Day 10 done: Crawford to Stirling

The fact that today's blog is short and sweet is a testament to Ace's navigation skills as much as the relatively short incident free cycle. Now that we have seen each of our navigation styles it's fair to summarise: I am more a wing and a prayer man; Ace prefers specific road numbers; whilst Dicky prefers to outsource as much navigation as possible by pulling in as many ringers as possible.

All runners and riders enjoyed the varied and hearty breakfasts at the Homeland County House, which received top marks all round, and we set off at 9 am. We once again settled into the new found rhythm of a professional peloton. Mark Cavendish, if you are reading this blog you are free to join our newly formed team (All feel free to propose a team name via the comments feature on the blog).

We started to power our way through the Scottish countryside noting that the 'God's Country' refers to the beautiful vistas rather than some of the towns that we visited. The quaint village pubs from the southwest and the lakes have been replaced by breeze block pubs with shutter fronts. Still, the half cut locals have been very useful in navigating our way to our lunch stops.

Talking about lunch, today's stop provided a potential alarming insight into the world of Big Mike. The local butcher in Hearthill was convinced that Mike was an old customer that hasn't been in for a while. When Mike, unlike his normal self, terminated the conversion abruptly and speed off (pies in tow) Dicky was left visioning what might have happened in this wee Scottish town in Mike's formative years. All fears were allayed a few miles down the road when we saw Mike's car in a lay-by but without Mike who was scampering towards the nearest hedgerow due to nature's calling.   Scotch pies in bellies and the "professionals" were off.

At this point another editors note on the morphing into a professional peloton: hand signals. We have all developed our own interpretation of the signals that the Fylde Coast cyclist taught us. Ace has begun to resemble the umpire Billy Bowden on his pre-test match Wednesday morning cycle. Dicky has begun to invent his own, including the salute which means 'no potholes but I am top of the world'. I have been informed that I have begun arm-cartwheels for a row of potholes. I am sure Cracker could give an assessment of what this means on our personality.

At this point we had our one disruption of the day, a temporary traffic lights indicating a reduced one lane of traffic. When the lights went green we were presented with a poor team of workmen who had managed to wedge a telephone pool across the road and spent the next few minutes making a bad job worse (see Dicky's tweeted picture). All was redeemed when they commented "nice beard" as I passed.

Prior to navigating our way through the central residential belt of Scotland we arrived in West Shieldhill. Two funny points of note arose in this place. Firstly, we spoke to two locals who were admiring our bikes. They seemed impressed. Likewise, they seemed impressed that we had cycled from Lands End. The seemed puzzled that we were heading to John O'Groats. Maybe they thought it was the poor cousin to the Lands End To West Shieldhill tour. 

Secondly, when trying to direct Big Mike to our impromptu stop, Dicky displayed the symptoms of tiredness that sets in after a ten day tour. The award winning geographer directed Mike east out of Shieldhill to West Shieldhill. 

Big Mike left the peloton to ensure that Paul's first accommodation was a better standard than Dicky's last, leaving us to navigate the last few miles to Stirling. Thankfully we were not met with an irate Big Mike and we cruised in at 2:30. Still enough time us to discuss cattle farming and the difference between cows, bullocks and bulls after encountering the largest bull we have seen on tour.  All in all a Stirling effort. Boom boom!!!

Stats:

- Mile cycled: 61
- Total mileage: 729
- Funny towns: California, Bogend, Bog Way and Cockridge
- Beard and Barnett updates: less said about my beard the better. Dicky's has gone beyond the post-pubescent teen and is looking like a tramp. Paul is resembling a World War II spiv and I am waiting for him to start trading sugar and suet in the towns that we pass. We also have 'Beardgate' based on the fact that Big Mike is continuing to shave whilst on tour.
- Beers consumed on route: zero again...
- Times past a West Lothian sign: three

Richard Finn Beer contest: Light Orkney 6.5/10 and Dark Orkney 7/10

Final addendum to today's blog is a quick food update. As this is the last main conurbation before the End we once again opted for Italian. Unfortunately I was unable to find any Michelin starred restaurants and ended up in a traditional Italian trattoria.