Woke up at around 6 felt relieved that I didn't have to ride today (I decided to wake up this early because I wanted to keep the same sleep/toilet routine for the marathon tomorrow and also wanted to get my breakfast early). After mostly lying in bed listening to Radio 1 on the freeview box for an hour I headed over to the breakfast area where I was served a Full Scottish Breakfast (sausage, mushrooms, black pudding, haggis, egg and 6 halves of toast). This was delicious and also managed to have a couple of yoghurts and couple of glasses of milk and orange juice also. After feeling satisfactorally full I went back to my room, lay in bed a bit longer, grabbed my stuff and checked out just after 9am. I had a nice easy ride to Wick going at a fairly pedestrian pace and got there at around 10.30. I still had 2 hours until my train was leaving so went to a cafe and got a macaroni cheese with jacket potato followed by a 'large' tub of toffee ice cream. I then went to the Co-op next to the station and got my final meal deal of the trip - a tuna and sweetcorn sandwich (good energy food for marathon), crisps and water. I got to the station just after 12 (half an hour early) and the train staff were telling me I should have had a reservation for the bike and might not be able to fit it on if other passengers that had bike reservations were to show up. Thankfully there were no other bikes so I secured the bike in the designated bike area found myself a seat. It was yet another stiflingly hot day and was a relief when the train finally got moving letting a breeze in through the window. I then discovered the train would stop at Thurso despite ending up in Inverness, so I could have just stayed in Thurso and got the train there ha ha. Anyway the train ride was really nice (not many passengers so I had a whole 4 seat table to myself, also went passed the amazing section of coastline between Helmsdale and Golspie again this time even closer to the beach and even saw a few seals on the beach!!!). After finally getting to Inverness at around 5.20 there was more uncertainty as to whether I would be allowed on my next train with the bike with the train staff again saying I should have had a bike reservation. Like before I explained that I had contacted the train company before getting my ticket who explained to me that a bike reservation was not needed. They disagreed but again let me on as there were not many other bikes boarding my train. This journey was another pleasant one with plenty of seats and the train passed through the Cairngorms National Park offering spectacular views of snow-topped mountains and forests. After getting off this train there was thankfully only one more train to catch - from Perth to Edinburgh. No train staff asking about the bike this time as I simply changed platforms and boarded the final train. On here I met a couple of other older male cyclists and we shared cycling stories - I told them about my past week and my London to Prague ride last year and they told me about some trips they'd taken around the Himalaya's and trips about europe they had done. Their bikes (one in particular) was a massive beast of a touring bike (very similar to Mark Beaumont's Bike) and when fully loaded with everything for a major expedition would have probably weighed 3 times more than my relatively light road bike (10 - 11kg). This conversation seemed to make the journey pass much faster and I was soon getting off the train in Edinburgh. I met up with my Dad on the platform who had very kindly agreed to travel up from London to support me on the final challenge of the marathon, and we headed off to find our hotel. The Hotel was easy enough to find and thankfully close to an Italian restaurant and there was a Sainsbury's local on the way for where we would be walking in the morning to get to the marathon. There was a bit of a performance checking into the hotel as we had to knock on another hotel opposite to be given the keys for this one. Anyway we were shown to our room and told breakfast would be served by 7am. The room was pretty awful and shower didn't seem to work so I gave up and got changed to go out for my meal (my dad later discovered a little pull cord above the toilet that turned on the shower). So we headed out and walked the short distance to the Italian restaurant. I ordered a carbonara and dad ordered a Calzone pizza. The waiter gave me ravioli and my dad another type of pizza. So after waiting a little while we were served with the meals we had ordered and they did turn out very nice and good portion sizes. Then got a desert each and asked for the bill. We left shortly after and went back to the hotel and straight to bed.
Reviews
Meals ;
Breakfast - 10/10 - it was included in the price of the £30 room and was good size and good quality.
Brunch (cafe in Wick) - 8/10 - good service, decent value, pretty good food and reasonable portion sizes.
Dinner (Italian restaurant in Edinburgh) - 8.5/10 Although we were served the wrong meal to start with when the correct meal did come it was really nice and a good size. Also excellent value (around £33 for 2 main courses, a beer, 2 deserts and a coffee).
B&B (Annfield House, Edinburgh) - 3/10: Decent location and was allowed bike in room otherwise poor - dodgy shower, breakfast late, a performance booking in, and extortionate marathon price of £82.50 for 1 star room for 2 people for 1 night).
Lessons Learned
Insist on getting a bike reservation when ordering your train tickets, check train route before leaving (could have avoided a 25 mile cycle).
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