A sunny morning for our pretty half mile stretch out of town, past big homes overlooking the valley below.  A quick jig in the road and we were on a converted railway track.  The next five miles was a quiet, flat, tree covered and flower lined path, protected from the wind.  It would have been perfect had the odometers decided to stop working, one at a time.  For 45 minutes we struggled to troubleshoot the problem; considering we had just replaced the batteries we were at a loss.  We finally decided to continue blindly.  By the time we emerged from our secluded path, the clouds had built and there was a coolness to the air.

A quick drop and we were by the sea on Scotland’s “Gulf Coast Road”.Without the tree projection and our westerly turn, we felt the wind full front.  So though the road was flat, the ride was not without effort.  Once again, the tide was out,most dramatically illustrated in the small harbors.They take full advantage of their daily dry dock, by getting some work done.The day was getting grayer as the clouds thickened, casting a dark parlor to the homes.We could see the city in the distance, just could not seem to cover any distance to get there.  One wrong turn was quickly corrected by Marshall; the redirect took two minutes, Jerry trying to understand thick Scottish (more like Japanese) accent took another twenty.  Once back on course, we passed a monument to those that died in both World Wars, more parks and flowers and a canal draining out with the tide.As we got closer, we could see that the flat bike path and boardwalk we were enjoying would not carry us into the city.  The dark clouds that had been building were starting to spit at us on our three mile trek uphill into the center of Edinburgh.  We reached the hotel door just as it started to pour.  An hour later the rain quite, so a bit of housekeeping, maps, batteries, laundry, etc. after all, one must do something while waiting for laundry to dry.  Still quite overcast and grey, so will tour this impressive city tomorrow.