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Thanks for the suggestions! For the 1st option I was thinking about the leg out of Moffat to Edinburgh, or the ride back from Edinburgh to Brampton. I really liked both of these, even though I got thoroughly drenched on the return leg.
To go to Moffat I took the flat A road through the night so it was nice and fast and I don't have much memories of it except for listening to 'Passenger' on repeat (and taking a reflecto-porn photo in front of the 'Welcome to Scotland' sign)
@hippy good shout, will do. Thanks!
cgg
hippy
That's a shame.
You could look at doing something vaguely based on the Auld Alliance route heading North of Edinburgh.
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/13389019
I did it a few years back (actually slightly different route now I look at it again, but I'm sure they'd only have improved it). That had some great scenery, You'd also maybe have time to extend it into the edge of the Cairngorms. It runs as a 9pm start 400k, so if you wanted to ride straight off the train it's probably suited to that as I think the first few hours were less exciting. Riding back over the Fourth Road Bridge at the end makes for a nice finish. No idea about bivvy spots, but there was definitely a fair amount of woodland that would probably be suitable.
Or, you could hop onto a train from Edinburgh to Wemyss Bay (another 2.5 hours) and then do some exploring round the Argyll Coast via a bunch of short ferry rides. Maybe that's over-complicating things a bit, but it's a really nice area and you'd be able to find places to bivvy easily.
The coast to the East of Edinburgh (around North Berwick, Dunbar, etc) is nice - much less dramatic than Argyll, but possibly another option to look at.
I guess you're talking about the LEL route heading South after Edinburgh? Or otherwise you took the hilly detour? Because the stretch heading to Moffat was one of the grimmest parts of the ride from what I remember...
I really liked all the bits around Innerleithen on the way back - That's an area I'm keen to go back to.