Stage 12: Linlithgow to Pitlochry

From the Lowlands to the Highlands

Distance: 75.75 miles

Climb: 4,646 feet      



Passing the 75% total distance milestone.
After 24 hours to rest our weary legs and enjoy Donald and Jen's superb hospitality, today we go from West Lothian to Perthshire, crossing the Forth Bridge towards Dunfermline, through the Loch Leven National Nature Reserve and around Perth. 

Fun Fact: Pitlochry is best known for its fish ladder and dam. Completed in 1950, the Pitlochry Dam is part of the Tummel hydroelectric power scheme of interconnected power stations in the highlands.

Post-ride Debrief

Leaving the warm embrace of our rest day in Linlithgow, and with half an eye on the clouds, we set off on our 12th day of riding.

Within a few miles, we’d managed to sneak into the magnificent gardens of Hopetoun House for a quick nosey. Looking one way the three-hundred-year-old home to the Marquess of Linlithgow, the other gives glimpses of the three bridges over the Forth.

As the bridges came fully into view the combination of the relatively new road bridge, the historic rail bridge, and the old road bridge we were due to cross caused great excitement. Engineers, we salute you!

With only us, a few workers and the occasional taxi on it, the bridge felt like our own private crossing.

Entering the Kingdom of Fife we skirted Dunfermline – as advised in most good travel guides. Thankfully dark clouds overhead did not deliver on their threats.

HOWZAT! 

One of the great pleasures of this ride has been the chance encounters along the way. Today on a quiet back road we happened upon two gents sporting matching shirts and just finishing fixing a puncture (their first).

Turned out Pete and Ado were not only doing LEJOG, but they had come from Tasmania to do it. Riding to raise funds for a Muscular Dystrophy charity back home, the two had decided to ride the length of a much smaller country than their own.

For the rest of the day we rode as a four. Pete was a sports broadcaster and news anchor on ABC, and Ado a comms and marketing mogul back home. Much to Richard’s joy, both Pete (Cricket Tasmania board member) and Ado were very happy to chat cricket. 

We also discussed the performance of our respective support crews. But for reasons of personal safety, we cannot divulge the content of those discussions.

Two of the other conversations are given here as examples of the wide-ranging polymathic debates we had along the way. Is the British use of the word ‘hosepipe’ totally tautologous and can anything be ‘totally’ tautologous? Why do Brits use a washing-up bowl when they have a perfectly good sink. Our support crew reflected on this and were able to resolve the question that had been bothering Pete since 1979. 

Ado and Pete were excellent company on today’s ride, helping the miles fly by. They even took the opportunity to visit their first Dobbie’s World, after a motivational mile along a dual carriageway.

Pete was carrying a nasty elbow injury sustained in a fall. So bumpy road surfaces and uneven trails are just what the doctor didn’t order. However, UK sales of ibuprofen have skyrocketed.

If you want to know more about Pete and Ado’s journey, they have a daily podcast called Pushing it Up Hill: an entertaining listen available from all good podcast platforms.

With fitting synchronicity, Richard suffered his second puncture of the trip around eight miles from home. After wrangling the tyre and managing to put the wheel back in without the chain on the cogs, we were finally able to complete the journey.

With the skirl of the bagpipes ultimately welcoming us to the end of Stage 12 tomorrow we head to Inverness, the capital of the Highlands.

Thank you everyone for your very generous support in aid of Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice Care. All donations help power our pedals, so please click through to our JustGiving page.









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