Another Walk on the Borders Drovers Road

Six weeks ago Mike and I walked this Borders Drovers Road on a beautiful summers day and we were very impressed with it. Charlie was unavailable that day so we were determined to take him to Hawick to see it for himself. The best part is the mile long Drove road which has 2 drystone dykes flanking it. Between the drystone dykes there are a multitude of wild flowers and today it was a huge quantity of Berries and Sloes

It is a well sheltered road and a pleasure to walk along

This Elder tree was full of Elderberry fruit.

This beautiful Highland Cow was not a bit bothered by our presence

Another Elderberry Tree

The downhill section of the Drove Road

Another prominent fruit was Rosehips

This was a Hawthorn and Elder intwined together and very old

Rosehips and Sloes

More Rosehips. We had a lovely walk and came back to The Buccleuch Centre for our coffee and were served within a minute of walking in the door as we have the same order every Thursday. 

 

Walking The Cross Borders Drove Road at Hawick

Mike and I headed up the A7 to Hawick for today's Thursday walk. The walk started at Wilton Park where they have an area of wild flowers planted at the entrance to the park beside the River Teviot and it is at it's very best at the moment. I always enjoy a walk round Wilton Park as there is so much to see and do in it. 

The winter wheat is ready for harvesting and further up the road we saw the Combine Harvester starting up for its day harvesting.

Once we left Wilton Park it was a steady climb up this B road towards Brieryhill where we would turn onto The Cross Borders Drove Road.

This road was fairly quiet apart from a couple of delivery vans.

This is the road back into Hawick after we had used the Cross Borders Drove Road

Plenty of fields of Barley and it looks as if it will all be harvested this week as the Combine was working in one of the fields next to this one.

It looks to be a good harvest

This is the mile long section of The Cross Borders Drove Road we walked along. It is around 52 miles long and runs between Hawick and Harperrig, near the Pentland Hills.It retraces the route drovers used for hundreds of years to walk cattle south from markets to buyers south of the border. The section we walked today had a Dry Stane Dyke on either side and was a mass of wild flowers 

This is Harebells or Scottish Bluebells identified by Mike, but I also discovered that if I looked up the photo on my phone the information section of the photo identified the flower. Mike could now be redundant but I think he is much more informative about it so we wont dispense of his knowledge just yet.

This is Lady's Bedstraw

This could be Widow Flower or Gypsy Rose, but Mike will certainly know which one is correct.

The Combine Harvester starting its work for what will be a full day.

This is Meadow Crane's Bill

Not a lot of grass on this field for the many Cattle feeding in it. 

Another view of the excellent path heading into the distance with the dry stane dykes on either side of the path. There were also several wooden seats along the pathway as well so plenty places to stop for a rest.

It really was a most enjoyable walk along this special drovers road.

This was the entrance to the Drovers road from the B road that led from Wilton Park. We completed the 3.5 mile walk in about 90 minutes and then had a coffee in the park cafe. We were back in Langholm by 1.00pm so the whole trip had only lasted for 3 hours, but the memory will linger for many years as we both enjoyed the walk immensely.