Fell
Chapter 2 Tweeddale and Teviotdale
Walk 17 A Sea View Figure-of-Eight
Walk 18 Two Castles and a Keep
Walk 19 A Walter Scott Connection
Walk 20 Dryburgh Abbey and the Winding Tweed
Walk 21 Three Peaks (Trimontium) above Melrose
Walk 22 Three Brethren and Border Mischief
Walk 23 The Cheese Well and the Bear Gates of Traquair
Walk 24 Venerable Beech and Waterloo Monument
Walk 25 An Iron Age Fort, Roman Signal Station and Covenanter’s Pulpit
Walk 26 A Druids’ Stone Circle, Castles Most Sombre and a Rail Bed
Walk 27 ‘Bundle and Go’ – a Reivers’ Cry
Chapter 3 Ettrick Forest
Walk 28 In Search of an Army’s Pay Chest
Walk 29 Pele Towers and an Italian Balloonist
Walk 30 Fair St Mary’s and Literary Giants
Walk 31 ‘That’s the Way for Billy and Me’
Walk 32 A Drovers’ Way
Walk 33 ‘A Glacialist’s Walk’
Walk 34 The Ettrick Horseshoe
Walk 35 By Forest and Fell over Ettrick Pen
Walk 36 An Eagle’s Eye View of the Moffat Water Valley and the Tweedsmuir Hills
Chapter 4 The Tweedsmuir Hills
Walk 37 Two Dramatic Waterfalls
Walk 38 Dark and Deep Loch Skeen
Walk 39 A Waterfall, a Loch, a Gorge and Surrounding Summits
Walk 40 ‘A Walk on the Wild Side’ – 9000 Years Ago
Walk 41 On the Edge of Blackhope’s Glacial Glen
Walk 42 A Walk of Two Halves – Equally Appealing, Distinctly Different
Walk 43 Broad Law – the Borders’ Highest Mountain
Walk 44 Broad Law plus Cramalt Craig
Walk 45 A Walk Through Time
Walk 46 Benign Surroundings Hide a Dark and Dangerous Past
Chapter 5 Long Distance Walks and Town Trails
The Pennine Way
The Alternative Pennine Way
The Southern Upland Way
St Cuthbert’s Way
The Borders Abbeys Way
Berwick-upon-Tweed
Kelso
Jedburgh
Melrose
Galashiels
Selkirk
Hawick
Appendix 1 Glossary
Appendix 2 Bibliography
Appendix 3 Useful Information
Appendix 4 Summary of Walks
INTRODUCTION
Grey recumbent tombs of the dead in desert places,
Standing stones on the vacant wine-red moor,
Hills of sheep, and the homes of the silent vanquished races,
And winds, austere and pure.
R L Stevenson
The Border Hills and Southern Uplands
Between England and Scotland lies the solitude of an upland area which, though neglected by rambler and mountain walker alike, offers to both a wealth of adventure. Although linked to the north of England and the Lothians of Scotland, this area has, because of its geographical seclusion and its history and tradition, retained its own distinct identity. The Borders region of Scotland (comprising the districts of Berwickshire, Roxburghshire, Ettrick and Lauderdale, and Tweeddale) and the northern fringes of Northumberland constitute the landmass known as the Borders covered in this guide. The population is around 120,000, the majority of whom reside in small towns and villages of which only 14 have more than 1500 inhabitants. This makes the area the second most thinly populated part of Scotland and certainly the most thinly populated part of England. The average space per head in the Borders is one person for every 11 acres, compared with an overall average for Scotland of less than four acres per person.
The fertile farms in the straths (valleys) of the Tweed and Teviot have fostered a fine arable and stock tradition, while the surrounding hills have a reputation second to none for breeding and feeding sheep, proudly producing named breeds such as the Cheviot and the Border Leicester. Allied with the agriculture are twin spin-offs: quality textiles (the shrinking mainstay of the local economy) and food processing. In recent years the industrial base has widened to include industries such as plastics, chemicals, paper production, health care and electronics, all of which has, fortunately, led to the reversal of the population drift and, in the last 15 years, increased the numbers residing in the area. The Borders is also renowned in the field of sport, particularly rugby union.
This Borderland has a character of its own, manifest not only in the green and rounded hills, the glens and bubbling burns, but also in Border legend, poetry and music. It is a subtle character, one that may not be fully understood by a single ascent of Cheviot or a walk in Ettrick Forest, yet as certain as the seasons.
Teviotdale and Hawick from Rubers Law (Walk 25)
The region offers 68 mountains and tops in excess of 2000ft (610m), the highest being Broad Law 2754ft (839m), with only a smattering of rock climbs and several scrambles on scree or in rocky gullies. The highlights of the area, however, are the many long and exhilarating ridge walks, although some include the notorious peat hags of the upper Cheviots. No matter what your tastes, there are walks in this guide to suit all pedestrians and lovers of the countryside, whatever your abilities and secondary interests.
Climate and Weather Patterns
The number of hours of sunshine depends to a certain extent on the height above sea level, in particular in the vicinity of Cheviot, Hart Fell and Broad Law, whose summits attract precipitation and cloud. Lower Tweeddale, the coastal plain and the more sheltered valleys enjoy up to 50 per cent more sunshine than the hills over 2000ft (610m), especially those in the west of the region.
The lapse rate, a reduction of approximately 3°C for every 1000ft (305m) increase in height above sea level, allows a simple calculation to be made in relation to the Border walks. However, sheltered inland valleys can be colder than the summits during the winter months, as cold air tends to drain into the valley floors and form frost pockets, while the converse is true during the summer.
Visibility
The