Last of the Summer Wine Walkers in Melrose

The plan today was to meet up at Melrose in time to catch the 11.00am bus to Earlston for a special walk down the Leader valley past this the Leaderfoot Viaduct and then finish at Melrose for a nice meal in Marmions Bistro. There was 6 of us walked and then a further 7 for the meal making a total of 13 people. Gaye, Elspeth and Sandria had a grand morning in Melrose visiting Gardens and a lovely Charity Shop. 

Anne, Tom, John, Ken, and Niall stop for a rest at Leaderfoot after a 5 mile walk down the Leader river.

Although it would appear this was a downhill walk down the Leader valley there were several places where we had to climb a fair number of steps on the route.

At the start in Earlston. The walk took us exactly 3 hours and we arrived back in Melrose just as the rest were gathering at the Bistro.

Near the end of the walk at Melrose Abbey after almost 7 miles and ready for something to eat and drink.

A very well carved seat at the half way point where we stopped for a short refreshment.

The 13 of us sit down for an excellent meal. From left Peter, Aileen, Sandria, Niall, Martin, Tom, Anne, Elizabeth, Gaye, Elspeth, Gavin, and Ken. John took the photograph. We have been walking together for many years and pre Covid had many Walking Holidays in Cornwall, Northumberland, Yorkshire, Norfolk, The Roman Wall, The Great Glen, The Cotswolds, Galloway, and the Kintyre Way plus loads of Wednesday walks. 

One of several fields still to be harvested but hopefully this will be done in the next few days as there appears to be good weather coming for a few days.

Peter looking forward to his Sticky Toffee Pudding. Peter and myself have been friends for almost 60 years from when he arrived to work at Reid and Taylor in the mid 60s. We shared an office at R & Ts for 3 years before I moved on and then he went to Border Fine Arts and then back to R & Ts as Production Director. On his retirement about 10 years ago he started walking with us and has enjoyed many holidays and walks with us. I hadn't seen him for a year and it was so nice to get together again. It has been a perfect day and everybody was so happy to meet up again. The meal at Marmions Bistro was excellent and we were so well looked after by the staff.