Borders - Cycling worth celebrating

The quiet roads and trails of the Borders have definitely become my quick getaway in recent years, especially since the Borders Railway opened. I can jump on the train just minutes from my front door and in less than an hour be cycling through rolling hills and pleasant Borders towns. This summer saw a couple of trips there with my friend, Graham, at either end of the season.

At the start of summer, we had a weekend of great cycling based in Jedburgh and spent the first day stringing together two short loops close to town. Of course, they were interjected with coffee and cake on the main street! Our first loop headed south out of town on a skinny back road that climbed steeply into the countryside. We turned off onto a farm track which soon became a narrow footpath overgrown with summer grasses and wild flowers. 

Before too long we popped out onto rough track again and found ourselves on Dere Street, the old Roman road. It originally ran from Hadrian's Wall to Edinburgh and still cuts a clear line for much of its way through the Borders. We pulled up to ponder the past and the thousands of footsteps that must have walked this way over the years. The afternoon air was hot and thick now and filled with the sweet song of the hedgerow yellowhammers.

Every north-south road out of Jedburgh must be steep because our second loop, to the north this time, took us up another crazy climb to join the single track routes and forest trails of Lanton Muir. But what goes up, must come down and we finished that day with a sweeping descent back into town. 

These short loops of the first day limbered us up for a longer ride out of the nearby town of Hawick. We cycled out on the Craik road and came back via a wonderful unclassified road that contoured round Chapel Hill, opening up great views. The closed gates at each end were unusual for a public road and clearly inhibited any traffic from coming along here, so we had the place to ourselves.

We made another cycle trip to the Borders, at the other end of summer. On a sticky, hot first day we simply cycled away from our front doors and headed south through Whitecraig, Dalkeith and Bonnyrigg, gradually leaving the city and its suburbs behind us. 

A stiff southerly made the climbing through the Moorfoots more difficult than it need have been and we even had to pedal hard downhill to reach Innerleithen before the cafe closed.

Back roads, forest trails and farm tracks then took us east and, with a degree of difficulty, we found a place to pitch for the night just as the light was fading. Of course, it's perfectly legal to camp wild in Scotland but nonetheless, Graham and I prefer to find a discreet spot where we think nobody will see us. We failed that night. 

As we settled at our picnic bench to make supper, vehicle headlights approached along the track that we'd pitched beside and which we'd thought would be secluded. As the vehicle pulled up beside us, I thought the local farmer was going to complain about our spot. But I was wrong. The farmer and his family had been out checking their fences and were delightful people to meet. We spent about an hour having a right good blether and putting the world to rights!

We woke next morning to tents and bikes dripping with dew, a sign of the advancing year and cooler night time temperatures. We'd only a short ride that day to pick up a train home from Tweedbank but a funny thing happened en route. In the middle of nowhere, along an empty country road, I cycled passed a perfect, unopened bottle of Prosecco, lying at the side of the road. (Prosecco, by the way, is the only alcoholic drink I like). Graham was a little way behind me so, although I thought it was odd, I didn't say anything and carried on cycling. A few miles further on, I waited for Graham to pull up alongside me and low and behold, had he not picked up the bottle of Prosecco and stashed it in his pannier!

A mad, fast-as-we-could-go last few miles of cycling saw us catch an early train home ahead of a band of heavy rain. As well as beating the wet weather, it left some time in the day to open the Prosecco and celebrate our summer cycling trips.

Fact File

More photos on Flickr - click HERE
Routes: First short loop out of Jedburgh used the Ulston road, Borders Abbeys Way and Dere Street. The loop to north climbed out of town on the Lanton road. At the top of the climb a forest track starts on the right beside a house and connects to forest paths and trails. Came out the far side of Lanton Muir and joined the Sharplaw road into town. The loop out of Hawick uses the quiet road through Wilton and then climbs on the B711. Turned left at Roberton towards Craik then turned south to use the road on the south side of Chapel Hill. For our second trip we used national cycle 1 south out of Edinburgh. Where it turned north towards Galashiels, we continued over the  Ettrick Bridge which is open for cyclists only and crossed over the A7 to Lindean, picking our way to Tweedbank rail station along the quiet roads.

Public transport: Borders Railway to Tweedbank

Information: I love the wee cafe in the little village of Lilliesleaf which is on the way back to Tweedbank. I think because it's such a surprise to find it out here but no doubt it's well used by hungry cyclists.