Teviothead Walk

This weeks walks was a Teviothead Circular from the book "Walking in the Land of the Reivers" by I.W.Landles & A.G.Brydon. We had intended to walk the first part of the walk along the road and then take the route back on the other side of the valley along the ridge. By the time we had walked the first 3 miles with a gale force wind in our faces we decided not to climb to the ridge as the wind strength was increasing and the rain was horizontal. The wind would have been behind us but the hills were beginning to dissapear in the clouds so we decided to head back the way we had come and were blown along back to the car in about half the time it had taken us when the wind had been in our faces. The above photograph is looking up the A7 towards Mosspaul.

The walk starts at Carlenrig where Johnnie Armstrong and 36 of his followers were hung by King James V in 1530.

At the top part of the Teviotdale road there is a memorial cairn to Motor Cycle Racing Star Steve Hislop (Hizzy). He won the Isle of Man TT Eleven times but was killed in a helicopter accident in Teviotdale in 2003. For further information please look at the following website http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Hislop

The most striking building on this walk is the Teviothead Church Manse which is bigger than the church. Rural churches many years ago were built round very strong communities and the Minister was the most important person in the valley and therefore had a house which reflected his status in the area. The Manse of course was also a haven for people needing help and assistance therefore they had to be fairly large.