Well, yesterday was warm and dry, if not sunny, so it was obviously a day for a run on the bike. I hadn’t been into the Borders yet this year, so I thought I should check that they were still there. So into Dumfries and up the A701 to Moffat and on up the west side of Upper Annandale towards the Devil’s Beef Tub.
The Beef Tub is a huge steep-sided bowl at the very head of Annandale.
The road goes on for a mile or so over the watershed between Annandale in Dumfries & Galloway, and Tweeddale in the Borders. The mighty River Tweed starts off from many tiny hill burns, and, by the time it reaches the first settlement at Tweedsmuir, it is starting to look like a small river. I turned off the A701 and stopped by the old stone bridge at Tweedsmuir.
Back to the A701 again. It’s a pretty quiet road most of the time, running from Dumfries to Edinburgh. However, on nice summer days it’s popular with bikers. There were quite a few sports bikes going fast and enjoying the numerous bends, and a few more sensible (older?) folk like me still travelling at a brisk pace but enjoying the scenery as well. There were even a few cruisers, er, cruising in a more stately fashion. Anyway, I pressed on for another 10 miles or so of bends and scenery until I reached the village of Broughton, which I had decided would be my target for the day. It sits amidst typical Borders countryside.
However its chief gift to the world is the excellent Broughton Brewery.
I turned here and retraced my route homeward. It’s just as enjoyable ridden in reverse.
Here’s the bike safely home at my front gate.
Back home after 140 miles, I was tired but happy, and I rewarded myself with a bottle of Broughton’s finest to round off the day.
They did cop me once on Queen Street though, the buggers.