Day 7 started off with another car park donation, this time from a lovely chap who had seen us cleaning the bikes the night before and thought it crazy what we were up to. This was followed by some American tourists who also deemed us crazy, “maybe even as crazy as them”…as they were going off to the local golf course – pure mental stuff!
So the next up was the Forth crossing which we were all looking forward to. Unfortunately when we got there the cycle lane was closed. Not great when the alternative is a rather long detour so we decided to try our luck and were promptly informed by bridge staff that the cycle way on the OTHER side was still open…phew!
Cue the expected photo shoot on the bridge! The old and new…bridges that is!
Our first food stop was for breakfast at The Earn in Bridge of Earn. Though the cake selection was tempting all members of the team ignored their sweet teeth and went for some delicious cooked breakfasts instead.
Back on the road the team hadn’t gone far (round Perth and climbing past Scone Palace to be precise!) before some placard bearers were spotted at the side of the road. This turned out to be more member of team Gaffney – Louise and her girls – who had popped down to cheer the team on!
After some delicious toasties (the folk at The Lair very kindly continued to serve lunch after they normally stop to fuel up the riders) it was on to the main climb of the day – to the Glenshee Ski Centre. With two Inglis vehicles now in convoy there was no escaping the cameras, as Dave and Malena played a game of leapfrog with the riders, snapping away at every opportunity.
The climb started gradually and kicked up to 12% at the top with very little wind to cool the riders down, but everyone made it up safely and into Aberdeenshire!
The day ended with a fantastic, speedy run down into Braemar to meet the rest of the DDK team for a brilliant BBQ. It was excellent to see everyone and the effort in the prep, execution and clear up was very much appreciated – thank you all!
Oh and congratulations to Caroline for winning the inaugural DDK sack race…you sure showed those kids how it’s done (though that technique was amazing!)