BORDERS, DUMFRIES & GALLOWAY
are incredible and they’re such beautiful bits of countryside. Another of my top rides is when you head up
to St Mary’s Loch and climb up towards Talla Reservoir then on to Broughton and back to Peebles – that’s a real lung-busting hill climb but it’s a fantastically rewarding achievement. As Scottish Field’s senior photographer, I’ve always got one eye on a possible photo and the views up there are spectacular. Myself and my wife, Michelle, bought a
tandem about 12 years ago. Michelle wasn’t a fan of cycling before that, partly because she felt her fi tness levels wouldn’t be up to it. But now she cycles 20 miles a day to and from work and that’s down to having the tandem and taking it around the Borders. A tandem allows you to cover more ground
in a day than you would be able to on individ- ual bikes with two people of varying fi tness. It also lets you carry on a conversation much more easily and for much longer than you would if you were cycling one after the other. We can cover about 60 or 70 miles in a
day, which is much more than we could do if we were cycling separately. What people sometimes don’t appreciate is that cycling on a tandem – rather than driving in a car or riding on a bus – allows you both to see the
landscape around you in much greater detail. If you saw a heron standing in a river when
you were driving past then you might only catch a glimpse of it for half a second. But if you’re cycling past it at 15mph or 20mph then you might get to see the bird for fi ve or ten seconds and really get to enjoy the sight. Part of the attraction of cycling through the
Borders is being able to stop off at some of the fantastic towns. I really like Peebles because of all the independent shops on the High Street. There are plenty of cafes and coffee shops. Melrose is the same – we’ve stopped off at
Burts Hotel and Marmions Brasserie, near the ruins of the abbey. But often we’ll take a packed lunch with us in our panniers and then stop off for a picnic somewhere along the way – you feel like you’ve earned it after all that cycling. On my solo trips, I’ve cycled along the roads
around the Devil’s Beef Tub a couple of times and really enjoyed it. It’s a big climb when you come out of Moffat but it’s really rewarding with the view afterwards. Further west, I’ve also liked the cycling that
I’ve done along the Solway Firth in Dumfries and Galloway. Dumfries is another overlooked part of Scotland, with tourists thundering up the motorway and missing some real gems. The roads in Dumfries and Galloway tend
WWW.SCOTTISHFIELD.CO.UK 159
‘Part of the attraction is being able to stop off at some of the fantastic towns’
Image: Eildon Hill is one of the stunning landmarks in the Borders.
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