Day 13 - Friday 10th August - Hexham to Hawick

Weather - Windy with heavy shower early afternoon

Distance - 64.8 miles

Camp Site - Hawick Sports Ground, Buccleugh Street, Hawick

I left the camp site at about 8.45 am and turned left to take the steep hill down into Hexham itself which was about one mile away. The route followed the B6531 until it crossed the main A69 road and then through Fourstones and towards Wark and Bellingham crossing the line of Hadrian's Wall at the B6318. There was nothing to see of the Wall at this part though.

I had previously arranged to meet my brother and his wife, Peter and Catherine, at Bellingham. I telephoned them when I left the camp site and they left their home in Alnwick by car to come out to meet me as Peter was to cycle with me for some of the route towards Hawick. I was just approaching the village of Bellingham when I saw their car arriving from the opposite direction - our timing for the meeting was spot on. I needed to find a shop in Bellingham to get some more bananas so they turned around and drove back to park in the village while Peter unloaded his bike from the car and I did my shopping. Several other cyclists from the group arrived while we were in Bellingham so I introduced Peter and Catherine to them. A number of other people had had visitors at various points along the route and a couple of others had their friends ride with them for a day or more so we were all well supported in our efforts.

Shopping completed, we left Bellingham to cycle alongside Kielder Water the large reservoir and leisure area. Peter started off quite quickly in front of me but I pointed out that when you have a large mileage to complete each day you have to start at a pace which you can keep up for several hours at a time so we quickly slowed to a more measured pace. Catherine drove ahead of us for several miles at a time and then waited for us to catch up when she again went ahead. We had been concerned that she would be rather bored with her day out but she said that she never had very long to wait each time and did not get started on the book she brought with her. We were making a good pace after all!

We eventually stopped at Kielder Castle for lunch - they brought a very nice picnic lunch with sandwiches made with home made bread and which made a nice change from my usual pub sandwich or roll.

While we were having lunch there were a few spots of rain which soon stopped but when we left the lunch place it started to rain hard so as we crossed the border into Scotland it was very wet. I still had to stop for a photograph to mark the border crossing and yet another major landmark. I felt that it was a real achievement to cycle the length of England - perhaps in view of the weather in recent days it was fitting that it should be raining very hard as I left England!

The road continued to be very hilly and we joined to B6357 and then eventually the A6088 to take us to Hawick. It was very noticeable that the road alongside Kielder Water was very wide and well maintained but narrowed immediately we got to the Scottish border where the water company were no longer responsible for the road.

Peter and Catherine stayed with me all the way to Hawick - he rode about 47 miles altogether by the end of the day and said that it was probably the longest day ride that he had done. They joined in for tea and biscuits etc on arrival at our site and then left for the journey back to Alnwick at about 5.00 p.m. I think that they both enjoyed their day out and it was certainly nice to see them and have their company for the day.

The showers tonight were in Hawick High School which was 0.2 of a mile away on the main road back into town. The showers and toilets here were excellent but it was a long way from the actual camp site to go for a shower. The toilets on the site itself were public toilets for the sports ground and were not very nice at all.

Soon after we arrived three pipers arrived to welcome us to Hawick and Scotland and later after dinner in the evening we were invited to a pub in the town to an entertainment put on by the local people. Two gentlemen sang to us first of all and then a folk duo were to play to us. They arrived at something after eleven o'clock as they had another engagement so some of us did not stay on to see them. We were told the next day by those who did stay that they were an excellent group and that we had missed a very good evening. The local people certainly went to great lengths to welcome us to their town.