It looks like three generations of family_oab want a nice tour around the Scottish borders/Northumbria area.

It needs to be mainly road, possible forest track for bits.

Not to far – perhaps 40-50k a day.

Accessible by train.

Need b&b or youth hostel overnight.

Could do a third day.

Suggestions please…

Do you need to start/finish in the same place? If not then maybe something like Alnwick -> Haltwhistle -> Lockerbie. I think that’s about 150k all told, and you’d get some cool time along Hadrians Wall.

Watches with interest

Do you need to start/finish in the same place?

Nope. Just need a train as grandpa_oab doesn’t have a bike rack on car so will travel on train.

Alnwick.

It has train access, youth hostel and there’s costal rides from the doorstep. If you’re really stuck I might be able to do shuttle runs into Alnwick from the station ormif my roofbars fit my new car maybe one run.

Alnwick is a good shout. If you are coming from the south and get off the train at Morpeth, there are some nice lanes between there and Alnwick for a first day.

Start or finish at Lockerbie and factor a stay at Samye Ling into the trip. What is the sound of one crank turning, grasshopper…?

Personally I wouldn’t go anywhere near the military road / Hadrians Wall ..cars travel along there at motorway speeds and it’s downright dangerous .

Alnwick & the coast is a good shout ..maybe do the Northumberland sections of this route ..

http://www.cyclenorthumberland.org.uk/listing/The-Coast–Castles-Cycle-Route-NCN-Route-1

Having said that I don’t ride on the road ..or as little as I possibly can so can’t really recommend it first hand ..but scenery wise it ticks most of your boxes ..and you could start from Berwick ..

Going back to the original suggestion of Alnwick, Haltwhistle, Lockerbie the first bit can be done on Sustrans route  (The pennine cycleway I think – R68?). It doesn’t go anywhere near the military road which is as Hodgy describes although it’s fine early morning or late nights. Alnwick to Haltwhistle is quite good, quite lumpy but passes through some lovely bits of central Northumberland, skirting the Southern border of the Cheviots and down towards the Tyne valley. Theres a section through the edge of Kielder forest on a gravel track for about 5 miles between Bellingham and Haltwhistle. Some of the track is relatively smooth (depending on forestry operations of which there are many at the moment) and some is really quite pot-holed and rough – I’ve often wondered what the pannier laden dutch biked folk make of it. I’ve done it on a ‘cross bike with 28c gatorskins and it’s ok if you’re really steady. It’s possible to avoid this section and if you want local advice give me a shout – this is my local stamping ground.

Once at Haltwhistle you’re in the Tyne Valley with rail connections and towns. If you continue the sustrans theme there’s the Hadrian’s Cycleway (72) heading East or West and route 10 is nearby. You could head NW into some lovely countryside towards Newcastleton and on to Lockerbie as suggested or just head along the valley towards Brampton and Carlisle.

Thinking about it it’s actually about 100 miles or so from  to Haltwhistle if you wanted to do the whole county. You could follow the coastline down to Alnwick or again there’s a sustrans route that goes round the edge of the Cheviots, again on some lovely roads.

Bits of the rough bit:

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Puddle slalom on route 68. Probably quite exciting on a Dutch bike with panniers.

A post shared by @ paul4stones on Nov 1, 2016 at 5:50am PDT

Could you do a shortened version of the Sandstone Way?

I went down the Coast and Castles and up the Sandstone way in the spring (didn’t exactly follow the routes but that’s the easiest way to describe it). Best long weekend tour I did this year out of the five or six I fitted in. Use that as your framework I reckon. Alnwick was bonny I remember that.

There’s a two day circuit of ale valley starting at tweedbank station. Mainly quiet road some forest road.

The Reiver Raid

It seems a pity to miss out on the forestry road potential of that area, assuming your bikes can handle it. Check out Landrangers 79, 80 and 86 and you can see it’s just mile after mile of the stuff. I did a good 90 mile overnighter last week, finishing off with NCR68 into Haltwhistle as above – and I’m going back again this week.

Oh yes if you want gravel…

There’s a few decent bothies as well if you fancy that.

I don’t know the area well, but look at the Dirty Reiver route maybe, that is 120 miles of riding and scenic crossing over the border and back or pannier.cc did a two day bothy trip loosely based on Reiver route:

https://www.pannier.cc/journal/reiver-bothy-packing-overnighter/

I think if you look at Matt’s original post ..he said mainly road ..

Personally I wouldn’t go anywhere near the military road / Hadrians Wall

The Military road looks very unassuming on a map. Definitely stay away from it, it’s not nice. There’s loads of other options though. Hadrian’s Cycleway follows along closely. I’d maybe think about linking up Hadrian’s Cycleway with the Reivers route around Kielder for a big loop (Not to be confused with the Dirty Reiver, but you could include some of that too). Maybe start on the east coast, enjoy a nice little seaside town, and cycle over to Newcastleton.

Coast and Castle down the east coast has some off-road bits, as does NCN68 which heads pretty much straight up the middle? Sanstone way is apparently very hard going (not done it myself). Other than that, if you look at the NCN maps, everything is pretty much on road around that area.

Cheers all – off looking at Sandstone way and Reivers bits..

With grandad in tow, it’s not going to be bothies or massive off road on huge climbs. Think nice back lanes, coffee shops and a B&B…. That said he loves a bit of Sherwood or Clumber park forest tracks usually.

Matt ..the Sandstone Way ..is quite a demanding route ..I live in the middle of the route and there are some tough off road sections ..

Personally I would stick to the coast ..

If however you do decide to do SW ..I can send you a copy of the map ( given to me by the routes author Ted Liddle ) ..as a freebie ..

day 1 – Hexham to Rothbury – probably the hilliest day

day 2 Rothbury to Alnmouth or Alnwick – loop in from the north and add some general meandering around the coast

day 3 Alnmouth to Berwick via coast or inland via Wooler