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1. Sell Moor Hill
Distance: 2.5km
Time Taken: 41 minutes
Ascent: 89m
We headed down to the Galashiels area of the Borders to take in a few wee subs there.
The first walk of the day was a short hop up Sell Moor Hill. We parked in a lay-by on the B6363 near Stow. Across the road was a standing stone on the grass, and a flat stone set into the earth inscribed with "1911 - 2011".
We headed up the edge of a small wood, and then into sheep field. The trickiest part was getting into the wood (via a rotten old pallet leant against the corner of the fence) and immediately into the field, over a barbed wire topped wooden section of fence. That part negotiated, it was plain sailing up the field to the summit trig. We were back down and off to the next hill before 10!
- Approaching the summit
- Looking west
- Looking south, with Eildon Hills to the left
- View back north
- The tricky bit - into and back out of the wood
- Back to the road
2. Meigle Hill
Distance: 5.2km
Time taken: 1:15
Ascent: 272m
We then drove the few miles to Clovenfords, and parked in a housing estate near the edge of the village. We headed up the track through Meigle Farm and up to the mast-laden summit, on a good track all the way up. We came back the same way, realising from a sign we'd missed earlier that we could have done a circuit instead.
- Starting off through Meigle Farm yard
- Sheep being let out onto the hill
- Summit trig
- View south-east over Galashiels to the Eildon Hills
- Looking north-east
- On the way back down, view north-west over Clovenfords
- Craig Hill and pasture by the Tweed
- Back down through Meigle farm
3. Black Hill
Distance: 2.3km
Time taken: 52 mins
Ascent: 195m
Last was Black Hill, near Earlston. We parked on a wide verge on the B6356, next to the start of the footpath to Earlston. We followed the footpath a short way, as far as Cowdenknowe Mains, then turned sharp right onto the path heading directly towards Black Hill. Once out on the hill we followed the path a bit further south and then set off up the steep slope of Black Hill. This was the toughest going of the day - not only steep, but sections of scree and gorse to navigate around as well. Still, it wasn't far and we were soon up at the trig point. The wind was getting up, but the views around were fine. We descended a slightly different way, reaching the bottom right where the path between the hedgerows headed back to Cowdenknowe Mains.
- Black Hill from the road
- Starting up the path to Earlston
- Take a sharp right at Cowdenknowe Mains
- Out onto the hill
- Steepest climb of the day
- Looking north over Earlston towards the Lammermuir Hills
- View north-east from the summit, in the direction of Berwick and the North Sea
- View south-east, with Redpath Hill illuminated by a break in the clouds
- View south-west to the Eildon Hills
- View of the starting point and the route up
- The path back
- Back to the road
With thanks to Fife Flyer for the routes, which we followed, more of less!
