. In the past I have tended to have bought one meal a day (breakfast or lunch) and carried the rest. I must say I was suprised at how much extra weight and space is taken up with just a few more meals of the dehydrated type but hey, this would get less as the days rolled by. I almost achieved my goal too but more of that later.I set off from Edinburgh at 12 midday on Sunday with 20 miles of road to get me to Innerleithan, luckily the scenery made up for having to ride tarmac. Shortly after Traquair I turned off the road to cross Minch Moor via Glengaber Hill to Yarrow.
Minch Moor.
3 days in The Borders 005 by youngray50, on Flickr
Back onto tarmac for a wee bit before turning up Lawenshope Burn and the return across Minch Moor, heading for Minch Moor Bothy. I was heading for a path through the forest but on arriving at where it should have been was confronted by a blank wall of trees. After mooching about for a bit trying to find it a guy came out of a nearby house to ask if he could help. "The path is there" he said "but very overgrown and not really for bicycling". He pointed me to a fire break that would take me to a forest track then onto The Southern Upland Way. "Again not really for bicycling though, more for walking" he said. Well i'd ridden this part of the SUW and knew it was a piece of cake. This guy obviously had no idea as to what constituted a path for an MTB or what you could actually tackle on one, it still suprises me sometimes :D .
I arrived at the bothy just as it was getting dark to find two young guys from The Czech Republic already in residence. They were walking the SUW before starting Uni back home. One of them was a mountain biker and both of them took an interest in my lightweight gear.
After eating I sat on the porch stargazing and supping whiskey for an hour before turning in. I had ridden for 7 hours today.
Minch Moor Bothy.
3 days in The Borders 006 by youngray50, on Flickr
Jacob and Martin were up at 7 and I got up not long after. Day two was going to be a long hard day so I had breakfast and set off. The first part of the ride is apparently a Scottish classic, heading SW taking you over Blake Muir befor turning N over Birkscairn Hill and following a superb ridgeline ride all the way to Peebles.
I made a very basic navigational error half way along this bit due to not putting my reading glasses on to check the route properly. This ended in me having to bikehike through knee deep heather, climb several very steep banks and force my way through some very tight fire breaks, it also lost me an hour in time and a lot of energy. I hate having to wear reading glasses!
Unusual SUW marker.
3 days in The Borders 007 by youngray50, on Flickr
I'm heading over the hills towards the left.
3 days in The Borders 009 by youngray50, on Flickr
Which leads onto this ridgeline descent below the rainbow to Peebles.
3 days in The Borders 012 by youngray50, on Flickr
On arriving at Peebles I was pretty hungry and had planned on cooking some noodles but having lost an hour decided to look for a supermarket. Riding along the High Street I heard someone call out to me so stopped. It turned out to be none other than Pushbikemike who has recently joined the fold. At the same time the heavens opened and it pissed it down so me n Mike sat and chatted in the shelter of a bus stop. He kindly offered me tea at his place but I reluctantly declined because I would have found it hard to get going again after sitting in a cosy kitchen drinking hot sweet tea. I lost another hour hiding from the rain but ate 2 bananas and a cheesy bean pasty washed down with chocolate milk, yummy.
With the rain mostly stopped I set off for Manor Water valley and the last climb of the day before descending to Megget Resevoir.
The last climb, heading for the low point.
3 days in The Borders 016 by youngray50, on Flickr
Most of this climb was a push due to cattle having passed recently then higher up due to saturated ground. This was followed by an easy landrover track descent to the resevoir. 10 hours riding today.
It was blowing a gale with driving rain when I arrived at the resevoir so had to settle for a sheltered but slightly sloping spot to bivi. I quickly donned my down jacket and put my waterproof over the top of that whilst I cooked a hurried meal then into bed out of the rain and finished the rest of my whisky. Half an hour after getting into bed the rain stopped and the wind dropped to nothing, I slept like a log.
At 7.25am I was rudely awoken by this shining directly into my bivi.
3 days in The Borders 018 by youngray50, on Flickr
My bivi spot.
3 days in The Borders 022 by youngray50, on Flickr
I was really looking forward to today, a high ridgeline ride passing just below the top of Dollar Law, with a maximum height of the whole trip at 790 metres. First I had to climb 460 metres in three and a half miles.
Quarter of the way up the climb.
3 days in The Borders 023 by youngray50, on Flickr
From the top looking back at Megget Resevoir.
3 days in The Borders 026 by youngray50, on Flickr
Looking back at Dollar Law on the left with the drovers road clearly visible.
3 days in The Borders 028 by youngray50, on Flickr
It was dry but very windy and cold along the ridge with the wind direction just enough to be giving me a push.
Looking down into Manor Water valley were I was yesterday.
3 days in The Borders 029 by youngray50, on Flickr
A superb ridge ride but all too soon I was back on tarmac. Due to time constraints I decided not to do Harrowhope and headed of in the direction of the Pentlands and home. This was about 20 miles of road and as I went I gradually started to feel more and more fatigued. A stop at West Linton for food did not help. When I arrived at the turnoff into The Pentlands I was feeling decidely dodgy and reluctantly carried on along the road to home. A 7 hour day. After seeing to my gear and having some food I went straight to bed were I am still to be found 16 hours later writing this and suffering from some sort of bug. What a great trip :D .
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