Hi, allIf you’ve seen my Kalkhoff E-Bikes — Fan Of… #115 post, you’ll know that my wife & I recently got these bikes & are using them to explore the local area. As I’ll be taking plenty of photographs on the trips, I thought I’d share some of these with you
This is also my post for Terri’s Sunday Stills: Are You Ready for the Great Outdoors; the answer is a resounding Yes& Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Water Found in Nature.
Another long ride this week, 80km (50 miles). Looking on various maps, we’d seen that there was an old Tower House in Alloa, so we thought we’d head over to the other side of the Forth & go have a look. Our ride was the usual mixture of canal paths, National Cycle Routes & cycle-friendly roads.
As usual, we joined the Forth & Clyde Canal (NCR 754) at Lock 20 & headed east towards the Kelpies. It was a bright, still morning with some good reflections in the canal, plenty of flowers & even a Heron sunning itself in the morning sun.
From the Kelpies, we headed north on NCR 76 towards the Clackmannanshire bridge to cross the Forth. There were some great views from the bridge of the older Kincardine Bridge and the flood plain as a whole.
Once over the bridge, we continued northwest towards Alloa along designated “cycle friendly roads” where the cars are told to slow for oncoming cyclistsWe paused briefly to get some shots of Clackmannan up on the hill; Clackmannan Tower is just visible through the trees in the last pic (we visited there on the way back).
Finally we reached Alloa Tower.
It was now time to start heading back, with a quick sidestep to Clackmannan Tower. This sits up on the hilltop with commanding views over the Forth Valley & the Ochil Hills to the North.
On the way back we decided to return via the Kincardine Bridge & headed onto a coastal cycle path (very narrow) which took us under the Clackmannanshire Bridge.
A wrong turn near Kincardine happily led us to a perfect spot for lunch. This was next to a large anchor acting as a memorial for lost sailors & ships from the local area. Again, there were great views of the Forth & the Kincardine Bridge.
After lunch, we headed up onto the bridge & picked up NCR 76 to take us back to the Kelpies, link up with NCR 754 & back home.
…and finally — there is one downside to cycling in good weather, particularly if you have little hair on your head. Whereas my wife suffers from helmet hair, I suffer from helmet head. You can actually see the pattern of my helmet on my scalp where it has been shaded from the sun?
