The rosebay willow herb was looking at its best beside the road in the Borders on our way home via The Devil’s Beef Tub.  This is a deep steep sided bowl like valley surrounded by four hills and was used as the hiding place for cattle stolen by the Border Reivers.  Among the most notorious were the Johnstone clan who were known by their enemies as ‘devils’ as they frequently hid cattle which they had rustled from neighbours. Sometimes it was called the Marquis of Annandale’s Beef Stand because the local people of Annandale also hid stolen cattle there.