Steele Road to Whitrope by Bike , then onto Saughtree Station. 4K
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- Опубликовано: 22 авг 2024
- A return trip to Riccarton but this time on my mountain bike , I attempt to cycle along the old Waverley route from Steele Rd to Whitrope sidings . Then from Riccarton to Saughtree station via the old Border Counties Route, this would prove difficult due to how overgrown in parts in this section.
A very Misty murky day but I can’t choose my days when I’m off work .
Checkout Saughtree B&B link - www.saughtrees...
It’s long winded so I’ve added chapters to locations.
02:17 Steele Road
07:00 Riccarton Junction
09:50 Wills Bothy
14:09 Whitrope Sidings
24:29 Saughtree Station
Old photos using the fair use policy and copyright to the photographers
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#riccartonjunction #waverleyroute #whitrope
Excellent video of a remote area of the borders that thankfully never attracts the masses. Just a mention and not nitpicking but Saughtree is pronounced locally as Softree.
Thanks , never quite sure of these local pronunciations 😂
Great video, many thanks for posting!
Stayed at the B and B at Saughtree a few weeks ago, it was lovely too, its since changed ownership, apparently the new owners will continue to use it as a B and B though.
I drove on to the Waverley Route trackbed using the access road you pointed out and went to Riccarton Junction, the sign on the station platform is still in pristine condition, as if it had been put there yesterday, although Mother Nature is rapidly taking over the site and there is a lot more vegetation there now.
Id love to see the railway resurrected from Tweedbank south, back through Hawick, Riccarton, Newcastleton and to Carlisle, it would certainly be busy with tourists in the year, especially as it passes through lots of unspoilt scenery.
I’m hoping to visit in the winter when stuff has died back a bit and I will put the drone up, but yeah Mother Nature soon reclaims what’s was once hers. It would be great to see the extension south to Carlisle but I have my doubts. tfw atb Dave
Hopefully one day this whole railway line will be rebuilt, including part of the Border Counties line, perhaps as far as Deadwater Halt.
I would like to think so but I doubt it , would make great freight routes tho for removing timber lorries from these narrow roads.
Very cool history and filming, !!!!!!!!!!!!!, can i ask the make of the bike please , p.s you one fit dude !!!!!!! Respect.
Thanks 👍 bike is a cannondale trail 5 atb Dave 🚲👍
Excellent sir. Was down there a couple of days ago, feels very remote. Ninestane Rig near Hermitage and the old nuclear monitoring station at Steele Road are worth a look if you’re back. Keep making 👍.
Thankyou , I will certainly check out monitoring station at Steele Rd . Sounds interesting and an excuse to make a video too 📷👍
An excellent video - gives a realistic aspect to the distances involved , which if you only see locations in a photograph , is not the same as being there in reality. I think the stone hut displayed in the main listing photo can be seen at the extreme right of a photo taken by Stuart Sanders : a south bound passenger train slowing at Steele Road Station , number 60043 ; to actually cycle to it is a fair way as you demonstrate! It was rough going on ballast in 1972 on foot hiking boots were the worse for wear. How would you manage if the cycle tyre got a bad puncture : it is very remote and desolate - that really comes across in the video as well. From a practical consideration once the go ahead was given , half the job of reinstating the line is already done. Most of the trackbed is already defined. It's just the bureaucracy that will delay things for along time . My main thinking is how would the inhabitants of the private residences feel about their premises' future : Stobs , Shankend , Steele Road. It was always hard to find information about the demolition of the newbuild property across what had been the trackbed at Stow. The new station looks very impressive. Residents of Newcastleton definitely want a railway connection to the south ; it has long been difficult to get to Hawick in a reasonable time on a through train from cities in Yorkshire : Sheffield , Leeds ... Perhaps a good start would be to rebuild to Newcastleton from the south , and to Hawick from the North.
Thanks for the comment , yes it was tough going in places on the bike . regarding punctures I carry a spare tube and pump etc. I think the problem with connecting the south end of the route is 2 countries , the Scottish seem like they would but the English gov probably not as they prefer to pump it into hs2 or the south in general .
maybe one day .atb Dave
I know someone local to the area of Stow. The new build cottage on the trackbed was acquired via a compulsory purchase order and the owners were duly compensated. They were apparently reluctant to move but realised that it would be futile to continue to resist as eventually they would have been evicted.
From what I gather they were generously compensated ie market value + lump sum.
@@winco68 Thankyou for the information! As i remember it was just a single new build property , but i always thought it was in a strange location. To add to my earlier comment , the photo of the railway hut RUclips uses to display the video can be seen taken from a train travelling to Riccarton in 1968 ; it is towards the end of a video " Steam In Scotland Volume 2 " We donated our tape to a local charity shop but the example that was on here looks like the same item because our video tape recorder in those days had difficulty rewinding a short piece of tape , rather than the full 3 hrs worth. There was slight damage , but no break in footage , at the section where D9007 Pinza pauses at Riccarton on January 5 1969 A DVD was subsequently issued by Cinerail. To complement the section re pronunciation i always pronounce the station junction as "Rick - r - ton" whereas you guys say "Rikka - ton" Only if you are local do you know these things. According to how it is spelt , anyone would likely pronounce it my way because of the "r" !