Bulletin! Before reading any further, please go back to the end/bottom of the August 03, from Hawick to Selkirk post. A very important photograph has been added!
Today's walk marked the end of the Borders Abbeys Way, and I can say with complete honesty that I am walked out! At least for now! The section was more demanding than I thought it would be, but it ended perfectly: along the river Tweed. To recap: walks completed this summer were the Dales Way, the Cumbria Way (minus Keswick to Caldwell, because let us not take credit where credit is not due!), the Herriot Way, and the Borders Abbey Way, as well as many other long walks in the environs.
Outside Selkirk:
Water source masquerading as a cairn:
A scene:
Wool from self shedding sheep. Now, Lucy, the lady who conducted the Bairnkine Farm Tour, told me that the sheep rub up against the wires to scratch themselves. The thing is that you wouldn't get much of a scratch from those smooth, rounded wires.
The silver lining:
only it looks yellow in the picture.
Alpacas, baby ones, two of them:
Alpacae?
Manure and straw. lots of it, biding its time while becoming fertilizer:
When you see The Swing Bridge, you know you are close to Melrose, but note: you do not cross the bridge unless you are going elsewhere:
The River Tweed, again!
Maybe you already saw Melrose Abbey, at least what is left of it, but that was so yesterday!
Upon arriving in town at around 11:45, I headed to the ice cream parlour and had a chocolate ice cream to celebrate the completion of the BAW. It was delicious. Then I went to the hotel just across the square. I knew it was ridiculously early to check in, but my suitcase had arrived, so at least I would be able to get out of my boots and into sneakers. To my surprise, I was given access to my room. I took a shower and washed my hair, changed my pants and invaded the "extra clothes" packing cube. After getting dressed, I felt as if I could pass for a normal human being what without the boots and the gaiters and all. I am kind of surprised that I managed these four walks (minus that one stage) and all the extra ones, which, I will now confess, were risky because they are not national trails and the gpx data are not as reliable. It does feel good, yes, very good, "to have made it!" And OMG, have I been lucky with the weather! Still, for the final three days, I will keep the rain gear with me at all times.
This is, I swear, Dolly Parton, 14 years old. She is deaf, poor thing:
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