Where better to plan a road cycling holiday in Scotland than in the Tweed Valley – home of a stage of the fantastic Tour of Britain.
If you’re considering cycling in Scotland, then the Tweed Valley really is the place for road racers, cycle tourists and even families with trailer-bikes. Here, you can sample everything from quiet country lanes to dramatic (and tough!) moorland climbs.
The Tweed Cycle Way, for example, runs for 95 miles from Biggar to the coast at Berwick-upon-Tweed. This attractive, way-marked route runs through the Tweed Valley and beyond with the River Tweed as its linking theme.
A somewhat less difficult challenge is the wonderful new (and soon-to-be-extended) Tweed Valley Railway Path – a five-mile-long tarmac path that follows the Tweed linking Peebles, Glentress, Cardrona and Innerleithen. It’s an excellent route for families and recreational cyclists. This route links up with National Cycle Network 1, which you can find information about on the Sustrans website, and also passes a pump and jump track at Cardrona.
According to Cycling Weekly magazine, the Tweed Valley even boasts one of the best road rides in Britain! Plan a cycling holiday in this glorious part of Scotland and you’ll find out why top UK racer Evan Oliphant’s favourite training ride is here, snaking through Peebles and Traquair via an absolutely epic climb at Talla – such a challenge it now even forms part of the famous Gore Sportive route.
There are details of plenty of other fantastic cycle routes in the wider Borders, including the challenging Borderloop4, here
The Tweed Valley has also hosted stages of the Tour of Britain in recent years, with the prestigious Grand Depart starting from Peebles town centre in 2013. The tour will once again visit the Tweed Valley and wider Borders in 2015.
Peebles is home to Peebles Cycling Club, which has around 200 members of all ages and abilities, with activities that range through touring, audax, track, time-trialing, road racing, sportifs, cross country MTB and downhill MTB.
It’s fair to say that the Tweed Valley and the whole of the Scottish Borders offer some of the very best cycling anywhere in Scotland. And if considering a cycling holiday in the Tweed Valley, many accommodation providers not only ensure you receive a warm welcome, but that your bike is looked after too! Take a look at our Mountain Bike Hospitality Scheme for details.
With thanks to Chris Bryant, Border Cycling
