What a great day! We got up earlier than usual and were on the road by nine. Even though we only briefly touched Edinburgh and its suburbs, it was nice getting out of the urban area again to be in the vast, uncrowded country side.
We decided to deviate from Reece and Anne’s route to follow National Cycle Route 1, which, comparing Google Street Views of the two route options, would also be much nicer traffic-wise.
We climbed very gradually to a bit above 400m near Torfichen Hill (no clue how you would pronounce that), and then rolled down south, past lots of sheep and road kill, to Innerleithen, where we bought a sandwich and a pie and some fruit for a simple lunch. We feel that it is better to break shorter but more often on long rides to avoid having a hard time getting going again.
Right after lunch we also had our first technical issue: Liz’ crank came right off in a climb. Before we left St. Andrews, I checked all screws for being tight, but now I am pretty sure that I missed the crank screws. Thankfully, it was an easy (but greasy) fix and Liz did not fall.
Nearing Galashiels after leaving the (higher) hills, we were ready for the next break at a coffee shop. Due to the urgency of this break, we only had a quick glimpse from across the water at Abbotsford, the estate of Sir Walter Scott. In 1948, Reece and Anne also cycled past Abbotsford, but “decided not to pay a shilling apiece to see a small part of the inside.” Today admission is 11£ for the house and gardens – a shilling was 1/20£.
We quickly found a nice, small coffee shop at Tweedbank station that is run by Born in the Borders, a local brewery. On the way to the coffee shop, we ran into a sign for Tempest Brewing Co nearby. But when we asked the nice lady in the coffee shop about it, she just gave directions to Born in the Borders and let us know that they also have a great restaurant. Good employee, I guess, not recommending the competition!
Curiosity got us though, and we had made good time so far, so we decided to check out Tempest. What an amazing find! We shared bottles of their Marmalade on Rye Double IPA and the very amazing collab Gose Are Friends Electric?, while having a nice chat with the crew about beer, cycling, and the relative benefits of Canada vs Scotland. Thank you guys!
Quick FAQ: Philipp is wearing the funny white sleeves and legs as a way to avoid sunscreening legs and arms every day. We’ll see how this goes in the hot Italian summer.
With the 9% ABV of the DIPA in our legs (or heads), we more or less flew up the last big climb that immediately followed and then cycled through beautiful, sheep-laden rolling terrain to Hawick, where Reece and Anne stayed the night (we are just 10 house numbers up the road from where they stayed! The Crown Hotel where they stayed does not exist anymore).
Today was 95km and about 1100m elevation, the furthest and climbiest so far. And Reece and Anne did all this on bikes with just three gears, and, judging from their records, with more headwind and some rain. I don’t think I should feel tired!
The 1948 Tour 
Enjoying the blog – keep it coming .
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