23–25 August 2025
Route: Hadrian wall – Kielder water – Hawick – Peebles – Edinburgh
The most well-known segment of Hadrian wall is indeed well worth seeing; although the entire route was criss-crossed by only slightly less prominent walls and gates every few hundred meters..
Mostly unpaved roads and trails, including a former railway (Waverley line), at times seriously grown over and thoroughly en-sheep-tified
A couple of segments with well-maintained cycling trails (around Kielder Water – the cycling/walking path is fairly "civilized", but the surrounding forest is still very scenic and charming, and there are some downhill trails in the nearby hills; the area around Innerleiten and Peebles has a more extensive network of downhill trails, some of them quite wild!)
Other than these few segments, most of the route was very deserted – have seen less than a dozen cyclists
Planned route was a bit too ambitious, had to cut short the last segment over Pentland hills in order to get to Edinburgh in time for the PhD defence (which was the main pretext for the journey!)