Three idiots go cycling

​ Awoke early and looked at the rain forecast that said we’d get very wet if we left at 9 but only moderately wet if we delayed till 10. The drawback with the latter option being that the sun goes down just after 7pm and it would only take one significant mechanical issue to end in darkness without lights. We decided to risk it. However, in spite of the radar saying it was raining over breakfast, our view out the window said not.   Very fine Craster kippers for breakfast. A welcome change from the daily fry-up. Covered in wet weather kit, we set out just before 10. Short diversion from the planned route to avoid a section of unpaved coastal path (after yesterday’s experience). Two hours later we’re still bone dry and getting a bit warm. Stopped in Morpeth to buy a picnic and Pete amused some ladies on a bench when he began to undress. To be fair they were quite old ladies with obviously lower expectations than some. After Morpeth we headed inland to avoid Newcastle. But we did spen...

​Breakfast in a lovely cafe called Katie’s in Eyemouth. Then ready for off at 9:15 where, after photos on the dockside, we bid Andrew Bon Journee on his train ride home. Today was billed as an easier day but it began with 1100 feet of climbing in the first 2.5 miles. After that it got better. Oh, no, hang on - it didn’t! More climbs to Berwick and a hasty about turn when our route over the A1 turned out to be a private farm track. 2 mile detour with another climb to get around it. Berwick is picturesque but is also hilly and sliding down a 20% cobbled street wasn’t Pete’s idea of fun.  Anyway, out the other side and we’re home free. Ah,well, apart from two sections of rough cross country crap covering about 4 miles. By mile 16 we felt like we’d done a days work and we still had 45 miles to go! Anyway, go we did. Not the best roads we’ve ever encountered and we can’t even blame the SNP now we’re back in England. Eventually got onto the coast road and had a decent run through Bamburg...

Decent breakfast menu with more than the usual full Scottish. Merv went for the full Scottish. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Steve kippers, Pete omelette, Andrew smoked salmon and eggs.  Hillyish morning with lots of small but annoying ups and downs. Before we departed we’d planned to​forage for lunch in Selkirk. It was too early to eat so the plan was to grab a picnic and eat 15 miles later. Pete went to one place and set off. Steve went to another. Merv to a third. Steve and Merv gave up waiting for Andrew and set off in hot pursuit of Pete (well - lukewarm anyway as it doesn’t take much effort to catch Pete). However it seems Andrew didn’t get the brief. The place he went to offered him free soup. Seems the owner was especially pleased with today’s soup and reckoned Andrew needed feeding up. So the rest abandoned him to his fate. We later found out he’d wobbled down the road with a mug of hot soup in his hand and a bagel stuffed down his shirt. Realising this was only going t...

Breakfast was a buffet which meant unlimited haggis for me, and very good it was too. Andrew arrived half an hour before the rest of us trenchermen but due to his slow eating disorder was still the last to leave. Left the grand but fading hotel at 9:30, out the door, turn left and straight onto 1.4 miles of rough, hilly gravel track through the woods. We weren’t expecting that!! The next 5 miles weren’t much better thanks to a 17mph headwind. But handily we then turned north east and had the wind, as Andrew says, ‘up our a**es all the way’ to Lockerbie. None of the expected showers either. The border countryside around Dumfries is lovely and we had all the help we needed to appreciate it. Unfortunately for Andrew, some of that help came from a wasp that encouragingly flew into his shirt and made its way er…South…where it then stung him. Some minutes later Pete, at the back as usual, came round a corner to find Andrew with his hands down his shorts fiddling! Being a gentleman, Pete turn...

Late breakfast served by the nice squiffy barman from the night before. Think he’d started early as he got tea and coffee mixed up on the order. Andrew aka Ernie, for anyone who had read about last summers trip, likes to carry a pint or two of milk strapped to his bag. There being no convenient shop on our route he decided to steal the jug of milk intended for breakfast cereal and fill his bottle. I’m not sure that’s how a milk round is supposed to work? Departed around 10am. Quite a hilly day today to Hawick. We left Galloway and entered The Borders. The scenery was grand; big rolling hills, woodland and valleys, rivers, pretty good roads and some nice climbs and descents. Lunch was at a cafe in Langholm. At least that’s what Steve and Andrew called it. Pete did have a scone, Merv ruminated breakfast again. Then we were immediately into 1200 feet of climbing over the next 4 miles followed by what Steve described as an 11 out of 10 descent into  Newcastleton. One of those long, not...

​Even though this is day 5 of our holiday, it’s day 1 of the actual Kirkpatrick Trail. We’ll be following it for 4 days. So that means 4 days of not being able to whine at our route planners about unnecessary extra hills. This is now the fault of the bods at Cycling UK or Sustrans or whoever put this route on the map. Mindful of a rather nasty weather front heading in from the west, we had an early and massive breakfast and set out just after 8:30. Don’t laugh - that’s early for retired people! Wind behind was a real bonus and we covered the first 34 miles before the rain at a good pace. Remember Gerald? Andrews mate from breakfast the other day? Well we passed him and his roadside mowing machine at Luce Bay. We shouted hello and he replied with something we didn’t understand (or ‘dinna ken’ as I think they say hereabouts).  Stopped for a photo at Wigtown to send to Phil who should have been with us. Next time Phil. Light rain into Newton Stewart. Andrew and Pete hit Aldi, Steve we...