Sagebrush personal hiking blog
St Cuthbert Way Day 3, April 18, Tuesday
Start Fauhope Country House
Stop Howden Visitors Center and then get a ride with B&B host to Jedburgh.
Miles walked: 16.2
Breakfast at the B&B was served with a lovely window view.
This was our first °full breakfast”. The black disk on right is blood pudding. And yes, those are beans.
After returning across the river to Melrose, we walk past town center and start a long series of Steps.
St Cuthbert Way Day 2, April 17, Monday
Start Abbotsford and across Tweed at Kingsknowes Hotel
Stop Melrose and then back across the river to Fauhope Country House
Miles walked: 6.4
After breakfast at the Kingsknowes we crossed the bridge near Abbotsford and walked along the Tweed on Border Abbey Way on a cold day with occasional light rain alternating with sun.
At Chain Bridge we saw cute horses, and turned towards the town of Melrose.
We took the audio tour at Melrose Abbey tour, spending hours exploring the ruins.
St Cuthbert Way Day 1, April 16, Easter Sunday
Start Tweedbank train station
End Abbotsford and across Tweed at Kingsknowes Hotel
Miles walked: 5
It is all my daughter’s fault.
She lives very near us at the moment, but is going back to school in July. We intended to travel and take advantage of her free pet care and house sitting, but never did. Hmmmm, we never took a trip to Europe in all these years. Perhaps something easy the first time like the UK. Hey, there are some long-ish trails– we could hike all the way across Scotland and visit castles. Well, perhaps compromise on something shorter with lots of history and spiritual stuff, and bed&breakfasts each night, using a tour operator and luggage transport service to take everything except our daypack…
So KK and I are in Glascow, jet-lagged after a six hour flight out of Newark. We take a train to Edinburgh and explore briefly in all-day drizzle. (The city has many opportunities for discovery, and we reserved some days after the hike to do just that.) We stop in a little taco shop for hot tea, and I try the haggis tacos like a tourist.
Another train takes us to Tweedbank, where we start hiking on Abbey Way along the River Tweed. We stroll to Abbotsford, the home of Sir Walter Scott, and take a delightful audio tour.
