[INITIAL DRAFT] 25 to 30 July 2003

Friday 25 July

Drove up to Melrose, in the rain, for the start of the St Cuthbert's Way walk, staying at the Youth Hostel (we still have a lot to learn from foreign hostels).

Ventured out into the town for our evening meal and tried out the 'Ship Inn' which advertised evening meals from 5.30 to 8.30, unfortunately this for some reason that doesn't include Fridays!

Saturday 26 July

Under a patchy blue sky we left the hostel at 9.25 and strolled down to the Abbey, the start of St Cuthbert's Way. Wandered back through the town, busy with Saturday morning shoppers, stopping at the baker's to pick up some cakes for a later snack.
Within 10 minutes we were off, heading south out of town and passing under the main road before turning off left on to a path to take us up the Eildon Hills, three peaks overlooking Melrose, reaching the saddle after a 30 minute climb.
On the way we practised naming some of flowers we had recently learned to recognise, ling, tormentil, harebell, foxglove.
Descended the opposite side of the hill through fir and beech wood, black horehound lay by the side of the path.

Before reaching Bowden at 10.40 we passed through an area of meadow with tufted vetch, and birdsfoot vetch.
Signs informed us of the success of Bowden in the small village category for Scotland's Floral Gateway. Sat for a while to write a postcard and pop it in the local post box.

From Bowden the track followed the wooded course of the Bowden Burn as it flowed towards the River Tweed, cranesbill and scabius were spotted by the wayside.

At Newton St Boswells we sat and ate the gooey cakes we had bought earlier. We then pushed on passing under the main road and in to 'The Glen', a wooded area with meadowsweat that brought us to the banks of the Tweed, which we followed for a short while until we came to a footbridge. This wasn't on the Way but a structure on the opposite bank looked interesting so we took a diversion. The building was 'The Temple of the Muses' dedicated to the poet James Thomson whose work was a forerunner of Keats and Wordsworth, his most notable poem was 'The Seasons'
Followed the bank of the Tweed as the path ascended and descended it.
On a branch sat a small brown fledgling, not at all afraid of us watching. A wren also took no notice of us. The smell of wild chives occasionally permeated the air.

At St Boswell we picked up cold drinks and continued on along the broad Tweed, past the golf course, looking for somewhere to sit for lunch. But it wasn't until we passed Mertoun Bridge that we found a suitable tree trunk on a flat inner bend of the river.
The temperature had dropped somewhat but we stayed for 25 minutes before moving on. But soon a shower caught up with us, however, it only lasted long enough for us to get our waterproofs out before it stopped and the sun was out again burning off the damp and raising the humidity.
At 2.20 we reached Maxton (www.maxton.bordernet.co.uk), from here we had to follow a road in order to get to the Dere Way, a section of Roman Road that St Cuthbert's Way follows. Although heading in a straight direction the path itself swung about from side to side. In places the track was quite overgrown.
From the path a number of features could be seen. Close by was Lady Lillards Stone, a monument commemorating her bravery. Further away to the left were Barons Folly and the Waterloo Memorial.
Intermittent showers kept us putting on and taking off our waterproofs.
The path left the straight line of the Roman Road and descended through wood land to reach the B6400 which we crossed and walked on along St Cuthbert's Way for a couple of hundred metres before turning off right to reach the Harestanes Visitors Centre.
Coming out of the Centre we took the wrong road and only discovered it when we were a mile out of our way heading in the wrong direction! Not the best of plans at the end of a long hard walk. Turned and made our way into Ancrum to Cheviot View B&B for a welcome rest, reaching there at 5.30.

Sunday 27 July

With a long day ahead of us we got away at 9.05, returning via the Visitors Centre to pick up the path again at 9.35. The route took us through the Monteviot Estate along neatly maintained paths and down to the River Teviot. Red campion, valerium and broom with black seedpods grew by the path. First of all we followed the north bank westerly before crossing over a new suspicion bridge and returning easterly on the southern bank until we reached a tributary called the Jed Water which we followed south to cross over the A698 and again pick up the Roman Road.
Our time on the Roman Road today was short but steep. After about 1 km we turned off left on a new section of path that was only opened in April, fortunately we had picked up a leaflet and so were not surprised, but others we had met hadn't heard of the changes. The new section took us through fields of barley and rye as well as numerous woods. At 11.05 we stopped for 10 minutes on a new footbridge for a fruit slice we had been carrying.
From here we wound up and around the side of a hill before turning and climbing yet again. Continued on through fields and woods to return to the original path and reach Cessford.
From here on the walk became a little tedious following country roads rather than paths. Passed by Cessford Castle. As it would be well past lunchtime before we could find a good spot to eat our sandwiches, we sat by the side of the road, on a grass verge with our backs to a stone wall, fortunately we were not disturbed by traffic. After 20 minutes we continued on to Morebattle where we dropped in at the Templehall Inn for refreshments and to prepare ourselves for the final 11 km.
Left the village and turned right down a side road for about 1km before crossing Kale Water and heading up in to the hills, skirting around Grubbit Law and making for Wideopen Hill, claimed to be the halfway point of the walk as well as the highest. Descended down the other side to another road so that all that was left was about 4km of road and track to Kirk Yetholme.
As the church clock struck 5 we arrived at the door of the hostel just as it was opening so once booked in we were first into the showers.

Monday 28 July

A Rest day!

Tuesday 29 July

The weather looked cool but turned out to be quite mild.
At 9.05 we were off retracing the route we had taken on the previous day, walking up the quiet road past the 'Gypsy Palace' before turning off left into the hills for a gentle clime up to the England/ Scotland border which we crossed 45 minutes later. A little further and we were over the saddle and dropping down into Tuppies Sike, a small valley out of the wind.
From here the path took us into a fir plantation but we took a wrong route and ended up at the edge of the plantation rather than passing through it so we hopped over the fence and walked around the edge following a sheep track.
With the sun now shining we made our way down to the road that would take us into the small hamlet of Hethpool. As we walked along a couple of basset hounds chained together joined us. The post van was coming along the road towards us and so we stopped the driver to ask if he knew the dogs. He said they were from a farm further down the road and so we just walked along with them and fortunately at Hethpool they didn't bother with us any more.
Crossed over College Burn and followed the contours around Western Tor and Easter Tor before turning right to make our ascent, climbing up passed Tom Tallons Crag to a wood where we stopped for lunch. As we were well ahead of time we spent an extended 50-minute lunch hour sitting on the grass.
From here on the track meandered across the top of gently undulating, ling covered heath, one of the more pleasant stretches of the walk.
With the sky threatening showers we made our way down the hillside towards Wooler. Passing through a car park by Wooler Common the path took one final deviation, taking us out to view the common before returning us though woods to reach Wooler at 3.10, just as the first spots of rain were falling.
Found ourselves a café and sat for a while with the drizzle getting harder until at 4 o'clock we made our way in the rain for the final 200 metres to Winton House.

Wednesday 30 July

On the way out of Wooler we stopped off at the bakers to pick up some sandwiches, then at 9.20, under grey skies, we were off. The first short section took us to the outskirts of the town before we started our ascent round Westwood Moor, on a path overgrown with bracken, wet from earlier drizzle. As we were wearing shorts we kept most of our clothing dry, but the water ran down our legs soaking into our socks and boots. The only uplifting moment was the song of the skylark as we reached the top. More overgrown bracken obscured the path, as we descended to Weetwood Bridge, making it difficult to find the way. The path on the Scottish side of the boarder was much better maintained and signed than on the English side.
The threatening drizzle became more persistent as we made our way through West Horton to East Horton causing us to put on our waterproofs. At East Horton we stood for a while under a tree for shelter but as it was not offering very much protection we pressed on. The visibility was not good, and passing over open ground by Town Law we had to use a compass bearing to ensure we kept on the correct route to find a footbridge over a stream. Others who passed they way later said that they could just make out Holy Island at this point, we couldn't even see the edge of the field!
At 12.40 we reached St Cuthbert's Cave. It was just as well that we were expecting it and the mist had lifted a little, as it was about 100m to the side of the track and not sign posted. On two of the boulders close to the cave were professionally carved inscriptions in memory of some members of a family, it just seemed to be high quality graffiti, even if it did have significant meaning to the people concerned. The cave itself was of no great significance, other than it's association. We stayed for 25 minutes, eating our lunch before venturing on again through woodland to reach a road and our first view of Holy Island as descended the last hill.
At 2.35 we reached Fenwick where we phoned our landlady for the night, who, after a short while collected us and took us to Church Lane House in Lowick. Although she had only been a landlady for a year she had reached the last 20 in the AA landlady of the year competition.

Thursday 31 July

During the walk we had become acquainted with other walkers. In total there were 10 of us walking similar sections; a couple from Kincarding, a pair of related couples and a young couple from Edinburgh, as well as ourselves. The young couple had shared the B&B with us and were driven back with us to Fenwick at 9.40 to complete the walk. We had arranged with the others to walk the final section all together, but they had already set off thinking we had got fed up waiting. Fortunately we could see them in the distance and followed.
As we walked along the road, with Holy Island in front of us, we were too busy talking and missed a track and so ended up adding an extra kilometre to our walk by going all the way around a road.
Holy Island is only accessible on foot for about 3 hours before and after low tide, this fitted in well with our timing being able to cross between 9am and 2pm.
By the time we reached the causeway we had caught up and had to decide whether to follow the road over the causeway, which had no path, or follow the poled route across the sands, we all chose the latter. The recommendation is to wear sandals or go barefoot, most of the others went barefoot but we decided to keep our boots on as the occasional small streams and pools didn't seem too deep, this turned out to be the right decision.
The sand crossing, known as 'The Pilgrims Way' is flat but quite long but marked with tall poles about every 20m. At two points on the crossing are towers that can be used as a refuge if caught by the incoming tide.
Carefully picking our way around water wherever we could and choosing shallow crossings where we couldn't we slowly made our way across the 4km of sand. At the start the far side didn't seem too distant but even by halfway it didn't appear to be getting much closer, we could have sworn that they were adding poles onto the end. But at last we were there.
Just one more kilometre to go as we joined the day-trippers swarming onto the island as we walked passed small cafes and shops. We were going to stop for refreshments at a café but it was pointed out to us that the end of the walk was at the Abbey and so in order to complete it before relaxing with a drink, we pressed on for the final few hundred metres to the Abbey gates.
Then we returned to the café for a drink.