After yesterday’s half day, it was back to a twenty mile walk. It would end up being another dry day and not as hot as other days, quite a good heat for a long walk. I would be lying if I said that today was as scenic as the other days or filled with interesting features but I knew that when I got to the end today I would only have one more day to go to the end of the Southern Upland Way trail.
I set off from Lauder about an hour later than planned as I got chatting to a couple of cyclists at breakfast time. A quick visit to the shop and I was heading out of Lauder and into the drive leading to Thirlestane Castle and gardens. A bit of gentle uphill walking through a couple of fields of cows followed with good views back to Lauder before crossing a busy road and onto a track past a farm.
A long but easy grassy path took me down to Blythe Water which I crossed on a bridge and headed uphill. A couple of walkers were not far in front of me but seemed to be on a lower path than me as we headed towards a small section of woodland, my path taking me around the outside of it to a road. The road descended past the woods, I saw no sign of a path through the woods or the other walkers.
The road continued heading downhill towards a farm but before that stood a large herd of cows who took far too much interest in me for my liking and I had to shoo them away a few times before I reached the safety of a cattle grid and crossed it. I looked back and saw the other walkers a long way behind, they must have realised they had made an error and now they also would have to get past the cows, good luck.
At the farm, I turned onto a track, I didn’t know it at the time but this would be a long and quite featureless section. There wasn’t much to look at as I stomped along the track through the moorland, surrounded by heather, even the distant hills to the side of me seemed dull. The only consolation was that it was dry as it would be so boring in bad weather and limited visibility. After a long while I saw the cairns of Twin Law far away to the right, this was where I planned to have my lunch, at least now I had something to look at. Still the track went on until it just stopped, a narrower but nice path led away from it to Twin Law where I sat on some rocks and had lunch. I noticed that there is a stone seat built into the cairn but I was happy with the rocks.
As I left the cairns behind, I could see Watch Water Reservoir not far away ahead of me but to the right I was surprised to see how flat the land was. About this time I started looking for signs of the sea, without any success. A brisk walk on a wide grassy path (part of the Herring Road), track then road took me around the reservoir and the dam where I stopped for another break and watched the many anglers, some in boats.
It had been fast and easy walking and I was only about 3 miles from Longformacus and it was all on road so I was there in about an hour. Just before the village I noticed a small playpark which meant benches and an excuse for another rest, and why not? I was soon back on the move for a short walk through the village on a road.
I crossed a stile and headed up the hill, the grass was hard and rough in places. It soon leveled out and a nice walk through pasture land followed before more rough grass. The last few miles of a walk always seem to take forever and today was no exception as the path went through fields, woods, forestry track then down to a road leading to Ellemford and beyond. The road was narrow so I had to keep my eyes and ears open for cars. I soon saw a sign saying that the SUW left the road and headed up a steep track and that’s where I’ll rejoin it tomorrow. Today however, I just had to get to my accommodation and a sign told me I still had a mile left to go, my heart sank a little as I thought it was nearer.
At least now I was off the main road and on a little lane, I eventually saw my accommodation in the distance. Annoyingly, the SUW is just over the other side of a river and woodland from it but I will have to take the long way back in the morning.
It wasn’t the most exciting of days today, I kept my mind busy thinking that the next day I would be on my last few miles of my SUW walk and heading home to my own bed for a change. Tomorrow should be a bit shorter than today and hopefully another dry day.
