Kielder/Borders long day ride options.

I’m thinking of taking advantage of the forecast of decent weather this weekend and have a long ride on the Saturday, with a bivvy on Friday night and maybe Saturday night too. As I’ll be in the east side of Edinburgh on the Friday, it makes sense to do a ride that side of the country.

I’ve not ridden down new Kielder in years so thought a route down that way would be ideal.

There is an xc race in Kielder over the weekend so maybe a route more north of Kielder would be best.

Anyone have a 100km easy off-road (loop) route that they can recommend, suitable for 40mm tyres, with the option of a bivvy spot, somewhere between Edinburgh and Kielder.

Check this out: https://www.northumberlandnationalpark.org.uk/new-cheviot-hills-cycling-map/

There are loads of options to look at – suggest looking at a 1:25000, starting at Alwinton (sw of Wooler, west of Rothbury) and heading north into the hills from there.  Lots to go at really. Say hello to the wild goats :-).

You could try OSM cycle maps? That shows gravel trails quite nicely. Isn’t the XC race the national mtb champs? That is in Newcastleton now I think.

The Rapha Pennine Rally is a good route and starts in Edinburgh.

Gpx should be online somewhere.  From Kielder you could ride to North Berwick and get train back to Edinburgh.      ( on the Sandstone Way?)

Thanks all,

Definitely some routes to investigate, I’d never heard of the Sandstone Way before, despite cycling through that area numerous times (in-laws live near Duns).

If anyone else has a gpx file of a loop that side of the borders (south west of Galashiels) that is ‘gravel’ compatible then please post it or you can send it to me via private message

Well my impromptu planning has picked a weekend where there’s a mtb marathon race at Newcastleton and an xc race at Kielder. Looks like both those destinations are off the list for Saturday.

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events/details/296030/2024-British-Cycling-National-MTB-Marathon-Championships

The Sandstone Way is just south of Kielder at Bellingham

To Berwick Upon Tweed heading N/E  from Bellingham and to Hexham S/W from Bellingham.

We enjoyed the riding the St Cuthberts way if any of that fits into your loop ideas…

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/a-cross-border-bimble-st-cuthberts-way/

I did West Linton to Kielder in a day a couple of years ago, nice route https://strava.app.link/GVGOK2cvFM

Southern Upland Way, Borders Abbey Way, then Great North Trail. Did it on my gravel bike and it was fine.

Stayed overnight at the Pheasant Inn which knocks up a nice meal and a few ales, then cycled back up to Edinburgh the next day (followed the roads for that day).

Thanks for the recommendations, I decided to do the Dirty Reiver 200km loop over the two days (well 1 and bit days as it was about 6pm by the time I set off). I decided to start and finish in Byrness to cut down on the driving a bit, with a detour to the Fittingford bothy to stay Friday night and then ride the remaining of the loop the next day.

Weather was pretty warm and mostly sunny. Great ride and would like to do it again without the bike packing bags, still don’t think I’d get anywhere near some of the Dirty Reiver faster times.

I’ll definitely check out the routes recommended at some point.

Noticed these signs en route, might be useful to someone.

The Reiver Trails