Got the day off tomorrow and fancy trying this out – up to Pentlands then along the drove road.

Anyone got a link for a GPX or Strava route I can download to chuck on my Garmin? Or is it really obvious? Don’t know the Pentlands THAT well

I can send you one, where are you starting from

Sounds like the end of the Capital Trail backwards.

You can download the gpx from this site:
http://www.bikepacking.com/routes/bikepacking-scotland-the-capital-trail/

scotroutes is your man. I think he even has the GPX.

Have done it in reverse as the longest commute, from Glentress back to Edinburgh – over Cloish forest (couple of options and odd navigation IIRC).

[Edit] – this – http://www.blog.scotroutes.com/p/pentlands-to-peebles.html

Nice, that Scotroutes one looks perfect.
Gonna take the CX bike then fire along to Innerleithen then up the back road to the Mooorfoot hills/Midlothian.

Long day out, but not got anything better to do. And it’s sunny!

You’re welcome 😉

There are a few other tracks in the area that are worth exploring too but the bit between West Linton and Peebles has a lovely, remote feel you don’t really expect.

CX bike will be fine?

how many meters climimng in that route Scotroutes – how long does the return journey take roughly (assuming no plan to head round the 7 staines when there

ta

@tpbiker – if you have reasonable fitness, and a GPX already loaded – would have thought 6 hours sort of time? I seem to recall I set back off from Glentressa round 5pm, road to Eddleston, then something like as above – home around 11pm/midnight – a bit broken it has to be said..

as for metres ascent – no idea !!

6 hours one way?

yes, one way. This was many years ago, I was trying to do it from memory – the route finding – and also trying now to recall the timings. I think I did more road than scotroutes’ route, but that was Glentress to home in Edinburgh, for balance.

I did this last week as part of the Capital trail route. From Glentress to Edinburgh was 60km with 900m of climbing (according to Strava). Took me about 5hrs (with camping gear).

EDIT: just to add that the route I took was the off road route between Peebles and Romanno Bridge (not along the road to Eddleston. Agree with Scotroutes – this section feels quite surprisingly remote)

From Balerno to Glentress – just under 8 hours return (moving time – I had lunch at The Peel). Total distance/ascent for that exact track – 96.6km, 1,784m.

Mostly OK on CX I reckon. You might scrabble for grip on a couple of sections.

Edit: just checked my tracklog. I forgot I’d added a few loops of Harlaw Reservoir on at the end in an effort to get to 100km (and then it ended up under-recoding for some reason).