Day 81 Scotland

Today we crossed the border into Scotland. Somehow we started later than usual despite our good intentions. We climbed up a rather steep and rocky Byrness Hill to reach a landscape bleaker than anything we had see before.

We were a little concerned about the forecast thunderstorms. We didn’t want to be at the top of the hills with lightning about. We made good time, walking briskly along bouncy ground. It wasn’t too boggy, despite last night’s heavy rain. The views were far-reaching although very bleak. We risked a shortcut (we didn’t think yesterday’s short cut had saved us any time) and were pleased that we overtook a group of people who had been a long way ahead of us. It started to rain but the worst of the clouds passed behind us, and the light was dramatic.

Then the great moment came. We left the Pennine Way, and turned onto Dere Street, a Roman Road. But where was the Border? We didn’t know. I still haven’t found it on the map. We did however, end up in Scotland. A rather wet, midgy (we found a dry spot under some trees for our lunch), Scotland.

By now it was 2.30 and we had only done seven miles. We felt a bit cheated as we thought we had been doing well. We turned our faces to the road, glancing only cursorily at Roman camps on both sides, and put on some speed. On we went, and on, and on. Our feet were hurting. More and more. Still, we were nearing the road turnoff to Jedburgh. I was a bit worried as I’d calculated the day at 17 miles and there was no sign yet of Jedburgh despite the fact we’d done 15 miles. There was a signpost-Jedburgh 5 miles. Our knees almost buckled under us. We hobbled on. We were feeling a bit desperate. We decided to ring for a taxi. No signal. Gloomily we carried on. Eventually there was a smidgeon of signal. I found the number of a taxi firm. I rang. The call failed. We went on. Tried again. This time the call succeeded. “I’ll be right over” said Jim.

He was there within 10 minutes. We were so glad to see him. He whisked us to the Glenbank House Hotel where we removed our shoes and fell onto our beds to put our feet up. However the day was not over. We needed dinner but the couple of places we found were fully booked. We decided on an Indian takeaway and spent the time waiting for it seeing the sights of a deserted Jedburgh. There was the Mary, Queen of Scots house where she might have stayed, they’re not entirely sure. There was the Abbey. The castle jail was at the top of the hill so we admired it from afar. Jedburgh was very quiet at 7pm in a Friday night, the only place that seemed busy was the fish and chip shop.

We ate our takeaway in the bar of the hotel. The manager heated up some plates and provided us with knives and forks and cold lager. None of the other guests appeared at all.

There are very few photos today as I didn’t take many partly due to the rain and partly because taking pictures slows you down and we were very focussed in getting to the end of our day.