Route advice: North Berwick to Carlisle

[αdαmsκι]

I looking at cycling from North Berwick to West Cumbria. I know the route from Carlisle, so I'm ideally after some route ideas for the North Berwick to Carlisle stretch. This is the route I'm currently pondering. I imagine some of this is similar to the LEL route, so there's probably a lot of ideas for improvements!

[MSeries]

Your route would do, it does indeed use part of the LEL route. You could get the routesheet and follow it too. An alternative might be to head for Lockerbie or Moffat then blat down the old A74 which parallels the motorway. Moffat will take you over Devils Beeftub which is nice. Once on the old A74 it's flat to Carlisle with very little traffic. It's all good cycling in that part of Scotland.

[Greenbank]

Definitely follow that route between the A7 to Eskdalemuir, it's a stunning road.

Can't help with anything else. I went up to North Berwick in March on my LEL route recce but I went via Dalkeith (past the rugby club) and it was a bit of a trudge from there out to North Berwick. Your route looks much more sensible but I've never experienced those roads.

[Cyclops]

That's a nice route if a little on the lumpy side. Not sure how often you'll want to stop to refuel but the only shops you'll pass on this route are in Haddington, Innerleithen and Carlisle. There are pubs at the Gordon Arms and Tushielaw and a vegetarian cafe at Samye Ling monastery in Eskdalemuir.

[Greenbank]

That's a nice route if a little on the lumpy side. Not sure how often you'll want to stop to refuel but the only shops you'll pass on this route are in Haddington, Innerleithen and Carlisle. There are pubs at the Gordon Arms and Tushielaw and a vegetarian cafe at Samye Ling monastery in Eskdalemuir.

It wouldn't be much of a detour to stay on the B709 to Langholm (shops and a petrol station) and possibly even blat down the A7 to Longtown (shops, cafes and a petrol station). The A7 isn't fantastic to ride on but it's not too bad. The LEL route goes down it. Mind you, by the time you're at Longtown you're not far from Carlisle where there will definitely be something open.

[MSeries]

That's a nice route if a little on the lumpy side. Not sure how often you'll want to stop to refuel but the only shops you'll pass on this route are in Haddington, Innerleithen and Carlisle. There are pubs at the Gordon Arms and Tushielaw and a vegetarian cafe at Samye Ling monastery in Eskdalemuir.

Hence going via Moffat and/or Lockerbie, you'll pass somewhere with an open shop sooner even if it is the motorway services.

[αdαmsκι]

Cheers for the comments. The general opinion suggests that I stick with Draft I until Eskdalemuir, but figure out a better route from Eskdalemuir to Carlisle. I'll take a look at the options, tho they are probably limited to the B723 to Lockerbie or the B709/A7 to Langholm / Longtown.

Not sure how often you'll want to stop to refuel but the only shops you'll pass on this route are in Haddington, Innerleithen and Carlisle.

To be honest, I hadn't considered places to grab supplies, but it's probably something worth thinking about. I'll be doing this ride on a Sunday, so that'll probably making getting food even more tricky.

[Cyclops]

I'm guessing you'll be leaving fairly early on Sunday morning but if you start much after 9am I'd avoid riding past East Fortune airfield. On Sundays there's a market, the Museum of Flight is open and quite often motorbike racing so the A199 and B1347 can be very busy (the B1347 is quite narrow and twisty with blind summits). Instead I'd go this way via Athelstaneford.

Just to give you another route option further south, you could turn right at the Gordon Arms onto the A708 past St Mary's Loch (good cafe open Sundays ) and the Grey Mare's Tail. You can go into Moffat if you like or take the back lanes to Newton Wamphray then cross the M74 to join the B7076 (old A74).

[αdαmsκι]

Cheers for the tip of going via Athelstaneford, that's now added to the route. I've also cleaned up the route south of Eskdalemuir to avoid the navigation issue of all those lanes. So my choice seems to be option #1, which is via Eskdalemuir and Longtown, or option #2, which is via Moffat and the old A74. I realise route finding along the old A74 won't be a problem, but the idea of cycling along the A74(M) isn't very appealing, which means #1 is currently gets my vote.