We enjoyed ourselves so much on our mountain biking holiday for a whole week in Scotland, that we are planning on going back again later in the year.

A whole week of sheer bliss, a lovely cottage in the countryside which was a stones through away from a nice walk in the forest and only a few miles in either direction to the mountain bike destinations.

We arrived on the Saturday afternoon and Keven got stuck into building a fire while I unpacked and prepared some grub. Later we settled down together with a beer and admired Keven’s fire, it’s not something he’s had to get to grips with before and by the end of the week was a natural at getting the fire up and blazing away beautifully; so much so we would sit looking at the fire of an evening and not bother with TV. It was lovely just sitting drinking beer and having a chat in front of the fire.

The Sunday proved a bit of an adventure as we walked into the nearest town and had to walk past Innerleithen mountain biking trail, where there was a race on so the car park and the roads joining it where heaving with parked cars and dirty sweaty mountain bikers. It looked really wet and sludgy up there, from what we could see.  After buying groceries at the coop we headed back, but decided to walk along the river bank instead of going past the mayhem of cars and people.  As we went along it was becoming painfully obvious to my sore aching feet that we weren’t going to find a bridge to get to the correct side of the river that we needed. We had to do a detour along the main very busy and very fast road with no foot path. Keven had the bag of shopping on his back, which wasn’t doing him any favours as the ground was very uneven. So what started out as a nice stroll about 8 miles in total ended up being about 16 miles in total.

When we made it back to the cottage I soaked my blistering aching feet in some hot water, before even thinking about making tea. I was thankful though of being able to soak my feet and using my chamois cream to help sooth and heal my feet; as the day after when were getting ready to go out on our mountain bikes I checked my feet and not a blister in sight. phew! At least then I knew I was going to have a good day.

All week the rain held off long enough for us to get out on the bikes and back to the cottage or at least back to the car to take cover. It was a fabulous week and I’m looking forward to more like it, this is the only way to build up my confidence on the bike and as we used the helmet camera this time, it shows how much I have to improve which is a good thing and I’ve got to speed up so when I’m wearing the camera you as the viewer actually see Keven riding his bike and not just the trail ahead of me with a blue dot in the distance.

Newcastleton was good ride, next time we’re thinking of linking it up with other trails which we didn’t do this time as we weren’t to sure where they joined and how long it would take. As we had made arrangements to visit with a couple of friends while we were out that way.

We’re hoping to try out Ae as well and other trails, Scotland as got so much to offer. Who knows maybe we’ll even find places to ride that aren’t national trail parks.

I think Scotland has become our second home. Loving it