The Seven Bridges Walk, Ballater

On our second walk of the day we headed out of Ballater to follow this 6.5 mile circuit which was taking in seven bridges around Ballater.  We passed the Posties Leap (a small wooden bridge named after a jilted postie leapt to his death on the eve of his planned wedding).  The route ran above and parallel to the A93 and as we walked I helped myself to the raspberries that were in vast quantity in the hedgerows.

We finally crossed the A93 and made our way to Polhollick Bridge over the River Dee.  The bridge, built in 1892, is in need of some repair and was a wee bit shoogly as we walked over!

Safely over the other side, we came out at an expanse of native Scots Pine and continued on a well maintained track that seemed to go on for miles. The sun shone through the trees and it was so peaceful.

Out of the plantation we turned left to join the road that would lead us back to Ballater via the Royal Bridge, the last bridge of the walk. 

Burn O'Vat and Culblean Circuit, nr Ballater

After a more restful nights sleep and a good breakfast we headed off on a 4 mile walk which took in the Burn O'Vat - a geological wonder where we climbed through pink granite boulders to a watery pool.

It was another sunny day- we have been so lucky with the weather this past week.  Leaving the Burn O'Vat we continued up the path to join the Culblean route and made our way through some lovely woodland strewn with Dragonflies.

Eventually we came out at the road and glimpsed Loch Davan.

We got back to the car after about 2 hours walking.  As it was Blair's Birthday (39 today!, 39 today!) we went for coffee and cake before starting off on our second walk of the day.

Around Craig Leek, nr Braemar

We left Melrose at around 8.30 after another hearty breakfast. We drove North, via the Edinburgh bypass and stopped off at the Pillars of Hercules for coffee. We had read about this organic cafe in a book when at Windlestraw Lodge the night before and decided we would visit to see why it had been given such good write up. As well as the coffee we ordered take away sandwiches for our lunch later on in our journey to the Cairngorms. The weather all the way from Galashiels to Braemar was pretty much clagged in with fog so we didn't get to appreciate the views on the drive up.
 
We stopped at Braemar briefly to stretch our legs and reached the destination of our next walk at around 2pm. After a quick lunch we headed off on the well waymarked route around Craig Leek. Although the sun tried to break through, the fog really won the day and we didn't get to marvel at the promised views back to Braemar and over to Lochnagar. Instead, we marvelled at the copious amount of butterflies that fluttered backwards, forwards and around us for most of the walk up through mixed woodland.

Making our descent to the valley floor and whilst looking out for the large green wood shed that was mentioned on Walk Highlands, we spotted some bee hives.  Blair decided to take a picture but hastily made a retreat when he came under attack!  I'm sure those bees were making lovely heather honey! 

We were out for around 2 hours (5.25 miles) and drove on to the B&B in Ballater.  The exertions of the past week were taking their toll on us and we were pretty knackered when we headed across the road to the Station Brasserie for beer battered fish and chips.

Around Melrose

After a wee sandwich lunch we headed off for a tour of Melrose.  We started at the Harmony Gardens and had a good look around at all the plants and vegetables - I managed to recognise some that we had back home.  From there we sat outside and had a coffee before heading to Priorwood Gardens, another garden that once belonged to Melrose Abbey - this garden had a large orchard of over 70 varieties of apple.

We didn't succumb to our desire for ice cream and instead bought some expensive fruit from the wee veg shop.

We finished off our stay in the Borders with a slap up meal at Windlestraw Lodge near Walkerburn.  With no expectations, we were very pleasantly surprised with an excellent feed. After a quail egg and caviar canape, we sat down to a spinach and basil espresso mini-starter. This was followed by our starters proper, Lynne with an Aga-baked cheese souffle and me a whole quail with bacon and black pudding. Mains were Aberdeen Angus fillet and perfectly cooked veg (which Lynne tasted!!) and sea bass. We ended with cheese and port with a honeycomb accompaniment.

Still slightly full the next morning, we managed to eat a FULL breakfast before starting our journey north to the Cairngorms.

The Three Brethern, near Selkirk

After a hearty breakfast, we headed off at around 9.30 for the last of our Border's walks.  The Three Brethern are three cairns, each standing around 10ft and which mark the connections between the three local estates.


It was another glorious day as we made the ascent along some good paths with open views across some heathery fields.  Very little wildlife was seen but there were plenty of sheep, and they didn't run away from us!  As we steadily climbed, we eventually saw the tops of the cairns and looking around us we could see the Eildon Hills (which were very distinctive amongst the low lying landscape).

 Retracing our steps for a short time, we joined Peat Law to make our return back to the Philphaugh Estate car park.  Again, the paths were in good condition and we marvelled at the views around us as we continued the descent through some grassy fields and farm tracks.  The walk took us around two and a quarter hours (5.25 miles).

Eildon Hills, Melrose

After bidding farewell to my parents we headed off to continue our holiday in Melrose.  We arrived there around 12.45, changed into our walking gear in the car and headed off on the first of our planned Borders walks.  The start of the walk was up through a very slippy clay mud path.  Better terrain was reached and we continued up a scree path to reach the top of Mid Hill (477m) - this gave us wonderful views back down to Melrose and you could see for miles.

Back down Mid Hill, we headed for the second of the Eildon's - West Hill.  We took a slight (and unplanned) detour through Broad Wood and after realising our mistake headed back and up the correct path to the summit.

Leaving West Hill, we headed to the last of the Eildon's - North Hill - the second highest of the three hills.  We steadily made our decent from there, again along a muddy path to reach the edge of some trees before coming out at Rhymers' Stone.  From there we re-joined the St Cuthberts Way and arrived back in Melrose to check into the B&B.  We finished off the night with a good pint (or two) of real ale and some pub grub from the Kings Arms.

Tank Wood and Gallow Hill walk

Another glorious day in Moffat and Blair and I went for a walk up Gallow Hill.  The hill lies just above my old High School and I bitterly remember cross country runs up there as part of PE classes.  More pleasant memories are of me taking my long dead companion, Sheba, on a walk and of me playing hide and seek with her behind the trees.

We approached Gallow Hill via Tank Wood and the sun was shining through the trees.

When on the Hill itself, the path was quite badly eroded in some parts and there were many fallen trees that we had to climb over or clamber under (we wondered why the paths hadn't been cleared). 

We collected some lovely pine cones which we plan to dry and use at Christmas.  I hoped to point out the Gallow Tree to Blair when we were making our return but I couldn't remember where it was - or whether it even still existed.   

Once off the hill we continued the walk by taking a detour along the waterside and met Mum at Ariete for coffee.

Lochmaben Castle

A week long break away started at my parents in Moffat.  The first day of the holiday commenced with a drive to Lochmaben Castle courtesy of a ghostly tale Mum had read in the Moffat News.  The tale told of ghouls and vampires but I doubted, that on a visit during day light hours and in full sun, that we would see any nightly terrors!  Mum was quite disappointed that she didn't get the shivers.