With little or nothing to do + the promise of a fine day I left at 11.15 – after seeing John Lothian, Hill Street1 – + cycled to Galashiels + right up Gala Water + over to Arniston Lodge2 27 miles without dismounting. Turning off there I went a bye road over a height which took me down to the Temple road + I went on then past Gladhouse to the Peebles road above Eddleston3 + so home. There was very little wind first N. + then S. W. I got home at 7.15 having averaged (exclusive of stops) over 9 miles an hour. The distance was 65.1. My legs were a little stiff but I was not fatigued. I took my lunch near a farm called [blank space] with a fine view to the N.4
1 John Lothian (1849-1924), stone mason, living at Hill Street, Selkirk with his second wife Helen Lothian née Kemp [1921 Census].
2 Dr Muir’s description of his route is confusing but he appears to have ended up going past Arniston East Gate-Lodge, Borthwick Parish, grid reference NGR NT334,595 and Canmore ID 211449, travelling most directly from the main road (now the A7) but his description could also be thought to correspond with his passing Arniston West Lodge, Temple Parish, grid reference NT31969,59326 and Canmore ID 234632 (also one cannot strictly rule out the North Gate-lodge, Canmore ID 211442 and NT33667,61215 or the South Gate, Canmore ID 211452 and NT32772,58992, both Borthwick Parish, though the former doesn’t seem to fit Dr Muir’s description and the latter has a similar relationship with the road network as the East Gate, indeed on the most likely route Dr Muir would have had to have passed the East Gate to get to the South).
3 From Temple, parish, grid reference NGR NT316,587, Dr Muir ran past Gladhouse Reservoir at about NT289,538 to Waterheads, NT244,510, at which point he ran due south to Eddleston, NT242,471.
4 It is impossible to guess where this was but the best combination of hight, timing and direction points to somewhere on the Temple to Waterheads road (do not forget that Dr Muir did not dismount between Galashiels and Arniston Lodge).
[Source: Scottish Borders Archives & Local History Service SBA/657/26, Dr J S Muir of Selkirk, medical practitioner, journal for 1923]
Rumbling Clint's Scottish Notes 