridiculous looking statue.

#2. The evil little dog that pissed on my pannier. We were just sitting in the coffee shop, enjoying an americano and a croissant, when a 10″ high hell-hound lifted his leg on my pannier. Matters were not helped when the dogs owner noticed what was going on and gave a sharp tug on the leash, causing the pee to go all over the place like some kind of filthy lawn sprinkler.

One of the roads even took us past this cool train bridge. An amazing feat of engineering! There weren’t any cranes around when they built this thing.

Another took us through the town of Montrose, where we saw a monument of Bamse, who in contrast to the evil hell-hound of Elgin, really is a good boy.

Bamse here, is a life saving heroic WWII Norwegian Sea Dog.  Credited with rescuing numerous sailors from the sea.

There is lots to see here.  As Steve said before, Scotland does old castles really well. I would say castles, churches, and cows.

The last couple days have been slow, windy, and exhausting as the weather changes. Tomorrow’s forecast includes more wind AND 100% chance of rain! Some how we both forgot that the UK gets a lot of rain… oh well.  Weather wise we have actually been fairly fortunate. However, with my recent encounter with the evil pooch and the next week of weather showing constant rain, we have decided to trade in our Canadian made Arkel panniers for some shiny new German Ortlieb waterproof bags! We’re ready for ya mother nature!!

We also worked to get to Edinburgh a day early to avoid some of that not so fun weather and will take a few days off to sightsee and rest up in a comfy Sheraton bed.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I hear the pub down the street claims to have the best pie… Cheers!

– Rachel and Steve