Back at Stobs Camp After Eight Years

Our Wednesday Walk this week headed to Stobs camp near Hawick. We met John in Hawick and then the 3 of us  took the Newcastleton road to the Camp. On the entrance to the camp there is this memorial and if you look closely it is for the 1914-1919 War. John who is the font of all knowledge tells me it was because for another year after the 14-18 World War 1 we had troops in Russia fighting against the Communist uprising.

Tom and John at the entrance to Stobs Camp. The 10,000 acre Stobs Estate was purchased by the War Office in 1902 as a military training ground. It became a Prisoner of War camp with about 6000 German troops interred there during World War One and a smaller number during World War Two. After the War it was a resettlement camp for Polish Forces before their repatriation and then a training camp for the Territorial Army until it closed in 1959.

There used to be huts there and I think the mounds would protect them from the weather. It must have been a terrible place to live for any length of time never mind for 4 years.

The largest of the 2 reservoirs further up the valley

This is the smaller of the two reservoirs

From the highest point of our walk the view accross the Border Hills is spectacular with the Eildons in the distance. We finished our walk with a nice lunch in The Damascus Drum.