Remembered Hills of Home

In the hazy distance, the line the Pentland Hills appear. They are special to me as I have spent many years living in their shadow, watching them in all weathers and all seasons from varying perspectives. I think they are beautiful on a summer's evening when the soft scent of the earth and the sound of curlews is in the air, on a frosty morning when the sun is just starting to break through and show up all the little lumps and bumps on the surface of the hills, but for me they are at their best on a cold snowy day at dusk when the sun is disappearing behind them as a big red ball of fire.

Here they are seen on a late summer's afternoon looking north from Peebles. Its reassuring to think they have been a constant feature of the Lothian and Borders landscape for so many centuries. As you walk in them its easy to imagine life when the hill forts they contain were in use, or when the drove roads were filled with cattle being driven to and from markets in West Linton, Biggar and Falkirk. I love the names of the routes, The Cauldstane Slap is one of my favourites.

I have lived in quite a few places but I think these hills will always be a home to me.