Berriedale. Those of you with a tablet of stone to hand might want to pick up the cold chisel now.......
Berriedale is not a problem. Strip it out of your thinking. It's one of two tough hills in a relatively easy day. It is, as Stu didn't quite say, a bastard. It is also eminently walkable. If it takes 40 minutes to walk, then that's fine. The view at the top is worth the wait.
The other hill, Helmsdale, is a monster, but not steep - you go down in to a low gear and just pootle up it (unless you're a middle-aged man in the grip of delusions brought on by past glories, in which case you may well make a complete arse of yourself standing up on the big ring).
I'll be posting up a kind of guide, but here, for now, is the outline of Route A
Day 1 - dreamlike start, easy ride through north London and Saint Albans, dawn somewhere near Newport Pagnall, breakfast in Northampton, a tough ride to Market Harborough, stop for elevenses at Melton Mowbray and then drift along luscious lanes to Bingham.
Day 2. Flat. Some towns, but nice bits around Edwinstowe and Tickhill
Day 3. Flat bar the last ten miles. Beautiful honeystone cottages in Swaledale
Day 4. Hellish. Like a rollercoaster up to the junction with the A697, then a flat section before the long drag up to the border. Downhill to Jedburgh
Day 5. Sweet, although Edinburgh takes some getting through or around. Big long drags before Edinburgh, but not steep. The Nether Blainslie and Pathhead diversions are good.
Day 6. Starts well, gets better. Beautiful colours.
Day 7. Too good to be true
Day 8. Beyond words.