20-Milers Extra to Aberdour this coming Saturday

 Hello all.

We've got our third Extra of the season coming up on Saturday (22nd). We'll be heading to one of our more popular destinations, albeit one that we haven't visited since before the pandemic.

As I'm sure you know, these Extra rides are longer than our usual runs, with a faster pace and fewer stops, although we still aim for a sociable atmosphere. If you find that you can easily manage our usual 20-mile runs, Saturday's ride might be a good choice. But if you sometimes struggle to keep up on our usual runs, you might prefer to give this one a miss.

Route and destination

For this ride, Alan will be leading us over the Forth Road Bridge and along the Fife coast to Aberdour. This is a very nice route with fine views of Edinburgh across the Firth of Forth. The total distance is about 34 miles. There are a few moderate-to-steep hills, but these are all fairly short and easily manageable. On past rides, we've had to put up with some rough paths on this route, but I'm pleased to say that most of these have now been tarmac'd, so the going should be reasonably smooth.

Lunch stop

For our lunch stop, we'll head to the Silver Sands beach. This is officially known as "Scotland's Riviera", and while that is undoubtedly an exaggeration, there's no doubt that it is a very attractive spot.

For this ride, you can either bring a picnic lunch or visit the Sands café which is right on the beach. This offers a good range of sandwiches and other snacks, but it can get very busy on a nice day. If you want to avoid a long wait for lunch, we suggest you go for the picnic option. There are plenty of places to sit on the beach, and there are also toilets there. (And we'll have comfort stops on both the outward and return legs.)

Meeting time and place

The ride will start at 10.30 from our alternative meeting point at the Craigleith path junction - see here for directions and a map. The ride will finish at Craigleith mid- to late-afternoon.

As always, there is no need to let us know in advance whether or not you plan to come along.

And, as always, please remember to bring a spare inner tube plus whatever tools (if any) would be needed to remove your wheels in the event of a puncture.

Whether or not we see you on Saturday, our next 20-mile run will be on 12 August. I'll post details of that ride nearer the time.

Mike