Dunrig Horseshoe from Peebles

[clivew]

I have spent the last few Saturdays travelling up to Bridge of Orchy and Glen Coe but this weekend I thought I would play safe and travel a different route. The reason was I knew from newspaper reports there were a lot of big events going on; they were spread out but the Olympic Torch relay was heading up the A82, Rock Ness was kicking off at Lochness, the World Mountain Bike Championships at Nevis Range and Ladies International Golf at Nairn so for a change I decided to head south into the Borders.
Back earlier in the year I had attempted the Dunrig Horseshoe walk from Peebles but it was one of those weekends when we were hit by 80mph winds and the walk was abandoned after a couple of hours. This weekend the weather was a lot kinder, showery but warm and little or no wind.
This is an ideal walk if you are holidaying in Peebles, the good thing about it is that if the weather turns bad you can leave the horseshoe at any point along its length and drop down into Glensax and walk back out to Peebles.
The walk starts on the southern outskirts of Peebles at the end of Glen Road, its easily walkable from the town centre if you are travelling in by bus, if you are driving there is plenty of parking space at the end of Glen Road near the Sub-Station.
From here follow the track straight ahead through the woods and then drop down and over the footbridge crossing the stream. Once over the stream follow the footpath as it gradually climbs up through the woods eventually coming out into open land with a great view back to Peebles and up into Glensax.

The start of the walk at Glen Road

The bridge across the burn

The route through the woods into open land

Looking across to Cadesmuir

Glensax and Newby Kips Hill in the centre

Once you hit open land the route is very easy to follow just keeping heading up hill you can't go wrong. The start of the track is pretty good and fairly firm under foot but as you get further around the ridge it gets a bit boggy. Certainly between Stake Law and the trig point at Dun Rig and from here to the bottom of the path leading up to Middle Hill it was like the Somme without the bullets; you have to choose your route with care or you could easily sink up to your knees in the brown stuff .

The view back into town and the Peebles Hydro

The route towards Birkscairn Hill

When you reach the trig point at Dun Law don't be tempted to head straight for middle hill, instead follow the fence line around and eventually it leads to a bit of bealach with the path heading straight up in front of you.

The trig point at Dun Rig

The path leading up to Middle Hill

Looking back to Preston Law from Newby Kips

From Middle Hill follow the path around to the trig point on Hundleshope; from here there are three options, option 1 is to follow the route to the NE along Dead Side and down into the Glen. Option 2 is to head down into the Glen and follow the Waddenshope Burn back to Glensax and option 3 is to head for Preston Law and then on to Newby Kips Hill which is a nice little hill with a rocky outcrop on the top.
This is the route I chose and from the top of Newby Kips Hill I headed straight down the hill across the burn and followed the track to Upper Newby farm.
From the farm its an easy track to follow back to the start point.

Dead side from Newby Kips

The route from Newby Farm back to the start point

Crowd scene near the end of the walk

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[Bod]

Looks like a lovely walk Clive. Like your thinking too with the uncertainty of roads and weather this weekend. There is one of those amazing dry-stone build circles down below in one of your photos .... my eye is always drawn to those old penned areas and I find myself wondering just how how often our farmers/shepherds used them long ago? Very enjoyable report

[Johnny Corbett]

It's a lovely walk this one and a nice wee change to head south to the rolling hills of the Borders

[clivew]

Looks like a lovely walk Clive. Like your thinking too with the uncertainty of roads and weather this weekend. There is one of those amazing dry-stone build circles down below in one of your photos .... my eye is always drawn to those old penned areas and I find myself wondering just how how often our farmers/shepherds used them long ago? Very enjoyable report

Hi Bod, yes the circle is just down below Newby Kips, it's a fair size as well and stands out really well from above. On one part of the walk some enterprising person has been re-building sections of dry stone wall, it looks really good and will probably stand for ever.

[clivew]

It's a lovely walk this one and a nice wee change to head south to the rolling hills of the Borders

Hi Johnny yes you're right its a nice change and the scenery is great, the best part is it's only about 45 minutes from Edinburgh so I can have a bit of a lay in on Saturday instead of getting up before 6 to drive north.