Dunferline to Leith

July 15, 2025

Our plan was to leave Dunferline at 10 am which is a nit early for us, because Dave and I had bought tickets to visit the Royal Britannia Yacht in Leith, a port town just outside of Edinburgh. Dave and I were booked into the Holiday Inn Express in Leith, down the street from the yacht exhibit. Eric and Melinda were going to drop their rental bikes off and proceed into Edinburgh where they were staying at the Premier Inn before their flight back to the US the following morning. We would see them that evening however as Melinda, in her last dinner-booking duty, had reserved a table for four at a place called the Witchery, that sits at the foot of Edinburgh Castle.

While we were packing up outside we met Chris from Cheshire. He and his wife were staying in the same hotel. He asked us lots of questions about how we travel on the bikes - and he was very impressed that we were doing it. That made it easier to suit up and endure the day’s weather!

Chris and Jill trading cycle touring stories.

And Chris took shot of the four of us all bundled up and ready to roll.

I had said a few days ago that the ride out of Kinross (the first hour of riding we did as a foursome) was pretty bad, but that the last thirteen days had been excellent with very little rain. I now have to rescind that comment, because we had pretty serious rain for the first hour and a half of today’s ride. We were close to the urban area of Edinburgh so the first part of the ride was messy. We had to negotiate a lot of all towns, cobbles and then rain. We rode over the Forth Bridge, which we had also done (traveling the other direction) more than two weeks ago on our way to St. Andrews. The wind wasn’t quite as gale force-esque as it had been then but it was raining - and based on the cross wind coming from the east, I could tell that once we turned east to head to Leith we woud have a stiff head wind.

Rising from the gloom and looking like masts and sails from gigantic ships, the bridge loomed.

The bridge we used for crossing was considerably less dramatic, but delightfully free of traffic.

At one point after the bridge crossing Eric suffered a slow-motion fall but he caught himself before it was serious: Eric and Melinda ride without clips so they can hop out more quickly in the event of a fall (or potential fall). It helps that they are unfailingly cheerful and positive. Happily, the route I had cooked up many months ago peeled down to the sea. We had a substantial amount of gravel but it was great to be away from the traffic and the trees sheltered us for some period of 4 or 5 km next to the ocean. The rain diminished at this point and we felt quite happy, it was our last ride together and it was exciting.

As we emerged from the forest and began our ride along the coast, we spied these intrepid golfers, undeterred by the wind and rain.

We had hoped to arrive in Leith before 1 pm so we could have a quick bite together before our 2 pm tour of the Royal Britannia Yacht. Weirdly, the tea shop most convenient to the Yacht and our Holiday Inn was called Irish Dudes. We found it without difficulty (thanks Komoot) and our pro-Irish host (we think he was Irish, although he lived in New York for 13 years) proudly sold us Irish crisps (chips to Americanos) with our wraps. As a meaningless aside: Scots don’t do potato chips (crisps) well at all. It is not the unusual but forgettable flavors as much as the texture of the crisps. Crisps are a regular part of our lunch routine and we have endured a fair amount of cardboard-like and tasteless crisps since being in Scotland. On the other hand, Irish crisp-makers seem to have the hang of creating a quality crisp and we enjoyed the crisps offered by the Irish Dude - so much so that Dave got up and bought a second bag (we typically share one). The only downside to the Irish Dude place was there was no toilet, a bit of a crisis for me. I had been so cold with the rain that I never stopped along the way so by the time I got to Irish Dudes I was in serious need. I even walked outside to determine if I could locate a convenient bush to step behind, but the neighborhood was just too fancy to resort to that.

We determined after our quick lunch that we had time to ride to our Holiday Inn which was 500 meters away in order to try to check in before our tour. That turned out to work out well. They had a room available at 1:30, we could park our bikes in the hallway the staff uses (cleared beforehand) and we had time to quickly move our panniers upstairs, and change our clothes. I was wet and cold and very relieved to have time to do this. We ended up with a very favorable view of the Holiday Inn Express in Leith. I should add, sadly, that the price of this Holiday Inn was $336 which honestly slayed me. When I booked it in the early spring it was $309 which I thought was ridiculous and then the precipitous slide of the dollar added the extra $25. However, I learned that $336 was a heck of a lot better than what we would pay 5 km away in the City of Edinburgh, which is very expensive, especially this time of year.

We walked over to the Royal Britannia exhibit. You have walk through the Ocean Terminal Mall to get there. This is a new shopping center, which is part of redeveloping and revitalizing the the Port of Leith. I like walking through shopping malls about as much as I like a hole in my head but it was only a few minutes of pain and it was mildly (but only mildly) interesting to see what Scottish stores look like. (Not much different than in America, actually).

The exhibit was an A; a really interesting, well-presented view of the history of the Royal Yacht, which was built in 1953, and indeed the furniture and layout suggested an elegant, faded, but still nice interior. Queen Elizabeth and the Royal family took an annual cruise to the Western Islands in Scotland for two weeks and the Queen once said it was the only place she could truly relax. The suites of the Queen and her husband Prince Philip were very modest (each having their own but connected sleeping quarters along with twin beds), and there was only one bed on the ship that was a double, and it was a true double, not a queen or king bed.

The visitor is greeted with a wall of commemorative photos showing the royal family and their use of the yacht.

The crowning glory of the Yacht was the large and magnificent dining room and Queen hosted many famous dignitaries at dinners through her long reign: Mandela, Obama, Reagan, Clinton. The yacht walls were full of photos of these occasions

The formal dining room hosted state dinners and is still in use today for special events.

One of the most interesting episodes in the Yacht’s history was its participation in rescuing 1000 civilians stranded in Aden in 1986 during the Aden Crisis - a civil war between rebel factions and the government of South Yemen. There were many pictures of the sailors helping refugees escape.

In short, it was an intimate, interesting window in the lives of people that live in the public eye.

That evening Dave and I Ubered into Edinburgh to meet up with Eric and Melinda for what turned out to be a bit of a blow-out dinner at a famous place, the Witchery. It was so named because it was the site of 2500 witches that were executed in the medieval period in Edinburgh. Charming. I had my first Rob Roy cocktail (delicious but so full of alcohol I was spinning a bit after only one) and Dave and I shared a lamb Wellingon - which we are still talking about two days later. A worthy final dinner before we sent Eric and Melinda back to the fires in Central Oregon.

Dessert is served. (Special thanks to Eric and Melinda for this shot as well as several others I've used to document our time together in Scotland.)

Eric and Melinda kindly agreed to carry a few items back to the US for our grandson, Nick. I had spent the previous days shopping for a few items suitable for a five-year old; there was a Highland coo included (a stuffy only, not the real McCoy, but very cute) so those items got handed over during dinner. We said our goodbyes and were already brainstorming next year’s trip together.

Today's ride: 37 km (23 miles)
Total: 2,746 km (1,705 miles)

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