With the recent sustained improvement in the weather and apparent end of the gritting season I decided yesterday to swap the RS10s for my handbuilt summer wheels. Which of course meant a quick shakedown ride after work today. Which of course got extended a couple of times from the intended ten miles.
To test out the weight saving I picked a route including lots of local short sharp climbs that tend to get bypassed on the way to bigger hills.
This is the view southwards from the curiously named half crown corner, near the top of Lindean Hill. Carter Bar and the border on the horizon.
Gentle downhill from there before climbing again to another summit at Bowdenmoor. From here there is a fine view of the Eildon Hills. To the left is Eildon Mid Hill, so called because it is in the middle. In the middle is the Little Hill, which is the fourth highest of the three Eildon Hills. To the right is Eildon Wester Hill, so called because it is further south than the others.
From here I descended rapidly into Melrose, which is a bit of a white knuckle ride due to the state of the tarmac. I crossed the Tweed at the pedestrian chain bridge and climbed up the other side through the village of Gattonside. From the top of the hill there is a fine view looking back towards the Eildon Hills. On the left is Eildon Hill North, so called because it is further east than the others. On the right is Eildon Mid Hill, which if you've been paying attention you'll remember is in the middle.
One more bit of geography, the map -
Length 22.5 miles, height 2096 feet, average speed 13.8mph, max 40.1.
if you see this Barry.
