A Winter Walk in Lauder

Todays walk nearly did not happen. We decided a week ago to meet up in Lauder to do this walk called the  Blackchester Fort Circuit but when we looked at the weather last night John reported over 2 inches of snow in Edinburgh and snow was forecast for today. We deferred the decision until 9.00am this morning and after a final look at the BBC weather forecast which indicated light snow showers in the morning at Lauder but clear for a few hours during the rest of the day, we decided to go for it. This proved an excellent decision as we had snow for the first 15 minutes of the walk and then it cleared to be a lovely, but very cold day. 

The Market Place in the Border town of Lauder which was 75 minutes from Langholm and 45 minutes from Edinburgh is an ideal place to meet up. 

Ken, John, Peter, and Tom. Missing today was Martin who was on stand by waiting the arrival of grandchild no 3. Also missing was David who is in Barbados and Niall who is in the Antarctic where the weather was probably warmer than at Lauder which had a biting cold wind.

The first part of the walk took us along the old track of the Lauder Light Railway which opened in 1902 and closed for passengers in 1932 and Freight in 1958. Near Lauder and next to the old railway is this memorial in memory of Hamish Wood who was a Tree Surgeon from Lauder tragically killed in 2005 and this wood is named after him.

Next to the line are many ploughed fields just waiting for the spring sowing of Wheat or Barley

After leaving the railway we headed uphill to the ancient settlement at Blackchester. Most of the settlement is covered with trees so we did not venture into it but headed on up the hill.

As we begin to gain height and the path opens out into fields. This is a particularly attractive dry stane dyke with a rounded bit next to the gate.

We passed Pilmuir Farm to be met by 4 very happy Border Collies who were very pleased to see us and these cattle having their lunch and not very happy at being disturbed by 5 walkers.

In places the roads were quite icy and myself, Peter and Tom all had very undignified falls but thankfully nobody suffered any injury.

Tom is not the only person who can wear a silly hat but at least it keeps me warm. After just over 3 hours and 8 miles we were back in Lauder for a lovely soup and coffee in the Flat Cat Gallery which was very quickly served in pleasant surroundings. We were back in Langholm by 3.30pm after an excellent walk. This will be the last time we are all together for quite a while as Tom is off to Barbados, Ken is off to Cuba, and I am off to California so it will be end March before we all meet up again.