Borders Abbey

Dover - Shetland Day 21
Berwick-upon-Tweed to Melrose

Distance cycled: today 77.5km, total 1475.4km
Ascent: today 636m, total 8264m

Highlight: beautiful day for cycling through the lovely borders countryside, after a very leisurely start with a late breakfast in a good cafe. And of course hitting the huge milestone of reaching Scotland after half an hour's pedalling into my 17th day in the saddle.

Lowlight: the cycle route to Edinburgh splits at Berwick, heading either north around the East Lothian coastline or west through the borders, before veering sharply north. Taking the latter, to meet up with Christine and friends Alan & Hazel at Hazel's mum's home in Melrose, I find myself in a beautiful spot but further south than when I started the day!

What else? I can't stay in Melrose without mentioning rugby, with the local club formed in 1877 being one of the oldest in the world. It retains a place around the top of the Scottish amateur game, despite having a population of 3,500, not too much larger than Aboyne. It is most famous though as the birthplace of sevens rugby, invented by local butcher Ned Haig as a fund raiser. This exciting game is now played worldwide and Scotland won their first ever World Series tournament last month beating South Africa 27-26 in the London final, after being 11 points down with 40 seconds to play. I for one can't wait to see it played at the Olympics for the first time (although I still don't get why golf has found a place there).

Photo: Melrose is one of four famous borders abbeys, built in the 1100s and then repeatedly ransacked by English raiders over the centuries. What are the other three (no googling)?