07/06/25
If you haven’t tried it, Moffat Toffee is a swollen tetrahedral boiled sweet, which manages to be simultaneously caramel and sherbert. As far as I know, because I have never seen it anywhere else, it is only available in the Moffat Toffee shop. But it’s also a 200 km audax.
The 10th anniversary ride was my first 200 km; my first audax points; the ride I became a randonneur. It had personal significance too, as I had grown up in this area but was never a ‘sporty’ person who would do something like this. I knew the places and the roads, but from the back seat of a car.
At the start of 2025 I was momentarily gripped by inspiration, and entered a few rides that I thought I could build up to. In the middle of this careful planning the 20th anniversary Moffat Toffee ride popped up, and I thought it would just about fit in between the others. Well, unsurprisingly my optimistic plans fell apart after a lack of preparation (and a good dose of life happening as well) so I scrapped most of the plans but held on to this one ride. Two weeks after it I would be facing a 24 hour (at least) run/walk so I thought it would be good training, if only in being knackered. And there’s the other thing; the bike. Well; trike. The plan of attack involved a second hand, and I suspect very much Trigger’s Broom, ICE Sprint trike. So far I had only done a couple of 50 km rides on it. I knew I was slow, so went into it with the aim of finishing, however long it took. The fact that Lucy had opted for a postal finish (or e-brevet) was ideal, and meant I didn’t have to worry about someone waiting up for me.
I hired a car and drove to a campsite in Melrose. The trike folds to fit (just) in the back of a small/medium car with the back seats down. There is no way you could get one of these buggers on a train.
Because I had the car, I drove to the start rather than cycling, knowing that I would be glad of it later. I found a public car park just around the corner from the depart, got everything together and made my way to Galashiels McDonalds. A small field (around 25) set out, and the only time I saw any of the others was when they were on the return journey and I was still heading out.
This ride was an out and back, to Wanlockhead (Scotland’s highest village, centre of gold panning, and the destination of local school trips). I don’t usually like retracing my steps but seeing the route from the opposite direction is almost the same as seeing from new. I hadn’t gone too far before realising I’d left my water in the back of the car. First stop was St Mary’s Loch cafe to buy a couple of bottles.
It was wet. No avoiding that. For the most part an ongoing light drizzle, but in Moffat for the first time it properly chucked it down. The usual control cafe, the Rumblin’ Tum, wasn’t taking any more customers as they were very busy and understaffed, so I went a few doors up the high street to the next one. They were strangely quiet – possibly because they are cash only. I thought about turning around here and heading back to Galashiels, but there was a little demon on my shoulder telling me I was supposed to be being audacious, which made me keep going.
The wonderfully named Green Hill Stairs is a road between the Devil’s Beeftub and the M74. I had expected this to be an awful climb but actually it was fine both ways, just a long slow slog. Once past the bit of NCN 7 on the old service road the route took the B7040 to Leadhills and Wanlockhead. I think I’d only come here from the west road before so this was new. Of particular interest was what looked like a little church by Shortcleuch Water – I’ll have to pay another visit to find out. The cafe in Wanlockhead was a bit dispiriting as it is down at the bottom of a steep hill. The was an ultra run on at the same time, so I saw lots of bedraggled people heading in to the outdoor centre. As I was due to take part in something similar in the Cotswolds a week later this did not fill me with optimism.
The return to Moffat was straightforward, and a visit to the Co-op sufficient. By now I had told Lucy that I wouldn’t be back in time; the e-brevet helpfully told me the same! My main memory of the return over the A708 was towards the end when it was getting dark and I had to engage my tyre dynamo. When sorting out my trike I was able to fit a dynamo front light that I already owned, but the cost of a hub dynamo for it was eye-wateringly expensive (understandable, it’s a niche bit of kit) so I thought I’d try a relatively cheap wheel version. It worked; my light lit up. It also possessed the handy feature of letting me know how fast I was going by the noise it made. At least you only need to engage it when the light is required, in contrast to a hub which is ‘always on’.
Earlier I had enjoyed seeing martins, swallows and swifts, but now the fast flittering things were bats. What looked like a badger family crossed the road in front of me. Happily McDonads was still open when I finally got back to Galashiels. I was very glad I had the car here, plus a head torch to load the trike. As well as leaving my water in the car, I had also forgotten to bring any shower gel. I’ve stayed in enough campsites to hope there would be a random bottle that someone had left behind, but the Melrose Gibson site facilities are very clean and tidy so there was nothing lying around. Wearing only my cycling shorts I used the dispenser by the handwash sinks to coat myself in soap, and then rinsed it off, which was surprisingly effective.
Next morning I found a nice place open for breakfast in Melrose, then drove home via my parents south of Moffat who provided yet more sustenance. Despite it raining for a good part of the day I managed to catch some sun on my legs.
After finishing my first Moffat Toffee 200 km I felt that I could justify the purchase of an Audax UK jersey; it was a significant achievement for me. Ten years later I’m happy to be audacious enough to try it on a recumbent trike, even if I finish out of time. For me, audax is about finding, and stretching, your limits. Other people have different limits, and that’s fine.
201 km, 1,847 m ascent, 13 hours
