When one of our recent borrowers picked up an e-bike at the end of May, they weren’t sure how much they’d actually use it. Four weeks later, they handed it back having ridden 259 miles around the Borders — fourteen rides, and barely a corner of the area left unexplored.
It started modestly: a six-mile pootle from Tweedbank to Bowden on the 31st of May. But the distances crept up quickly. Within a week they were doing an 18-mile loop out to Maxton and back via Bewlie, then 21 miles to Ancrum. By the 8th of June it was a 30-mile round trip to Threepwood, and before the month was out they’d clocked a 33-mile circuit taking in Smailholm and Stichill, and a 38-miler through Stow, Clovenfords and Gala.
In between the big days out were the kind of rides that show what an e-bike is really for: a quick 7 miles round Eildon and Newtown, a 12-mile circular past Netherraw and Bewlie, a run up to Scott’s View just because it was there. Riding through the Eildon Hills, along the Tweed at Boleside, out to Lauder and back via Legerwood — this wasn’t training, it was simply getting out and enjoying the Borders, with the motor taking the sting out of the hills.
The numbers
- 259 miles in 29 days
- 14 rides, averaging around 18 miles each
- Longest ride: 38 miles; shortest: 6
That’s the equivalent of riding from Melrose to Birmingham — in a month, on a borrowed bike, mostly on quiet back roads within a few miles of home.
What could you do in a year?
Keep up that pace and you’d cover over 3,000 miles in a year. Even at half that, you’re looking at 1,500 miles of fresh air, exercise and discovery — and every one of those miles that replaces a car journey saves fuel money and cuts your carbon footprint. Riders regularly tell us the biggest surprise isn’t the miles, it’s how often the e-bike becomes the first choice for short trips, not the last.
The hills that put people off cycling in the Borders simply stop being a problem. Headwinds too. You still pedal, you still get the exercise — you just arrive smiling.
Try it yourself
An EB4B loan gives you a proper chance to find out what an e-bike could do for you — not a ten-minute test ride, but weeks of real life. Commutes, shopping runs, Sunday explorations, or 38-mile adventures to Stow and back. One borrower managed 259 miles in a month.
What could you do?
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