Chapter 1: The Nightmare
A really horrible nightmare, that it was the middle of the night and I needed to be somewhere far away and quickly, woke me out of my slumber. Unfortunately it wasn’t a dream
– the alarm on my phone was going, it was 06.45 on a Saturday (that really was the midle of the night as I don’t usually roll out of bed until Saturday Morning Kitchen finishes at 11.30) and I did have to get myself to the south side of Edinburgh for 09.15! Breakfast, showered, togged up and out the door for just before 8am and a quick fill up at Muthill and I settled in to the A9 / M9 mostly on cruise which was nice and relaxing. Rare to be able to use that for any length of time on any UK roads. Maybe catch up on a few more ZZZZs on route 😉 The M8 and City bypass passed quickly as it was comparatively quiet at that time of night / day. I caught Brian on his Pan as we reached the exit roundabout from the bypass. He peeled off on the Dalkeith exit and I took the next to meet Marc and the those already gathered at Greggs and Starbucks. That being our run leader Marc on his R1250RT Triple Black (terrific choice of bike btw), Frank on his NCX750 (though maybe not for too much longer he was telling me) and Ian and Kenny both on blue Tiger 900s. A few minutes later Brian rolled in to join us on his Pan European. I thought we were still awaiting John Cairney but was told he’d removed himself from the list that morning (I wasn’t to know at this point John but today’s run would have been right up your street). A quick brief from Marc and we were soon on our way heading south and away from the city. Having imported Marc’s gpx file for the route the night before I volunteered to be TEC as I felt there was little chance of getting lost! And to top and tail our group in perfect symmetry I was on my R1250RT Triple Black too.
Chapter 2: England – too close for comfort.
As we headed south it didn’t take too long before the suburbs subsided, the roads opened up and the pace picked up. A nice view from the back of the pack, across mostly moorland, watching our group become a little more strung out, each rider enjoying the sweeping roads. We took in a couple of small towns and then turned left across smaller roads in the direction of Lauder – a nice wee town that looks. I haven’t ridden too much in the lowlands and Border country so always enjoy the ‘new to me’ routes. What seemed like just a short while into our run and we passed a sign that said Northumberland. Now geography might not be my strongest subject but I was pretty sure that was in England. Having crossed the border maybe 150 or more times over the last 45 years, generally at Gretna, I couldn’t believe just how close the border on the east of the country was to Edinburgh. Slight panic set in as I hadn’t brought my passport and, being in a foreign land, I couldn’t remember do we ride on the right or the left? I took my cue from those in front and stuck to the left……mostly. The scenery had subtly changed too, looking to me something of a cross between the Scottish lowlands and the Yorkshire Dales. Bit of a coincidence really as we were riding somewhere between the lowlands and the Dales. Fairly uneventful although we did tail a police car for a few miles before he pulled off into a garage. We obviously continued past in an orderly manner but I did keep an eye on my mirrors until the garage had disappeared to make sure he didn’t come out again to tail us. Some lovely riding over the next few miles at a good pace – fun, measured and safe – saw us arrive at our first coffee stop of the day, Millfield. Nice place, fairly busy but no square sausage. So, like everyone else, a bacon roll (should that be buttie in this neck of the woods?) and a coffee. One of the things I enjoy about our wee days out are the various topics we discuss – always interesting. Over our three stops today we’d discuss bikes (duh!) both new, sidecars and vintage, kitchen / bathroom / central heating installations, YouTube channels, walking footbal, electric cars, golf and a host of other things. Never a dull moment on an SMC coffee stop.
Chapter 3: Relentless
Our middle section of the run, broken by a stop at Otterburn for more coffee and cakes, would see us take a mix of road types across the North East (of England) in the direction of The Kielder Forest, a part of the world I’d ridden through a couple of times in the past and loved it. A number of things struck me on this section – apart from the lake and forest section at Kielder, I didn’t recognise any of our route, our pace had picked up noticeably (lets say to about 7 or 8 10ths) and we were getting significantly strung out. Well to be clear, those at the back were getting left behind 🙂 What a fantastic section this was, some roads demanding full concentration others around the lake and forest, being fast, open and flowing, allowed for a momentary breather. On one occasion we’d grouped up at a Y junction where the five in front of me were able to cross and make haste. With a line of cars coming from my left and right, I felt discretion was required and slowed to a halt at the junction. Funny how there had been little traffic up to this point but now about ten cars arrived in convoy keeping me at the junction for what felt like ages. Needless to say, at today’s run pace, I was riding as Billy no mates for some while, glad that I had Marc’s route in my satnav so I didn’t go awry as I worked at reeling in the group. Eventually, probably helped by speed limited villages and maybe even some temporary traffic lights, I was able to rejoin the back of the pack. I’m not even sure they missed me. “How about the scenery on this section Ian?” I hear you ask. “What scenery?” would be my response. All that stuck out was an unusualy high number of single track, hump back bridges, usually creating a tight S bend and natural speed limiter. Otherwise it was eyes front and concentrate! A very enjoyably paced section I could only describe as……relentless. As we entered Hawick for our third and last refreshment stop, coming in the opposite direction was a Gumball Rally of sorts. Some very expensive and noisy cars in the line-up – Porches, Bently, G-Wagon, Ferrari, Audi R8, etc – probably £1,000,000 worth in the number that we passed.
Chapter 4: A hard rains a gonna fall
We’d spoken earlier in the day about keeping an eye on our time as the forecast was suggesting rain might catch up with us at the tail end of our day, likely to be as we headed north. Sure enough, on leaving Hawick for our finish at Peebles, the rain started. In all fairness it wasn’t very heavy but, within just a few miles, it was definitley considered a wet race, I mean ride, and tactics had changed particulary as were now on mainly gnarly B roads across moorland and hills. Changed tactics in that we were now riding at 6 to 7 10ths 🙂 Wasn’t long before the leading pack had pulled some way ahead again and, a lasting memory for me of the ride yesterday, will be myself with Frank in front, riding through some seriously twisty twisties in roughly a 1 o’clock direction and looking across the valley and seeing four strung out helmets, about half a mile away, heading in an 8 to 9 o’clock direction. At least it was a heads up to a sharp left coming sometime soon! On route we came across a Road Closed sign, clearly in the direction Marc intended to take us. A pick-up arrived behind us so we grouped up to let him pass but he dropped his window to have a word with Frank. Couldn’t hear the muffled conversation but basically it must have been that the road was passable so we quickly did a U turn in the road. Top marks to Pan and RT bikes as Brian’s and mine which were able to complete it in one manoeuvre. Unlike my RnineT which would have required a five point turn. I soon started to recognise our route as I had ridden this part last year, in the opposite direction, on one of Grant Anderson’s rides and knew it wouldn’t be much further until we arrived in Peebles, our finish point for the day.
Chapter 5: The Central Belt dilemma
Every time I’ve ridden in the Borders I’ve always loved it but, the dilemma for me living in Perthshire, is where and how best to cross the Central belt? A real off-putter as I don’t think there’s any particularly good route. (I’d love to be informed otherwise). That seemed to be the general consensus too yesterday when I queried Kenny and Ian as they would be heading in my general direction. So, with Ian leading, Kenny in the middle and me tailend Charlie again, we set off in the direction of Penicuik and the City bypass. We were briefly joined by Marc before traffic got the better of us and it was just the three Musketeers again. Traffic was frustrating though not terrible and we soon joined the bypass, M8 and M9 and were heading past Baron and Duke, in the rain and, believe it or not, in my case, a dry Crieff!
I managed to remember to set my trip in the morning so can report a very satisfying 330 miles door to door. An excellent day out, terrific route and pace so big thanks to our run leader and Zen Master, Obi Wan KnElvin. No doubt helped in some some way by that stunning bike you ride 😉 Did yours smell like a wet dug too when you put it back in your garage………..?
THE END
Run date 30.09.23
Ian McIntosh