Story 14: A perfect sunny September Sunday

Deciding to head east for our Sunday cycle yesterday was such a good call. A bit of nostalgia, soaking up the sun, fighting the wind, mucking about on the sand, crossing the Tay Bridge and cycling past a guy taking his owl for a walk all contributed to what turned out to be another good fun day on the saddle.

We started off from St Andrews and it felt really good to be back there again - lowering the tone amongst the Toffs - following our daughter's graduation from St Andrews Uni earlier on this year. We didn't spend too much time in the town though and were soon out on the cycle path, battling our way through the really, really strong wind, on our way to Guardbridge and then Leuchars. The cycle path, that's part of the National Cycling Route 1, led onto a minor road in Leuchars and beyond, before we hit the trail path that took us through Tentsmuir Forest, which holds some pretty special memories for us. Our family have enjoyed a few running club trips to Tentsmuir in years gone by and it felt really good to be back in what was one of our favourite places to run and socialise with our Central Athletic Club friends.



Tentsmuir's gorgeous; it's a forest, with lots of trail paths and nice wee areas for picnics and barbeques, with the added attraction of being right beside the beach. Not only that, you come across the strangest things in Tentsmuir...



A man, taking his owl for a walk in the woods! Awesome!

After all that excitement, we couldn't resist a wee detour off the trail and down on to the beach:
 


And, of course, I couldn't resist a wee cycle on the sand too:

 

It was just as well that we'd opted for the 'old faithful' bikes and left our road bikes in the garage! One of my old pals from Uni has been suggesting that we try some 'real' off-road cycling and, well, yesterday it felt like we made a wee start on that! Forest trails, sand, rocks and general bumpiness made a good fun change from our usual smooth road, or cycle path, rides!

After Tentsmuir, still following Route 1, we cycled through Tayport. I've got some really fond memories of family holidays there in our wee touring caravan when I was little. I can't remember if we took my bike, but I like to think we did and that yesterday I was cycling along the same wee paths that I did as a child many moons ago! While I was reminiscing, Alex was admiring the boats:

After Tayport, it was a few miles further down the cycle path to the Tay Bridge. I can't begin to tell you how much I enjoyed cycling over the bridge. There was just something really brilliant about crossing the bridge (all mile and a third of it) on my bike. I've driven over it many, many times and always enjoy the views; yesterday was a perfect day to be sauntering across on two wheels (even though the wind was fierce!) and have time to really appreciate the scenery all around us.

 And, just when I thought it couldn't get any more exciting, there was more fun to be had in the lift at the end...

                          

We did indeed have lunch next to the Discovery (the last big wooden three-masted ship to be built in Britain) and very nice it was too:

The ride back to St Andrews was much less eventful and very much tougher than I'd expected. But, we eventually made it all the same:



I'm still knackered after cycling those 38 miles yesterday but I can't think of any other way I'd like to have spent that particular sunny September Sunday. It was simply made for another great fun and not-so-serious cycle.