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Walking Land's End to John o'Groats with Mark Moxon

Jedburgh to Melrose

Jedburgh Abbey
Jedburgh Abbey

I thought I'd celebrate the end of my stormy flirt with the Pennine Way with a rest day, and where better to spend it than Jedburgh, my first Scottish destination and the first place in a while that didn't feel as if it had fallen off the map? Unfortunately the weather gods – no doubt tired out by the sunny fanfare they arranged for my triumphant arrival in the Borders Region – gave up trying to keep the clouds away and I awoke to a steady, unswerving rain that drizzled down at the optimum rate for maximum irritation.

Jedburgh Abbey
Jedburgh Abbey
The Riding In, Jedburgh
The Riding In, Jedburgh

Ringing in the Changes

The tranquil River Teviot
The tranquil River Teviot

Again, if I hadn't known I was in Scotland today, I'd have sworn I was in Devon or Somerset. After the bleakness of the Pennines, the Borders Region of Scotland is a rural paradise, and with this morning's sunshine and a pleasant lack of rain all day, I feel as good as I did when walking along the Severn.

The River Tweed
The River Tweed
The Eildon Hills from Dere Street
The Eildon Hills from Dere Street
Melrose Abbey
Melrose Abbey

Fair maiden Lilliard
Lies under this stane
Little was her stature
But muckle was her fame
Upon the English loons
She laid monie thumps
An when her legs were cuttit off
She fought upon her stumps
AD 1544

Something tells me that even though Scottish dwarfs are no longer thumping English loons, history still reverberates loudly round these parts.

St Cuthbert's Way

Melrose Abbey
Melrose Abbey

For most of today I followed St Cuthbert's Way, a long-distance path that stretches 62 miles from Melrose to Holy Island. St Cuthbert was a 7th-century saint who started his monastic life in Melrose and passed away on Holy Island, having risen to the rank of Bishop of Lindisfarne. I thoroughly enjoyed following in his saintly footsteps, because between Jedburgh and Melrose, St Cuthbert's Way is a cracker.

Melrose Abbey
Melrose Abbey