F-f-f-freezing cycle (W)

It was only a 20 mile round trip to and back from the in-laws, but boy did we pick a cold day to do it: the thermometer read -13C when we set out and was at -11 when we got back just as it was going dark.




Route and elevation data from Trailguru

Around the Seymour River, North Vancouver (B)

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A 10 miler along the trails at Lynn Canyon and the Seymour River tracks in North Vancouver; some snow, but trails easily passable at lower levels.

Dabshead Hill from Lauder (B)

We'd originally done this walk about 4 years ago, before WBH was thought of. Neither of us could really remember it, so it seemed like a good idea to refresh our memories. From Lauder, the route goes through the grounds of Thirlestane Castle (..I wouldn't like to have to heat it....) and up to Wanton Walls, then over the increasingly moor-like ground up to Scoured Rig. Braidshawrig is as far out into the wilds as you get, then it is back towards Bermuda and then across the hill to the summit of Dabshead Hill with the angle pinnacle of rock on top.



From here, Lauder looks miles away, but is only about an hour or less through the woods and back along the same route through the Castle grounds. The Flat Cat Gallery provides excellent coffee at the end of it as well (plus some oddly-named Toffee Lumpy Bumpy Cake, which despite the name was delicious....)


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Heriot-Garvald loop (W)

With the shorter days and lots to do around the place, it's been a while since we have been out on the bikes, so this was a couple of hours out one Sunday afternoon to blow away the cobwebs.



It's a long climb up to the spot where the new windfarm at Carcant has been created (with the grand total of three turbines....go figure) and the wind was blowing in the wrong direction for a really speedy descent....


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Selkirk and the 3 Brethren

What with the start of a new year, the usual start-of-term colds and various other things, it has been a month since we got out. Still suffering with the tail ends of a horrible cold, we thought we'd go for an easy 10 miler around Selkirk, with a climb up the 3 Brethren.

From Selkirk and the 3 Brethren

It was cold and *really* windy on the top (blew my coffee out of the cup!) but worth it for the views as always.

I continued to long tradition of losing stuff on walks - the green MEC hat is somewhere roaming the Borders countryside and not in my backpack where it should be.....

Kidlaw: denied

Well we had planned a round trip that would just skirt over the western edge of the Lammermuirs, coming back down at Kidlaw, but a sign at Tolishill informed us that mountain bikes were not welcome, so we had to about turn and then bailed out over to Lauder and then back over the Common to Stow.



Still proved to be quite a challenge on a cold and definitely autumnal day!


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The Cheviot: walking to England (B)

Our route started deep down in the Bomont valley; little did we realise that it had recently (July) been flooded again (this less than a year after terrible floods last September). Evidence of the damage caused was still very obvious as we drove down the valley to the starting point just above Sourhope farm.

From The Cheviot

The gradients were reasonable gentle, the paths good and we soon met up with the Pennine Way, crossing int England along a fantastic paved footpath that stretched almost all the way to the top of the Cheviot.

From The Cheviot

Our luck with the weather ran out on this final ascent as it started chucking it down (or more precisely 'across' as the rain was horizontal). Walking over much of the top without a view (Hound of the Baskervilles springs to mind....) was not great, but the views opened up again as we descended alongside Hen Hole (or 'Hell Hole' as I kept calling if it.....)

13 miles round trip in some spectacular scenery. Never been walking down in this part of the world before, but will be back.


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Jeddart Justice Trail (W)

The Jeddart Justice trail is one of several that start and finish in Jedburgh: 40km of natural tracks... so we thought we'd give it a go....

From Jeddart Justice Trail

Once you find the start (...!) it is a great trail that meanders around side roads and paths then has a sharp descent down Dere Street. Second half of the trail is really overgrown and in places was just not rideable at all; coming down overgrown paths where you cant see the ground makes for interesting cycling. It is hard-going too - not like the manufactured and manicured trails around places like Glentress: this is wet and muddy all year round (my bike looked and smelled like it had spent time in a swamp at the end of it!)

From Jeddart Justice Trail

Link to route map : http://www.jedforesttrails.org/thejusticetrail.pdf

Melrose and windmills (W)

Another route from home, this time down towards Stow and the windmills at Longpark. Long haul up out of Stow, 600 ft in a mile, which I think works out at a constant 1 in 12 for a mile....

From Melrose and windmills

The road goes very close to the new wind farm at Longpark; they are huge, elegant and bit spooky, all at the same time....

From Melrose and windmills

At Langshaw, we thought that a bit of a detour down to Merose was in order, so off down there for lunch. The route back to Lauder included a welcome stop for coffee and then into the hills to try and link Threeburnford with Middletoun; we did it (just) but the track was very well hidden ....

Brockhouse-Haltree (H)

A bit like orienteering on horseback, this was a route to try and connect up farm tracks from Brockhouse and Haltree.... which we managed (just) after sneaking through wheat fields, hiding from the farmer adn jumping the odd burn here and there..... bit of a trek, but well worth the effort.


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Pitlochry 2009 (W,B)

Two days fun around Pitlochry: first day was a cycle away up into the hills on the Atholl Estates land, all the way out to the Allt Sheicheachan bothy (new picnic tables since our last visit).

Saw our first adder up here, on up the path towards Beinn Dearg, warming himself (I think it was a male) on the path before slithering off into the undergrowth....

From Pitlochry 2009

The path follows the burn, rising to 650m: I defy anyone on a bike to be able to ride the last 200m as it climbs up about 1 in 4 on loose scree around hairpins!! But what comes next makes all the uphill worth it.... Over 10km of continuous descent on rough tracks, splashing through numerous fords, bouncing down over loose stones.....

From Pitlochry 2009

Second day saw us back on up Beinn a'Ghlo, trying to beat the rain that was forecast. We skipped out the final ascent of Carn nan Gabhar as its top was lost in mist by the time we got to the col just below the final climb up to it. Wind on the ridge was really dtrong, making it feel much more exposed than it really is!

From Pitlochry 2009

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Deliverance (W)

I couldn't face spending the whole of my birthday working so took myself off to Glentress to tackle Deliverance and Redemption climb on the black route.



Deliverance is a long long descent, rough and narrow but not too difficult (or so I thought on this particular day....!) The climb back out is a leg-sapper, meandering up through the forest seemingly for ever....

Glad to have survived my first bit of the black route!

Clovenfords (W)

In a bid to not lose the fitness we acquired when doing the Western Isles cycle, we've been trying to get out at the weekend as often as we can. Having lived here for 7 years, we'd never cycled through the Moorfoots down to Innerleithen, and that was where this route took us today. It's a steady climb from the Heriot road end and then down all the way to Innerleithen, and along the back road to Ashitiel Bridge.



From here we went up to Clovenfords, and then back home on the west side of the main A7 (should have turned off just outside Clovenfords to avoid the mile or so on the A7, but guess who had lost the OS map during a coffee stop.....)

40 miles in about 3 hrs.



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(W) Gladhouse

This started off as a failed attempt last week on the bikes - wind and rain turned us back. So today, we thought we would extend a short ride over to Middleton with a bit of off-road on the way home.... turned out to be rather steeper and harder going than we thought, crossing a few fields on sheep tracks before the climb up to about 1500 ft.



The route took us from Heriot up to Shoestanes, then past the back of Falahill to the B road at Middleton. Then through the lanes keeping left until we got to Gladhouse. At Maudslie, we left the road and headed across the fields to the ridge, eventually meeting up with the B road to Innerleithen again.


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