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Very strong winds all through the
night. Yesterday I wondered if I should press on and take advantage
of the tail wind. My concern this morning was a shift in wind
direction from west to south. Packing the tent away was very
difficult in the strong wind. Stuff kept getting blown out of the
tent and I had to climb down the railway embankment to retrieve it.
Eventually I was packed up and on my way by 07:20am. |
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After a few miles I came to a lake or
reservoir. The map shows a causeway crossing it and it turned out to
be the route of the old railway. The weather forecast had said the
weekend would warm up considerably but it was only just above
freezing when I left and still felt cold in the wind. The going
wasn’t as hard as I’d feared and I reached Douglas where I stopped
in a bus shelter to take a layer of clothing of. The A70 took me to
Uddington and under the M74. Before Douglas Water I turned right on
to a minor lane over Tinto. I knew it was going to be hard going
because I turned south east, straight into the fierce wind. Without
the wind it would be nothing more than a steady climb but today it
was quite an epic getting to the summit. It was disturbing seeing
the large amount of rubbish tangled in the fence to my left. It is
an almost constant line of plastic bottles cartons and plastic bags. |
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Eventually I was over the summit and
even had some views in the distance. I descended with difficulty to
Wiston. There wasn’t much to see as I passed through except a woman
riding a horse along the road. I reached the A73 and turned left
towards Biggar. Thankfully the road was quiet but I still turned off
right onto a minor road into Symington. Passing the sports field
there was a lot of activity as children were playing football etc on
a Saturday morning. I turned right on to the A72 into Biggar.
Temporary traffic lights were on through the town centre as the road
was being re-surfaced. The sign said wait for the convoy vehicle but
as it approached it was travelling far to slow. I cycled slowly
along the opposite pavement into the centre and asked a woman where
the Gas Museum was. She directed me to a narrow lane where I found
it but it was closed and not open till June. I left the town with
the wind in my favour It was still overcast which was a shame as I’m
sure the town would look picturesque in the sunshine. |
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I turned right to Skirling and stopped
to photograph a tree by the road that had been blown down. The roots
had ripped up the road side and lifted a plastic cable duct with the
cable exposed inside. I reached the A701 and followed it to
Castlecraig. It was an easy ride as I still had help from the wind.
I turned right along a minor road to join the A72 to Peebles. |
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Old
Railway bridge west of Peebles |
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I wasn’t looking forward to it because
of the change in direction and the battle I’d have with the wind.
The road wound through an impressive valley and some stretches had
trees on the right which seemed to give me some shelter. On the
final approach to Peebles I stopped to look at the Neidpath Castle
which I’d first seen on my ride here in January. |
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I then realised that since leaving Ayr
yesterday afternoon I hadn’t seen a single cyclist. In Ayr I took a
left turn and followed the signposts to the Cross Kirk which I’d
visited on my two previous rides through the town. The weather was
much nicer than then though still no sunshine. |
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And still nobody else at the church. I
called at the nearby Co-Op to buy water then followed a path by the
river into town. On the main road I headed towards Innerleithen and
saw my first cyclist by a cycle shop. I left the town to join the
cycle path that follows the line of the old railway. |
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Tweed
Valley Railway path |
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Railway
Bridge now the path |
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Railway
Bridge now the path |
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Since my visit last month the first
part has had nice new tarmac laid. By the avenues of trees and river
I came to the golf course where the severe wind made the riding
difficult again. Crossing the River Tweed by the old railway bridge
I came to the Cardrona Cafe which is in the old railway station. I
decided to stop for some tea but inside the woman serving seemed to
be having problems coping with the till and hadn’t taken the order
from a couple sitting patiently at on of the tables. |
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I was told I’d have to wait. I didn’t
have time so left and continued my ride through the housing estate
and back on to the cycle track. This stretch had also been tarmaced
making for a delightful ride. One gust of wind almost knocked me off
my bike. When I reached the new pedestrian footbridge I wheeled my
bike behind the pine trees nearby and pitched my tent on the same
spot as last month. It was still early at 13:30 but I’d reached my
planned camp. |
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Whittle Wanderer
