Day 7: Holyrood!!

We made it to Holyrood!

(Sorry for the finger photo bomb, but I took the photo whilst cycling to the front door of parliament, and was struggling to hold my phone, which I then dropped..)

It was a tired but happy party that cycled up to the front door of the Scottish Parliament. We were 2 minutes early for our revised appointment with Liam Kerr, Scottish Conservative MSP on the committee for Net Zero, Energy and 

Transport, and we hadn't yet had lunch,  which ended up being a bit late. 

We had joined the NCN cycle route 1 again out of Inverkeithing in the morning, which took us easily to the middle bridge over the Firth of Forth. Crossing the Firth was an exciting highlight of our journey, and it felt like a significant event on the final day, and our entry into Edinburgh. I've never crossed the Firth by bike, and it's great to have the quiet of the bus, bike and pedestrian bridge to do it on. 

Although the third bridge is another impressive feat of engineering, I feel that the building of it does signify an unacceptable increase in the volume of traffic. Plus the materials used in its construction required a huge amount of resources, and who knows the effect on the sea bed. 

Travelling across the Firth on the middle bridge, we had the impressive red painted steel rail bridge to our east, started in 1882 and finally opened in 1890, and the majestic Queensferry Crossing cable-stay motorway bridge with its long white cables to our west. It was started in 2011 and completed in 2017. The Forth Road Bridge is now designated a pedestrian, cycle, bus and taxi crossing. It was started in 1958 and completed in 1964 and was the fourth longest bridge crossing in the world at that time. 

We took our time cycling across, savouring the experience. The kids were busy looking down towards the water (a long way down) and counting the number of lion's mane jellyfish they saw. 

And inspecting all the padlocks hung with memories at a couple of points on the bridge - luckily not enough to add significantly to the weight on the bridge!

On the other side we left NCN1 for a bit to follow the coast east from South Queensferry. Passing through the cobbled streets and boutique shops and cafes of South Queensferry we realised we hadn't really had an adequate breakfast from our selection of food in the morning (rice cakes and jam - the hotel wasn't serving breakfasts because of COVID), so we stopped for cake from a lovely bakery with a tantalising selection. 

OK, so maybe the funny mirror was more entertaining than the cake selection!

But the cakes were delicious!

The coastal route was a great diversion from NCN1, with its coastal views across to Fife and car free cycling. 

It did result in a bit of time pressure, and we then only had one quick snack break as we approached the city. Negotiating the traffic in city centre Edinburgh wasn't too onerous. The cycle route is well labelled, and we seemed to achieve a bit of respectful distancing from car drivers. Probably a curious sight - two mums with bike trailers and loaded bikes with four children sandwiched between them,  also with loaded bikes, all resplendent in hi vis.

After arriving at the Scottish Parliament, exuberantly, we barely had time for a bit of snack before Liam Kerr arrived to meet us. It was an excellent meeting and discussion about sustainability issues,  and he listened carefully to the children and the particular points they wanted to raise. Freya talked about the need for less cars and lower speed limits, and better cycling and walking opportunities, Olly talked about the need for more trees and the importance of plants, Heather talked about the destructive nature of plastics in the environment, and Lente talked about the food we eat and where it comes from,  how it's packaged. Liam Kerr carefully considered each point and asked questions and made his own observations. He told us that he had raised the issue of not being able to take his child's bike on a bus in Aberdeen a few years ago with the council, and that subsequently buses have started taking bikes as long as they fit in their luggage area. He also told us he had just come from seeing the construction of a hydrogen powered train at Bo'ness. He said he would take the points and the message from our journey to the committee for Net Zero, Energy and Transport when they convened to start their work in August. 

We had barely finished talking to him when Emma Roddick arrived, SNP MSP for the Highlands. She had been in Edinburgh for work and was happy to arrange to meet us here. It felt fitting to round off our journey with a discussion with one of our Highland MSPs. She was extremely positive about our journey and agreed with all the points the children raised on sustainability. She said that the UK government control food trade, so that isn't a subject the Scottish Parliament has much control over. But sustainable travel is a subject she fights for. She is in a very good position to do this as she doesn't use a car. It's a subject that generates difficult discussions in parliament, as there are a number of MSPs who are very attached to their cars. She was very active in the setting up of Spaces for People in Inverness. She said she could raise a motion of support for our cause and our journey in parliament. She was extremely encouraging towards the children and it was a pleasure to meet her. 

Meeting Emma Roddick and Liam Kerr outside Parliament.

And finally we could have lunch.  Although the lure of the pools outside parliament seemed to take priority over hungry stomachs..

And as we were eating and the kids were mucking around in the water, Philine spotted Raghnaid, Maeve, Lachlan and Calum Archie Sandilands walk by. So then there were seven Farr children mucking about in the water as if they were happily up at Loch Farr in their natural habitat!

It seems strange to have cycled all the way to Edinburgh and then not to actually be able to spend much time here. The rail return is mainly responsible for that, and I really hope that is something that can be improved on by the Net Zero, Energy and Transport committee. Philine, Lente and Heather have managed to book two bikes on the Newcastle train on Sunday, heading for the ferry and have been joined by Paul for a family weekend in Edinburgh. We head north in the morning - also facing the risky business of arriving at the train station with three bikes when we only have two booked. We'll see how that goes!

Kristina