We had always thought that JOGLE Day 6 was going to be the toughest of the tour since it was the longest distance and the most cumulative climbing …and so it proved. The theme for the day was ‘hills’.

The day began with the usual bit of ‘fun’. After leaving Edinburgh Central SYHA we hadn’t cycled very far when Neil pulled up with the first puncture of the tour.

And we were quickly in to the climbing as we made our way through Lasswade to Bonnyrigg.

Our first break came just past Gorebridge.

And then we turned towards Middleton and picked up NCN route 1.

It was another cool and overcast day as we looked back to Edinburgh.

The climbing continued as we made our way through the hills to Innerleithen. We had been told to expect strong south-westerly winds but up until now the winds had been to our side.

However on the downhill of the first major climb, where we had climbed to over 1300 feet, the winds were so strong that it required strong pedalling just to stand still!

Thankfully lower in the valley the winds were behind us …and suddenly cycling was easy!

In Innerleithen we had lunch at the Whistle Stop Cafe and we all enjoyed a hearty baked potato as we fortified ourselves for the journey ahead.

We were following the B709 as we climbed hill after hill.

We took another brief stop at Ettrick.

There weren’t many towns or villages along the route today, we were in highland forest country. One we did manage to stop near was Eskdalemuir for our afternoon break after 60 miles. It was extremely welcome as by now we were tired and cold.

So far on the JOGLE tour the rain had largely abated but as you can see from the vans windscreen, now we had our first downpour. Thankfully it was brief.

Then it was on for the final few climbs of the day.

Finally we arrived in Langholm. We had cycled 73 miles and climbed 4750 feet. We are all rather tired. Tonight we are staying and eating at The Crown Hotel.

You can view our JOGLE Day 6 route from Edinburgh to Langholm below:

[sgpx gpx=”/wp-content/uploads/gpx/jogleday6-edinburghtolangholm.gpx”]

Tomorrow we are off to Grasmere. We then have a rest day. I think we will all be glad for a day out of the saddle.