Two's Company

Dover - Shetland Day 24
Melrose - Edinburgh

Distance cycled: today 85.6km, total 1561km
Ascent: today 919m, total 8183m

Highlight: after a couple of days staying with friends in the borders, time to get on the move again. And it was good to have company in the form of Alan for the whole day, whilst we cycled through some beautiful Borders countryside.

Lowlight: pouring rain for the first 30km to Innerleithen wasn't much fun. However remarkably that was the first serious rain for the entire trip so far and it dried up in the afternoon.

What else? Tweedbank station, where the picture was taken, is the end station of the 35 miles Borders Railway from Edinburgh. It opened on 6th September 2015 as the longest section of new railway in the UK for more than 100 years. It was built on budget in 34 months and carried 700,000+ passengers in its first six months, nearly double the planning estimates. Campaigning continues to extend it to Melrose and ultimately Carlisle, which would complete re-opening a route called the "Waverley Line" closed by the 1960s Beeching cuts.

Photo: a couple of damp cyclists, their photo taken by Christine from the train just about to depart, still smiling and just a couple of km into their day's ride.