Kielder Water

It's been a long time since I posted anyhtng here - we have been out and about quite a bit, it's just that most of the stuff is going directly onto my Garmin site.

This trip saw us heading down into England to cycle around the lake at Kielder. Linda came too, as she wanted to check out the terrain for the annual marathon that takes place there - she was thinking of entering. Was thinking of entering......but the track and surface put her off. It's quite an undulating ride, swoopy downs and short, steep ups, not too bad for a short distance but over the 27 mile loop it adds up to about 1500ft of climb. And the surface on the north shore of lake is pretty rough as well; loose stones. Great views and really interesting artwork on the way round as well; loved these chairs.

From Kielder Water

Someone (erm, me) had the bright idea of parking halfway along forest drive and cycling along to the water, around and back. Would have been fine, apart from the first 6 miles, a 700 feet descent on the loose scree of a forest logging road. There was no way we were all going to get up that after 30 miles around the lake. I did the decent thing and left Susanne and Linda three quarters of the way around to go and get the car; last 6 miles at 10 mph climbing 700 feet.

Arran day 7: final fling

The path that I'd seen on Wednesday, cut into the hillside at Glenashdale, to allow access up to the Giant's Graves, just had to be cycled. Before we had to leave to get the ferry home, I set off first thing in the morning for a bit of a spin before breakfast.....

Arran day 6: the west Glenrosa horseshoe

Our last day here saw us heading back into the hills, back up into Glen Rosa, but this time heading west at the Allt Garbh and around a magnificent horseshoe of peaks. The mist was back again and it was very warm and still as we made our way up the main climb to 800m. As we rounded the centre of the horseshoe, the cloud blew off the notorious A; Chir ridge leading to Cir Mhor, opening up some wonderful views.

From Arran 2010: Friday

The cans of Coke that we’d left weighted down in the river at the junction with the Glen Rosa path tasted better than the most expensive champagne…..

Arran day 5: Lochranza and the King's Cave

We’d done quite a bit of high level walking and cycling, but nothing around the coast. Today dawned very calm and still but misty, so we thought this would be a good day to prowl around the coast. We did two walks – the first around Newton Point at Lochranza, the second down to the King’s Cave (allegedly visited by Robert the Bruce) on the west coast of the island near Blackwaterfoot.

Deer patrolling around the village in Lochranza:

From Arran 2010: Thurs

King's Cave:

From Arran 2010: Thurs

Arran day 4: rest day (sort of)

Time for a bit of rest day today, so we did the tourist thing and went shopping. We managed a short five mile walk up and around Glenashdale Falls near Whiting Bay. Coming down via the Giant’s Graves (Neolithic burial grounds) we found a wonderful track cut into the hillside that simply has to be cycled (see Saturday’s post).

From Arran 2010: Wed

The biggest find of the day was Coast – a new restaurant on the seafront that served us a slice of carrot cake so large that it could probably be seen from space…..

Arran Day 3: Brodick, the hard way

After a long walk yesterday, my legs let me know that they would appreciate a gentler day today. Well, they sort of got that ....

From Arran 2010: Tues

Detours seem a great idea at the time, and on the map. We thought we'd warm up with a gentle roll along the bay at Lamlash to see what lay further to the north of the main strip of houses and shops. Part way down, we saw an inviting sign for a footpath to Brodick that was too much to resist. Problem was, it really was a footpath, and not really suited to the bikes, as there were fields to cross, stiles to clamber over etc.

We made it up to join the red MTB route up above Corriegills and then decided to take the hard route over the summit of Clauchland Hills. Bits of the ascent (...and the descent!) were completely unrideable, but we puffed and struggled along feeling like complete amateurs. The descent down to the Cnoc Na Dial car park was great though, weaving through the forest.

From Arran 2010: Tues

From here, we headed on the blue graded route through the grounds of Brodick Castle. It's all on very rideable tracks and forest roads, but there are some steep climbs up but also some great descents, particularly the one down into the lower reaches of Glen Rosa: a narrow sheep track of a path, plunging down towards the river.

From Arran 2010: Tues

From here, we headed back to Cnoc through Glen Cloy and then took the easy option home, along the main road to Lamlash (and even with a strong headwind, I still managed to get a speed warning from the windmill-thingy at the entrance to the 30mph zone...)

Not bad for an easy day...

Arran Day 2: Goatfell

I am always amazed at how some people think all Scotland's best walks and climbs have to reach over the magic 3000 ft to be any good. There is nothing on Arran higher than about 2800ft, but what a place for walking...!

From Arran 2010: Mon

We followed the popular path up Goatfell from the Cladach car park, through the grounds of Brodick castle and out onto the open fell. The last couple of hundred metres of ascent was tough going up a path that increasingly needed hands and feet, but at the top, the view of the ridges to the north and west were just stunning. The photos never do it justice...

From Arran 2010: Mon

From Arran 2010: Mon

From the summit of Goatfell we descended the ridge to North Goatfell and then up to the rocky prominence of Mullach Buidhe, before coming back down to the Saddle and looking in awe up at the forbidding eastern face of Cir Mhor.

From Arran 2010: Mon

From the Saddle, it is a long and steady descent down into the beautiful Glen Rosa which eventually joins the cart track that emerges a few hundred meters up the string road. It was a full 8 hours out but we'd only really scratched at the surface of what you can do up here.....

Arran Day 1: the Ross road (and a bit of Red

I have a new toy: a Garmin Forerunner 305 gizmo that records gps location, points, heck even heart rate if I want. It's an (early) birthday present, so I took it away with us for a week's walking and cycling on Arran.

From Arran 2010: Sat / Sun

First day saw us head out on the bikes from the place we were staying (that's it above - the fantastic Tim's Barn) near Lamlash and tackle the Ross Road. It rises to 950ft in 2.5 miles so it is quite a pull up, with great views back down towards the bay and Holy Island.



The route back from the south-west coast saw us tackle the forest road, which is...rather unsurprisingly a road, which goes through a forest. the downhills on the loose surface were tricky, especially at speed!

From Arran 2010: Sat / Sun

After this, I'd decided I'd not had enough, so set out to explore the red graded trail that forms a figure of 8 through Lamlash and Brodick. It is definitely red in places, and I managed to lose the track on the way home which meant a slight retracing of steps to get back to the centre of the figure of 8.



The road down into Lamlash is a screamer of a hill, and the sign at the entrance to the village flashed to tell me I was exceeding the 30mph limit.... nice.

To the Dod

We had been wanting to do this loop for a while, ever since we walked up over Dabshead Hill. Today, we got the chance on a bright but cold spring day. Our route took us from Lauder, through Blythe and on to Briadshawrigg, before climbing up to the highest point at the summit of the Dod and then turning back past Bermuda and returning to Lauder.

From The Dod

The route involved several stream crossings; too deep to cycle and so we resorted to a series of increasingly rickety bridges (presumably used for beaters and stalkers on foot over the grouse moor).

From The Dod

From The Dod

View The Dod in a larger map

Lynn Peak (B)

I was dying to get out on the trails around the Upper Lynn area of North Vancouver on my last visit over there. Seizing a few free hours before some work, I headed out early, leaving the car at the entrance to the park as the gate had not yet been unlocked for the day.

From Vancouver April 10

There wasn't a soul about. I hiked up the steep trail in perfect peace and quiet. The track is rocky and quite hard going once it gets going; it is similar to the Grouse Grind (though a lot quieter.....) and levels off as you get above 600m.

From Vancouver April 10

The snow line came at around 750m and the trail became hard packed with tramped down snow; fine to clamber up with sticks but would have been really hard going without. The summit view was fantastic, looking over towards Mount Seymour, the eastern edge of the cityscape in view what looked like miles below. I am told you can see the US on a clear day - not sure if I did.

From Vancouver April 10

Coming down the hard packed snow was like skiing. I made it back to the car in a little over 2.5 hours, but I was, as the locals say 'hauling ass' both up and down.

Map route : http://www.vancouvertrails.com/trails/lynn-peak/

First ride (W)

After having our Easter trip to Glentress postponed by the heavy snowfall last week, I was itching to try out my new Rockhopper SL Comp

From Easter Snow!

I took it for a spin around 'the loop',


View garvald in a larger map

through a river of snow melt and drifts as high as me.

From Easter Snow!

It flies. I can't wait to get it out on the singletrack.

Through the Easter Snow (H)

We got a huge dump of snow at the end of March, just a few days before Easter and once the storm that produced it (and felled a couple of trees in the garden) had passed, we took the horses for a plowter through the snow on a beautiful cold clear Good Friday morning.

From Easter Snow!

Susanne says that you've not ridden until you've tried bareback and I have to agree - it does wonders for your balance (and even if you do fall off, it probably won't hurt in the snow...)

From Easter Snow!

Getting back on after digging gates open was a bit of a challenge; less of the 'cowboy flying mount' and more of the 'launch forward onto the horse's back and flap legs to try and get on board'. Not pretty, but usually effective......

Around Cademuir Hill (B)

There are the first signs that spring might actually be coming, and today was no exception: bright sun but with a cold wind that reminded us that you still need hat and gloves up high.

This walk took us from the centre of Peebles out to the forts on the top of Cademuir Hill, complete with chevaux de frise, sharp projecting stones used as defense against attack from below.

From Cademuir

It was only about 6 or so miles round, but was a good climb with fine views from the top of Cademuir.

From Cademuir

Around the houses (W)

We're off to Arran in May, so we thought that with only 3 months left to go, we should start putting some miles down on the bikes, having only been out once (for a short ride!) since November.

So around the houses we went: along the back roads to Temple and Carrington, down Newbattle. From there, along the railway (mind the glass...) to Auchendinny, then a steep climb out to Howgate. Back along the Mount Lothian road, returning to Temple and then back along the main road.


View Pencuik railyway line in a larger map

Only 32 miles, but boy do your legs ever feel that after a couple of months off...

This is the elevation profile, starting at the railway at Bonnyrigg: the main climb are from Auchedinny up to Howgate and then from Middleton up to the Dug Inn on the A7.

Eildons in the snow (B)

For the first walk of 2010, we finally managed to break out of our snow-covered driveway and down to Melrose for a hike around the Eildon Hills. Or rather, over the Eildon Hills.





The snow was deep on the slopes up the steep side of Mid Hill, but the views from the top were absolutely spectacular, even in a biting cold wind and well-below zero temperatures. Coming down the other side was half falling, half sliding, but a lot easier than going up!