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Instead of doing the full horseshoe from Peebles I started from the Quair Water near to Glen House NT305336. From there you head along the Cross Border Drove Road that takes you onto the hills - fairly good going on a well made path, and well signposted to Peebles. After skirting around Birks Hill you come to a gate in a fence - the Cross Border road swings off right to head towards Peebles via Kirkhope Law, but I went left on a reasonable (at first!) path that heads up to Birkscairn Hill. Steepish in places but nothing too strenuous. After a brief refreshment stop at the cairn I followed a fence line that heads down to a very boggy peat-hag ridden bealach between Birkscairn Hill and Stake Law. A bit nasty in places, but fairly level going up to Stake Law. From there there's another nasty boggy bit between Stake Law and Dun Rig. Luckily it was relatively dry but would be a pig in wet weather - even still it slows you down a lot as you try to navigate your way through the peat hags. Got to the trig point on Dun Rig much slower than planned as a result - over three hours - and had a welcome coffee and sandwich there. Unfortunately it was a warm day, and as my hydration bladder had sprung a leak I'd only brought a bottle of water (and the coffee) which was rapidly going down.
I went back the way I'd came - I toyed with the idea of heading straight down from Birkscairn Hill over Birks Law, but I could see more peat hags awaited that way so I stuck to the same route. By now I was getting quite dehydrated - halfway back the water ran out, the sun came out and It became a real slog. I kept going by remembering I had a half bottle of (by now luke warm) water in the car, but also had a chilled bottle of Brew Dog IPA in the fridge at home. Almost felt like ice Cold in Alex
A good day, if a bit of a slog - further than I really wanted to do, but the peace, quiet and great views made up for that. I've some photos but need to process them before I can upload them. Oh - and have got a replacement bladder for the hydration system!
