Scottish GBMCC Grand Tour: Day 8 Alston

From Tomintoul to Alston was a very long ride.  We started early to try to beat the rain.  The first segment across the ski resorts were very scenic, and we stopped at Blairgowrie Wellmeadow for a cup of coffee.

I wish I had stopped at Arbroath for a Smokies, but no one was keen on adding extra miles in a long rainy day.

We braced ourselves for the unavoidable motorways in heavy rain.  The spray were unbearable!

We stopped at The Scots Pine at Eddleston.  I had the meat lover sandwich, except it was not a normal sandwich, it was an 'open sandwich', also they forgot my sausage!  The lady asked if everything was okay, I said everything was okay except I did not get my sausage!  So they served up a sausage separate.  the sausage was good, except it was slightly under cooked...  I ate it anyway.

It was too wet for me to keep up with the guys, so I volunteer to break up at Hawick.  When we were there, Hawick Museum's leaflet said they were showing two local racing motorcyclists and their memorabilia.  So I stopped for fuel and a visit to Hawick Museum.  They have all sorts in the museum, including curling stones.



When I continued my way to Alston, I was stopped at Langholm for yet another bagpipe procession! This it was something about 'Marking the boundary'. A large bagpipe band and a large number of horses.


By the time of all these delay, the weather cleared up and I arrived in Alston safely.  This last hotel was the most expensive hotel and our room had a bath!



I had a beef pie to wrap up the trip.  They had a music festival on, and the music was on till late, and there were even fireworks!


I have discarded the book in the drawer next to the Bible, how fitting!