Southern Upland Way: Minch Moor

Tuesday 30th May 2023

I woke at the start of this day to clear skies again, which was almost beginning to get tiresome (!). I suppose I shouldn’t complain but I seemed to be getting wall to wall sunshine every day on this holiday, which you just don’t expect in Scotland. I had camped on the edge of Craig Douglas Forest and after breaking camp I left the conifer plantation to head across the broad, open grassy hills of Blake Muir on the eastern half of the Manor Hills. During the course of the Southern Upland Way I had been finding hidden hoards of treasure added by the ranger service to encourage people to walk the trail and it was certainly adding interest to my walk. A map at the start and on the website indicates, roughly, where they are hidden and that shows that a hoard, marked by a sculptured kist, should be in this area, but I could not find any sign of it. Usually, the word “ultreia” on a trail post will warn you to look out for the kist as it is just ahead, but I never came across the word or the kist while climbing up through Craig Douglas Forest the previous day or now while traversing Blake Muir. So, frustratingly, I had missed another one adding to the previous two that I had missed despite finding the word “ultreia” on those occasions, but not the kist. At the bottom of the hill I came across a road and followed that for some hair-raising moments, especially when coming round blind corners, until I thankfully reached the small village of Traquair.

Nearby is Tranquair House, the oldest inhabited house in Scotland and just beyond that is the town of Innerleithan, which had been in my view during the descent and has shops and places to stay, but I wasn’t in need of its services, so when I reached the crossroads in the centre of Traquair I turned right to head up to Minch Moor. The path seemed very popular and apparently has been well-used for hundreds of years as I was now on the Cross Borders Drove Road, which is a long distance trail that follows the tracks previously used by drovers who used to drive cattle from the markets in Scotland southwards for sale in England. This was a tiring climb under the blazing sun as I climbed through a sparse conifer plantation that was providing me with only partial shade and soon I emerged onto the heather covered Minch Moor. When I eventually reached the junction for the path up to the trig point at the summit of Minch Moor I saw the word “ultreia” attached to the signpost. I was hopeful that this time I would not miss the kist so I kept my eyes peeled as I slowly made my way along the path and before too long I found the surreptitiously hidden kist. The coins inside were wrapped in small plastic bags, which is a good idea as some of the coins I have found in previous kists have been rusty, but these were in excellent condition and it made up for the coin that I had failed to find on Blake Muir.

My views north, across Tweeddale, were blocked by the Moorfoot Hills and Windlestraw Law, the highest point in the range, but the most extensive views were now south and east across the plains of the River Teviot with the Cheviot Hills in the hazy distance. A monotonously flat ridge led me on from Minch Moor and I wasn’t enthusiastic about the lack of hills in the far distance, but for now I was happy to enjoy the extensive views. I could see a couple of distinctive peaks, in my direction of travel, which were undoubtedly the Eildon Hills that look over the town of Melrose, but since they are not on the route of the Southern Upland Way all I could do was gaze upon them from afar. This moorland traverse may have been enlivened by doing the walk later in the year, in late summer, when the heather is in bloom, and I had originally planned to do the trail at that time, but I think I gained much more by walking in late spring when the woodland flowers, particularly bluebells, are in bloom, and besides, the heather wasn’t looking too bad and the bilberry was a vibrant green, which made up for it. By the time I reached Broomy Law the views north had opened up and were stunning, down the Glenkinnon Burn and then after crossing the River Tweed extends over the low hills west of Galashiels to Longpark Wind Farm.

While the extensive views continued to draw my eye, Yarrowdale to the south was now also distracting me, the conifer plantation of Yair Hill Forest came alongside to my left and I came up to the handsomely built cairns of the Three Brethren. At the col with Peat Law I turned left to descend through the conifers to the Shorthope Burn where deciduous trees took over and wild flowers decorated the path and provided me with a glorious promenade down to the mighty River Tweed. Once over the river, an excruciating climb through farmland took me over Hog Hill and once I had somehow dragged myself up the hill I slowly descended into the town of Galashiels. The paths through the woodland near Gala House seemed like a maze, but good signposts directed me through the many turns and brought me onto a road on the outskirts of the town. I hadn’t booked any accommodation in Galashiels beforehand so I was really lucky that I was able to find a spare bed at Monorene Guest House, thanks to a cancellation. This was an interesting walk, though my mind was often distracted by the uncertainty of where I was going to spend the night. The views from the ridge that starts on Minch Moor were exceptional, but the path beside Shorthope Burn, which was filled with wild flowers, was also a highlight as was the woodland path coming into Galashiels. However, as with so many times on this holiday, the weather and the clear blue skies set the whole day off and enabled those stunning views.

Southern Upland Way: St Mary’s Loch

Monday 29th May 2023

After a night at the Over Phawhope Bothy I set off along the upper Ettrick Valley for a long walk along the road. Despite the tedium, I had a very relaxing walk with hardly any changes in the gradient while the sun shone brightly overhead and the only traffic was a timber truck. After an hour and a half I came to a sign that proclaimed that I was finally turning off the road and up grassy slopes away from the cranesbill geraniums that were decorating the roadside at that point and up into the hills north of the Ettrick Valley. After an initial steep climb through the first field, a gentle ascent beside the Scabcleuch Burn took me up and over the pass across the eastern slopes of Peniestone Knowe. At the end of the ridge, Pikestone Rig, I descended steeply to the ruin of Riskinhope Hope where I stopped for lunch in this tranquil and isolated place before climbing again, beside Kye Sike and around Earl’s Hill. On reaching a forestry track I followed it out of the plantation and down the hill towards St Mary’s Loch where there were stunning views and across its neighbour, the Loch of the Lowes, which arguably has better surroundings as the Ettrick and Moffat Hills extend all the way down to the shores of the loch, though the northern shore was marred by a felled conifer plantation.

After the restricted views while climbing over the hills it was great to enjoy the surroundings beside the western end of St Mary’s Loch, so to prolong my stay I decided to get something to eat and drink in the Glen Café. The car park nearby was packed, with many people venturing out onto the loch on paddle boards or kayaks, and with some were just sitting out in the sun. I was happy for some shelter from the sun so I stayed inside the café and enjoyed a lovely cup of tea, something to eat and a rest. Eventually I set off past the tourists and through Tibbie Shiels Campsite to St Mary’s Loch where I found a wonderful footpath lined with tormentil and bugle which took me beside the loch and through delightful March Wood before entering denser woodland. Eventually the lovely path joined a tedious forestry track and this took me to the eastern end of the loch where I crossed the Yarrow Water and climbed past farmland into the Manor Hills. While the views at this end of St Mary’s Loch did not seem as dramatic as those at the other end, they still provided me with enjoyable walking across grassy hills with views down the Douglas Burn, which was decorated with gorse.

The path led me into the narrow dell of the Hawkshaw Cleuch, which was richly filled with trees, but short lived and soon I was back out onto a grassy hillside and slowly descending to the Douglas Burn. After crossing the river and passing some houses I entered Craig Douglas Forest, a conifer plantation, and began to climb up the hill while thinking about where I was going to stop for the night. A forestry track didn’t provide me with anywhere to stop as the ground was too stony so I continued to climb and eventually emerged from the plantation. Before me was a broad, open, grassy hillside with many sheep and nowhere to camp, so eventually I decided to turn around and put up my tent just into Craig Douglas Forest, beside the wall. This was a curious day as evidenced by this relatively short blog entry. When reflecting on the walk at the end of the day, I described it as perfunctory as there was little to interest me as I simply covered the miles, though the highlight was clearly St Mary’s Loch, which was a very popular area particularly beside the café. Other than the walk around St Mary’s Loch, the rest of the day was dull as I started to count down the days to the end of the walk.