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Day 15  Saturday 8^th May 2004

Westlinton to Peebles

Well our luck is still in with the weather.  It had been raining quite steadily during the early hours but come breakfast time the skies appeared to be clearing and the rain was only light.  We were ready to leave soon after 8.30 but the rain had almost stopped so I didn’t bother to put the cape on.  The A7, which yesterday would have been a nightmare to cycle on, was today only sparsely populated with cars and only the very occasional lorry so we decided to start off on the main road and see what happened.  It was the flattest and most direct route to Langholm where the CTC route took to the minor roads again.  The further we got from Carlisle, the lighter the traffic became.  The road was also wide enough to have a two foot tarmac border area marked off with a dotted white line for quite long distances so that we had this as added protection – an unofficial cycle lane. 

We were soon in Langholm (15 miles completed) and we took our first tea stop of the day and we bought our lunch.  The tourist information bureau unfortunately wasn’t open on a Saturday (unusual!) so there was no chance here to ring ahead to book B&B.  We were now approaching the Scottish lowlands and the flat roads of the Carlisle area were beginning to diappear.  We were about to climb into Eskdalemuir and there wouldn’t be any more appreciable downhill until we reached Ettrick which was at the 40 mile point.  One good thing about Scottish roads (unlike Cornish roads) is that you don’t waste a lot of unnecessary effort when climbing a hill.  You tend to follow the valleys and rivers, gradually gaining height until the summit is reached. Then you have a lovely long ride down the other side “gaining” energy for long periods of time!  It’s a good job we bought our lunch in Langholm because we didn’t pass another shop for the rest of the day until we got to Peebles!

We left Langholm at 10.15 and began the long climb – not too steep, all ride-able, just slowly up and up.  At about midday a strange sight appeared in front of us – had we reached the Himalayas ?  No, but there was a Tibetan Retreat with its temple and shrines just there in the middle of nowhere.  We were just about to pass when we spotted a notice directing us to the tea rooms – about turn and in we went.  We relaxed on hand woven cushions drinking tea and eating flapjack and pan au chocolat.  It turned out to be a haunt of other cyclists for as we were leaving a party of cyclists turned up for their refreshment.  They asked where we were going and had big smiles on their faces as they told us of the hills yet to be conquered!  We did think it slightly strange that the refreshment room had a notice on it indicating that they closed for lunch from 12.30 to 1.30 – not the normal closing time for an eating establishment – but that’s a Tibetan retreat for you.

We carried on climbing – it was getting steeper but we were still able to ride.  The top of the hill was reached at 1pm and at a distance of 36 miles – 20 miles of gradual climbing!  It was time for another rest and for lunch, this time sitting alongside the quiet waters of Loch Tima.  After lunch we had a long descent into Ettrick (not much there) and on past Tushielaw Inn (even less there).  There was another climb here – but only for 2½ miles – and over the top and down the valley to The Gordon Arms Hotel.

This pub cum hotel sits in the middle of nowhere.  It couldn’t be called a local – maybe a remote.  But today it was over-run by cyclists.  There was a party of maybe 15 taking liquid refreshment and you straight away got the impression that they weren’t the normal fit, race from here to there, sort of group.  They belonged to the leisurely ride, stop for photographs, walk up hills brigade.  It was mid afternoon and they were waiting for their lunch to be served.  We got talking and compared notes.  When we mentioned that we had come from Carlisle and that we wanted to get to Peebles they seemed slightly amazed.  Peebles was another 15 miles down the road, they had started at Peebles this morning after starting the day in a pub there.  It had taken them all day to get here and they had another 15 miles to go.  Some of them had not wanted to leave the pub in Peebles!  I thought that I belonged to the leisurely brigade but this was a separate branch with quite different objectives.  We took our refreshment and left soon after 3pm with renewed energy. 

There was another 3 mile climb but we should be able to make Peebles by this evening and perhaps the Tourist Information bureau would be open.  At 4pm we rang the only address I had in my CTC information – they were fully booked – but the lady gave us the number of the Tourist Information Bureau.  We rang them and found they stayed open till 5.  It was still 8 miles away and we had 55 minutes to get there.  Our legs were worn out and our muscles were aching but we made it with 15 minutes to spare and a B&B was soon found.  The top priority was two hot baths, followed by a phone call home, followed by food.  The Green Tree Hotel gave us some lovely meals and this is thoroughly recommended for all future visitors to the area.

We had cycled 64.6 miles today – the furthest yet in one day – over some very big hills.  The average was excellent at 10.2mph.  This now brings my total mileage to 745.3

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