Wheesht! - we walked into Scotland

The haar was depressingly down again this morning so I suggested we drive 17 miles west up the valley to attempt a 10 mile walk with more height to climb that we’ve attempted since I broke my ankle 18 months ago and since my arthritis has progressed.

We set off from the rather unpleasantly named Slimefoot, where there used to be a smugglers’ drinking place, and headed steeply up The Street. This is not an urban street - it is an ancient drove road used to bring cattle from the Scottish Highlands to English markets. We followed it up for a few miles of upward pulls, down again and more up in glorious sunshine till we reached the signpost in the blip where it meets the Pennine Way. In the past we have seen feral goats here. We turned west on that track over quite boggy ground to reach the Border Ridge which we followed to Windy Gyle. There is a large cairn called Russell’s Cairn which loomed our of the cloud. We had our picnic there and when the cloud lifted we could see down into the Calroust Burn and beyond to the Bowmont Valley. These were places my dad used to fish. As a child I lived not far from there.

The route back was all downhill. The Cheviot sheep and Scottish Blackfaced sheep were munching happily with healthy fast-growing lambs. Once coming down there I slipped and when he gallantly stuck out his arm to stop me falling, Mr C whacked me in the eye with his walking pole, leaving me with a right shiner. No mishaps today and we returned feeling quite pleased with ourselves. Though I have to admit it was slightly harder in my 70s than in my 60s!

So no telling the First Minister about our illicit walk! We don’t want to upset Nicola.

And one bit of good news - the PM has back-tracked on the free school meal vouchers for those in need over the summer. Well done that footballer so did much to get the campaign going.