Singletrack magazine recently published some trail routes in the Cheviot Hills on the eastern Scottish/English Border, the route was on the English side but looked a good days ride, having ridden the Cheviot's by bicycle and more so by motorcycle in the 1990s i was interested in these routes,
friend Andrew posted a proposed MTBscotland forum ride on the Hard route, i suggested joining the route from the Scottish side which would give us a shorter drive, and although a hard climb to join the route we would get a great descent to finish,the route was agreed and date set...
Sunday and Andrew myself and Tom who kindly offered to drive us all down to the Cheviot's where we parked up deep in the Bowmont Valley and started our day from Cocklawfoot Farm,
roll the pics...
Cocklawfoot farm, tarmac road end and start of Clennel Street behind...
climbing to the border gate...
up up up...
yep were going up that!...but will be returning down it too!
breather here...
faces say it all!...
passports out... Englandshire ahead...
at the Border Gate- Windy Gyle...click twice on picture and read the bottom sentence,us Scots we were devious at times!...
hanging out at Windy Gyle...
The Cheviot itself behind appearing from the low cloud...
3 MXCRs...
descent down Clennel Street...
new bridge...
push up to Kidlandlee Forest...
Kidlandlee Forest...
out the forest and sun making a warming appearance...
1st of 3 nice descents with small climbs on the way down the valley to Alwinton
heres some film of the Descents from Windy Gyle to Alwinton village...
into Alwinton and we got a pub lunch and a pint...
in the village was a cool old bus...out for lunch for the day...
it was getting warm as we left Alwinton village and rode east on several Bridelways...
them my chain snapped!,this is the first time ever i have had a chain snap in years of mountainbiking!
chain fixed we continued...classic sign worth stopping for...
seems alot of signs and notices in England...
fields of sweet corn...didnt see the jolly green giant though -:)
onto some tracks and trails again to join onto Salters Road...
great scenery...
Salters Road in on the ridge on the skyline ahead...
a bit more riding to get there...
onto a farm access road which joins Salters Road...
enjoyed a cool breeze on the tarmac descent under big skys...
our nieghbours in Englandshire like there notices!....
onto Salters Road and a quick descent led to this Massive climb and again push...dont remmember these steep bits when i used to motorcycle here years ago...
previous descent behind...
up up up...
top of the climb and soft going on the level...
then another lovely descent to the valley floor...
alot of gates today...
another new bridge...
soft going through the peat again...
then we met the new road which the landlord had mentioned back at Alwinton which would take us up through the woods which were notoriously muddy before...
big skys...
the new road is on top of the old trail...
this view brings back memories, the boggy climb back out to Clennel Street, not now though,hard trail all the way...
it was still steep and loose now and a trial on tierd legs and bodys...
lots of flys...better than midges!...
out the forest and we rejoin Clennel Street with a short climb to the Border Gate at Windy Gyle...
a lovely glow of evening sun over the Cheviot to our East...
and a fantastic view north of the Scottish borders and the Descent that awaits...
here is a film of the descent on the Scottish side of Clennel Street from Windy Gyle to Cocklawfoot...
that descent briefly made us all forget about the long push ups we endured on the ride...but it didnt really bother us we had to do that but that it wasnt mentioned on the guide...
if they had mentioned it then fair enough but they didnt,
if you write a route guide you have to be honest,this route dosn`t have a bail out option... as its a loop in a remote area, imagine travelling miles to get here then half way round on Salters road the weather turns foul and you have bonked and theres no phone signal....
and not alot of folk up there either...
and a lot of folk are unaware of the weather systems created on the Cheviots which wasnt mentioned in the article,it can cloud over to zero visability in no time and it never mentioned taking a map and compass and being able to take a bearing incase of low cloud or taking a survival blanket which are both mountain survival basic equipment...just hope no one gets caught out up there!, but we did enjoy it!,
i will sort out another epic ride on the Scottish side of the Cheviots which has a lot better climbing /descending balance which should again provide everyone with miles of smiles -:)
some stats from Andrews and Toms Garmins; can you see our wrong turn?
and check out the climbing man!
Overall
Time: 08:26:37
Distance: 29.90 mi
Elevation Gain: 4,038 ft
Timing
Time: 08:26:37
Moving Time: 05:08:06
Elapsed Time: 08:26:37
Avg Speed: 3.5 mph
Avg Moving Speed: 5.8 mph
Max Speed: 32.0 mph
Avg Pace: 16:56 min/mi
Avg Moving Pace: 10:18 min/mi
Best Pace: 01:52 min/mi
Speed
Pace
Elevation
Elevation Gain: 4,038 ft
Elevation Loss: 4,041 ft
Min Elevation: 507 ft
Max Elevation: 1,768 ft
A real "on the Buses" bus on it's way to the Hi de Hi holiday camp. Love it!!
ReplyDeleteJings!
ReplyDeleteI'm tired just reading about it. You must have been knackered........
tommy; haha yeah for real!
ReplyDeleteAl; was indeed knackered on monday!, day at work was just a blur and survival to hometime!
Fantastic ride out, my type of day! Much better the wilderness than trail centres I think.
ReplyDeleteHad a chain snap once in the Forest of Dean in 1999 on my P7, luckily I had a spare link and chain tool.
clive; i remmembered i gave my quick link to friend paul!, though i also had a spare rivet link, Tom gave me a quick link to save time!
ReplyDelete