trying to plan a offroad or as much as ride from either Glasgow or Edingurgh back to leeds.
got a week in may free.

so seen cross border drove road from near livingston, down to peebles. then southern upland way.

any advice greatly appreciated.

Bit of a push up from the A71 at Harperrig Resr, but only for a very short section on the side of East Cain Hill. Then rideable all the way to Peebles. Steeper again going up Kailzie Hill - rideable in decent conditions but can be a bit wet/boggy when weather has been less kind so maybe a bit slow. Just grind it out. Ok across the Minch Moor and then to the Ettrick Water. After that, I don't know any of it.

I used to ride from Balerno to Glentress, do a loop and then ride back home

If it was easier for logistics, you could start from the railway station in Edinburgh, ride out along the Water of Leith path to the Pentlands at Currie, across there to Carlops and then to West Linton. There's about 2km of road in that.

Would you not be better off following the great north trail?
The cross borders drove road turns into the Romans and Reivers route by Hawick and this heads west (good route though)

Or.... Cross borders drove road to the Minchmoor road, SUW / B road to Melrose then NCN 1 to Newtown St. Boswells then pick up St. Cutherberts way, then deer street ower t' border then you could get into Kielder forest and join the great North Trail there. Or something.

If you are riding from Glasgow, simply follow the 2nd City Divide down to Kielder. Looking at the map, the southern end of the route appears to go close to the West Yorkshire boundary.

There's quite a lot of road riding on thr second city divide. If you're wanting the max amount of off road I'd look elsewhere, The Great North trail perhaps

thanks for all the option fella's.

the north trail and second city thing were on my list to look at too. cheers.

Tony,
For the second city:
Between Glasgow and Cappercleuch is worth avoiding. Lots of road and wind farms.

Recommend the section between Cappercleugh and Alston. A good mix of forest rode and country lanes. One shortish section on the A7.
Resupply a bit sparse on that section.
Sure when you get to Alston you know your way back.

After Alston there was a lot of road back down to Calderdale, and you’d probably want to stick central/east to get back to yours instead of crossing over to Salter Fell.

cheers mate.

second city thing looks ok. dont mind back roads and windfarms to be honest. it suits me now rather than any hike a bike stuff.
alston back to leeds is all good, cross fell is ok from north side. lady annes highway down to hawes is good. stake allotments is ok too.
gonna plot it and work out how many days i need. i have a week.

I rode the part just north of Hawick yesterday. Very muddy and a bit icy as to be expected. It's a cracking bomb downhill though.

That bit north of Hawick, it's not on the Abbeys Way is it - as I don't recognise it?

br wrote: ↑Fri Feb 19, 2021 3:35 pm That bit north of Hawick, it's not on the Abbeys Way is it - as I don't recognise it?

It's this bit. More west of Hawick than north perhaps. First pic is looking south west, second is looking north.