Border Crossing
Pat Lloyd.
(Halton, Lancashire)
There was a definite feel of approaching autumn as we left the campsite at Newcastleton in Liddlesdale but the climb up to the Seven Stanes Mountain Bike Centre had the blood flowing. The leaflet at the campsite had given details of the centre, which had only opened several weeks beforehand. A few days previously we had had a look round, bought a coffee at the cafe, and ridden one of the easier routes. This had brought us out on a track where there was a sign pointing to the Border Crossing which sounded interesting. Our two maps which covered the area did not show any way through but we eventually managed to buy a map at the Kielder Forest centre which showed all the routes and gave details of the crossing so we were on our way.
Leaving the centre we passed the cottages and farm of Dykecroft where the postman was delivering, the last person we would see for some time. The tarmac ended here and we were on a gravel track to the picnic place at Priesthill where a board a sign with "No Road This Way After Dark" and telling us that in the past the spot was haunted by fairies and spirits of the dead from Castleton churchyard. Fortunately we were in bright sunshine so leaving so leaving the picnic place we were soon on the Border Crossing track. It was a good forestry road which climbed gently upwards, nearly all ridable in spite of the previous days rain, and with only one bad patch where the loggers had left loads of tree bark which had combined with rain to make a deep mush.
Although we were mostly in deep forest, large areas were opened up, giving extensive views of the surrounding hills. Occasionally we found a blue marker but when we reached a junction where a good track went off to the left we had to decide for ourselves which way. A forestry sign for Florida was facing us but as the left track was going down our way must be to the right.
After making a big loop we ended in a clearing with a narrow footpath going straight ahead. This seemed to be a made path to link up with the next lot of forestry tracks. A heavy dew had left the spiders webs sparkling in the sunshine and that mine of information called Fred told me that in the past the strands were used to make the cross for sights in guns and telescopes. A narrow stream was only a stride wide and after a few hundred yards of walking we reached a T junction. We knew where we were now as a few years ago we had crossed these hills by the Bloody Bush track which dropped down to Dinlabyre on the B6357 and this was it. We turned right here and had not gone far when Fred's back tyre deflated with a thorn from yesterday's ride. So time for a chocolate stop before the final pull up to where our good track veered to the left heading towards the mast on Larriston Fell.
A decrepit sign with a yellow arrow said that the Bloody Bush was straight ahead past some staggered posts. Things had improved since we were last here and the path was now a broad peaty track with drainage ditches on both sides and we were able to ride down to the Bloody Bush pillar. This is a tall obelisk engraved with a list of tolls for the use of what had been a coal road and also with the names of the landowners whose land it crossed.
An easy ride downhill from here with a sign giving the mileage to Lewisburn and The Forks but we should take a right before reaching either. It was a perfect double liner with the old bridge having been repaired since our last visit. We joined a wide forestry road and kept right and downhill until we reached a good track going right. There was no indication to tell us if this was the Reivers Route and we dithered as to whether we should go further on. In the end we chanced it and took the right and had not gone far when the blue marker appeared and we were on the correct route.
We had an easy ride upwards from Willowbog with the Neate Burn not far below. Our good track ended at an open area, which we thought was parallel to the open moors before the Bloody Bush pillar. From here another link path went along the side of the forest, narrow but with a firm rideable base, a good thing as it was partly under water after yesterdays rain. We had a couple of rather sudden descents before reaching the new wooden bridge across the Kershope Burn at Scotch Howe, with a sign for England pointing the way we had come. Here was a grassy area with picnic tables which made us wish we'd had lunch here instead of on a damp log further back. It looked a good spot for a wild camp but not in the midge season as there were still a few about and they always find Fred.
The track seemed to be more of an ancient road rather than a new forestry one and was two firm ruts with moss and grass between and a superb ride along the rushing Kershope Burn in spate and the colour of cold tea.
At Kain Brae the forestry had put up a diversion sign as there was logging ahead but not on Saturday or Sunday, lucky for us, so we kept going. Eventually a house appeared down by the burn and being nosy we went to have a look as we had heard that it was an outdoor centre. Going by the flower vase in the window and the pot plants outside it looked more like a holiday home so we beat a retreat hoping they wouldn't notice the tyre marks on their lawn.
The valley was widening, sheep appeared on the hillside on the right, and a car appeared, the first people we had seen since the post van at Dykecroft, and they pulled over to let us pass. We assumed they must be the owners of the house otherwise they would not get past the locked gate further back with a side gap for bikes.
All too soon, reaching tarmac at Kershope Bridge where there were old quarry buildings by the stream, we took the right and had a steep climb past the hill where the map showed a settlement on the summit. We crossed the river Lidde at Holme Bridge but instead of returning straight back to Newcastleton we kept left to have a look at Minholme Cross we had passed the previous day. It had been erected in 1320 to commemorate Alexander Armstrong who had been murdered at Hermitage Castle. It was here that the funeral party had rested the coffin before tackling the hill up to the graveyard overlooking the valley. In the graveyard there was a prominent obelisk, erected in 1851 by his friends on both sides of the border, which recorded the death of William Armstrong of Sorbietrees. He had been shot without warning or challenge by the Rev. Joseph Smith, a vicar at Walton in Cumberland. Armstrong did not seem to be a lucky name.
An easy ride back to the campsite for 4 o'clock by the town clock, 9.30 when we passed on our way out. My watch had gone kaput two days before and Fred does not believe in wearing one on holiday so I have no idea of the time taken on the tracks but the mileage was about 18 miles off road and an excellent day out. The maps used were OS 70 and 80. I bought a copy of John Brewers book Border Country Cycle Routes published by Cicereone at £9.00 and a mine of information with 40 routes on and off road.