5th August, Friday

I went in search of the Capon tree, which is named after the type of monks in the abbey (Capuchin), not a type of chicken.  It looked quite sturdy despite it being propped up and the claim that it is one of the very few survivors of the original Jed Forest.

The Capon tree, a sessile oak

King o’ the wood, also a sessile oak

 

Sandstone cliffs above Jed Water

Pies to be proud of.

I also went in search of the boiled sweets which French prisoners from the Napoleonic Wars brought to the town.

I also went in search of Hutton’s Unconformity, after observing which he wrote Theory of the Earth in 1795 – thinking that this is something to be more proud of than pies.  However its location is kept secret as it is on private land and, it is claimed, the land is unstable.  There was a rather half hearted mock up (Shetland would have erected something far more convincing):

I then drove to Melrose to climb the Eildon Hills.   There are 3 of them, the one at the back of the town was used by the Romans, after they had kicked out the local tribe, as a signalling station; they had a big fort east of Melrose all of which is under farmland now.

The old railway station

East of Melrose, the Abbey

The heather is in bloom

The top of the west Eildon

As I was puffing up to the saddle between the east and west Eildon a man and a dog overtook me, both running.  They went up the east Eildon, then the southern one and got the top of the west one, my first, while I was contemplating the view.  He was only doing the circuit once but nevertheless….

The southern Eildon

The east and west Eildon

I think this is the east flank of the eastern Eildon

Trimontium (the place of the three hills), the Roman Fort lies under the pale fields with lines on them at the bottom of the hill, to the left of the redundant railway viaduct.

This is, I think, Newstead which claims to be the oldest place in Scotland which may have been occupied before the Romans moved in next door. Also this is where the stonemasons lived when Melrose Abbey was being built, Melrose is 1 – 1.5 miles to the west.

Looking SE towards the Cheviots

It’s that time of year

Melrose Abbey

The whole of this area (including Jedburgh) was famed for its apples and pears and a lot of the ancient orchards have been destroyed.  There are moves afoot to save those that still exist – there certainly seem to be a lot of fruit trees here and there.

I moved on to Broughton, to the west of Peebles.  This was to be set up for my walk the following day.  I parked up for the night outside the primary school, by the bus stop.