Day 15 - Sunday 12th August - Rest Day in Edinburgh

Camp Site - The Forrestine Centre, Forrester High School, Broomhouse Road, Edinburgh

Our second rest day and a chance for a lie in as breakfast was an hour later than usual. It had been very windy in the night and I thought once or twice that the tent would blow away! The tent seemed to be pitched in a gap between the school buildings and the wind just whistled through this gap.

We have now been cycling for nine days continuously and thirteen in total and there are "only" five more to complete. I think that we are all coping well with the cycling and getting fitter as we go along.

Today is an opportunity to have a look around Edinburgh but I must remember that it is meant to be a "rest" day and not spend all day walking around the centre. Several of us took the bus into the centre from the stop just outside the school and got off in Princes Street. We thought that the best way to see the main sights without too much effort was to have a ride on an open top bus. This took us around the central area both in the Old Town and through the newer parts as well. We also passed the new Scottish Parliament Building near to Holyrood House and which is still in the early stages of construction and is a mass of concrete and tower cranes.

As we got off the tour bus we were close to Princes Street again and decided to have lunch in Pizza Hut - pasta is good for cyclists! As we came out we heard the sounds of bagpipes and drums and returned to Princes Street to see a parade including British Legion standards marching past. Then we watched the performers taking part in the fringe festival on a stage which was set up in the gardens below Princes Street. Some of them were very good but others were not really our cup of tea. Edinburgh was certainly in festival mood and on this fine Sunday afternoon the area was very busy with crowds of people making the most of the various events.

It had been very hot and sunny but also cloudy in between times throughout the day but later on it looked increasingly as though it would rain. As it was now about 4.00 p.m. we decided to go back to the camp site and take it easy for the rest of the day. We got something for tea on the way and when we got back found others there had the same plans.

We had easily found the bus to take us back and it partially followed the route which we had taken yesterday when we cycled to the camp site. As we went along we realised that the cycle route had quite often taken side roads to keep us off the busier main roads although it had all seemed busy at the time. The rest of the evening was spent comparing notes with others and preparing for an early night ready for the final push to John O'Groats.