It seemed safer to bike across than carry over the stepping stones

Clive elected to go first and test out our theory, luckily it proved to be correct!

Drastic snow melt underway

This was totally white a couple of days ago under 6 inches of snow, now its more or less disappeared and the river is in spate with the melt.

More road flooding lower down with drains unable to cope with the melted snow, whats going to happen in the next two days though with more frost forecast? That could lead to some fun and games!

The bloody snow’s melting, that’s no good!

It was snowing where I took this photo but it was wet horrible stuff and lower down the hill it was raining and the snow and ice were starting to melt making biking on it more difficult

The bike parked under a tree while I waited on Clive as he was engaged in a phone call!

Stii good to be out on the ebike though, scaring the pants of yourself going down a sheet of smooth ice with trees on one side and a stone dyke on the other!

Perfect conditions for an ebike fitted with ice spikers!

The snowy Pentland Hills beckon!

This descent has a 10 yard section of solid ice which would be deadly with ordinary tyres, the grip with the spikers is phenomenal

some of the views today are not what we normally associate with Scotland but we'll take them when we get them!

Only one slight blot on todays fun was Clive putting a foot into the icee cold river crossing when he hit a bit of thick ice, he said it was an iceberg!

The ice spikers arrived and have been fitted, all I need now is ice....lots of ice!

I've fitted them both tubeless with hopefully enough sealant added to take care of any punctures, there actually was a small leak in one of them and I'm hopeful the sealant will have fixed that as it would have been so much hassle to send back, time will tell! I've started the 25 mile running in process on tarmac before testing on the ice which is forecast to arrive later this week, should be fun!

Watch this page.....ice spikers coming soon!

After pedaling up and down this section of rough ice and somehow not coming off I decided that with the winter still a long way to go I decided the quicker I had a pair of ice spikers on the ebike the better it would be for both me and the bike so a pair were ordered as soon as I got home. Hopefully they'll arrive tomorrow and they'll be fitted as quickly as possible!

A quick Pentland Hills ride before the snow storm that was forecast

The views were good but there was too much ice to go as far as I would have liked

Not a puff of wind if it hadn't been for the icy conditions it would have been perfect for a big ride with lots of photo opportunities into the bargain!

A wee bike ride to test out conditions.....

This normaly straightforward bit of track has been transformed by last nights snowfall and frost into a slope of pure ice ready to catch the unwary

A beautiful blue sky today but bitterly cold, the next two days are forecast to be "a pair of howlers" so I made the effort today as things dont look too good!

All is not bad news though,heres some snowdrops peeping through to let us know that the Spring will arrive....sometime!

The weather just isn’t suitable for mountain biking right now!

Tricky enough trying to walk on the icy surfaces far less cycle on them!

The hills look really beautiful and inviting but we're being warned against putting medical services at risk during this pandemic so maybe better to let common sense prevail just now!