The Three Brethern

Our club walk today was down in the borders, walking up the Yair Hills to The Three Brethern.

The Three Brethren are three similar cairns, almost identical but obviously erected by three different builders, some 9 feet tall and 6 feet in diameter at the base. They stand sentinel on the summit of the Linglie Hills above Selkirk, 1,522 feet above sea level on the Southern Upland Way, between Yair and Traquair in the Scottish Borders. Originally, one cairn was erected by Alexander Pringle, Laird of Yair and Whytbank Tower (near Clovenfords), in or around 1512, to mark the boundaries of the estates of Philiphaugh, Yair and Selkirk Burgh, but this was not considered adequate and later two more cairns were added. This is a favourite stopping place for hill walkers and on a clear day the views are spectacular. The heather is just beginning to bloom, a little early this year I think, but our weather has been crazy, so perhaps it has been affected.

We were lucky; the forecast was for sunshine and heavy showers, but we only encountered rain once, and that was when we were almost finished our eight mile hill walk. The rest of the time the sun shone, occasionally a black cloud came by but didn't cause us any trouble. We ate our lunch sitting up at the Cairns, and my photograph is of us leaving the summit after lunch.

A grand day out, it is great to have a pair of boots!!!