Day 5: Gretna to Glanfarg

Day 5 has been a struggle.

We made an early start in Gretna leaving about 07.30. We wore a few extra layers to keep warm and put lights on the bike so we could get through town traffic - in the end we saw only a handful of cars for the first hour of cycling. It's a different world.

The Scottish roads started off really well with smooth cycle paths and lots of signposts. We then crossed into West Lothian and everything changed, I can still feel my teeth rattling.

By 9.30am we had already covered 30 miles ... by 12.09 we had covered 62 miles but I was already feeling tired and my legs were complaining (Greg says it is is psychological!). Beans on toast again for lunch - this time with a bit of chilli and worcester sauce to spice it up.

We pushed on and reached 75 miles. At 82 miles we had a brief stop to fill drinks with a fantastic view across a Loch. Chasing the clock as always we struggled onto the outskirts of Edinburgh and across the Forth Road Bridge at 96 miles and 16.00.

We should have managed our stops better in terms of fluids and food - but again we were chasing the clock and we missed our 'proper' 90 mile stop and all our energy levels dropped. So in the end we literally counted down to the 120 mile mark and pulled into the curb in Glenfarg. It was our scheduled stopping point but we struggled to the end.

This evening we are staying with Donald in Dollar. We were met with warm Scottish pies then back to Donald's for tea and a trip to the local pub for some real ale.

I feel like sleeping in tomorrow, but with 2 days and ONLY 240 miles to go we must push on and head for a Sunday evening finish.

Donald let slip that Greg thought "... as an old man Dave might struggle ..." - I won't disagree yet and the whole thing is a struggle, but who'd have thought we get to day 5 still on schedule and north of Edinburgh.