Coral

Edinburgh's Nocturne was held last night. The route was round many laps of the Grassmarket, Victoria Street and Candlemaker Row, and in the field were elite riders, relay riders and folding bike riders.

The elite riders were the lean, fit, lycra lads (no girls in evidence) who did 40mins +1Lap or 60 mins +1lap depending on how elite they were, and the folding bike riders dressed in an array of eye catching ensembles who had to unfold their steeds and complete 3 laps of the course.

With the elite riders it was much like watching TheTour de France in action.
The pelaton came hurtling down Candlemaker Row and along the south side of the Grassmarket to corner sharply at the end and hit the cobbles on the north side and then continue up the steep hill of Victoria Street before riding along George IVth Bridge to repeat the process about 30 times.

Victoria Street seemed to be the place which separated the men from the boys.
It's quite a hill and that combined with the atrociously badly set uneven cobbles and the road works narrowing the road, made for teeth jarring progress as the bikes rattled upwards. I was really surprised that the narrow wheels on the road bikes didn't get caught in some of the gaps between the setts. Fortunately no one seemed to come to grief.

The Nocturne spectacular contrasted sharply with the other outings taking place in the Grassmarket at the same time.
We were witness to numerous hen parties teetering bent kneed over the cobbles on 6 inch heels which were prone to getting caught between the setts.
The outfits on display were truly over the top with much untoned, bare flesh on view and adorned with sashes and head gear more at home in a seaside cabaret show.
The lads' stag do hordes were at the almost -but- not- quite-very drunk stage, T-shirted, beer bellied and loud. They would get much worse as the night wore on, you could tell.

The rain which held off last night has finally appeared this morning along with very strong winds, but it seems to be clearing a bit at the moment.
However It's an indoor blip today: a piece of coral which I think I brought back illegally from Oman. It's an offence to take shells and suchlike off the Omani beaches. Please don't clype.