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Anyone done this or know the area well enough to comment?
We're thinking about doing the section from Glasgow-ish to Alston-ish as part of a longer tour.
Before Mrs Spin will agree she'd like to know what the surfaces are like. She's happy riding gravel in general but wants to avoid any really rough stuff or extended pushing etc.
So what's it like in general and with those criteria are there any bits to avoid?
Cheers.
There was a thread on this on Bearbones - https://bearbonesbikepacking.co.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=17268 can't help any more as apart from Kielder it's one area of the country I've not done much in.
There's also this on bikepacking.com - https://bikepacking.com/plog/second-city-divide-film/
I’ve not seen any mention of the section from Manchester to Birmingham, will this be released later?
As I’m assuming that a “second city” ride would actually finish in the second city you see...
Cheers for that Whitestone, sounds like we should be ok on that section.
I wasn't aware of this until I saw it on a thread earlier in the week. I've ridden much of this section in passing, and think the bearbones thread mentioned above sums it up pretty well. All of the stuff south of the border to Alston is CX/gravel/road territory. Through the borders is mostly ideal too, but there are a couple of bits I'm not familiar with or have forgotten so would check up on detail. Straightforward bypasses here if necessary though. Despite having stayed in Glasgow for several years, I'm not familiar with much of that end of things so would check up on the Lanarkshire bits but I expect they're pretty civilized. I'm not usually a massive fan of arbitrary routes like these and I know there are a few bits I'd change for more fun alternatives nearby but then you get away from the whole "divide-that-is-sort-of-between-the-first-and-third-cities-of-two-adjacent-countries spirit of things". And actually on the whole the route from Lanark to Alston seems reasonably sensible.
If you want any specific advice on logistics/conditions on the Borders/Northumberland bits then happy to help out where I can, just give me a shout.
Thanks bajsyckel I think I've got enough to convince the missus! It was actually the thread earlier this week which put me onto it.
We'd probably start in Strathaven as the in-laws live there. Mrs Spin could drive down for a few days with them (we're in Inverness) and I could ride down to meet her thus avoiding more than one night at the in-laws... 🙂
Whilst I usually plan my own routes sometimes it's nice to find something off the shelf that fits your needs!