Sunday 19th March 2006. Massive squad of Andy, Jason, John and Terry left the Gollum's cave about 9.30 and headed west through Ponteland to Byrness. We actually managed to find the right spot this time, and teamed up with 6 or 7 Morpeth Reivers for a romp of tape and spillage across the border. Unfortunately the tape couldn't fix John's now Untrusty Saracen so after a short ride for him as far as the main A68, he had to turn back and nurse it back to the car while the rest of us began a climb of 600 feet in 2 and a half miles, more-or-less straight up North from the A68 just shy of Catcleugh reservoir. By the way, we must thank Tom for his tools and efforts to get John's front spindle sorted - a very patient, very helpful bloke to have with you in a jam. This, embarrassingly, kept the rest of the pack waiting some 10 or 15 minutes but they took it very well (apparently!). Before we got a mile there was a ford to navigate just short of the start of the Pennine Way at the A68, and although everyone else seemed to heed Dave's warning about the thing having a slippery surface, Andy chose to try his luck anyway and became the third MidAirCrisis man to suffer embarrassment in full view of his fellow chucklers. Good job he was wearing his Sealskinz socks. Couldn't get the camera out in time but here he is pulling away from the scene of the crime.

Anyway, the plan was a cross-border loop of about 5 or 6 hours. However, when we got to the summit of this pig of a climb, Dave discovered we'd missed our left turn some way back down the hill, so instructed the troops to hit the rough and head toward the border fence. This was 6 foot high steel netting and looked a bit daunting for throwing 11 or 12 bikes and bodies over. After a chat and consensus on the depth of the snow - 3 feet in places (ask Jason, he went in up to his waist at one point!) it was decided to retreat and revise the route to follow a smaller, safer loop taking in a bothy for a lunch stop.   This we did without too much incident until first Dave's front wheel started wobbling and then there was a bang from the back wheel of Gavin's Canondale which was attributed to bearing failure. He managed to continue with less speed and judicious use of his front brake only. Probably just as well we weren't doing the full day stint as it turned out. This isn't the perfect place to get stuck in with inclement weather always a possibility, and we did have plenty of drizzle to remind us where we were. ReCoil waits patiently to be skated down the steep, icy steps to the bothy bridge Lunch stop out of the cold  

Dipping over the border we had the rare and unexpected pleasure of seeing a bunch of Cheviot Wild Goats scamper away from the edge of the fireroad we were ploughing down (at last, down). Spot the goat:

No, the goat isn't the one in the funny hat (Reivers interpretation of "safety helmet"), it's the little black spec at Dave's left shoulder. Here's Jay in a heap after we emerged from the trees, so now all four of us "guest riders" had come a cropper for the enjoyment of the Reivers. This is a lovely ride, scenery-wise, these little obstacles just look nicer with a covering of white stuff.

A bit further on, heading back towards Byrness, we hit 2 to 3 inches of virgin snow on the fireroads, pretty hard to steer on. All we could see in front of the group at this point were the footprints of the Yeti stretching away in front... the committee meets to decide which way to go

After years of being overtaken on the climbs just about everywhere, I've finally met one of these Amazonian Athletes - the Reivers have Julie in their ranks: Here's lean, hungry XC racer Jason as we near the cars at the end of the ride and look what we came across about a mile from home: Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's Saracen Man aka John, jogging along through the forest alone, not being able to stay with his crippled bicycle for fear of throwing it in the river! While we were doing our 10 or 12 mile trudge, here was John thoroughly enjoying a 12 mile jog! Sad bastard. Howay, Angie, you've got to get him a proper bike now!!!

We loaded up the trucks and hit the cafe at Byrness for a natter and discussion on the contents of the Reivers Rules and Regs, and also where the ride was to be next Sunday. Only the last point had a successful outcome (I think?) so we'll be teaming up again at Jedburgh on 26th March to do the Justice Trail. See you there, maybe? Get in touch and join us.