Tweed Cycleway 2017
June 10th-11th 2017
145 mile ride (2 days)
The plan for this weekend was to ride the Tweed Cycleway, a recommended route which follows the River Tweed from Peebles to Berwick-upon-Tweed. To make train transport a possibility, I decided to do this as part of a 2-day loop, starting and finishing in Berwick. The first day was therefore riding around towards Edinburgh and down to Innerleithen, where we met the Tweed Cycleway for the second day.
Day 1 - Berwick-upon-Tweed to Innerleithen (via )
81 miles, 4,500 ft climbing
Leaving Berwick, we crossed over the Tweed on the middle of the stunning set of three bridges, and followed the route through the town and then inland a little. After just a couple of miles, despite having borrowed a friend's Garmin Edge 1000 to provide me with the luxury of navigation with base maps, we ended up off course by a mile or so. I thought I could easily navigate us back via a track to the correct course, but this turned out not to be a track, but rather the Scottish border! So we traced our steps back and eventually made our way onto the correct track, on the north side of the Tyne.
The route then followed the coast, albeit a little inland, in a north-west direction. A detour after Ayton out to Eyemouth gave us a glimpse of the sea and harbour, but it wasn't until the downhill (and heavily showered) approach to Cocksburnpath that a full coastal vista was presented to us, with beached and power-stations littering the coastline.
We rode down a long way, pretty much onto the beach and across a ford which was perhaps less threatening than it looked. After the ford was the usual post-ford steel slog, but once on top of the cliff the heavily undulating route turned fairly flat, following the A1 for a while, then a welcome turn-off onto a cycleway alongside some heavy industrial land (prettier than it sounds and laden with rabbits).
This carried us all the way to Dunbar where we left the coast and followed the A1 around to East Linton and then Haddington. After Haddington the main road was replaced by the lovely River Tyne, meandering along beside us. A couple of snack breaks were had whilst wending our way through the farmed countryside.
As our heading changed to south-west, the head-wind really picked up, and the number of towns and villages decreased rapidly. We soon found ourselves quite tired from battling through the wind, and wanting a lunch which we had not yet procured. My trusty base-maps were showing no sigh of a town en-route, and not willing to diver especially, we carried on along what I nicknamed "the never-ending-road" which was in fact the B7007. This climbed along the side of a wild moorland type hill, with fantastic views and a gradient of about 5%, extremely tough into the now roaring headwind. Not wanting to stop, we inched our way to the top, cheered on by some cyclists who had taken shelter and respite at the top.
Desperate for lunch however, we carried on down the hill, with the descent at a similar gradient but requiring significant pedalling due to the ferocious headwind and gust. Rounding a corner, we crossed a stream and the route flattened out. Still tough going and knowing some climbing was to follow, we decided enough was enough and it was time to stop for lunch! A grassy bank provided welcome shelter (and a few less welcome slugs) where the stove was brought out and a full meal cooked. I was certainly glad for the warm food and rest, especially when I spotted it was past 3pm...
Helmets (and slugs) on, we departed for what turned out to be the final climb for the day - a similar gradient to before, only not as long. By the time we had reached the top of this (and I had fished out three slugs from my helmet) I'm sure I'd already worked off some of our late lunch. Downhill was yet again challenging, but this wind-buffeted descent turned out to be all that remained between us and Innerleithen, our camping spot for the night.
As the scenery became lower and less-wild, the valley turned luscious and green, helped by the flowing river and long, flat golf-course. We cycled through the entirety of the course, then taking a typical sustrans tour of the town, before turning almost back on ourselves and finding our campsite.
Day 2 - Hay-on-Wye to Chepstow
64 miles, 3,100 ft climbing
Today we allowed ourselves a later start, waking up to a breezy, but bright morning. The campsite entrance was just a few metres from the Sustrans route (now the number 1, after extensively following the 68 then 196 yesterday), so it wasn't long after porridge that we joined the cycleway. We were soon following the River Tweed along, crossing frequently and enjoying the views across the valley. The trend for today's terrain was largely downhill but very undulating, but more welcome than this was the tailwind, particularly noticeable after we left Melrose.
The bridge immediately after Melrose was a lovely suspension bridge, with a timber-clad deck. This led onto a snack stop and a stone pavilion, in which were female statues, made of bronze or a similar metal. Climbing out of the river valley, the open countryside was characterised by many roads turning at right-angles, making our route zig-zagging in nature, but still very pleasant and green.
Lunch was had at the conversion of two such roads, on a mown grass section which represented the 50-mile mark. Very soon after we crossed the river on a delightful stone bridge at Norham, entering England for the first time today. Just five miles later however, we crossed back into Scotland on a unique chain-bridge!
Our final crossing back into England looked rather familiar - and indeed it was! This happened to be the exact spot of our misadventures at the start of Day 1. Now sure of the way, we used the breeze to help us back into Berwick-upon-Tweed and the end of our journey. A small cafe provided us with some huge and very tasty fruit scones, which fuelled us the last couple of miles to the campsite and another very timely arrival back where we had started from.
Times
Total time: 12:02
Total distance: 145 miles
Total climbing: 7,600 ft
145 mile ride (2 days)
The plan for this weekend was to ride the Tweed Cycleway, a recommended route which follows the River Tweed from Peebles to Berwick-upon-Tweed. To make train transport a possibility, I decided to do this as part of a 2-day loop, starting and finishing in Berwick. The first day was therefore riding around towards Edinburgh and down to Innerleithen, where we met the Tweed Cycleway for the second day.
Day 1 - Berwick-upon-Tweed to Innerleithen (via )
81 miles, 4,500 ft climbing
Leaving Berwick, we crossed over the Tweed on the middle of the stunning set of three bridges, and followed the route through the town and then inland a little. After just a couple of miles, despite having borrowed a friend's Garmin Edge 1000 to provide me with the luxury of navigation with base maps, we ended up off course by a mile or so. I thought I could easily navigate us back via a track to the correct course, but this turned out not to be a track, but rather the Scottish border! So we traced our steps back and eventually made our way onto the correct track, on the north side of the Tyne.
The route then followed the coast, albeit a little inland, in a north-west direction. A detour after Ayton out to Eyemouth gave us a glimpse of the sea and harbour, but it wasn't until the downhill (and heavily showered) approach to Cocksburnpath that a full coastal vista was presented to us, with beached and power-stations littering the coastline.
We rode down a long way, pretty much onto the beach and across a ford which was perhaps less threatening than it looked. After the ford was the usual post-ford steel slog, but once on top of the cliff the heavily undulating route turned fairly flat, following the A1 for a while, then a welcome turn-off onto a cycleway alongside some heavy industrial land (prettier than it sounds and laden with rabbits).
This carried us all the way to Dunbar where we left the coast and followed the A1 around to East Linton and then Haddington. After Haddington the main road was replaced by the lovely River Tyne, meandering along beside us. A couple of snack breaks were had whilst wending our way through the farmed countryside.
As our heading changed to south-west, the head-wind really picked up, and the number of towns and villages decreased rapidly. We soon found ourselves quite tired from battling through the wind, and wanting a lunch which we had not yet procured. My trusty base-maps were showing no sigh of a town en-route, and not willing to diver especially, we carried on along what I nicknamed "the never-ending-road" which was in fact the B7007. This climbed along the side of a wild moorland type hill, with fantastic views and a gradient of about 5%, extremely tough into the now roaring headwind. Not wanting to stop, we inched our way to the top, cheered on by some cyclists who had taken shelter and respite at the top.
Desperate for lunch however, we carried on down the hill, with the descent at a similar gradient but requiring significant pedalling due to the ferocious headwind and gust. Rounding a corner, we crossed a stream and the route flattened out. Still tough going and knowing some climbing was to follow, we decided enough was enough and it was time to stop for lunch! A grassy bank provided welcome shelter (and a few less welcome slugs) where the stove was brought out and a full meal cooked. I was certainly glad for the warm food and rest, especially when I spotted it was past 3pm...
Helmets (and slugs) on, we departed for what turned out to be the final climb for the day - a similar gradient to before, only not as long. By the time we had reached the top of this (and I had fished out three slugs from my helmet) I'm sure I'd already worked off some of our late lunch. Downhill was yet again challenging, but this wind-buffeted descent turned out to be all that remained between us and Innerleithen, our camping spot for the night.
As the scenery became lower and less-wild, the valley turned luscious and green, helped by the flowing river and long, flat golf-course. We cycled through the entirety of the course, then taking a typical sustrans tour of the town, before turning almost back on ourselves and finding our campsite.
Day 2 - Hay-on-Wye to Chepstow
64 miles, 3,100 ft climbing
The bridge immediately after Melrose was a lovely suspension bridge, with a timber-clad deck. This led onto a snack stop and a stone pavilion, in which were female statues, made of bronze or a similar metal. Climbing out of the river valley, the open countryside was characterised by many roads turning at right-angles, making our route zig-zagging in nature, but still very pleasant and green.
Lunch was had at the conversion of two such roads, on a mown grass section which represented the 50-mile mark. Very soon after we crossed the river on a delightful stone bridge at Norham, entering England for the first time today. Just five miles later however, we crossed back into Scotland on a unique chain-bridge!
Our final crossing back into England looked rather familiar - and indeed it was! This happened to be the exact spot of our misadventures at the start of Day 1. Now sure of the way, we used the breeze to help us back into Berwick-upon-Tweed and the end of our journey. A small cafe provided us with some huge and very tasty fruit scones, which fuelled us the last couple of miles to the campsite and another very timely arrival back where we had started from.
Times
Total time: 12:02
Total distance: 145 miles
Total climbing: 7,600 ft
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