I’ve not done any distance cycling since last year. This morning my better half was due to return from conferences on the left coast, so we arranged to meet up with friends for lunch in Stirling. The sun was shining, the rain was elsewhere and I’d had 5 hour’s sleep last night (and about 2 the night before, not counting several hours in an alcoholic stupor* on that afternoon. So how could I resist this opportunity?

Here’s a map of the route.

And here’s a routelist:

1. Head east on Lynedoch Pl Ln toward Drumsheugh Gardens
   102 ft
2. Turn right onto Drumsheugh Gardens
   236 ft
3. Take the 1st right to stay on Drumsheugh Gardens
   0.1 mi
4. Continue onto Rothesay Pl
   0.2 mi
5. Turn right onto Douglas Gardens
   115 ft
6. Turn left onto Douglas Crescent
   0.2 mi
7. Douglas Crescent turns left and becomes Magdala Crescent
   0.2 mi
8. Turn right onto W Coates/A8
   Continue to follow A8
   Go through 1 roundabout
   7.0 mi
9. At the roundabout, take the 5th exit onto Glasgow Rd/A8
   0.3 mi
   (To be honest, doing 360° around Newbridge Roundabout didn’t appeal to me, so I walked across to the junction with Lochend Road.)
10. Turn left onto Lochend Rd
    0.9 mi
11. Turn right onto New Liston Rd/B800
    Continue to follow B800
    (I stopped here to aid some MAWILs** who had a puncture and didn’t have a pump.)
    0.5 mi
12. Turn left onto B9080
    Go through 1 roundabout
    7.8 mi
13. Turn right onto High Port/B9080
    0.1 mi
14. At the roundabout, take the 1st exit onto High St/A803
    Continue to follow A803
    Go through 11 roundabouts
    7.5 mi
15. At the roundabout, take the 3rd exit onto Bellevue St/A803
    (Thanks to Google Maps not having a cycle-route option and my wish to avoid all routes taking me onto the motorway, I lost an annoying amount of time, momentum and endorphin-high to walking through Falkirk’s town centre.)
    0.2 mi
16. Turn left onto Kerse Ln/A803
    Continue to follow A803
    0.3 mi
17. Turn right onto Vicar St/A803
    423 ft
18. At the roundabout, take the 1st exit onto Garrison Pl/A803
    Continue to follow A803
    0.3 mi
19. Slight right onto Cockburn St/A803
    Continue to follow A803
    Go through 2 roundabouts
    1.2 mi
20. At the roundabout, take the 2nd exit onto Stirling Rd/A9
    Continue to follow A9
    Go through 7 roundabouts
    8.8 mi
21. At the roundabout, take the 2nd exit onto Borestone Crescent
    0.2 mi
22. Turn left onto Weaver Row
    0.1 mi
23. At the roundabout, take the 2nd exit onto Torbrex Rd
    Go through 1 roundabout
    0.4 mi
24. Turn right onto Cedar Ave
    0.3 mi
25. Turn right onto Springwood Ave
    0.1 mi

I set off a little after 9:30 and arrived about 13:10. Assuming 45 minutes total stoppage, that’s around 3 hours in the saddle for 36 miles. I’m happy with that.
*Two pints of Peroni and I was floored with rotating-universe syndrome.
**Middle-aged woman/women in lycra. So I’m a MAMIL. So sue me!