Francis was riding an 80km Horse Endurance event on Sunday at Harestanes near Jedburgh, which we helped mark the course on Saturday which you can see pics of Here... cycling 25km of the 33km of loops that the horse riders rode according to the lenght of course entered.
I had a chance of a lift home from Harestanes near Jedburgh if i fancied a 50 - 60 mile cycle. I did not commit to anything on the Saturday and would play it by ear on the Sunday morning.
Sky was clear with big fluffy clouds floating by in the NW wind that was not as strong as fore casted as i rode non stop the 20 miles on country roads from Haddington to Humbie and up to Soutra Isle taking a few pics from the saddle as i rode...
Soutra Isle i planned a coffee stop but made it quick as it was a real cool wind blowing up there as i downed a cup of coffee and soaked up the views...
West and snow on the Moorfoots...
North to the Pentland Hills...
To the east and East Lothian. I look across to here from Whitekirk Hill at work, nice to see the return view today...
Some history of here...
Time to get some dirt under the wheels and head south, on what was once the A1 road into Scotland, built in the 1st Century by the Roman Empire...
Bit muddy here...
Soft going made it quite hard work on the narrow tyres - a Nate shod Fatbike would make easier work on this terrain and leave little marks of your passing...
The track keeps east of the clear fell up the hill here...
You could be tempted to go west through into the Wind Turbine farm...
But the tracks do not lead south to rejoin Dere Street...
So you will have to push along a fence line for a few hundred yards to this old Railway carriage turned sheep feed hut. From here you can take the track seen in the distance, or the correct line of the road which is over the stone wall...
There are marks of an old road on both sides of the fence and wall here...
I climbed up on the farm track until i reached an info sign. Trying this route is not much easier than the east side through the soft grass...
Before the wind turbine farm was constructed the route was easy to navigate and only had two fences with wooden gates, more complicated to cycle nowadays. It is quite obvious this route gets little use by walkers let alone cyclists. Shame horses cannot use it with the fences as for them the terrain would be easiest to cross...
End of the track at Kirktonhill Farm... time to take to some country roads to avoid the busy A68...
Here is this section of Dere Street on my old metric OS map...
The R38 on my map refers to route 38 in the Scottish Rights of Way Society guide book-a must have book if you like exploring old roads...
From Kirktonhill i cycled minor roads to Lauder...
Lauderdale countryside...
And Lauderdale mud!...
Tail wind meant for a good cruising speed...
After Lauder i took the road west of theA68 signed Blainslie...
I meant to take a turn off to pass Blue cairns and another track that would take me to Gattonside where a short ride past Melrose would rejoin the A68. I was riding from memory and of course my maps were all at home!...
Never mind as joining the A68 after Earliston the views were superb as we crossed the river Tweed...
Along the busy A68 i flew along with the tailwind so all was not bad at all, esp when i reached the finger post sign for Dere Street just south of St Boswells just before the A68 starts to climb and dip for 7 miles to Jedburgh...
View north from the sign of the Eildon Hills...
Running parallel to the present A68 the trail on the line of Dere Street was a welcome relief away from the busy traffic...
Time first for some coffee and malt loaf...
Some wet sections like this narrow path was near un rideable in the greasy mud, be fine in summertime...
Here i had to walk a bit, A pugsley with Nates right now would have been handy but would not have sat at 23-25mph with a tailwind while on the tarmac!...
The trail improved from here on as it slowly climbed towards Harestanes...
Derelict farm...
Straight road in Roman tradition...
The tower we were at on Saturday getting closer...
Down into the woods of the estate...
Did not take anymore pics as this was a lovely descent that i enjoyed after a ride here that was tough in places... will save this descent for a film sometime...
Into the field and Francis arrived with in an hour having been riding since 8.15am and rode the longest 80km route, one of only 2 riders to do so...
Aphrodites has a well deserved feed as her pulse is checked before the vet test and given the all clear.
Well done the pair of you! :)
Glad i was not late and miss my lift and have to ride home!, 58 miles with some off road was a big day out with tiring legs after a weeks holidays cycling most days. The Genesis Cdf is proving to be a great bike for days out like this. I think a bar change, gel pads under the bar tape, and a Charge Spoon saddle are on the wish list to this bike to make it even better for comfortable long days...
Here is a nice film of the SERC Harestanes 2014 endurance ride made by mngphotography
Funny seeing the `Horse cam` having cycled the route!
Francis is at 3.23 mins!
The Genesis is ideal for days like todays ride, and my Drop bar Surly Karate Monkey if the trails are a bit tougher.
Looking at my older metric OS Landranger Sheet 73 i could have if planned better do some more trails i marked up and rode 10+ years ago...
Plenty time to explore routes in the longer summer days,
A whole load of old trails to explore...
That's an epic ride. A lot more work than the mileage would suggest. Well done.
ReplyDeleteThanks Peter, As the marked up old map shows there is a lot more off road routes to ride here with some country road cycling
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