A68: england to Scotland
Looking for the ideal appetiser to a riding holiday north of the border? Then you’ll be joining the A68 north of Darlington…
Scotland has lots of excellent roads, and if you live there you’re lucky because you get to ride them every weekend weather permitting. But for those of us south of the border, the two main ways of getting into Scotland are less than brilliant – to the west it’s the M74 and in the east it’s the A1 going the long way round hugging the coast past Berwick-upon-tweed. But in between them is the A68, going from the A1 north of Darlington for 125 miles to meet the Edinburgh ring road. It’s easily the best ride to Scotland and has something of everything. The A68 starts with smooth, fast riding across County Durham with views over to the North Pennines to the left. Continue through small villages such as Tow Law, with its rows of terraced houses and the smell of coal smoke in the air. Look out for a sign with an exclamation mark warning of a blind summit – not something you see very often. The road drops steeply through a fir tree plantation, but it’s nothing unusual. Next cross over the Tyne, on the A69, for a junction then off again north and back on the A68. Now the blind summits come thick and fast – back in 2000 on Bike’s long term Honda
SP1 they transformed me into Joey Dunlop. I was on my way to photograph BSB at Knockhill and quickly discovered this road will scare the life out of you, and the bike is guaranteed to take off if your balls are big enough. There’s no road like it, anywhere, for zero gravity.
Then, as the A68 joins the A696, the scenery changes to moorland, all brown and desolate. We’re in Northumberland now bombing through big landscapes and bigger skies, and about to leave England. With Catcleugh reservoir on the left we’re into the fantastic Scottish borders, Carter Bar. A fabulous series of corners takes you higher and higher before you suddenly pop over (don’t miss the lay-by) and down though a series of mad hairpins. The road calms down a bit, until just before Jedburgh – but beware the speed cameras all the way along this part of the A68.
The rest of the run towards Edinburgh is great, with plenty of challenging corners and another climb up and over the Lammermuir Hills before it’s done. The ideal appetiser for a riding holiday north of the border.