Day 5 starts will a slap up Caledonian Hotel breakfast in Edinburgh. Service with a smile and nothing is too much trouble even finding us a tube of superglue to reattach the microphone baffle for my intercom.
It's about 9am by the time we hit the road having not had to pay for parking - ( ancient Chinese proverb say "car parks with passable barriers get no yen from bikers" ) Edinburgh traffic isn't too bad and we're off up Lothian Road and then towards the A68 and the Scottish Borders. It's not stunning countryside like we've been used to but it's pleasant and the roads are decent. It's kind of like coming out of Mordor and into the shire.
We're back in England and the next stage takes us into Northumberland National Park and the Kielder Forrest. Very picturesque and lovely sweeping roads. The GoPros are on and there should be some good footage. The weather is looking up too and spirits are high along with the speed of the cross winds!
After we've done with this particular National Park our planned route takes us towards Newcastle. A quick review and we decide to get on the A1 for a bit at Gateshead to try and avoid the frustrations of heavy traffic and speed restrictions. We're off at Jcnt 59 and heading towards Scarborough and Whitby. It's a great little stint with quick passes and open vistas. The sea comes into view on the left and we're off on the A169 accross the North Yorkshire Moors. Once again a great ride, great scenery and it's sunny and getting hot -21 degrees! Plenty of curves, blind summits and some roller coaster sections. We pass RAF Flyingdale which is part of the U.K's early warning system for ICBM attack.
The rest of the ride for the day is unremarkable and forgetful on the way down to Sheffield. This culminates in a very hot and bothered 40 minute slog through rush hour traffic. It seems that Sheffield traffic planners have decided to give priority at all traffic lights to the flow with no traffic on it. We get to the hotel and are greeted with a free drinks voucher - get in! Not much to chose from in the vicinity of the hotel for some food and we end up in an Italian just down the road. It's average fare although Trip Advisor would have you believe it's better. They don't even take credit cards - how very inconvenient!
Summary for the day is that we like the Northumberland National Park and the North Yorkshire Moors. 288 miles and some some great weather. Things are looking up for tomorrow too as we move to Wales.