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.

 

Walking the Hawick Flood Protection Scheme (Part 2)

Tom and I decided to complete our visit to Hawick to walk the entire length of the Hawick Flood Protection Scheme. Today we walked the section from where the River Teviot and Slitrig meet to Wilton Park on both banks of the river. This is the Call near where the Pringle factory used to be and it was probably created for the factory many years ago. I used to visit Pringle regularly in the 80s and early 90s for UPS and secured almost all of their international business. The factory no longer exists and a Care Home is built on the site as far as I know.

Two Heron's stand guard at the Salmon Ladder 

Looking up river from the new bridge on the Teviot

The new bridge

The flood barrier on the left bank of the Teviot

The meeting of the Slitrig and Teviot. The gable end of the building next to the wall used to be a much larger building which was washed away in a flood several years ago.

The flood barrier next to the large main car park with a gate that will be locked when a flood alert happens.

The area where Pringle used to have their main building. and next to it in the building which has the tower is another empty knitwear factory.

The Call on a very quiet river day, but when it is in full flood this can be a frightening area.

The main road into Wilton Lodge Park

The Hawick Museum. well worth a visit. 

It's been a good autumn for Fungi.

The most beautiful tree on our walk.

River Teviot from the bridge at the Cafe

A nice tree in front of the museum. We have now walked both banks of the Teviot where the new Flood barrier has been built. Hopefully Hawick will now be protected from the severe flooding it has experienced over the years. 

 

A Visit to The Bill McLaren Exhibition in Hawick

Tom and I met up with John in Hawick this morning, firstly for a walk round Wilton Park followed by lunch in The Pavilion Cafe and then a visit to Wilton Museum to see The Bill McLaren Exhibition.

A nice walk round Wilton Park

Some of Bill's famous comments during Rugby matches

Could only be Doddie Weir he was talking about 

A replica of Bill's study

His famous information sheets for each match he commentated on. The amount of detail in there is huge. It is a wonderful exhibition and well worth a visit. Its open until 27th November and its free but we left generous donations.

 

Wilton Lodge Park, Hawick

This weeks Wednesday Walk with Tom took us to Hawick for a walk through Wilton Park and along the Teviot River. This is a lovely Bandstand in the park and in the summer months there are regular concerts held there. The park is really nice and a lovely place to have a walk.

After walking round the perimeter of the park we headed up the road out of the park and along the Teviot river. I was disappointed at the amount of empty beer cans beside the road. It really needs a good clean up. 

While on our walk we met Bobby and Shirley Froud. Shirley of course is from Langholm. Bobby and I used to play Squash against each other when he played for Hawick and I played for Langholm. We had a grand blether before we headed on to the Pavilion Cafe for our lunch.

The River Teviot from one of the several bridges leading to Wilton Park

The Museum in the park. It was closed much to Tom's annoyance and my pleasure as I have been in it before and its very nice but having seen it once I am happy to leave it at that.

The War memorial which strangely mentions the 1914-19 War rather than 14-18.

The statue commemorating Bill McLaren the BBC Rugby commentator.

The statue to Steve Hislop the Motorbike Racing Driver who was tragedy killed in 2003. 

A lovely fountain in front of the museum

These silhouettes commemorate the Battle of Passchendaele and were placed here in 2017 to mark the centenary of the Battle. It was a most enjoyable 4 mile walk followed by a grand lunch and of course a good blether with Bobby.