Carlisle, England > Melrose, Scotland 67 miles

July 09, 2014

Carlisle, England > Melrose, Scotland 67 miles

Another day in the saddle. A great day, actually. A day that had all the perfect makings of a great day of touring. What makes up a great day of touring? you might ask. Well I will (try) and tell you.

(but first, just sat down in a pub and caught up with the sporting world. Germany 7 Brazil 1. What happened? And Froome crashes out of the Tour de France on the cobbles? And Andy Schleck is having knee surgery? Geezum.)

Climbed out of bed early around 6:45am (although the sun had already been out for about 2 hours). It doesn't really get dark up here. A morning walk around Carlisle Castle and to the Carlisle Cathedral for morning prayer was spectacular. The Carlisle Castle, which is about 1500 miles northwest of Rome, marks the northern expanse of the Roman Empire and dates to 122 AD when the Romans built the castle, along with Hadrian's Wall (think Great Wall of China - but built by the Romans to keep out the northerners). The Cathedral was built 1000 years later (it seems that God always takes a while to follow after war) and still operates daily.

As we ventured off on our bike this morning there was a buzz in the air. Today we would reach Scotland. Every day we set small manageable goals (baby steps) of reaching the next town. It is easy to ride 8 or 12 miles. But it is times like today when you cross a border when you say to yourself - whoa, we are making some progress. Tomorrow we will be in Edinburgh.

After lunch, about 2pm, our bodies had collapsed. After a large meal my legs just turn off. Blood flow is diverted to the stomach and intestines to digest that massive meal I just inhaled and the legs turn from steel to lead. The first 20 minutes after lunch are always the hardest. To shake the heavy legs, we turned on Neil Young. We have a little speaker wired to Katy's handlebars so that we can have a tune play while we ride. As we climbed the rolling agricultural Scottish hills with a gentle breeze and bright blue skies, all the while listening to Neil Young, I thought to myself, wow. Capture this moment. Bottle this piece of time up and never forget it. The hardest part about bike touring, is that once you've passed a village, a lake, a field or a mountain pass it is over. We won't be coming back (anytime soon).

Conversation with a Scottish gentleman at the Scotland:England border: Best read in a Scottish accent (although the Mel Gibson accent, we have been informed, is pure rubbish). Scot: where are you riding from? Us: Came up from London? Scot: well that's bloody brilliant, where are you headed? Us: To Edinburgh tomorrow and then we'll continue through the rest of Europe. Scot: How long do you have for your holiday? Us: Nine more months: Scot: Well you jammy-buggers. And it is those exchanges that I will remember.

In Hawick, a couple hours later, Katy wandered off to find a toilet. I quickly took her phone and checked my email. She's been asking me every couples days for the past 7 weeks how I think I did on my Step 1 USMLE licensing exam for medical school. My answer has always been the same, it was hard. The email had come and so I quickly checked online. It's strange how to quickly your nervous system can kick in and get your heart racing. If I failed, maybe stay on the bike for an extra year? That's always the back up plan to failure. I scanned the downloaded pdf, I got a 237. If you aren't a medical student that means nothing to you. If you are a medical student, that number means good - but average for my classmates. My classmates at the University of Michigan have made me feel average for the first time in my life. It is kind of refreshing.

Next reason today was great: no game plan for sleeping tonight. So when we reached Melrose, our destination, we went to the river. Took a nice shower/swim and now in the local pub enjoying nachos (meal number 5?) and watching Holland v. Argentina. When it gets darker we will head back to the river, look for a nice spot and throw down our sleeping bags. Of interest: it is a Scottish policy that you are legally allowed to camp on any open land--wild camping. I like that.