Jedburgh to Melrose – 18 March 2023
This is the first of three visits across the border to Scotland this year, we have another one in August and the final visit in October. Scotland doesn’t come up very often in our programmes, the last visit to Melrose was in 2017 and the others are even longer ago. As it happens Melrose is one of our popular destinations as we have finished here four times in the past. That might not seem a lot but there are over thirty locations in Scotland that we have visited over the years and some of them we have only been to once or twice before.
This time around we have three routes all starting from or near St Boswells and all walking some part of St Cuthbert’s Way. Melrose Abbey is actually the start of St Cuthbert’s Way but we have often walked bits of this route the wrong way around so this is no exception. All the routes have the opportunity to visit The Temple and the Three Muses, which is located on the far side of the River Tweed between the towns of St Boswells and Newton St Boswells.
The 11-mile route starts just outside St Boswells and heads around the curve of the River Tweed before coming through St Boswells and Newton St Boswells. This route stays on St Cuthbert’s Way over the Eildon Hills all the way into St Boswells.
The 10.5-mile route starts just on the edge of St Boswells and stays on St Cuthbert’s Way as far as the Eildon Hills. It then climbs up and over Eildon Hill North and passes the Ryhmer’s Stone before heading down to the River Tweed via Trimontium Roman Fort and comes into Melrose alongside the river. The Ryhmer’s Stone marks the site of the Eildon Tree where Thomas Rymer. a 13th Century poet fell asleep and met the Faerie Queen. So legend has it anyway.
The 8.5-mile route also starts on the edge of St Boswells and continues on St Cuthbert’s Way to the Eildon Hills. It then follows a path around the lower northern edge of Eildon Hill North and also visits there Ryhmers Stone. From the stone the route heads north, using the subway to go under the A6091 road and then heads west on a footpath into Melrose.
So the first trip across the border is a good one with lots of interesting sites to see along the way. If you would like a walk along St Cuthbert’s Way you can get in touch with us from our Contact Page. You can also download the walk descriptions below and the GPS routes here.
The image for this post was taken in March 2013 when there was still snow on the Eildon Hills.
