Lancashire and Cumbria Group – The Scottish Borders Weekend September 2022.

It is a few years since we have had a group weekend away on our rides programme and I must admit, I wasn’t too sure what the support would be for a weekend away in the Scottish Borders.  Well, I needn’t have worried.  With 11 tandems and one solo we made quite a sight in Kelso where we set off for our rides on each of the 3 days we were there.

What was particularly encouraging was the fact that we attracted members from other groups – Andy and Shena travelled down from the North Scotland Group, Ted and Ann came across from Humberside and Tim joined us from the North East Group.  So coupled with the 9 tandems from Lancashire and Cumbria we were quite a large group.  Tandeming for us is all about enjoying the countryside and riding with friends – and making new friendships too.

We set ourselves the goal of riding to the 4 Abbeys of Kelso, Melrose, Dryburgh and Jedburgh over the course of the weekend.

We started all of our three rides from the Bull Ring in the cobbled centre of Kelso, where farmers used to tether bulls on market days.  It’s a perfect meeting place as it is a traffic free square and an ideal place for meeting up.  We met for our first ride in glorious autumn sunshine and set off along quiet lanes to Harestanes Visitor Centre for our mid-morning coffee stop, where we sat outside in the sunshine (have I mentioned the sunshine before?) and refuelled.  The lanes in the border country are gently undulating, but very quiet and even though we were a large group, we could easily cycle side by side without impeding traffic (of which there was very little).  From Harestanes it was on to Melrose for a lunch stop.  Melrose has cafes, picnic areas, bakeries etc, so there was something for all tastes and the hour soon passed before we embarked on the next leg to Dryburgh Abbey.  The return to Kelso via Dryburgh from Melrose was along the ‘Coasts and Castles’ route, NCN Route 1, and again along very quiet lanes through picturesque countryside.  We arrived back in Kelso, just as we had started the day, in the sunshine!

I must give special mention and a big thanks to Amanda who booked an evening meal for the group at the Cross Keys Hotel in Kelso on the Friday evening.  And what a great occasion it was too.  A chance to chat about the ride and get to know everyone a bit better – plus the chance for a beer or a glass of wine!

We headed east the following day towards Coldstream, south of the Tweed up to Hadden then down to Cornhill-on-Tweed where we crossed the river into Coldstream (and back into Scotland which we’d left during the morning) and headed into Hirsel Country Park for a well-deserved lunch stop at the excellent Homestead Café and Farm Shop.  Hirsel is a large country park with a number of way marked walks around the estate.  We had a Plan A and a Plan B in place at Hirsel.  Plan A was the 18 mile return via Hume Castle to Kelso while Plan B was a longer stop at Hirsel to explore the estate before returning via a 12 mile route (NCN Route 1) to Kelso.  This was perfect, as it allowed members of the group some flexibility in how they wanted to spend their day.  We led the ‘Plan A’ group on (or should I say ‘up’) to Hume Castle while Michael guided the ‘Plan B’ group back to Kelso after their walk.

We had 3 rides planned for the weekend on consecutive days, and the idea behind that was to allow couples to dip in and dip out of the rides to suit their own personal circumstances.  A few couples had to head home on the Sunday, but we still had a creditable 7 tandems out on the ride to Jedburgh Abbey, our third and final destination of the weekend.  And again, it was along more quiet lanes, with stunning scenery and yes, more sunshine to end the day back in Kelso.  A great weekend of cycling.

A few of us remained in Kelso on the Monday to watch the Tour of Britain flash past us on the cobbles in the centre of the town, a lot faster than we had ridden them on the previous three days, before heading home.  So all in all, we can consider the weekend a big success – fresh air, exercise, beautiful countryside, lots of laughs, fun, sunshine, cakes and the odd beer.  Perfect.