Keeping the wheels rolling...

Both days of the Weekend were spent cycling around the village of Pencaitland with friends, Saturday Mike and myself played on a few jumps in the woods which the local young BMX riders have made while Dave, Brian and Jason went off for a loop around some local trails...

Being a bit hungover Mike took some pics as i stretched the legs on the Super V,
i prefer jumping a hardtail MTB but this jump was good and could get a bit height...


Then the local BMX kids turned up as we did a bit filming,originally i was just making a wee film for Flickr;



Then with the help of the kids and there tree climbing we made a film for them...



Good to see kids still building tracks and jumps in there local woods and riding bikes, It must be be 4 or 5 generations since the early burly bikes of the 70s like Raleigh Grifters and choppers then BMXs and later MTBs made doing this fun...
When the Guys returned we rode to Daves for coffee and biccy`s, and then i had my first shot of a recumbent bike!...pretty hard but i found if you relaxed it got easier,turning round in the street was the hard bit...


Sunday i picked up Paul and returned to Pencaitland to meet Trevor for a XC ride. Leading them out to Humbie most of the tracks were very soft and we were walking a few uphill, Near the old Muir Road there is this memorial to a past Farmer...


After more mud and 2 miles road to Penston Farm, with its derelict buildings and this statue of the Border`s shepherd and poet James Hogg...

You can read more about this Statue and the poet and Peaston Farm over here at my new blog; No Through Road

Offroad from the Farm on we emerged from a very soft grass trail and down to this Ford on the County border were we washed our wheels...


A big old Beech tree beside the ford has had plenty visitors...

One was a few years ago...

After all the slogging through soft trails the lovely scenic trail to Humbie, Once this was a main Thoroughfare (road). Pity there was a tree down slowing the descent, at least the ford wasnt that deep. i did a wee film...



The climb up from the ford was a slog even walking being very wet but there was no rush,you can see here in the pic the old sunken way with its walls and tree lined Beech trees which would have probably been a hedgerow years ago, Beach were planted to help with drainage as they take in a lot of water-not enough today!

A wee breather at the top...

Then from Humbie to one of the best bits of Singletrack in East Lothian...

A bit slow being wet and leaf covered but still fun. here again a wee film of part of the Trail...



And here we stopped by the river for a bite to eat,lovely here on a hot summer afternoon...

Folk have been coming here camping and hanging out around here for years...


A push up a side trail and we headed towards Saltoun Woods but by a route i memorised on the map-of course the map was in the house!.
Too soft in places we walked the bikes through the Bracken and got onto the disused Railway line that once went to Gifford,i havent been along this section and we rode mostly and sometimes walked the wet bits through cuttings.The Rails are long gone but there are still signs of its use,here concrete posts and gate from a level crossing between fields,the third one in a mile...

Trevor has a book on this line which was closed in the late 1960s and pointed out as we neared the road that this wooden platform had been Humbie Station...

Think i will research the line and photo what remains today and try ride it on the pugsley before Springtime and put a post on the other blog. It would make a good cycle route without a lot of work,
Time to blast down hill on the road and head for the pub for a couple of pints with Mike too in the warm pub.
Been a bit of a slog in places today made worse by an increasingly cold wind.
At least we all saw some nice stuff we hadnt noticed before and will need to return again soon...