A cyclist has completed a mammoth 436-mile ride – on a Bike & Go rental bike.
Elliott Mestas, 27, originally from Lyon in France, embarked on the Coast and Castles North cycle route, cycling 366 miles between Edinburgh and Tain before heading down to Glasgow to meet family and going on to clock up a further 70 miles between there and Edinburgh.
Elliott was keen to cycle part of the country’s Route 1 which, in its entirety, connects Dover to the Shetland Isles.
But rather than fork out the cost of bringing a bike to Scotland from Geneva in Switzerland, where he is currently studying, Elliott researched bike rental companies in the UK and decided to hire a Bike & Go bike instead.
Elliott said: “I had been backpacking before and was looking for a new adventure, so when my friend said there was good cycling infrastructure in Scotland, it led to my decision to embark on part of Route 1.
“I couldn’t afford to bring my bike over, so I started looking into bike hire facilities which would allow me to rent a bike for a long period of time, as most companies stipulate that bikes have to be returned within a day which wouldn’t allow me to cycle along the coast.
“When I came across Bike & Go, and saw that users could return the bike to any of their bike hire facilities rather than having to go back to the station from which it was originally hired, I saw a way that my plans could come together. I contacted Bike & Go, explained what I was trying to do, and was delighted when they said they would waive the usual 72-hour bike rental limit and instead arrange for me to rent the bike for a 30-day period.”
During his nine-day cycle ride, Elliott took in numerous sights and sounds of Scotland, from the historic city of Edinburgh to the town of Carnoustie.
He said: “Scotland is such a beautiful country and cycling on my Bike & Go bike meant that I could stop any time I wanted to look at some of its many heritage sites.
“The team at Bike & Go were really flexible in catering for what I needed, while the bike itself was a great way of travelling along the route.
“People are often surprised when I tell them that I cycled such a long distance on a rental bike, but I wouldn’t have done it any other way.”
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
