It rained all night and I woke up quite early, but knew the first job to do was mend my two punctures. I found a dry barn next to the campsite and methodically mended them. Both were “snake bites” caused by the tyre catching on the rim on potholes, probably where I hadn’t kept the pressures high enough. I pumped the tyres back up to 100psi to counter this – I will need to check them regularly.

Eventually I managed to pack up the wet tent, and my other, mainly wet, stuff and get on my way. I stopped in the bike shop in Dunkeld, in the unlikely event they would have a 24×1 (520-25) inner tube. Its a very obscure size and the metric is very important as 24″ can mean 540 which won’t fit, as I found out last year. Needless to say they didn’t – it was a shop majoring in fat tyre MTBs. I did buy a new puncture kit to be on the safe side. The bells of Dunkeld Cathedral were ringing (as it was Sunday) and not much was open, only the bike shop, co-op and a coffee place – so I had no choice but to have a coffee before I became too wet. It was a deli type place and I spotted the perfect beer for my dinner tonight, Due South, so I shopped early.

I was then on my way following the NCN77, it ducked around the town until it popped up under a bridge next to the Station. The road surface around the station and car park was terrible all rutted and broken up. Ironically there was a big national cycle network mile post in the car park, which was about the only place you couldn’t cycle!

I pushed the bike out towards the cycle path along the A9, and as I started cycling something didn’t feel right. I assumed the rack had come loose again, but it was worse. My seat stay had developed a crack which meant it would wobble laterally, this had happened a few years ago and I managed to get an emergency welded repair. I chanced upon an aluminium welder in Poole during the ride, and cost me £20 and a hour delay!. I had bought a new one for my trip to the North Cape, but I’m not light and fully loaded must put some big stresses on the seat post. At this stage it was only a crack, and I knew from last time (when it actually broke) was probably an easier repair if it didn’t snap. I needed to make a decision, Dunkeld bike shop didn’t really seem to offer a solution, it was Sunday and the rest of the town (and Scotland) was shut, but I was right outside a railway station that could take me somewhere bigger (or home!).

I knew that if I got on a train, my end to end ride would be over, so I decided to cycle to Perth which was 15 miles away. I could always push the bike there if needed.

I headed off, standing where possible, and minimising the load on the seat post. The terrain made it easier and I was able to sit down and pedal gently on the quiet lanes of Perthshire. The Perthshire countryside is really like Surrey or Sussex and I saw my first highland cattle (just as you would in Sussex!).

Downhill was the hardest as I had to stay standing but without the saddle to control all the weight of the panniers. Uphill was OK, but slow and gentle, this allowed plenty of thinking time to devise a plan. At the first bus stop (obviously it was still raining), I tried to strengthen the area with zip ties and start Google-ing bike shops in Perth. At this point a bus passenger turned up to wait for a bus, (this was a first!) and I had to tidy my stuff up to make room for him. The bus turned up promptly, two minutes later, and normal service was resumed.

My emerging plan was, buy a bike, transfer my luggage, racks etc over, then fold up and mail my old bike home, simples. Sunday in Scotland is much like it used to be in England, a lot of things are shut and its much quieter. Luckily Perth has a business park with all the big names, who ignore this tradition, including a Halfords. A quick look at their stock, and a trawl through reviews over my sunday lunch (in a KFC), lead me to think a Boardman Cyclcross bike might be perfect for continuing my journey. Sports Direct provided another big bag and Booking.com a good value hotel. Abandonment has been avoided!

I couldn’t sort everything out on a Sunday, so will leave tomorrow and will need to make up some of the lost time. I planned to gain a few miles each day. I went back to Halfords and bought the bike, the chap behind the counter was really helpful and said no problem to help on Monday morning to get the bike together. I bought a cheap karrimat to provide some packing materials to protect my bike in the post. I had a room in the Station Hotel, which sounded central, near post offices and taxis, so I cycled into town (standing up). I was hoping there would be a nice big canopy over the entrance to provide a workshop to dismantle my bike, but had to do with a big door way.

I disassembled the bike making two piles, one pile of things to send home and one pile of things to put on the new bike. With everything in two (just about) manageable bags I headed for the hotel and tried to go through a revolving door, for a comedy moment.

I checked in, and sat down with the beer I’d bought earlier. The bottle of “Due South” was really apt for the moment and abandonment had been avoided. There were a few hoops to jump through tomorrow morning before I would be on my way, but they all seemed manageable.

I tried to work out a plan to make up the time. It is possible on a smart phone but just fiddly. The method I use is 1) use Google Maps to suggest a route (the cycling one does seem pretty good) – but choose a longer distance than you want. Then 2) check ukcampsite.co.uk using a very handy radius tool to find campsites (that meet your criteria). Pick on those that are closest to your route and look at the reviews, or their own websites. 3) Refine the route in google maps, and copy out the google website “url” from your finished route webpage. Then, 4) the magic, in gpsvisualiser.com it’s possible to convert that url into a gpx file for use in satnavs. 5) I’m using (although it seems it is using me) OsmAnd+, which, if the gpx file is copied to the correct place, provide a visual route and voice commands. The voice commands, with an ear piece, is my plan for navigating through urban areas. This is to support my paper maps which work well once you are out of town, but don’t offer much in very populated places. Tomorrow I need to get around Edinburgh Airport and through Livingston, so time will tell!