Day 15 – Edinburgh to Halifax – 251 miles

Longest day in mileage terms today. We slept at the lower part of a bunk bed (a double sized lower), and woke with the alarm. Lena still suffering from her cold, she was slow to get started. I showered, did a bit of bike faffing, and when Lena was ready then her, Gus and I walked down Portobello High Street to the Bagel shop for breakfast.

An enterprise run by a friend of Gus and Heathers daughter, the bagel shop is apparently doing well in its first few months, and I can see why. Breakfast was great – I had a smoked salmon, cream-cheese, onion and caper bagel which was delicious, and the coffee was not too bad either. We walked back to finish our packing and say our goodbyes, and set of about 1030.

Portobello is right at the top of the A1, and so we were quickly on the route south. Motorway riding is boring, so today was mostly about eating up miles as quickly as we could. No major sightseeing or scenery to describe, though the sun was shining, the sky was blue and all was good in the world.

We got to Halifax late afternoon, and stopped first at Sandra and Richard for a cup of tea and a catch up. This was followed by a visit to Bens new place, a shared house right on the river in Sowerby Bridge – I am sure he will be happy there. Last stop was Span and Priya, our destination for the night. We changed and then walked down to a family favourite restaurant, Temujin, where Ben and Jemima joined Span, Priya and ourselves, for a nice meal and good family times.

This is our last night on the road – tomorrow we saddle up and head home, to get back to Jessica and the cats, our apartment and work. We will have plenty of time to reflect on this trip, but it has been bloody marvellous thus far.