I'm looking for a suggested circular route of around 30 miles anywhere near Lauder where I'm heading on Sunday - I'm not familiar with the area and don't want to end up on roads that have fast traffic although it's probably impossible to avoid that in the Borders. Good coffee stops a bonus! Please.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Leisure
30 Mile Route near Lauder?
(15 posts)-
Posted 6 years ago #
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have only ridden half of these roads, but they all look pretty quiet.
- West out of Lauder on the B6362 until Stow.
- Wiggle through Stow and turn left (south) after the station (road name unknown).
- Keep going with one small left at an offset x-roads, though/past Blackhaugh before joining B710 just above Clovenfords.
- South through Clovenfords until it joins the A707.
- Next 3km (along A707) may be slightly busy, but no alternative.
- When the A707 heads right across the Tweed, turn left onto B7060.
- Stay on the B7060 until Tweedbank. It looks like you're on the A7 at times, but its a cycle path.
- Find the road (with no name) that heads directly north back to Lauder (13km).48km / 30miles all in.
Cafes - possibly only in Tweedmuir @ 35km.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Posted 6 years ago #
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Lauder, Upper loan park ,b6362 to stow, station road, road past borders firewood then several opions long or short can re join A7 at some point then take road past meadowfield golf range back to lauder
Put upper loan park lauder in google then Tweedbank as destination it gives 2 routes could do a circular the bit between stow and connection from b6374 a range of opions on small road behind stow.
Never done this route but driven and cyled much of it before.
Posted 6 years ago # -
The Stow-Lauder road is lovely, especially if you don't mind climbing hills.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Great - thanks for the suggestions. Hope to take a closer look later today. Just back on the bike after a few months off it but I'm sure I'll love the hills. :)
That link isn't work Iain but I'll check back later, could just be something temporary. Good to know about that site.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Posted 6 years ago #
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Concentrating on the important part of your query, there's plenty of cafes in the lovely Melrose. To get there you can take the minor road past the Meadowfield Golf Course (part of Iain McR's route. Alternatively Lauder has the Fat Cat Gallery (or Flat Cat - I can never remember -getting it mixed up with the pub in Sheffield) - fantastic cakes - and there's another café that I've never been to.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Route above goes through Stow which has the Cloudhouse cafe. Quiet and you can just stick your bike outside the cafe on the street.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Posted 6 years ago #
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Thanks again Iain for the link and for taking the time to list the route - looks ideal for where I'm at in getting ready for the Ken Laidlaw sportive next month.
nobrakes - my legs feel sore just looking at that profile. Would be a great one to do in a month.
amir - I have been to the Fat Cat in Sheffield and have had some great beers in that area and one of the best cafes I've been in (The Grind). Will hopefully keep going and treat myself when I get back to Lauder.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Well, today I suffered for not paying enough attention when looking at the profiles provided as the total for climbing is virtually the same in both (824m for nobrakes' link, 815m for Iain's according to Strava: I missed the 765.85m shown on the goride link and have only just put Iain's into Strava).
It was a lovely run and I was glad for the favourable wind. I was huffing and puffing just going up the hill out of Lauder and suffering with sore legs/low energy after around 20 miles. I didn't time it but would guess that I averaged around 10mph - a good reality check for the upcoming sportive!
It's a very fast decent into Stow with a sharp bend requiring some caution.
Given how I was feeling I was glad to have the cafe at the end. Went to the Flat Cat as suggested by amir and the cake selection looked very appealing - had the rhubarb/raspberry frangipane which was delicious. I like creamy strong coffee and was disappointed with what I had, even though that was a double-shot, so would opt for something different another time. Very nice cafe though and I met an ex-colleague which was also a nice positive (to combat the post-ride gloom).
Thanks again for your input/suggestions - at least I'm a month ahead of myself in one sense. :)
Posted 6 years ago # -
Wherever you cycle round here, you're guaranteed 2 things:
1) hills
2) more hillsIt is a rather beautiful part of the country though. If you're looking for a slightly longer route next time, here's a nice 40 mile loop starting in Stow. It's a regular fixture for us both on singles and the tandem. Again, quite hilly but cracking scenery all the way. The stretch from caddonfoot to Innerleithen up the traquair road is really nice. Tour de Lauder folks know this route well, as does anybody who cycles a bike in Stow. We came down the A7 for the last 7 miles yesterday as we were late home for cooking the kids' dinner, but you can come down the old coach road from Heriot and stay on the quiet roads:
Posted 6 years ago # -
There's a nice ride from Lauder south on the back road to Earlston, up to Scott's View, down through Bemerside, round the Eildons, through Melrose, past the old Roman fort (the Chesters?) and under the Leaderfoot Viaduct to rejoin the outward route. Still hilly though.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Thanks for the further suggestions - I will hopefully take the train down to try them, better prepared mentally perhaps.
Posted 6 years ago #
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