Blair Atholl to Perth

July 11, 2025

We are shocked by how quickly our trip is passing by. It took so long to get organized and plan it and now we are almost half way through. I mentioned last week we had a change of plans resulting in one week of riding less in Wales, and this week I have been working diligently to rebook rooms and modify our schedule. I have worked through most of those changes and feel like we know what we are doing now through Sept 3, when we arrive in London. We are doing mostly the same route but I shortened some riding days and added a few extra days off the bike in the Lake District, in the North Pennines National Landcape, and in the Border Region of Scotland. I learned an unfortunate factoid from this effort: booking many of the identical hotels in July rather than in early spring has cost us about 20 pounds more a night. (This has vindicated my mildly neurotic propensity to book early). Nevertheless, I am relieved we have a new, workable plan. The last piece was booking a train from Oxford to London on Sept 3. I had originally thought we would ride all the way into London as there are some cool sites on the west end of London that looked appealing, but I was dissuaded by some of you who commented on the challenges of riding in Southern England. The GWR train site was easy to manage but for some mysterious reason we can’t get our tickets online and have to pick them up at a designated train station beforehand. Strange.

But… we are still working on what we are going to do from September 8 to Oct 21, when we have plane tickets home from Munich. At this point, Dave and I still feel happy to be over here, and his knee is hanging in there (only occasionally giving him some mild trouble). Not to mention our house sitters Ann and Scott are having fun in Bend and I would hate to put a kabosh on their activities. We are mulling over plans and feel like it’s an opportunity to try something out of our comfort zone that we would not normally do.

Anyway, enough of that mental update.

Today we rode from Blair Atholl to Perth - a 62 km ride. Each day in Scotland has been different and interesting. And its green - have I mentioned that?

A narrow bridge over the the river Tummel.

Our lunch stop was Granny Black’s in Dunkeld and it was unexpectedly delightful. The owner Ian had just opened the tea shop this April, after five years of planning and remodeling the space. The building has been in his famiy for many years.

We enjoyed an excellent lunch and had a lovely conversation with Ian and his daughter about how his grandmother started this tea shop along with his renovation efforts.

We had to make a stop at the Tiso in Perth on our way in. These Tisos are taking on weird significance in our cycling world. This is the fifith visit we have had to a Tiso branch in Scotland - each time because we misplaced some item. (Yes, the slow but steady attrition of our gear is occurring and this time it was my ball cap. Yesterday at Blair Atholl we had a modestly sunny day and I couldn't locate the ball cap I carry for such occasions. I don’t have a clue where I left it - or when - as we haven’t had very many sunny days to contend with lately).

Jill and Melinda making good use of their bikes' walking function.

Afterwards we checked in at the Mercure in downtown Perth. Dave tells me that all the hotels run together in this brain but he remembers the last Mercure we stayed in (at Ayr) because of the “butt scootch.” Fortunately, we saw no sign of butt scootch at the Mercure in Perth. Nice hotel, pleasant room, but no a/c and the outlet situation was dismal again, with no outlets on either side of the bed. We were able to charge our bike batteries in the conference room where we stored our bikes, which helped.

This Mercure was built in the remnants of an old flour mill. Perth has had mills in the city since the 10th Century, owing to the River Iade, and the mill that was on the Mercure site dates from the 12th Century. The mills fell into disuse in the 1930s and then in the 1970s the site was remodeled into a hotel, using many of the original mill furnishings. It gives the hotel a lot of character - much more interesting than the usual standard Mercure.

The river Iade flows underneath the hotel and this water wheel remnant is next to a window on the floor which shows the flowing river below.

Remnants of the mill are scattered throughout the hotel.

That night we ventured out on our bikes to eat at Enzo, an Italian place about 1 km from our hotel. We had a hankering for Italian - or honestly, just for something different - so it fit the bill. The ride there was laughable as the main artery was blocked off for construction and we wound up riding 4 blocks on the sidewalk, going the wrong way on a one-way street. Nobody we came across seemed too bent out of shape over it. The restaurant was very loud but Dave’s hearing aids now do the trick as he can adjust them to accommodated for a loud environment. The meal was a great change. Three of us got aperol spritzes. These are not common in the Scotland countryside and since it was hot that day, they were especially appreciated. And the food, while not amazing, was good. We had a great chat with our server, Alisha and it was fun to hear what she was up to.

Melinda and Alisha hamming it for the camera.

Today's ride: 62 km (39 miles)
Total: 2,605 km (1,618 miles)

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Mike AylingDave, see my forum post about exercise for dodgy knees.
It has certainly helped me.
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