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Sub 2k Marilyns: Sell Moor Hill, Eildon Mid Hill.
Date: 24/03/2024.
Distance: 2.5 + 10.5 km.
Ascent: 90 + 520m.
Time taken: 30 minutes, 3 hours 25 minutes.
Weather: Mild, sunny.
Our campervan rental a couple of weeks earlier had been the thing we needed to get us out and searching properly for a van of our own. While the Highlands might be the best place to own one, it isn't great for trying to buy one so we had scheduled a weekend of viewings in the Central Belt. Saturday had seen us in Glasgow and Dumbarton but due to the heavy showers we hadn't been inspired to include a walk. Today we were heading down to Melrose and the forecast was much more pleasant.
With our appointment not until late morning, we were able to leave Glasgow after breakfast and fit a short Marilyn in on the way down. Sell Moor Hill seemed ideal - short, little ascent and good underfoot. Parking above Stow on the Lauder road we were up and down in half an hour, most of the walking being in a field. While the hill itself had little in the way of character it had been a lovely drive over and the views from the summit were good.
Sell Moor 
Eildon Hills 
Summit 
Towards Windlestraw Law 
Moffat hills in the distance Back in the car we headed for our van viewing appointment then back into the centre of Melrose - we couldn't leave the area without having a walk on the Eildon Hills! I had come up with a circuit from Melrose that included all three summits in a loop and when I looked at the Walkhighlands route it was almost identical. Great - an easy sell to Jackie who didn't want anything too punishing.
Melrose Abbey We ended up with a punishing start as we had bought ice cream in Melrose - trying to eat it while negotiating the endless flight of steps at the start of the walk was not the easiest. Ice cream eaten, we made our way to the central (and highest) summit first, the last 100m of this being brutally steep although all on good paths.
Looking back to Melrose 
Galashiels and the Tweed Valley 
Eildon Hill North Views out over the surrounding countryside were quite a change from our normal ones with the Cheviot being visible on the southern skyline and various Donalds to the west and southwest. The ever-changing light was lovely on the patchwork of lowland fields and rolling hills.
Eildon Hill North from Eildon Mid Hill 
Eildon Wester Hill 
St Boswells with the Cheviot in the background 
SW to the Moffat hills 
Dirrington Great Law and Black Hill An even steeper descent took us to the Wester Eildon Hill (probably the least prominent of the three) then on a good traverse back round the base of the central one. We passed within a whisker of our initial ascent route before climbing up Eildon Hill North - the one with the hillfort.
Eildon Mid Hill and Eildon Hill North 
Up the Tweed Valley 
Eildon Hill North 
Mid and North Hills from the Wester Hill 
Looking down on Melrose from Eildon Hill North From here we descended NE (via an accidental detour of mine) to pass Rhymer's Stone on the old main road and then follow the Borders Abbeys Way back into Melrose.
Black Hill 
The Cheviot By now it was almost 5:30pm and we were a long way from home. It would have made sense to get straight on with the trip north but instead we stopped off at my sister's place just outside Edinburgh and didn't arrive back in Inverness until well after midnight. Still, an eventful weekend and one that set us up nicely for even more driving and a big purchase the following one.
