Route
| Walk Leader | Lance |
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| Route | Kelso Abbey to Roxburgh along the west bank of the river Teviot, return along part of the old railway line on the east side. |
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| Weather | Intermittent showers, slightly overcast most of the time. Quite warm (14 degrees C). |
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| Walkers | Lance, Ashley, Ron, Sandy, George. |
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| Excuses | Michelle - returning from a work trip in France Michael - waiting for kitchen designer Evelyn - teaching Carol - too far to drive Julie - in Costa Rica Bernie - work commitments Ken - injured knee |
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| Comments | Joined by Leda (Univ. St Andrews) and Martin and Janette (St. Boswells). A flattish walk where we were lucky with the weather and avoided any heavy showers. There were good views of Floors Castle from the bridge at Kelso. We passed the ruins of Roxburgh Castle, which was liberated in 1313 by Sir James Douglas and his men who crept up to the walls covered in black cloaks. James II was killed here by an exploding cannon during the siege of 1460. We failed to spot either the otters or the kingfishers whose presence has been reported on the lower reaches of the river Teviot, but found a duck egg on the path. We spoke to a friendly fisherman and passed a large group of ramblers, probably from Co. Durham, heading towards Kelso from Roxburgh. We crossed the river by the footbridge next to the elegant old railway viaduct at Roxburgh. The “tail” then got lost because the leader had gone too far in front, and had to be set on the right direction by a very friendly lady. There were views of the Eildon Hills and Floors Castle from the seat that we stopped at for afternoon tea. There were fewer flies there than at other parts of the walk. We passed several friendly dogs and two RAF girls on horseback with a Weimarer dog. We saw two rainbows over Kelso as we made our way back. On our return to the car park, we saw the house of Walter Scott’s aunt Jenny, where he had stayed while at school in the town. Wildlife: Buzzard, herons, chaffinches, robin, swans, ducks – mallard and golden eye, and a wren. Also an orange-tipped butterfly and bumblebees. Horse and a pony, several large bulls. Lots of wild flowers, maytrees and horsechesnut trees in blossom. Scarlet campion, bluebells, forget-me-nots
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| Meal | “Cobbles”, Kelso. Very enjoyable, fantastic steaks, sophisticated desserts.
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| Photo Gallery |
Walkers and friends
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Kelso |
Egg |
Floors Castle
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Junction Pool
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Heron
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Double Rainbow |
Swans |
