Eildons

Willie Bell

2 March 2022

Well we got the 2022 walking season off to a good start on Wednesday with the Eildon Hills at Melrose.

Moira, Sheila (welcome to our group), Crawford, Mike, Russell and I headed south to Border Reiver country.

The first issue on arriving at Melrose Abbey car park was the lack of hard cash for the car park meter. My excuse was I’d just changed car and had no coins in the glove box, the truth is a Gala man would never pay for parking in Melrose.

We headed up Dingleton Road, not far from Sandra Curson’s house. A fairly steep climb took us to Eildon Mid, via a mixture of well maintained path and red clay. We got a dog walker to take one of the photos below, despite her Labrador / Rottweiler dog doing it best to pull her away and I was rather sheepish (pun intended). The views through 360 degrees were superb. Mike could even see one of his Heriot-Watt Uni buildings in Gala.

We then headed to Eildon Wester, via a slight double back due to my poor navigation skills, despite the numerous St Cuthbert’s Way and Border Abbeys Way signs. It was a bit windy by then, and the mist started coming in at the top, so we descended into the woods for lunch, on route to the final hill Eildon Easter to complete the Trimontium.

We managed to get a view of the three bridges at Leaderfoot from the top Easter, before an easy descent. We headed up to view the Rhymer’s stone where the Eildon tree once stood and Thomas Rhymer is said to have met the Queen of the Fairies, albeit we never saw them !

The walk finishes with a stroll thru Newstead, and into Melrose at the stunning 12th century Abbey.

And in Marauders tradition, tea and cakes were procured at a very nice cafe next to the Abbey.

Finally, it’s with great sadness that a fellow hill walker Ken Fallas died at the weekend. Our thoughts are with Denise, Katie and their families

Regards Willie