Avoiding Golf balls and the low flying plane on the St Boswells golf course we sauntered at speed along the Tweed to find two bikini clad girls paddling up to their middles in the river – enticing us in with shouts of ‘Come and join us’ – I had seen Jason and the Argonauts though and my classical education had taught me one thing – avoid Sirens at all cost – so we moved onward with only the occasional backward longing glance. The water van appeared at Maxton church with the additional bonus of beer so hydrated and alcohol’d we strode onward to find a guy wearing a SureKill T Shirt dragging three dogs down to the river.
Over a disused railway bridge and onto Dere Street – the roman straight road designed by someone who may have been alcohol’d too as it seemed far from straight to the top of Ancrum Hill scene of the battle of the aforesaid hill where a woman, as legend dictates, still fought when her legs were cut off, setting the tradition of legless Scots fighting. Through delightful woodland and so to Harestanes where Jim and I led astray by a pussycat missed the entrance and ended up wandering through an art gallery to meet up with everyone wondering where on earth we were and why we had press ganged the beer guy on our walk leaving them drying up in the hot sun. There then followed a complex discussion with books and GPS and iphone tracks as to how far we had actually walked – with not a single agreeing figure it was between 15 and 20 miles. Yes, this is a long distance footpath where no-one has actually accurately measured the distance of the stages with each account being radically different.
And there ended the first day and they saw it was good.
It was always a worry getting up in the morning with aching legs and feet whether one was going to be able to put in the miles again but the pharmaceutical industry provided Paracetemol for this eventuality and so yomping them we went swimming, Kim managed to scrape a car in the pool carpark (ching 200 quid) and we drove to Harestanes and set off limping in the strong morning sunshine. The first obstacle was the Shoogly bridge over the Teviot – made more shoogly by my stick getting stuck in the gap between planks causing me to stop sharply and twist around sending my weight from one side to the other in a way the bridge designers could not predict. Passing Colin’s grave (dog or someone who pegged it on St Cuthbert’s Way – the memorial wasn’t clear) and police sirens racing along the main road we reached the water wagon where the cheery Gordy was joined by the harbinger of doom – ‘aye you thought yesterday was tough wait till you start on the next hill’, who on each stop would delight in telling us that the worst was yet to come. This was the Slough of Despond indeed.
Clutching my laminated map as a constant reminder of how much we actually had to walk it was a case of putting one foot in front of the other. Jim and John were my constant companions kindly waiting for me as I ambled and took photos, they pointed out places from their Border youths and regaled me with tales and wildlife snapshots as curlews, yellowhammers and topless nymphs crossed our paths. Cessford castle came and went, munching brie and asparagus sarnies on the hoof, and we entered Morebattle after a long and punishing tarmac road.
We didn’t just enter Morebattle to be honest – we walked in four abreast along the road to cheers and applause from the school children and grannies waiting in Teapot Lane (patiently in the sun for us stragglers) – it is the first time I have been applauded into a village – normally it is when I leave. The Temple Inn put on soup and sandwiches which it would be rude not to tuck into and Neil stared in disbelief as I filled a large plate of soup, side plate full of sandwiches and a nice pint of cold Guinness – as he was worried about being too full for what was ahead. I was asked how much sponsorship money I had raised, whilst changing my socks and I had to confess after the third time of being asked ‘just a rough idea’ the answer was nothing yet…. Kim having reached all the folk I know first with her sponsor form.
