Day 1 – Melrose to Harestanes (14.5 miles)
After a fine Scottish breakfast (of sausage, bacon, eggs, black pudding, tomato, toast and a few other things), we made our way to Melrose for the start of the hike. A very steep climb out of the village got us to a saddle between two of the Eildon Hills, after which we walked down a gentle slope through woods to Bowdon village. During this time we had just a little rain at the start, despite fairly dire predictions of some kind of downpour or other on and off for much of the day. After Bowdon, we made our way down another beautiful wooded path to the River Tweed, along which the path ran for some distance. We tried making the “brief detour” to see Dryborough Abbey, but it was not accessible without paying an entry fee (and also, to be honest, it was also not within what we would define as “brief detour” distance). We had a brief downpour shortly after that, and wrapped ourselves back up in the rain gear we had stripped off since the beginning of the day – but once that cleared up, we had decent weather for the rest of the day.
After lunch in St. Boswells, we got a little confused when the marked path took an entirely different route from the one described in our guide books – we later learned that part of the path along the Tweed was closed because of bank erosion. The good news was that the new route was about a mile shorter (though it bypassed what was probably a beautiful walk along the river). After the detour, a lovely path parallel to the Tweed climbed up to Maxton village, after which we headed west to join the path of the old Roman road, Dere Street. Not much left of the road; just a path through fields. Along the way we took a short side path to see Lady Lilliard’s Stone. Lilliard was a female fighter of Scottish history, and on her memorial is written “Fair Maiden Lilliard lies under this stane, Little was her stature but muckle was her fame. Upon the English loons she laid many thumps, And when her legs were cuttit off, she fought upon her stumps.”
Around this time Gilli started having some foot pain, so when we reached a small lane, she rested while the rest of us went on ahead. After another lovely wooded walk we reached Harestanes Visitor Center, which is where we had left our car earlier. After picking up Gilli, we returned to Jedburgh and went out for another delicious dinner at the Carter’s Rest. Bethany and I took a brief detour after dinner to look at Jedburgh Castle, a couple of hundred yards up the hill past our B&B. Then back to “home base” to relax and get a (relatively) early night before the next trek tomorrow …
