Journal:
I went down
for breakfast and mistakenly asked for an English
breakfast. I was corrected (in good humour)
and enjoyed my first Scottish breakfast of the trip,
which was indistinguishable from most of the
English breakfasts to date.
I was walking by 9am and
expected a relatively easy day to Melrose, my
target. Early on, I took a shorter country
lane along Jed Water rather than the guidebook
footpath which didn't seem to have anything
particular to recommend it. It was rural,
undulating and pretty, rather than spectacular.
There was a low overcast, and rain was forecast,
though it was still dry. Soon I joined the
guidebook path which was to follow St Cuthbert's
Way, a long distance walking path across the
country, for the remainder of the day.
The path now wended its
way through some woods and along field edges
adjacent to the River Teviot before crossing the
river on a long shaky suspension bridge. Then
it was back into the woods, which I really enjoyed.
A soft path, lots of big old trees, and scatterings
of wildflowers. Very pretty. A couple of
runners passed me going in the opposite direction on
their Sunday morning run. St Cuthbert's Way
then rejoined Dere Street, the old Roman road, and
for a while it was straight line walking along a
fairly overgrown and rutted path between green
fields. It began to drizzle a little and I put
my raincover on my pack, but resisted putting on my
raincoat yet. I was stung by a few nettles and
found some ticks crawling up my legs when I stopped
for a break, but generally the walking was easy and
I was making good time. It was going to be a
short day.
I reached the village of
St Boswell's in steady light drizzle around 1pm,
still raincoatless, and spotted some signs that
looked like they had been put out for a running
race. Later, I walked past the St Boswell's
Gala Day set up on the village common. On the
schedule of events was a running race at 4pm.
I felt sorry for the Gala Day volunteers in the
steady but light drizzle, as they started to get a
smattering of kids sorted out for the obstacle race.
In half an hour I was in
the neighbouring village of Newtown St Boswells and
found a pub to get some soup for lunch. While
eating, I chatted to a mother and daughter who were
on a week's walk in the opposite direction along St
Cuthbert's Way. They had lived in Australia at
one point.
After lunch, my path
followed Bowden Burn before crossing it and
beginning the steady ascent to a saddle between the
Eildon Hills which had been prominent on the horizon
for much of the day. The ascent was pleasant,
passing through more woods and then some heather
covered slopes providing excellent views across the
rural Scottish borders countryside. The
drizzle had stopped and the sun even came out
briefly. The forecast for the next few days is
good.
I descended from the
Eildon Hills into the small town of Melrose and soon
found the Youth Hostel where I had booked a room.
It's big and old and I don't think there are going
to be many people staying. After showering and
washing my stuff out, I walked the few hundred
metres into town and got my dinner at a pub. I
was finished in time to get back to the hostel,
which had a TV room to watch the Australia v Germany
World Cup game. I was joined by a German, who
knew nothing about soccer (football), and a Dutchman
who knew a lot. Australia got killed.