The Road

Nothing would do, certainly not the thought of a nice,warm, lazy morning reading the Sunday papers, but we put the bikes on the back of the car and go for a New Year East Lothian run.
I say New Year because this is the first time in 2012 that we have put bottoms on saddles; first the weather conspired and then my shoulder gave me in particular a very good excuse not to brave the elements.

No excuses today though so we took the bikes to Longniddry and managed a circular run from there to test us and our steeds. All was well and the shoulder gave no problems.

The day was dull with a fierce icy west wind that brought enough tears to my eyes that I was freewheeling downhill unable to see unless I turned my head sideways.

The countryside looked as though it was wakening up after its winter sleep, the fields a rich ploughed brown, trees gaunt with the beauty they have when leafless but with the promise of new life, catkins on display with, of course, snowdrops and new daffodils on the road verges.

The sun had chosen to illuminate bits of the Fife coastline, Kirkcaldy in particular, and the ski slope at Hillend while the rest of the Pentlands were in the shade with a whisper of cloud on the tops.

But it was cold and I for one was glad to get home to the warmth and the promise of the papers and the Scotland / France Rugby match on television.

I imagine the hordes of chic French ladies and their tricolour beflagged partners trooping westward to Murrayfield are hoping they will not be disappointed in the result.
It's not for me to wish them otherwise, but wouldn't it be nice if we Scots could win just one match.

This road in the blip is a favourite of ours as it is quiet and leads to various other East Lothian routes, equally quiet. The monument in the distance is the Hopetoun monument on Byre's Hill in the Garleton hills between Aberlady and Haddington. It was built in 1824 as a memorial to John Hope, the 4th Earl of Hopetoun