Cademuir Hill Forts and the Tweed

Todays Wednesday Walk was again up the Borders and in the Tweed Valley starting at Peebles. The weather this morning was very cold but at least it was sunny and the cold east wind was a lot less fierce. Unfortunately Tom had to call off as he was suffering from a bad cold so Peter and I set of to meet Martin & John for the 8 mile Cademuir Hill Forts and Tweed walk. From Peebles it was a long climb following the John Buchan Way for the first part of the walk up to a height of about 1350ft. As we got higher up the hills the snow got deeper but only in patches so it was not so bad but at times a wee bit dangerous. Looking back the town of Peebles lay in the valley looking a bit like Langholm.

On the ridge the snow was deep in places but this was not a problem until we headed down the ridge where it was slippy and quite dangerous.

Down in the valley only the dikes still had snow but it made the fields look quite interesting.

Peter, Martin, and John at the highest point of the walk where there are a few remains of an iron age settlement now appearing as grassy bumps and rocks.

The superb ridge walk



Near the settlements there were these boulders sticking out of the ground and Martin informed us they were called Cheveaux Traps to stop the advancement of horses towards the settlement.

Looking back at this snowy part of the downhill section you can see our footsteps clearly and it was quite slippy and fairly deep in places. The snow was no longer powdery but in places had melted slightly and then frozen again.  

Once back into the Tweed Valley we followed the river for a couple of miles and then went onto the old Symington, Biggar, and Broughton Railway Line towards the Neidpath Tunnel. This is approx 600 yards long and after the first 150 yards it curves so you no longer have any light. None of us had a torch so we had to form a line with Peter in front touching the side of the tunnel with a walking pole while we each followed holding on to the person in front at an agonising slow rate. It seemed to take an age and was quite scary as it was pitch dark. We eventually turned a wee bend in the tunnel and saw daylight again and were very relieved to reach the exit shown above. The tunnel was opened in 1860 and closed in 1954. It is alleged that during the 2nd World War the Royal Train hid there while the King & Queen were visiting the Blitz damage in Clydebank. We were soon back in Peebles after a superb walk and ended the day with Soup and Bread at the Kailzie Gardens Osprey Watch Centre. The food was excellent and served by a very attractive young lady with a lovely smile and a personality to go with it. It makes such a difference to be welcomed into these places and really looked after and all of us will certainly be back.