Mini Tour of Scotland – Day – 4, The Big Hunt

Normally I would have brought my trusted bike for such tours. As you might know me going normal is not normal for me. And so I had a plan of either renting a bike or buying one second hand. There are many bike shops renting and selling used bikes in Edinburgh. Having a couple of days break before the start of conference gave me the opportunity to do the Hunt.

After 5 bike shops later I decided on buying a bike instead of renting. The Hunting also gave me the opportunity to experience public transport in Edinburgh and a wonderful way to explore and discover what she has to offer. Standard bus and tram fare is £1.70 per trip but you can buy a day ticket for only £4 and if will give you unlimited ride on buses and trams. That’s a great deal if you going to bus or tram around the whole day. One more thing, if you ever visit Scotland or U.K. and need a prepaid SIM card, get the Lebara one. For £15 you get 5GB of data for 30 days, unlimited calls whole of UK and unlimited calls to 44 countries including Malaysia. Wow that’s a fantastic deal. So far coverage is ok around Edinburgh but the big test would be when I head out to the country side.

Back to the biking. I took the bike out for a 40km spin the next day and it was a great day out as well. The weather was perfect and the sun was mostly out. I picked the route from Komoot with no expectation whatsoever. The start of the ride was along a nice canal and later on the way to the hills was not so great as it was mostly on busy country roads. However once I hit the hills, it became more interesting and challenging at the same time. And the view? Spectacular! I was rewarded with open fields and spectacular streams and rough country roads. Passed by at least 3 reservoirs and many many sheeps. I guess this would be a prelude to what my tour will be like. Can’t wait.

On the way home I stopped by a local pub for a light snack and beer. A pint of beer is usually around £3 or so. Not the cheapest but hey I am on holiday ain’t I ?

Back to “work” tomorrow. Will be posting another post when I start my ride out on 15 September. So stay tuned.

For route details check this https://www.komoot.com/tour/45960556?ref=itd