lammermuir hills bikepacking....

seen alot of wind turbines last weekend...
an early rise saturday morning for a very big day out...around 60 miles approx as it turned out riding around 12 hours with 2 breaks...a bit too much really but when the cloudy weather cleared i just kept riding untill i reached lauder and returned on half of sundays ride to be camped by 9 pm back in east lothian...
on with the pics...
road ride to haddington then a short bit of trail to the site of famous scotish poet robert burns house and up by road to bolton...



then offroad to gifford on the lovely old right of way...one of my favourites when ridden the opposite way down from gifford...

then from gifford it was up through yester estate to danskine lodge and up to the crossroads...


the OS map shows a trail west of here off the minor road to garvald village...

along the south side of donnaly resovoir...the short descent down looked promising...and was fun...

but alongside the resovoir was a waist hieght nettle infested bike-a-hike...and i had 3/4 shorts on...ouch!

it was wet underfoot underneath and although some evidence of pedestrian use it wasnt much fun-oh well be ok in winter on the pugsley i suppose...
wiping my stung shins with dock leaves soaked in the cold resovoir really did work...and eased the throbbing and i followed the twin track through cattle fields to ride through garvald village...

and another favourite trail to stonypath tower...


then a short roadride stopping for some jumpy race horses to deuchrie farm...nestled in below the rise of lothian edge and the lammermuir hills...

note the "no through road" on the sign...for motorists but also means "once a main thouroughfare" and it was once a joining link route to the famous Herring road from dunbar here in east lothian to lauder -a market town in the scottish borders...once salted herring packed in barrels were transported by pack horses via this route,also other traders and peddlers and drovers used the route...an estimated 20,000 people trampled this route every year-hard to believe today...i would meet only 2 walkers later on the southern upland way...
the ROW signs...and gun happy redneck locals?...thats been a steel ball 12 bore BB cartridge for wildfowl!...

past the farm a track leads east...before the "leauge of gentleman" house!...

gets a bit faint but leads uphill for a bit bike-a-hike...

you can see the climb here...

and leads to above halls farm and the proper start of the herring road...

great views north over the seaside town of dunbar and across to the bass rock and isle of may island`s... another hike-a-bike to the top and onto watch law...



here on the climb up you can see the grooves cut by pack horses over 200 years ago...

and ahead crystal rig windfarm...i love windfarms...





what wasnt very nice was discovering the old route of the herring road that took a grassed over hardcore road to beltondod farm has been by-passed and re-routed over soft grassy marshland-dry in this drought but garaunteed to be swamp in winter for around 4 miles!...it was ridable but quite hard going...

signs say this is temporary..hopefully once construction of the windfarm is finished we can once more ride the old route which is all still there...
i was last up here in slushy snow and nearly bonked in freezing conditions...what a contrast today!...
at the ruined beltondod farm there is still this old 1970s raleigh...it was in the outbuilding in good condition apart from flat perished tyres around 5 years ago...now its been dragged outside and appears to have been driven over...should have lifted it back then...

id had enough of trampling through uncut grass and worse shredded branches which pinged up and hit your shins and took to the old pylon maintenance track down to the minor road south of johnscleuch farm at the old white foot bridge...

good to get some speed again!...its a fast downhill blast on the twintrack to the minor road...


before the road a grassy track leads to the whiteadder resovoir on the east side of the whiteadder water avoiding the tarmac...



still on the route of the old herring road it was a grassy and stony twintrack past a lovely old stone and ruin to the border county line on a minor road near killpallet...



and we leave East Lothian...

and enter the former county of lauderdale now encompassed in the borders region...

uphill again on the old herring road...again see the pack horse grooves...it was hike-a-bike halfway up...

looking back down above killpallet farm you can see the hieght gained climbing up over lamb law....

after midday now i stopped for a break sheltering out of the strong north easterly tailwind in a grouse shooting butt, and boiled water for a cup-a-soup then a brew...could have slept here out the wind in the heat of the sun...

with a crest to ride over it was a nice freewheel down to the dye water at trottingshaw farm...
riding down between bog cotten and buttercups...



this is why i love the lammermuirs,like the cheviots there beauty is in there remoteness rather than there scenic granduer...apart from around the southern upland way long distance coast to coast footpath which crosses the hills from lauder in the south west to cockburnspath on the seaside eastern end of the hills you often meet no-one...and a day like today the sky here looks so big...
this is mountainbiking...

from the dye water the climb over scar law...look at about 2 o clock on the skyline you will see 2 cairns..thats where were heading for...

and descent to watch water...

where we join the southern upland way (SUW)...

now climbing up to the twin law cairns on the SUW...

getting closer...

and finaly the trig point and cairns of twin law...


the trigpoint is maintained by gullane walking club,the nextdoor village where i grew up and worked when i left school...part of a poam to the cairns...erected in memory of two brothers killed in a battle near here who fought on opposing sides...

stunning views south over the merse of Berwickshire to the Cheviot hills...

and south west to the Eildon hills and behind the Tweed Valley...

i signed the visitor book...

then headed for lauder on a more or less steady 4 mile descent on stony twintrack and grassy ways...see the track centre of picture...

another old stone at a gate..indicator of an old throughfare...



time for a tangfastic break before a short climb...


more of those big skys again...

and a flat out blast down this track...where i over shot the SUW turn off...

which led through a farm and this old disused postbox...

i had missed a nice short descent to braidshawrig but it didnt matter...nice to go somewhere new...and i knew where i was when i popped out at the roadside at blyth...

a mile west on the road and i rejoined the SUW at newbigging wells...and the nice but short descent into lauder...


after 5pm in lauder and i bought a filled roll...haing been riding since 7am and done around 50 miles i was feeling pretty tierd...esp in the heat out of the wind...
lauder is a typical old market town with 2 adjoing streets from when there was markets on..just like haddington back home in east lothian...

i should have headed for somewhere to set up camp but it wa
s just too nice weather to stop so heading north out of lauder i discovered some of the old railwayline is now a path...


an old railway trackside hut...still here as made of railway sleepers...

the trail ran out as the old railway route was ploughed in and a uphill hike-a-bike over blackchesterhill led to a minor road descent to oxton...



no stopping now and i crawled up the minor road to channelkirk farm...with the roar of the busy A68 below i had no intention of camping around here and despite draining energy had decided to camp in woods near humbie backin east lothian...
the views west and east here south of soutra hill were stunning in the early evening light...


i was heading for an old road once alot more important than the present A68 road..once the M1 into scotland for the roman empire...
dere street...


this section is short but you do see the lines of the road...
i have written about dere street before when i crossed the cheviot hills riding one of the longest preserved sections of this 2000 year old throughfare...here again windfarm building has made it a bit of a nightmare to get onto the route of the road and so i just took to the hardcore tracks...


looking south you can see the undulations of the old road...

passing fenced off friendly pigs...

the route was used in later times by monks as it comes out beside soutra aisle hospice and sanctuary...



with stunning views north over edinburgh...

and east to east lothian...

now i was starting to feel a bit fumbly and tired...time to head to camp...down the road from soutra and heading for humbie village...glad to pass this sign..back in the homeland...

sun was dropping now...so was i...

shadow bivvy man...

just outside humbie this trail leads into woods...and an ideal bivvy spot for the hammock...

by the time i put up the hammock my pasta was ready on the trangia and after i scoffed it down i was in my hammock when i realised i was so tired and occupied with stuff i hadnt taken pictures of the camp..so i apologise for that as once fed just wanted to sleep...feeling shattered but happy at the days riding...i awoke at 5am sunday morning needing a wee and me being me once awakw im awake so packed up and was home on empty roads for a long hot bath just after 6am and then slept until 11am!,
as i said the handlebar camera was crap and the footage all bouncy so here is some film of views taken with the cannon compact...

biking the lammermuirs...haddington to lauder from coastkid71 on Vimeo.

some of the views biking from haddington in east lothian offroad via the lammermuirs in the scottish borders,part of a bivvy trip....

on holiday soon 2 weeks and doing alot of this stuff for 2 weeks...riding from home for 2 or 3 days...then home to chill a day or two...not going away far this year...and relised so much to explore on our own doorstep...so despite alot of walking i will now hone my kit for the holidays out and about...