At long last, our journey to the Kelpies was neither cancelled nor abandoned. Nor were any snooze buttons pressed on the morning of Saturday 21st November.

Though an excuse not to go again presented itself in the form of bitter winds and near-freezing temperatures, the sun was shining and there wasn’t a hangover to be sniffed so off Dave and I went.

Not shown: Wind chill -50 (and the clock is wrong obviously)

I quickly realised my gloves and runners were not at all up to the task as my hands and feet turned to painful blocks of ice within the first 5 minutes. However, orange-tinted cycling glasses made the world outside appear warm and fuzzy so most of my energy focused on convincing my body it was as warm as it looked. Crunching through icy mud puddles interrupted that illusion from time to time.

Snowy hills in Fife

We followed National Cycle Route 1…