Edinburgh to Perth: 72km

Our breakfast this morning was enlivened by an interesting conversation with Gareth, the proprietor of the Faoch Guest House, about the Scottish referendum, the Scottish National Party and the current election campaign. It seems clear that the Labour Party did not recognize the “distinctness” of Scotland and the SNP will likely gain accordingly.

After a few kilometres on Ferry Road, we joined the NCN Route 1, which included newly surfaced separate bike/ walking paths. Soon, we could see the Forth Rail Bridge (1890) and the Forth Road Bridge (1964). The latter is being replaced, while the former is still going strong! The rail bridge was the largest single cantilever span in the world until the the Quebec bridge was constructed in 1919.

It was a bit warmer today and there were frequent sunny periods, but the strong north headwind was bothersome at times, especially crossing the Forth.

After the bridge, we left the NCN route and took B roads for a while. Paul replaced his “booties” at the bike shop in Inverkeithing and the server directed us to a restaurant in a gardening shop in Dalgeny Bay for lunch (and decent espresso). We continued on B roads, through Cowdenbeath, which was an important centre for coal mining in the 19th Century, and on to Kinross. There, we had tea before joining NCN Route 775 to Perth. There was one extended downhill section, but, inevitably, we were greeted by a hill coming over the rise before our destination. Our B&B is on the north edge of the South Inch! A day off tomorrow, the first since Berkeley! Friends Martin and Grace will be coming from Dundee for a visit.