The Kailzie Drove Road
Could the broken rear wheel spoke have been a bad omen?
The Saturday morning started murky. We were in no hurry since we had to wait for the spoke being replaced by a new one at Glentress Bikes in Peebles. So Kees and I walked the streets of town, had a number of ordinary coffees (most of which failed the test), gave a small donation to a band of creative scouts, had an arty coffee at the Eastgate Arts Centre, the worst we ever tasted, and after having reclaimed the repaired bike we set off for what Kees described as ‘a leisurely stroll over the hills and back’. To add to this leisure we bought a couple of scones for an al fresco lunch.
Just outside Peebles the ‘leisurely’ innitially translated into a couple of steep climbs up a path leading to the start of the Kailzie Old Drove Road. A nondescript shower kept the body temperature at a reasonable level and gaining height we enjoyed the highly attractive panorama back across the Gypsy Glen to Peebles and beyond.
From the information we had the ‘road’ carries on for approximately 12 miles into the unknown but for the first few miles is rather easy to follow and ridable. The plan was to follow it down south up to the point at Black House near Whitehope Rig where we could join the Southern Upland Way and from there return north to Traquair and so back to Peebles. ETA was 17.00 GMT.
Getting higher and higher up along Kailzie Hill and Kirkhope Law there was the odd signpost. Soon after the last signpost we spotted, the the rain and mist closed in and visibility was reduced to almost zero. A steep climb up Birkscairn Hill lead us to the cairn on top of it so we were still on track. Following a fence on our left hand side we thought we were going south. The map told us that on the approach of Whiteknowe Head the path, well, no path as such, ‘t was a morassy blanket, was going down.
We trodded on but instead of going down we climbed higher and higher. For a short moment the mist lifted and we spotted some trees to our left. Interpreting the map we thought this must be Glenshiel Banks. Freezing mists engulfed us after a few seconds, we walked on for miles until we reached another high point and then it dawned upon us that this was certainly not the right direction. In the meantime invisible curtains of rain and strong winds played havoc and I suggested it would be better to retrace our steps, we had not been on the saddles for many miles now. The only guide back was the fence we had kept on our left, so Peebles would eventually be back in our lives by following the fence on our right now. Kees stood on what we later deduced was Glenrath Heights, shivering with cold.
Cheering him up I reminded him of Shackleton’s heroic climb of 22 miles over the hills of South Georgia to Grytviken and safety. We had just covered some 12 miles in atrocious weather, adding another 12 for the way back would yield a grand total of 24 miles, two more than Shackleton’s! The Peebles scones worked wonders. Back to Dun Rig we had to strive. In the morasses west of Stake Law we had to seek. On Birkscairn Hill the mist suddenly cleared and here we were to find: we lost our bearings where we should have kept a bit to the left.
The sun came out and we were determined not to yield. ETA, however, was not to be. I reckoned we would be back in Peebles by 20.00 and hoped nobody would worry because we were expected to join the evening meal at the RSF Easter Meet at 19.00. From Kirkhope Law on we could cycle most of the way down into Gipsy Glen, this shortened the time a wee bit. A slithering fall on muddy rocks just before reaching Whitehaugh Farm saw me covered in glorious mud but fortunately the hot shower in the Green Tree Hotel was beckoning.
We just managed to sit down for what was left of the dinner by eight o’clock. The staff had pity on us and encouraged us to finish all that was left, which was, in fact, far too much. Alas, the RSF President had no pity, we had to promise to be in time for the annual dinner on Easter Sunday. We kept this promise.
Easter Sunday saw us making a leisurely stroll over the hills to friends in Selkirk in glorious sunny weather. ‘Een eitje’ (that’s a breeze), is the Dutch expression. And we hope for a slight breeze and sunny weather next time we try to cross from Peebles to Black House. Map: OS Landranger 73, Peebles, Galashiels & Selkirk.
Henk Francino
(Deventer, Netherlands)