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Well, the weather turned out to be wonderful. Eight turned up at Auchendinny to cycle to Dolphinton for lunch. The gardens were lovely in the sunshine. They were created as a setting for Ian Hamilton Finlay's sculptures and concreate poetry. The overall impression is of woodland with many paths dotted with thoughts and sculptures. There is a kitchen garden, a pond and open areas away from the house that merge into the landscape beyond. Much of the work is a strong theme from WWII and many of the thoughts play on a few words ever changing the word order. A truly unique place.
Tiana
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Taking the train from Edinburgh, Tiana generously going on the earlier train, the five of us set off from Dunblane station at about 11 a.m. Taking a backroad, we were soon out of the town and enjoying the views of Perthshire hills to east and west. We arrived in Braco – the centre of Scotland’s earthquakes – within an hour noting but not stopping at Ardoch Roman Fort. The wind got up but it seemed to keep the rain away. A quiet road east took us to Gleneagles where we had a picnic and then headed for Auchterarder for coffee and muffins. We sought out Tullibardine Chapel, built in 1446 for the Earls of Atholl, and found a wedding taking place.
Travelling north to Kinkell Bridge, we decided we had the energy to cycle further east, picking up the Roman road to Findo Gask and enjoying the honeysuckle and birches. We joined the A9 for half a mile then turned north to Tibbermore. After snacks in a delightful garden centre, we sped into Crieff, got our groceries and cycled south of the River Earn to Comrie. Total mileage 48 - undulating.
Comrie Croft was welcoming and comfortable (£15 per night) – with rather a small sitting room but good kitchen and showers. We produced an excellent meal and talked until bedtime.
On Sunday we woke to very grey clouds. In Comrie we visited Earthquake House, the site of the world’s first seismometer then sped off to St Fillans and the South Earn Road alongside the loch. Getting somewhat wet, we joined National Route 7 at Edinchip Estate, on A84, and were in the well known Library Tearoom in Balquhidder for coffee and huge cakes by 12 noon. (20 miles) After a visit to Rob Roy’s grave, we continued south on the peaceful Route 7 alongside Loch Lubnaig.
At Kilmahog, we kept south of Callander, taking the A821, A81, B822 and A84 into Doune – for more tea. Fortunately, these roads were not busy. The rain stopped but the sun failed to come out.
There were three options for the route into Dunblane where we arrived for the 6 p.m. train. Total mileage 48 - undulating.
Apart from the rain, the weekend was very enjoyable. We were a group new to one another but that was no problem. All were enthusiastic cyclists who enjoy sightseeing and coffee stops. All had roadworthy bikes and ascended the short sharp hills no bother. We agreed Perthshire is great cycling country.
Barbara
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Well, the rest of you missed a great cycle ride. Apart from some light rain on Saturday morning, the weather was good. We enjoyed the coastal views from the NCN1 path to Beal where we stopped for a coffee and scone. Then off to Lowick for lunch at the Black Bull. No Nouvelle cuisine here – large filling portions of good home cooking. We set off slowly for the scenic route to Ford and had managed to gain enough appetite to be tempted by the local ice cream at Doddington.
Ford is a picturesque model village built by Lady Waterford from 1859 to house local agricultural and mine workers. In the Lady Waterford Hall (old schoolhouse) there is a gallery of paintings by Louisa Anne, Marchioness of Waterford, painted 1862-1883 depicting biblical scenes using local people as models (like Phoebe Anna Traquair here in Edinburgh).
The cultural theme continued at Milfield where we looked round an archaeological exhibition on the people who have lived in the area since prehistoric times. There is also information about the RAF who were stationed there in and between the world wars.
From here we went down the dead end road to the river and took the bridleway for a half mile to the bridge and over to Westnewton. From there it was a quiet run into Kirk Yetholm.
Sunday took us first to the ruin of Cessford castle then west keeping roughly to the 4 Abbeys route to Monteviot gardens. These are lovely peaceful gardens with a fine selection of plants bordering the river Teviot. Great place for a picnic. We, however had no food so we went down the road to Woodside garden centre for a soup and sandwich.
From here we headed north to Maxton and crossed the Tweed by the Mertoun bridge to follow the Tweed cycleway back to Kelso. This route gives grand views across the valley. At Kelso we peeked at the Abbey (there is not a lot left of it) and took photos from the millennium viewpoint before heading back to Kirk Yetholm.
Monday started with a group photo at the hostel then we headed along the south side of the tweed to Cornhill and Coldstream. We took a detour to the Hirsel country park for a picnic and ‘drive through’ to pick up the Tweed cycleway again. Lovely quiet roads passing grand entrances to the ladykirk estate, onto LadyKirk Church, Norham and the Honey farm at the Chain Bridge where we stopped for coffee and honeycake and a browse round the exhibition. Under an hour later we were back at Berwick, just in time to see a steam train at the station. As it chugged out over the viaduct we thought what a fitting end to a wonderful weekend.
Tiana
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We all assembled at the Pitlochry Festival Theatre tea room for coffee and scones with grey skis and a dismal weather forecast to look forward to for the weekend. Fortunately, the BBC website forecast was totally wrong and after an hour or so along Loch Tummel, we had sun for the rest of the weekend.
For my money, Highland Perthshire is one of best cycling spots in Scotland
and if there were any non believers at the start, I am fairly sure they were
all converted to this credo by the end of the weekend. After the south side
of Loch Tummel, always a cycling jewel, we turned north along Glen Errochty
towards Calvine and then turned south along a dead end road and rough track
to find the pedestrian bridge over the River Garry. I have been over it many
times, but we discovered, too late, that it had been taken down by the
Council in the summer of 2006. We had to retrace our steps and get back to
Blair Atholl via the former A9 which was fine and allowed some of to see,
courtesy of Sheelagh's penchant for spotting wildlife from the bike, a red
squirrel doing "Crouching Tiger, Leaping Dragon" tricks from trees at
Struan. By this time, we were hell bent on getting to the Blair Atholl
watermill tea room before it closed which we managed comfortably and were
suitably rewarded.
On Sunday, we went south on the quiet road on the west side of the river
from Pitlochry to Logierait and crossed over the Tay on the old railway
bridge heading for Grandtully where rumours of a new, magical tea room were
fully justified and more coffee and scones were consumed. We then crossed
over on to the quite road to the north of the Tay along almost to Fearnan
and then back to Fortingall - all excellent cycling roads with hardly a car
to be seen. Alec went off on a small detour to Dull and confirmed that it
lived up to its name, but lunchtime found us in the garden of the newly
refurbished Fortingall Inn in the sun for lunch and we had difficulty
understanding why Pontius Pilate decided to leave this beautiful place for
the fleshpots of Rome. After lunch, we did a big climb along the Falls of
Keltney and a long downhill to Loch Tummel again with a further ride on the
south side back to Pitlochry and the finale of tea and cakes by the River.
Because the youth hostel was full, we stayed in the Backpackers Hostel on
the main road. A different but still welcome experience except perhaps for
Bill and Kathy who were looking after baby Isla in a rather cramped room.
It was a small select group - Sheelagh, Barbara, Alec, Tiana with Richard as chiefie for the weekend and Bill putting in a guest appearance on Saturday. Mellow Velo members who did not come - eat your hearts out.
Richard
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