Abbey road RICHARD ROWE EMBRACES THE OPEN ROAD AND GETS A TASTE OF BORDERS HISTORY ON THE FOUR ABBEYS CYCLE ROUTE

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1 Abbey road RICHARD ROWE EMBRACES THE OPEN ROAD AND GETS A TASTE OF BORDERS HISTORY ON THE FOUR ABBEYS CYCLE ROUTE Iould be the first to admit that he it comes to cyclig, fat, kobby tyres ad hillside tracks appeal far more tha skiy heels ad roads. It s ot so much the adrealie rush though that s fu, too as the chace to disappear ito the hills, leavig the orld of tarmac ad traffic behid. To me, road cyclig has alays felt like ruig o pavemet: it s fie but, dare I say it, a little bit dull. Hoever, the opportuity to tackle the Four Abbeys Cycle Route, a 55-mile jourey through 800 years of turbulet Borders history, seemed like a good momet to right a couple of rogs: my bias agaist road cyclig ad a She as also particularly pleased ith herself for havig the forethought to ride a hybrid bike ith big heels ad thi tyres, hile I had foolishly stuck to my trusty moutai bike ith its ide, sticky treads. May cyclists ho tackle the route head clockise ith a start ad fiish i Melrose, a attractive Borders to estled belo the Eildo Hills. That as our pla, too. But hile seasoed road cyclists ould o doubt speed roud i a day, e plaed to break the trip up ith a overight stop i Jedburgh before easig our ay back to Melrose the folloig day. igorace of the history that has shaped a area that I call home. Like its couterpart for alkers, the ride takes cyclists o a tour of the cetral Borders, stoppig at the ruied abbeys i Melrose, Dryburgh, Kelso ad Jedburgh four mighty structures that tell of ceturies of political ad religious poer play i the regio. Fortuately, lookig over the map, the route seemed to stick maily to secodary roads ad tracks, strayig oly occasioally oto mai roads. Although Borders traffic is ot exactly heavy, drivers i these parts do t hag aroud ad the thought of spedig large sectios of the jourey bracig as cars sped by as ot a happy oe. My ife, Jaye, ho as joiig me o the trip, as ecstatic about the chace to ejoy hat she cosiders proper cyclig, rather tha beig dragged alog routes that are promised as ide forest tracks oly to usually deteriorate ito somethig barely ride-able. MELROSE AND BEYOND We arrived i Melrose o a slightly murky late- October morig ad so decided to take a look aroud the first of our four abbeys to gee us up. Fouded i 1136 by Cistercia moks o the behest of Kig David I, Melrose Abbey is 12 th -cetury costructio o a grad scale. Hoever, i such arrig times the lavish buildig as a obvious target ad, i 1322, the abbey as all but destroyed by the Eglish army uder Edard II. I a oft-repeated cycle, the structure as rebuilt, helped i large part by Robert the Bruce a geerosity that led to his heart beig buried at the abbey before later beig burt do agai he the Eglish pushed David II back to Ediburgh folloig the Scottish kig s ivasio of orther Eglad. Today the pik-hued alls still stad proud, surrouded by a sea of ageig tombs ad gravestoes. It s a magificet place ad made for a grad start to our trip. Leavig Melrose, e bega a steady climb o 44 Scotlad Outdoors Witer 2009

2 PHOTOGRAPHY: RICHARD ROWE; VISITSCOTLAND; CROWN COPYRIGHT HISTORIC SCOTLAND/ Built to last (clockise from top): Melrose Abbey; Dryburgh Abbey; Temple of the Muses; a sceic stretch ear Nisbet a mior road that took us past the Rhymer s Stoe the first of may moumets, sculptures ad historical artefacts e ould discover o the trip. The Stoe is the site of the Eildo Tree here, leged has it, local laird Thomas the Rhymer met the Quee of the Fairies ad gaied superatural poers. There ere o fairies he e passed, just a lady alkig her dog alog a closed-off sectio of road that, judgig by the team ames daubed o the tarmac, sa some actio durig the recet Tour of Britai. We cotiued o through Neto St Bosells, stoppig to scratch the ears of the ihabitats of a earby dokey sactuary, before arrivig at a suspesio bridge spaig the Teed at Dryburgh. It as a classic Borders scee ith a agler stadig aist-deep i the river, castig this ay ad that, searchig for the perfect spot. O the other side of the bridge, tucked aay i the trees ad easily missed, e could just make out the Temple of the Muses, a moumet built by the 11 th Earl of Bucha i memory of the poet James Thomso. A icredibly seree place to liger, e stayed a hile atchig the fly-fishig belo ad ejoyig the autum colours. We could easily have spet much of the day i this area aloe. Oce e tore ourselves aay from the Muses, there as a huge sadstoe statue of William Wallace to visit the great arrior starig out toards the Eildos ad, of course, Dryburgh Abbey itself. Probably the most picturesquely situated of all the Borders abbeys, Dryburgh sits i ooded grouds ithi a bed of the Teed. Agai, the abbey as a frequet target of Eglish armies, although much of the structure looks to be i remarkably good shape. May Scotlad Outdoors Witer

3 visitors come ot just for the abbey itself, but also to visit the grave of Sir Walter Scott, the author of Rob Roy ad Ivahoe, hose favourite viepoit of the Eildos (Scott s Vie) is just a fe miles aay. HEADS DOWN After all the explorig durig a stop-start first fe hours, e eeded to get some miles uder our belts ad so pedalled o ithout distractio to Kelso. The route took us through rollig Borders farmlad ad e ere able to settle ito a steady rhythm, albeit ith me havig to ork a little harder as my chuky tyres stuck resolutely to the road. Approachig Kelso e skirted alog the giat perimeter all that guards the grouds of Floors Castle. A staggerigly grad buildig ith to heavily-turreted igs o either side of a equally orate cetral buildig, the castle sits o a terrace overlookig some of the most sought after beats o the Teed. The castle dates back to 21 he it as built for the 1 st Duke of Roxburghe ad is o home to the curret (ad 10 th ) Duke. O aother day e ould have had a osy roud, but time ad daylight ere agaist us. Istead, e stopped for a bite to eat i Kelso s pretty mai square, before payig a visit to the earby abbey. Oce the gradest of all the Borders abbeys, Kelso s proximity to Eglad meat it as rarely left i peace. Havig suffered badly durig the ars of idepedece at the start of the 1300s, the to ad its abbey ere later attacked repeatedly by the Duke of Hertford durig the Rough Wooig of the 1540s he the Eglish did their level best to destroy the abbey altogether. Our heads full from aother slightly bloody history lesso, e pedalled over the Teed for the fial time before headig south to follo the River Teviot toards Jedburgh. No it felt like the character of the ride had begu to ONCE THE GRANDEST OF ALL THE BORDERS ABBEYS, KELSO'S PROXIMITY TO ENGLAND MEANT IT WAS RARELY LEFT IN PEACE chage. The coutryside as still rollig, but the lad felt more ope, alloig the id to gather stregth. I the remembered oe of my mai grumbles about road cyclig: vetera road arriors might like to explai just hy this is, but there seems to come a poit o loger rides he it does t matter i hich directio you travel, the id is alays i your face. Ho ca that be? Ad ith log stretches of road ith othig much else to occupy the mid, all you ca thik about is the blasted id ad ho ureasoable it is that eve o the dohill sectios you eed to pedal to make ay progress. It as ith this sese of moutig ijustice ad metal fragility that e pressed o i the gatherig gloom toards Morebattle before startig a steady ascet to Cessford Castle. Set o a id-sept hill ith paoramic vies across the surroudig ladscape, the thickset ruis of the castle are as ucompromisig as Straight as a die: e route to Kelso (top); Kelso Abbey (belo) its locatio. With alls that are more tha 12 feet thick i places, it is clear that this as a structure built to ithstad the brutality of the times. The bleakess of the locatio made us thik about the hot meal ad comfy bed that aaited us i Jedburgh just a fe miles aay. We desceded to a crossroads at Crailighall before pausig ahead of tacklig hat looked like a uforgivig hill. By this time the light had faded badly so e rigged up our just i case lightig system, hich ivolved Jaye ridig ahead earig a head torch ad me tuckig i close behid ith a secod head torch strapped to my rucksack. Although the map had ared of oe of the logest hills o the hole route, the stretch as steady rather tha brutal. Eve so, the effort as such that e missed the poit at hich the route crossed Dere Street, a Roma road that oce liked York ith a fort at Trimotium ear Melrose. At the summit, e ere rearded ith a descet alog a arro lae bordered by a almost cotiuous beech hedgero that eve i the lo light radiated glorious autum colours. As e rode alog, startled rustligs hited at life ithi, hile every fe miutes a pheasat ould explode from cover. Descedig steeply ito Jedburgh, the lights of the to ere a elcome sight. We had oly ridde 36 miles, but it felt like much more. It as also a slightly alarmig last fe miles for Jaye, hose disc brakes had become progressively more spogy durig the ride ad hich by o ere o the verge of givig up altogether. With dodgy brakes ad makeshift lights, it as defiitely time to call it a day. HOMEWARD BOUND We should have bouced out of bed the folloig morig refreshed ad rarig to go. Istead, the decisio to joi our elcomig hosts for a fe ightcaps at our B&B suddely did t seem too smart. Fortuately, e had less tha 20 miles to go so, ith a solid breakfast ad plety of coffee iside us, e jumped back oto our saddles ith reeed vigour. 46 Scotlad Outdoors Witer 2009

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5 Our route ould take us orth through the village of Acrum, fordig the Ale ater ear Beliehill before a fial streuous pull up to the summit at Bodemoor Reservoir o the est side of the Eildos. From there, it ould just be a case of free-heelig do ito Melrose. First, havig dropped ito a cycle shop for some essetial brake maiteace, e took time to explore our fial abbey. Jedburgh is probably the most impressive of all the abbeys thaks to its commadig positio ad the may itricate archays still stadig alog its ribbed legth. Aother abbey to be fouded by David I, this time i 1138 for Augustiia caos from Frace, it is the focal poit of a historic to that has bee a Royal Burgh for more tha 800 years. The abbey as every bit as impressive as e imagied, but momets later e ere treated to a altogether uexpected ecouter. Ridig out of Jedburgh, the route takes cyclists alog a riverside alk that follos the Jed Water through a steep-sided sadstoe gorge. At the start of this ild little stretch of ater is a fish ladder ad getly-slopig cauld (eir). Just as e ere oderig hether the salmo ould be ruig, a huge specime lauched itself at the cauld, skimmig halfay up before ruig out of eergy ad slidig back do. We atched trasfixed as a successio of fish tried their luck o both the cauld ad the ladder 48 Scotlad Outdoors Witer 2009 all uder the Home straight (clockise atchful gaze of from above left): Jedburgh several heros Abbey; the Eildo Hills; Melrose rugby groud statioed o the baks. Exhilarated by our ildlife ecouter, our route back to Melrose felt much shorter tha the previous day s ride, but there ere still plety of distractios as the miles clipped by. We atched as squadros of sas took off i stately flight from the Teviot at Nisbet ad later stopped for a ader aroud the craft shops at Harestaes ear Acrum. There as also some adveture o a uexpectedly sharp descet to the ford over the Ale ater at Beliehill. Of course, like all good joureys, the ride had a stig i its tail: i this case, the steep stretch up to the Bodemoor Reservoir outside Melrose. It as as tough a climb as there had bee o the hole route, but e evetually groud our ay to the summit, stoppig to ejoy fabulous vies of the Eildos agaist a ear cloudless sky. From there, e sooped do ito Melrose ith a arm sese of satisfactio at havig completed a fatastic ride. Later, muchig a celebratory pie hile atchig a game at Melrose s famous Greeyards rugby groud, it occurred to me that I d bee a little ufair about road cyclig. It had bee a lot of fu oly ext time I ll leave the moutai bike at home. Essetials A free map of the Four Abbeys Cycle Route ca be picked up at most Visitor Iformatio Cetres i the Borders, although it is recommeded that you also carry detailed road maps (OS Ladrager Maps 73 ad 74). FURTHER INFORMATION Melrose, Dryburgh, Kelso ad Jedburgh abbeys are uder the care of Historic Scotlad..historic-scotlad.gov.uk Floors Castle Ope Easter eeked, the 1 May to 31 October..roxburghe.et Harestaes Coutryside Visitor Cetre Ope 1 April to 31 October, although the earby craft shops are ope through the iter. OTHER CYCLE ROUTES The Four Abbeys is oe of may cycle routes i the Borders. Most tos have a variety of local cycle trails that are suitable for families, hile there are also plety of multi-day optios, icludig the 250-mile Border Loop..cyclescottishborders.com