Day 9

It had rained hard in the night and the wind howled but I was snug in my barn.

I set off early feeling energised by the possibility of another rest tomorrow.The wind was awful- about 20 mph from the west.To start with I was heading northwest towards Wooler and Coldstream so the wind was sometimes head wind some times cross wind.The traffic was fine and I was doing OK until I reached the border where it started to rain heavily.

“Welcome to Scotland.” I muttered to myself as I stopped to pull on my waterproofs.

The rain didn’t last long but the wind continued to howl.

 

At Coldstream when I turned to follow the Tweed I was heading west into a huge headwind funneled by the valley.My pace slowed and after a couple of hours I reached Kelso .I stopped for food and had a rest. Kelso was a slightly grim borders town and the country side around it was loosing the lush fields and more moors were appearing.

I pushed on along the Tweed valley.The Tweed is a very wide regal river with occasional swans and a looping course. The road left the river quite often and got a bit hilly but I was still making progress, though I was even having to pedal on the downhills as the wind was so strong.

When I reached St Boswells I had another rest and looked at the map.There was a choice of two routes-I could go the longer way on the main road threw Melrose or on the shorter route direct to Selkirk.I reasoned that the wind was the main problem so I might as well go on the shorter route.

Wrong.

The wind was a problem ,but going uphill into the headwind was a bigger one.The road rose and the wind got stronger.Hedges and trees disappeared and the wind got stronger.My pace slowed to a crawl and started to get “hypo”.

I stopped and drank water and ate.The sat down for a while in the shelter of a drystone wall , out of that cursed wind.I didn’t have much choice but to carry on.After a while I recovered a bit.A road sign indicated 6 miles to Selkirk and as far as I could tell the road went off left round a huge hill with a tv transmitter on top.The Tweed valley was way down to the right.I plodded on at snails pace.

The road turned out to go OVER the huge hill with the tv transmitter . 4 miles later just below the crest I had to have another rest. It had taken me an hour to do 4 miles. The wind was howling over the open moor , there was little traffic .I rested for another 10 minutes but then I started to get cold and stiff so I ploughed on.

There was no respite, the wind was so strong I had to pedal to keep going downhill.The road then steepened ,twisted and the surface became loose.I was hanging onto the breaks so hard that my arms started to ache and cramp.

Finally I reached a decent road and rolled downhill into Selkirk.Selkirk is yet another grim borders town.I was very tired and bedraggled .I found myself shivering and had to put on more clothes.Hot soup and a sandwich helped.I sat on a bench beneath a large statue of Sir Walter Scott. I was not looking forward to the remaining 15 miles to Peebles,though I hoped they would be downhill as Selkirk is still quite high.

I recovered a bit and my phone pinged.

Text from my friend Peter.”nipping to shops back in 30 mins ” it read.

“What the ****?” I exclaimed out loud.

That mean’t he was out in the car, not 15 miles away and could possibly make a slight detour to Selkirk.

“at selkirk under big white statue in square need a rescue” I texted, trying not too sound desperate.

After a tense couple of minutes my phone pinged again.

“see you soon” Peter replied.

“Yes!” I shouted.

A woman walking by looked a bit startled.

I smiled apologetically at her.

Peter and Isabelle turned up 15 minutes later and I was pleased and delighted to see them.They plied me with food and hot drinks.We headed off to Peebles .By the time we arrived at the house I had stiffened up, and for a few seconds I simply couldn’t get out of the back of the car.

Peter and Isabelle were great hosts and plied me with tea , food,warm and humour .We sat in the kitchen next to a huge Aga and I thawed out.

After a couple of hours I went and slept.When I woke up we had more food and a few drinks and I was a very poor guest and collapsed in a heap after dinner.

Place name of the day -Etal and Duddo-next to each other outside Coldstream.

Food of the Day- Scotch Pie

Sight of the day-Peters car coming to pick me up.