Short ride day.

Melrose to Innerleithen

Having seen the sights of Melrose and there aren't very many, I set out for a relatively short day's mileage to the small town of Innerleithen, it is about 20 miles from Melrose. The logic behind this was to be as close to Edinburgh as possible, there is not much between here and Edinburgh and a lot of it is uphill. Tomorrow may involve a lot of walking!

The weather was quite clement as I set off just after 9:00 am. No rain and not too much wind, a good start. The route was mainly along quiet roads running beside the Tweed, lots of bridges to cross today.

The first part of the route after leaving Melrose was right next to the river, I tried to take a photo of my bike and I but didn't look at it very carefully and on inspection this evening I was headless, pity, it was a pretty bit of the river.

The route turned into cycle path and passed through beautiful treed avenues lined with spring flowers, idyllic.

Onward to slightly higher ground riding through fields full of ewes with already fat lambs. This bit was quite undulating, not serious hills, but not flat either and I didn't have to walk, hooray.

Returning to the valley floor from the hills I was able to actually achieve speeds in double figures, it hasn't happened often. I stopped just before the route got back to a busier road to have a squizz at the river and yet another bridge at Yair. A Dutch couple were busy taking photos and I chatted to them for a few minutes, they obligingly took a photo of me for me, James keeps complaining that I should have more pics including me, it's quite tricky to find places to put the camera & use the timer.

After a short ride along a stretch of relatively busy road the track returned to a little used lane through Forestry plantations and deciduous woodland, all very pretty in the sunlight. It was fairly up and down but altogether a lovely ride to my chosen stop for the day, Innerleithen.

I left my bike at the pub where I had booked B&B and had a look around, there was not a lot to see but I bought two delicious pies from the local butcher for eighty pence, they filled a gap. I had been advised to try the local ice cream, I did, inspite of the fact that the temperature was nearly freezing; it was a bit of a disappointment, not up to Argentinain standards.

I still had some time to fill in before I could occupy my room so looked around for something to do, the main attraction in the town appeared to be Robert Smail's Printing Works, so, nothing venture, I went to have a look. It was fantastic. The business was owned by three successive generations of the Smail family, the last of whom never married and when he gave up the business in the 1980's it was purchased as is, by the National Trust for Scotland.

The business was started in the 1800's and the family kept everything, it appears today very much as it did when it started.

The visit started with a look at what they call the case room, here all the type was set. The compositor who looks after this area is hugely enthusiastic and shared her love of this ancient skill with humour and lots of information. For example, did you know that 'mind your p's and q's' comes from telling printing apprentices to be careful whilst sorting letters, not to muddle them up; or upper and lower case comes from how the trays of capital and non capital letters were laid out for the compositors to use, capitals in the top tray and little letters in the lower one. There were other examples but I cannot recall them all.

The machine room was looked after by an ageing Aussie with long grey hair! He trained as a printer in pre computer times and obviously loves the ancient presses, he is responsible for maintaining as well as printing.

The visit was rounded off with a look at the companies books, they have a copy of every job they have ever done with date and quantities, a remarkable record.

By now I was feeling a need for a hot shower and a change of clothes so I returned to the pub. Once refreshed I went to sit in the bar to use the wifi, within minutes I was joined by a young Border Collie bitch who climbed on the next table and brought me a mouthful of beer mats, apparently I was meant to throw them, but there is not a lot of space in a pub for throwing games, we managed a few goes but it was getting a bit rowdy so we had to stop, she was so sweet; her Mum and brother were here too.

I'm off to find something to eat, I need to fuel up for the ride tomorrow.