A recent cycle from Gretna Green to Carlisle, via the Scots Dike, a 3.5 mile long ditch dug in 1552 to create a definitive border between Scotland and England, from the River Esk to the River Sark.
This journey was around 23 miles, and was carried out on a Montague Paratrooper Pro folding mountain bike. I used this bike because full size bikes cannot be taken on/off at Motherwell, however folding bikes, once folded, are classed as “luggage”, and are permitted.
🎵 Music licensed from Lickd. The biggest mainstream and stock music platform for content creators.
A Crest Of White Horses by Nathan Feddo, Henry White, https://t.lickd.co/o3zen5J1NwA License ID: gBRJDogv0XM
Mission Drive by The Wonder Stuff, https://lickd.lnk.to/GpVhK8ID!Airdrie+Rambler License ID: 9ekvrbK5kYj
Days Like These by Terry Devine-King, https://t.lickd.co/kZ0GL2eBJY7 License ID: x0WyPrg58nl
If you want to use music from famous artists, try Lickd to get track credits and unlimited stock music: https://go.lickd.co/soundtrack-your-videos
[Music] Hey. Yeah. Yeah. [Music] Heat up here. Heat. Heat. [Music] Right. [Music] Today I’m at Gret Green. I’ll be going to be doing a cycle from here to Kile. Taking in some of the local sites. A couple things I’ve picked up a few books that I’ve read. So, I’m going to get heading. [Music] Heat. Heat. This was the first thing I wanted to see today. It’s the memorial for the Clinton Hill Rail disaster. Uh 214 officers and soldiers of the Royal Scots um who died uh in the Quintill rail disaster. 22nd of May 1915. And on the route that I’m going to be taking today, I’ll pass the site of the crash. So, at this point, we’re still in Scotland. Not too far from the border, though. Um, and most of the border follows from here anyway. The river sack. Um, so we’re going to go and have a a we look at that, but before it before it cuts off follows the riveresque. Um, and for some reason lost many years ago, I don’t know why they would come to this decision, but they decided to move it to the sack. And to make the border, they they built a dyke which one of the largest uh man-made constructions uh since Hinrichin wall I think in the area and it was a huge dyke that was to mark the boundary between the sack and esque and Scotland and England. So I’m going to go and try and have a look at that as well. [Music] [Music] This is a border between Scotland and England. At the moment, I’m in Scotland. I’m never in England, Scotland, England. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] So up ahead on the right, there’s a long strip of trees and those trees planted along the line of the Scottish dyke. So that line of trees there that marks the border straight line over to the riveresque. All excavated by hand at the time. The ditch massive program work completely bonkers. So behind me there is the Scots dyke run for about three and a half miles. Uh it runs between the river esque and the river sack. And this is the boundary between Scotland and England. It was constructed in 1552 to uh provide a a clear definitive line between the two countries. Why the rivers weren’t used, I don’t know. because it cuts off the riveresque. Um, it could easily have it’s a more natural border as far as I’m concerned. Um, you can go in and have a look around, but it’s it’s not apparently it’s not very easy to traverse. Very overgrown, lots of bramble. You can see how thick it is just looking from here. So maybe on a nicer day I would try and have a pot around. We’re in the Scottish side here. So you’ve got the land reformat. You can uh use that to your advantage. But I’m going to get heading back down towards Calary. [Music] The forecast was for 20% chance of light rain, mainly cloud with a bit of light rain. It’s been constant drizzle and I am soaking. Thanks for this. Heat up here. [Music] Nothing to see here. Well, this path or this road is sign posted as Route 7, which is much more comfortable than the A7. So, we’ll go down here for a little bit, turn off, and it looks as if we’ll go cross country for a bit. So, that’ll be interesting. See how we find that. [Music] I drive [Music] my mission drive to open up my eyes and I don’t care what’s the days. Sing it with me. To realize to be brought back down to the wicked eyes and all the sh [Music] I don’t care. [Music] Erica doing nice [Music] cuz the wicked lies and all the giant Oh, [Music] heat, heat. changing my life. [Music] I’m looking on the bright side. I’ never [Music] One thing that has struck me since crossing over the border, it’s just the amount of keep out signs. No rate of way keep out visitors by appointment only. A stretch of woodland beside me. Both sides high flesh is getting my hair down. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Yeah. [Music] Heat. [Music] Yeah. Heat. [Music] You buy your own. Thanks, man. Once upon a time I have breezed this. Good grief. Any slower and go back. protected area where all the vines come they I I want [Music] Heat [Music] up here. [Music] Heat [Music] up here. [Music] [Music] Heat Heat. [Applause] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] That’s me arrived in Kle. Can’t tell you how many miles I’ve done. There’s a straa packed in somewhere saying not to log anything. So anyway, I’m here. I enjoyed that run. That was National Cycle Network Route 7. I’m just at the back of Carl Castle at F Park. Um, so I’m going to go and grab something to eat and then find out when the train is. Hope you enjoyed uh the video and I’ll catch you the next time. [Music]