The Voyage Home
Sounds good that eh? Well weather forecast said sunny until about four pm in the Scottish borders so it was only right that it was again pissing down! I set off at nine thinking this is going to be a long day but hey presto 20 mile up the road and the rain gave way and the sun came out.
I rode for an hour an fifteen mins before needing to stretch my legs and fill up with the liquid gold at Blyth, I had noticed that the wind was getting up and was wary of any breaks in the embankment as the sudden gusts were strong enough to blow me off line but apart from that so far so good.
I decided that Scotch corner would be a good place to stop for a buttie and a drink but after successfully negotiating the road works that had been such a major pain in the arse on the way down with ease the off ramp was full so I decided that Durham services would be the place to stop, Jesus that fourteen mile seemed like a long way. I tankled the bike up and had a conversation with a lass from the toon that I have to confess I did not understand a word off and just shook my head and said yes and know in what seemed like the right places, is this how you do it when you go abroad I wonder if you don't speak the lingo? anyway one haslet buttie and a bottle of water and I was ready for anything, I was making good time the roads where good but the wind was still getting up, I didn't really have any bother with the wind until I reached Berwick and then you change direction, it was scary from then on in, big gusts of wind were catching the back of the bike making it feel like the back was going to break away any second and on one part of dual carriage way I went for an over take and could not wrestle the bike into the other lane, all the time hoping that the Forth bridge would not be closed.
After what seemed like an eternity I finally made the Edinburgh bypass and caustily checked the matrix to see if the bridge was shut, hoorah it was open, thank fuck my arse really didn't want to do a huge detour today. Once onto the bridge though it was wild I decided the best course of action was to place myself a long side an artic and let him shield me from the wind a bit which worked quite well until his lane came to a stand still with half the bridge still to go, it was butt clenching stuff but I was over and in my last petrol stop before home in a flash.
So overall the journey had gone quite well I did 704 miles on the bike in total and she never missed a beat, it cost me £107 in petrol so I don't think thats too bad considering it seems to be 3 or 4pence a litre dearer on the A1 than everywhere else.
Would I do it again? Of course I would, it may be bum numbing but it is still great to get away from every day life on the bike.
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