Longer trail rides
South of Scotland Countryside Trails offers endless scope for longer trail rides, from a few days to a few weeks. Or even longer if you want. The following offer some ideas to get you started, but you can plan your own route and itinerary to suit yourself, including time to explore the rest of the Borders and have a day or two off from riding if you need a bit of a break from the saddle.
Biggar to Ettrickbridge
Day 1 Biggar - Skirling - Broughton - John Buchan Way to Peebles
Day 2 Peebles to Traquair via Gypsy Glen
Day 3 Traquair/Innerleithen to Ettrickbridge via Glengaber and Witchie Knowe
Day 4 Etrrickbridge to Innerleithen or Cardrona via Bowhill and Minch Moor
Day 5 Peebles - Broughton via John Buchan Way and disused railway back to Biggar
Cheviot Hills
There are so many fantastic routes on the Cheviot Hills that it's a shame not to make the most of them. You can stay in one place (such as Cliftoncote Farm south of Yetholm in the Bowmont Valley) and ride or box out for a week or more, or you might like to try the following:
Day 1 Cliftoncote via Clennel Street to Harbottle
Day 2 Harbottle return to Cliftoncote via Clennel Street
Day 3 Day ride from Cliftoncote via Sourhope, across the border to Mounthooly, north along the College Valley, returning via Trowupburn to Halterburn, Burnhead and Primsidemill to Cliftoncote
Day 4 Hownam and Dere Street
Day 5 Day ride from Wooler Common
The Full Whammy!
Starting at Ae, in Dumfries and Galloway, you can follow the SOSCT Romans and Reivers route east via Moffat to Eskdalemuir and Hawick. Link through to the Cheviots via Jedburgh. If you still want more, ride along The Street from Hownam south across the border to Alwinton, then turn north again up Clennel Street to Cliftoncote Farm in the Bowmont Valley near Yetholm.
If you're still game for more, you could turn west from Cliftoncote back via Jedburgh to Hawick, and then north via Buccleuch Rides to Ettrickbridge, where you can link back with other routes summarised above. Component parts of this full route are:
- Ae-Moffat (entirely hard forest track and minor public road)
- Moffat – Eskdalemuir (virtually all on hard forest track. Note that the relatively short section immediatley east of Garrogill is steep and in places stony, so you may want to dismount and lead your horse (or push your bike).
- Eskdalemuir – Roberton/Hawick. Hard forest track most of the way from Eskdalemuir to Craik, east of which pleasant grassy tracks and very quiet minor lanes take you through to Roberton and Hawick.
- Hawick – Jedburgh. Scottish Border Council responsible for development of this section of route, mainly on quiet lanes. Some sections of the Borders Abbeys Way between Denholm and Jedburgh are accessible with a horse.
- Jedburgh – Cliftoncote, Yetholm
- Cliftoncote to Alwinton/Harbottle via The Street
- Harbottle back to Cliftoncote via Clennel Street
- Cliftoncote to Hawick taking northern arm of Jedburgh circular
- Hawick to Ettrickbridge (Hawick circular route is off road, link to Ettrickbridge mainly road)
- Ettrickbridge to Traquair
- Traquair to Peebles
- Peebles to West Linton via Cloich Forest and old Drove Road or Peebles to or Biggar via John Buchan Way and Broughton
Note that there is currently no link between Biggar and Ae. To make this a complete circular route you would need to follow alternative Tweed Trails (or other) routes back to Hawick and then retrace your steps to Ae.