A walk into Scotland

I was a bit apprehensive about our planned walk today. Our friends are 15 years younger than us and she is very fit. However it worked out well. The weather was perfect for a long hill walk - a warm breeze to keep us cool and enough sun to give great views.

We drove past Blindburn to Slimefoot and took the old drove road/track steeply up, heading for the Pennine Way and border ridge. In the past we have seen the feral goats but no luck this time. It took 3 hours to reach Russell’s Cairn in Scotland. It was mainly uphill with some downhills which meant even more steeply uphill again. The views down into the Bowmont Valley in Scotland were lovely - I used to do the walk from there up Cheviot with my parents.

We had a quick picnic at the cairn but I knew I’d seize up if I didn’t get moving so we set off downhill but a quicker route. We remembered from previous walks that there was a good place for mushrooms and sure enough, we got a good haul.

Marion and Steve enjoyed the walk and stopped on our terrace for a bit of tea and cake. As soon as they left I got in the bath to soak the aching limbs. It had only been 8.5 miles and 23000 steps but we all knew we’d done it.

The collage is top left a photo looking down the Bowmont Valley into Scotland. Top right you can see the Cairn on the far right distant hill. Bottom right is us heading for the Border Ridge/Pennine Way. A grand day out.